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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
I’ve been a big fan of Shea Serrano since his early days writing for The Ringer and always enjoy him on Bill Simmons’ Rewatchables podcast—his takes often line up with mine, and Movies (and Other Things) was no exception. The book is structured around 30 chapters, each framed as a question, which often serves more as a setup for Shea’s signature humor than a serious inquiry. From pondering whether the Raptors in Jurassic Park were misunderstood to drafting gangster movie characters, to digging into the movies that hit hardest as adults, it’s a fun and unpredictable ride through film culture. Even if you’re not deeply versed in action or mob movies, Shea's voice makes it all accessible—and hilarious.
I had to pace myself. I could have easily devoured this hilarious, insightful, and irreverant collection of essays in a few days. I bought the "bonus chapter" on Tom Hanks and I still just want more. This is a tremendous work for any lovers of pop culture, sports, movies or Shea Serrano (who is THAT dude).
70% ridiculous, 100% enjoyable. Shea Serrano is one of my favorite Ringer writers because most of what he writes feels like a fun late night conversation in a college dorm. He's goofily sincere, and balances that tendency with moments of true insight and occasional snark. Plus, movies!
That I didn't do my homework is the persistent feeling I had almost the entire time I spent reading this book. I've shown up for class and the teacher is leading an intense, interesting, and even entertaining discussion about the subject matter of which I'm am totally unprepared. The author compares, rates and does deep dives into a list of hundreds if not thousands of movies that I may have seen 40 per cent of. There are some chapters that I've seen all of the movies discussed, but not recently enough to keep up with the author's take on them. I'm guessing that to get the most from this book, we need to get a list of movies for each chapter, take the hours, days, or weeks needed to watch those movies,and then read the chapter. I liked the writing. I enjoyed the discussions that I could relate to. But I did not like the pervasive feeling that I was always behind on the required background material.
Shea chooses humor over insight in a lot of cases and I find that when he does dive deep on subjects it’s hit or miss from me, but this book was thoughtful, touching, and overall, very funny. Shea has obviously seen many movies and researched many more, and his trademark humor fills every page.
My favorite chapter was the discussion with his boys, book was worth it just to read that.
My favorite chapter was the discussion with his boys, book was worth it just to read that.
This was kind of a fun book. When the content was relatable, it was possibly good. At times the content was annoying and a waste of time. I guess at the height of relatability, the book was amazing. I just wish I enjoyed more of it. Is this a convoluted review? Maybe. Do I care if you don't like Ocean's 11? No. It was an amazing movie. Yeah, heist movies are awesome. Drive, Baby.
fast-paced
This was definitely a cool and different read. I haven’t seen a good amount of the movies mentioned in here so it didn’t really resonate with me as much as I was wishing it did. Hoping to watch some of them then revisit this in the future.
funny
informative
fast-paced
Really loved this book. Would happily return to it again and again. Felt like a friend was talking to me.