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A review by helpfulsnowman
A Movie Making Nerd by James Rolfe
5.0
Loved it.
I see a couple reviews on here bellyaching about proofing and editing and so on, and I always like to make a distinction between books that have a handful of style issues that aren't like I prefer and books that are a total fucking mess and are borderline unreadable.
To use the language of cinema, since this IS a book about movies: there are movies that are imperfect, a boom mic in frame here, some plot holes there, but they have more than enough of the basic movie structure in them, and they leave you entertained. They're an awesome use of a Sunday afternoon. And then there are movies where you can barely make out the dialog, you're not sure what you're supposed to be watching on the screen at any given time, and they're so difficult to follow that you have to read the Wikipedia entry after to see if you actually saw what you think you saw.
Some folks make out an indie book with a couple typos or comma splices to be the literary equivalent of the second kind of movie. And those folks really only out themselves as rarely picking up an indie or (gasp!) self-published book.
A Movie Making Nerd is a book that's got a couple technical flaws, and if you're unable to look past that, you're missing out. It's incredibly entertaining. It oozes enthusiasm, and I think that's what this book is really meant to do.
James Rolfe is an entertainer. While in film school, it seemed like he grew to dislike pretentious artsy stuff, and he'd take any opportunity to make an entertaining movie instead of a piece of artistic floof. That's the kind of person I really respect and tend to enjoy. I don't like filmmakers who make movies to please other filmmakers, I like filmmakers who make movies to please viewers.
I don't like writers who write books to please other writers. I like writers who write books to please other kinds of people.
The secret success of A Movie Making Nerd is that it's the kind of book that's going to convince people who normally don't read to pick up a book and tear through it this year, and I think that's one of the best things a book can do.
I see a couple reviews on here bellyaching about proofing and editing and so on, and I always like to make a distinction between books that have a handful of style issues that aren't like I prefer and books that are a total fucking mess and are borderline unreadable.
To use the language of cinema, since this IS a book about movies: there are movies that are imperfect, a boom mic in frame here, some plot holes there, but they have more than enough of the basic movie structure in them, and they leave you entertained. They're an awesome use of a Sunday afternoon. And then there are movies where you can barely make out the dialog, you're not sure what you're supposed to be watching on the screen at any given time, and they're so difficult to follow that you have to read the Wikipedia entry after to see if you actually saw what you think you saw.
Some folks make out an indie book with a couple typos or comma splices to be the literary equivalent of the second kind of movie. And those folks really only out themselves as rarely picking up an indie or (gasp!) self-published book.
A Movie Making Nerd is a book that's got a couple technical flaws, and if you're unable to look past that, you're missing out. It's incredibly entertaining. It oozes enthusiasm, and I think that's what this book is really meant to do.
James Rolfe is an entertainer. While in film school, it seemed like he grew to dislike pretentious artsy stuff, and he'd take any opportunity to make an entertaining movie instead of a piece of artistic floof. That's the kind of person I really respect and tend to enjoy. I don't like filmmakers who make movies to please other filmmakers, I like filmmakers who make movies to please viewers.
I don't like writers who write books to please other writers. I like writers who write books to please other kinds of people.
The secret success of A Movie Making Nerd is that it's the kind of book that's going to convince people who normally don't read to pick up a book and tear through it this year, and I think that's one of the best things a book can do.