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My Year Of Flops: The A.V. Club Presents One Man's Journey Deep Into The Heart Of Cinematic Failure (2010)

by Nathan Rabin(Favorite Author)

3.73 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1439153124 (ISBN13: 9781439153123)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Scribner

review 1: Nathan Rabin is a powerhouse who slapped film critique in the face during his year-long "My Year of Flops" experiment, and this book collects many of his reviews into one easy-to-read tome. Unlike some of the other reviewers here, I believe Rabin's work is well-worth paying for.If anything, we were spoiled on his reviews for the AV Club. Rabin's essays on various underperformers, box-office bombs and maligned cult classics deserve special mention for seamlessly melding conversational asides, film criticism and an examination of the internal/external forces behind each film into eminently-engaging essays.There's so much great material here - Prince's insanity during the filming of "Under the Cherry Moon", an examination of the Vietnam-esque plot of "OC and Stiggs", the oft-... moremisunderstood brilliance of "The Cable Guy" and more. The extra material in this book includes 15 bonus reviews and a handful of interviews with cast and crew on selected films. Michael Jai White's experience filming Breakfast of Champions is hilarious.It's one of the better film critique compilations I've read, and works in a similar fashion to Mr. Cranky's "100 Crankiest Reviews Ever" - while the latter dealt with short, abbreviated reviews in a similar format, both have a keen eye for pointing the minutiae that makes films what they are, along with the general insanity of the productions themselves.Highly recommended.
review 2: Rabin is a funny writer and I think he's fair to a lot of movies that others might have just panned. I use the "failure, fiasco or secret success" rubric a lot in my own personal discussions of films. But ultimately this is a better internet column than it is a book. It's not deep enough in it's selection of movies or it's coverage of them to be a good reference, and I'm not going to want to re-read most of these reviews later, so I don't know that I need it clogging up my shelf, though I did enjoy it.Might be good as a Christmas gift for a movie loving friend, though. less

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