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Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life From An Addiction To Film (2000)

by Patton Oswalt(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

145167323X (ISBN13: 9781451673234)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

review 1: Oswalt's new book, which is being sold as a journey through his addiction to film, is more of a snapshot of his life at one particular time than a real 'I need to get off this stuff!' type journey. If you're interested in the comedy scene in the nineties, then this book is for you, and it helps if you're also a film fan as well. The sad part is that it's not really a book about Oswalt coming to terms that he has to experience the world out of movies, but a tale of resignation where he realizes that he's not going to be a director anytime soon, so he needs to pretend that its the reason that he's going to see so many movies. Also, that seeing movies and checking them off a list does not make his life better in any way. As a tale of obsession, it never feels that harrowing, ... moreand the final pages seem to wrap things up a little too quick for my taste, but Oswalt still has a way with words and makes this a quick easy read.
review 2: A book of Patton Oswalt reflecting on four years when he obsessively watched and cataloged movies, all while writing for MadTV, starting his stand-up career and eventually landing on King of Queens.While I'm not the film fiend that Oswalt is, his particular brand of list-making OCD with movies resonated pretty strongly with me. What's interesting, though, is that this is mostly about being an obsessive young man focusing on pop culture to the exclusion of all else, because as much as Patton loves these movies still, it's clear that he sort of regrets how much of himself he poured into him over these four years.It's a fascinating look at the depression/OCD that Patton has talked about in his stand-up, a journal of great (and sometimes not-so-great) movies and a memoir all wrapped up in one. It's got funny bits, but it is by no means a humor book, it is instead a relentlessly honest and fascinating read for anyone who has a passionate interest in anything, whether it be movies, comics, TV, books or what-have-you as well as a warning of the perils of focusing too much on that passion to the exclusion of all else. less

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