Hatchet Job: Love Movies, Hate Critics
Oct 2013 · Pan Macmillan
3.9star
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About this ebook
The finest film critic in Britain at the absolute top of his form' Stephen Fry
'Entertainingly incendiary stuff' Empire
A hatchet job isn't just a bad review, it's a total trashing. Mark Kermode is famous for them - Pirates of the Caribbean, Sex and the City 2, the complete works of Michael Bay.
Beginning with his favourite hatchet job ever, Mark tells us about the best bad reviews in history, why you have to be willing to tell a director face-to-face their movie sucks, and about the time he apologized to Steven Spielberg for badmouthing his work.
But why do we love really bad reviews? Is it so much harder to be positive? And is the Internet ruining how we talk about cinema? The UK's most trusted film critic answers all these questions and more in this hilarious, fascinating and argumentative new book.
'A wry, robust and developed defence of accountable critical voices' Total Film
'Very accessible, entertaining and relevant . . . warmly recommended' Den of Geek
'Entertainingly incendiary stuff' Empire
A hatchet job isn't just a bad review, it's a total trashing. Mark Kermode is famous for them - Pirates of the Caribbean, Sex and the City 2, the complete works of Michael Bay.
Beginning with his favourite hatchet job ever, Mark tells us about the best bad reviews in history, why you have to be willing to tell a director face-to-face their movie sucks, and about the time he apologized to Steven Spielberg for badmouthing his work.
But why do we love really bad reviews? Is it so much harder to be positive? And is the Internet ruining how we talk about cinema? The UK's most trusted film critic answers all these questions and more in this hilarious, fascinating and argumentative new book.
'A wry, robust and developed defence of accountable critical voices' Total Film
'Very accessible, entertaining and relevant . . . warmly recommended' Den of Geek
Ratings and reviews
3.9
10 reviews
Michael Payne (Hurleymacfar)
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July 25, 2021
Insightful, anecdotal and genuinely funny (I laughed out loud several times). Sometimes goes off on a bit of tangent before getting back to the point that was originally being made but that adds to the overall charm of the book. An in-depth look into the world of films including the people who review them. A must read for anyone with an interest in movies
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Mark Kermode (@KermodeMovie) is resident film critic for BBC Radio 5 live, where he co-hosts the Sony Award-winning Kermode and Mayo's Film Review (@wittertainment). He also co-presents The Film Review on the BBC News Channel, and presents the bi-weekly BBC video blog Kermode Uncut. He is the author of several books on cinema, including The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex: What's Wrong with Modern Movies, and two BFI Modern Classics monographs, on The Exorcist and The Shawshank Redemption. He has written and presented a number of film documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, including Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils, On the Edge of Blade Runner, Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man, and Alien: Evolution. He is a contributing editor to Sight & Sound magazine, and recently became chief film critic for the Observer. He plays bass and harmonica in the skiffle-and-blues band The Dodge Brothers, who regularly perform live musical accompaniment for silent movies such as Beggars of Life and The Ghost that Never Returns. He is a proud member of Bafta. His favourite movies include Mary Poppins, Silent Running and The Exorcist; his least favourite include Sex and the City 2, Pirates of the Caribbean and Exorcist 2.
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