The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex

Unfortunately, for the first time in as long as I have been a member of the Manchester Book Group (a few years now), we were not able to hold our November meeting to discuss the latest offering to the literary world by Mark Kemode. Not due to protests, rioting in the steets, terrorist threats, but simply due to everyone being so busy in the run up to Christmas! So rather than keep rescheduling we have decided to skip this months meeting, collate any feedback of the book here and look forward to our next meeting, in December (details can found at the top left of this page).

So, my quick couple of sentences about what I thought about The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex follow. I was quite impressed at the relentless pace that Mark takes throughout the book. I could almost imagine him thinking out loud about what he likes and doesn't like, and with so many years of experience as a film critic, he has many interesting stories to call on. There are certainly parts of his opinion that I agree with, but also quite a few that I do not. A simple example, he feels that digital films (the standard at cinema's these days) have detracted from the old experience of watching a flickery old film, being shown from a real film reel. For me I do not agree with this, if I go to the cinema I typically want to see the film in the best quality possible, I want it digital, looking exactly hot it did when it left the studio. I appreciate the nostalgia of cinemas in the past, and would be happy to relive this on occasion, but as a general way forwards, I'm all for digital! Parts of the book made me laugh (mainly to myself, not out loud) and on the whole it was an entertaining read. In terms of score, I think I'd give it a (possibly slightly harsh) 3 stars.