Kevin Murphy (1) (1956–)

This book is now twenty years old, but it is remarkable how relevant most of its essays still are. And yes, this is a book of essays....for those that were hoping for more of a day-by-day diary of what it was like to see a movie every day for a year, that is not this book. In fact, for most of the book, the premise isn't really that important. Most chapters are simply an essay on a specific aspect of movie watching, inspired by what the author watched that week. And I'm fine with that. The show more essays are well written and interesting, and I realized early on that I didn't need the premise of a movie every day. It wasn't important to me. I was just happy to read what Kevin Murphy thought about movies and the movie watching experience.

That being said, he does a lot of work for this book, traveling the world to experience movies in many different settings, so if you're hoping for that sort of essay, part travelogue part movie watching critique, you won't be disappointed. I meant to read this book when it first came out, and although it took me two decades, I'm glad I finally got to it, and I wish Kevin Murphy would write more books. show less

I appreciate that this book was written in a pretty uniquely improvised sort of way. Don't read it expecting a well thought out narrative - it should be understood as a vehicle for the authors to spew their endless jokes about a fairly fictionalized Nick Nolte character that they've perpetuated in small glimpses here and there throughout their Rifftrax catalogue. Think of the way Chuck Norris has taken on a sort of super-human image for the purposes of good jokes... the Nick Nolte created by show more Rifftrax writers is along those lines, only he's a dumpster-diving, shady-business doing, constantly blacking-out, nick-name giving has-been. These jokes within the book are clever and hilarious. It might have been equally as funny to have this book just be a list of their Nick Nolte jokes.

As a novel, I give this 2 stars. But it does include some very creative and funny content. show less

Shortly after the end of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Kevin Murphy, the voice of Tom Servo, got a deal to go to a movie every day for a year and write a book about the experience. It a pretty interesting book as long as you don't expect him to discuss every movie he sees, because that's not what the book is about. It's about the moviegoing experience. We see him going to Cannes and Sundance. He visits the world's smallest theater and a theater made of ice. He sneaks Thanksgiving dinner into show more a theater. He spends a week dressed as Santa Claus (and has an odd encounter with a man who claims to be the real Santa while in Lapland). There's also a lot of non-gimmicky stuff where he discusses the value of film critics, or the importance of independent film, or why documentaries are more interesting than you think. Over all, it's a good book for the MST3K fan or the fan of film in general. show less

Kevin is a very entertaining guide through the world of movie theaters and movies, but his style is too self-conscious to sustain and entire book. The central premise - seeing a movie a day for a whole year, in a proper theatre - seems to bore even him very early on.