reasie's review
2.0
*WEW* It took us a long time, but Brian and I slogged through this book, watching every movie in it before reading its chapter together.
I can say it gave me a lot to think about, besides "OMG, why did he think this was a good movie?" I mean, Brian and I had lively and thoughtful discussions of plot and structure after each reading. Mostly, though, I felt the author was clearly blinded by his own opinions too much even to pick sensible movies to critique - he will praise the structure of one movie and excoriate the structure of another with the exact same structure... I also noticed that how accurately he summarized the plot beats had a lot to do with whether he wanted the movie to look good or not. :P
I can say it gave me a lot to think about, besides "OMG, why did he think this was a good movie?" I mean, Brian and I had lively and thoughtful discussions of plot and structure after each reading. Mostly, though, I felt the author was clearly blinded by his own opinions too much even to pick sensible movies to critique - he will praise the structure of one movie and excoriate the structure of another with the exact same structure... I also noticed that how accurately he summarized the plot beats had a lot to do with whether he wanted the movie to look good or not. :P
eddyfate's review
4.0
One of the best series of examples of structure and characterization I've read. A great companion to any scriptwriting text.
mflaxbart's review
i am reading this book slowly, as each chapter is about a different movie, and i haven't seen them all.
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