Rating: 
Summary: a very funny and opinonated book
Review: I picked this book up on impulse and wasn't disappointed. Kevin Murphy is hilarious! His writing reminds me of Bill Bryson: opinionated, sarcastic, yet genuinely thoughtful. I so agree with the comments about the theaters at the Mall of America and loved the chapter about trying to survive on movie food. What a hoot! His experiences were so wide-ranging and interesting. I urge any movie fan to pick this book up. It's well worth your time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: A good idea lost in the execution
Review: I picked this up wanting to read about the guy's experiences at the movies. Which movies did he like? Which ones did he not like? What does he have to say about the current movie going experience?What I got was a book that is just a little too high-concept for its own good. In most of the 52 chapters, Murphy teases the reader with a list of movies he saw that week - but then he very rarely says a thing about those movies. Instead, he talks in one chapter about crappy movie seats, or in another about theater food - you see, each chapter has to have its own movie theater related theme. What this ends up being is just a lot of kind of boring fluff filler when what I really wanted to read was what he thought of "Legally Blonde". That said, there were some amusing moments - like when he sneaks in an entire Thanksgiving dinner in a heavy coat (with tons of sewn-in pockets) or when he takes 6 different women (on 6 different nights) to see "Serendipity" (which he didn't much like - thanks for telling us Kevin!). Not bad to check out from the library - but I wouldn't keep it on my shelf.
Rating:
Summary: A good idea lost in the execution
Review: I picked this up wanting to read about the guy's experiences at the movies. Which movies did he like? Which ones did he not like? What does he have to say about the current movie going experience? What I got was a book that is just a little too high-concept for its own good. In most of the 52 chapters, Murphy teases the reader with a list of movies he saw that week - but then he very rarely says a thing about those movies. Instead, he talks in one chapter about crappy movie seats, or in another about theater food - you see, each chapter has to have its own movie theater related theme. What this ends up being is just a lot of kind of boring fluff filler when what I really wanted to read was what he thought of "Legally Blonde". That said, there were some amusing moments - like when he sneaks in an entire Thanksgiving dinner in a heavy coat (with tons of sewn-in pockets) or when he takes 6 different women (on 6 different nights) to see "Serendipity" (which he didn't much like - thanks for telling us Kevin!). Not bad to check out from the library - but I wouldn't keep it on my shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Being a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000..
Review: I wanted to pick up this book right after I heard about Kevin "Tom Servo" Murphy's insane experiment to see a movie a day for all of 2001. And after I got my copy, I couldn't put it down. This is not a book of movie reviews, but a book that reviews the movie-going experience. As Kevin said in his introduction, after being forced to sit through hundreds of just plain awful movies during his decade on MST3K, he had to rediscover his love of film. So he decided to see a movie a day for a whole year. He went to the local googleplexes and saw the latest Hollywood stuff, and if he saw a movie he just *hated* I could easily picture him transforming into Tom Servo, but he also travelled the world, seeing movies in Australia, Quebec, New Zealand, Sundance, and Cannes. He also performed various sub-experiments, such as sitting in the front row the whole first week, eating nothing but theater food for a week, taking six different women to the same date movie, and how to properly theater-hop and sneak in a whole Thanksgiving dinner. There are some poignant moments too, such as when he brought his nephew to his first big screen movie and start his love of film, and being halfway around the world on September 11 and deciding if he should go on. It is the balance between truely touching moments like this and the stuff that just plain hilarious that makes this book great. If you're getting sick of going to the movies, get this book and want to go all over again. But for for all that is good and decent in the Universe, avoid B-list star movie vehicles like Town & Country.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and great story telling!!!
Review: I would very highly recommend this book. The storries are fantastic. The different places traveled and different types of movies and theaters. For his first book, this author has really hit a home run!!!
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic read
Review: I'm the type of guy who buys more books than one human can read in a month. I wind up reading 1/10 of each book and putting it down forever. Except this one. This book held my interest from beginning to end. However, it may not be the book you think it is. It's not a book reviewing 365 movies. There is very little in the way of reviewing in this book. Kevin Murphy instead discusses the entire movie going experience from your typical local mall theater to bizarre movie houses like a hotel made entirely of ice in Quebec. I can't recommend this book enough. If you're a fan of movies, no matter how great or small, you'll be able to read about many movie experiences you've never had (and probably never will). I mean, howe many of you have ever been to the smallest movie theater in the world? Grab a copy and find out where it is and if it's worth the trip!
Rating:
Summary: Please turn off your cell phones
Review: If you're a fan of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, if you like to go to the movies just a little TOO much, or if you find the phrase "a lake of urine on the men's room floor" funny, 'cause it's true, you need to read this book.
Kevin Murphy, the voice behind the wise-crackin' gumball machine with soul, Tom Servo, for more than a decade on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000, has finally come forward to reveal the man behind the puppet.
With A YEAR AT THE MOVIES, Kevin Murphy reveals himself to be: a.) a movie nut (of course), b.) a little bit of a curmudgeon, unafraid to voice his opinion, c.) an excellent writer, capable of capturing on the page the minutiae of any given experience in a way that truly makes the reader a part of it all, and d.) an avid hater of Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider and everything they stand for.
In A YEAR AT THE MOVIES, Kevin Murphy sets out to watch a movie in a theater with an audience every single day, for a whole year, and then write about the experience. And Kevin isn't just satisfied with going to the local cinemaplex down at the mall. Sure, that's part of the experience, but so is finding and tracking down the world's smallest theater, the world's only theater made completely of ice and snow, the art house theaters, the foreign theaters, IMAX theaters, theaters at the Cannes Film Festival, etc.
Every part of the movie-going experience is lived, breathed and sometimes humorously, sometimes poignantly dissected on these pages. If you're fan of movies, if you're a fan of life experience (and, ironically enough, that's what most movie-goers are chasing), you've got to get this wonderfully funny, and surprisingly affecting book. Kevin Murphy is a true fellow citizen of celluloid and patron of popcorn, and if you're like me, you'll see enough of yourself reflected in these pages to make you feel like you were along for the whole crazy ride.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, for what it is
Review: In this book Kevin Murphy shares his thoughts about movies in the context of visiting a public presentation of a movie every day for a year. Each chapter represents his thoughts for a week. This is the only book I have ever pre-ordered in my life, and I am glad that I read it. Unfortunately, I can only give it a mediocre recommendation. The biggest problem is that the book is amazingly redundant. Kevin believes that the modern movie audience has lost its sophistication and actual desire to be truly entertained. He contends that movies have become little more than public viewings of TV. Most movies are bland, mass-produced, formulaic pieces of uninteresting visuals that are the mental equivalent to potato chips. Kevin doesn't like multiplexes. Kevin doesn't like most mainstream movies. Kevin doesn't like most movie food. If you took out paragraphs that related to these three themes, the 362 page book would become a pamphlet. He does raise several good points. For example, why are we forced to watch trailers advertising films when we have paid to watch the featured presentation? Shouldn't we be allowed to watch cartoons, or interesting shorts, or simply the main feature? I agree with most of Kevin's conclusions and arguments, but after 150 pages, I sort of got tired of hearing about it. By 362 pages, I was thankful that the book was over. To be honest, I don't really know why Mr. Murphy bothered going to all of those movies. He could have written his thoughts without them, given that the movies he viewed only rarely were discussed in the chapters. Several chapters were rants that were not tied into any aspect of the actual movies he viewed or the movie houses he attended. There are several funny spots in the book. For example, his chapter in which he took six different women to the same date film over the course of a week is hilarious. These instances do make the book worth reading. However, the redundancies detract from experience
Rating:
Summary: Buy the book
Review: Kevin Murphy had me reading nearly one line per page outloud to my wife as I worked my way through this book. He has a very intellectual and yet approachable humor which is highly entertaining. I wish I had been to all the places Kevin has been and after reading the book I am making a list of the places I might like to go. I just finished reading Michael Moore's latest book and I get the same sense of honest sarcasm from reading both authors. Only Kevin doesn't seem angry like Michael can sometimes seem. It is an easy read and exposed me to many aspects of the movies I had not even thought about as I am not a movie buff...no matter it was still a very enjoyable read. Buy the book!
Rating:
Summary: It's a Hit
Review: Kevin Murphy takes up the plight of movie goers everywhere (and travels nearly everywhere to do it) in his romp around the globe to see a movie every day for a year. The book is a humorous look at one of America's favorite past-times, excellently told by someone who loves movies and wants to lead the charge for movie makers to remember the audience and forget the Hollywood formulas. The satire is first rate and the story-telling is superb. It really puts you in the seat next to the author. My particular favorite centers around taking a nephew to his first movie ever while smuggling an entire Thanksgiving dinner into the theater at the same time. Kevin Murphy has a wonderful first book and it was a delight to read. Recommended for movie fans everywhere.
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