Rating: 
Summary: As funny and thoughtful as you'd expect from Murphy
Review: Kevin Murphy's book shows great effort, both physical and literary. I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of seeing a film every day for a year and the lengths to which Mr. Murphy went to fulfill that goal. His written reviews and anecdotes are as good as his work on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is saying a lot. I recommend this book for any movie buff or MST3K fan. If you are both definitely read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Movie Travelogue
Review: Kevin Murphy, AKA Tom Servo on the classic movie series Mystery Science Theater 3000, has turned his considerable comic and writing talents towards more literary ends. A combination of Bill Bryson travelogue and Dave Barry commentary, Murphy's "A Year at the Movies" is both a love letter to Hollywood and a controlled rant against the rampant overcommercialization and pretentiousness in that industry. The gimmick is that he's going to see one movie a day, in a theater (or other form of public exhibition, such as an airplane for travel) for an entire year. And, with one minor exception, he succeeds.Each week, Murphy pens an essay about some facet of the movie industry and his experiences with it. "AYATM" is basically a collection of essays about the state of public moviegoing. They run the gamut from the hilarious (smuggling an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a theater) to the populist (well-deserved rants against Sundance and Cannes) to the emotional (spending the week of 9-11 in the Cook Islands, at one of the most remote theaters in the world). Murphy is overly sentimental at times, and overly cynical at others, but he manages to keep on track and provide as fair a report as a movie-lover can give. Murphy loves movies. He loves theaters. In fact, he loves the entire filmgoing experience, and that's what "AYATM" is about. Readers complaining because he pans some movies and likes others are missing the point of the book. His prose offers a smooth read in an accessible style, successfully circumventing the same kind of film snobbery he loathes. For film lovers, Murphy's book is a welcome respite from the typical fanboy discussions on the Internet, and offers a cheeky kind of solace for those who don't take themselves - or their films - with complete seriousness. Final Grade: B
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book, thank yourself later
Review: Kevin takes a year, 365 days, and watches 1 movie every day. And then, he tells you about his experiences. His experiences, not necessarily a review of the movie itself. He's poiniant, funny, sarcastic, romantic, and wistful as he meanders all over the US and other countries looking for an authentic movie experience. Some chapters will have you belly laughing so hard it hurts, and some will leave you with a longing for a better time. Now, Kev is a bit of a film snob, don't let it distract you from enjoying the book. If he trashes a movie you enjoy, you do not have to agree with him. Pay attention to some of his favorite films though, try to find them and watch them for yourself, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful!
Review: Kevin's year-long movie viewing crusade is interesting, inspiring and fun to read about. Thanks for the creativity! I feel a longing to see more movies!
Rating: 
Summary: more pretentious than funny
Review: MST3K aside, Murphy is not very funny. The book reads more like a college art-film project, pretentious and lofty. He does make some very good points, I'll admit, such as the grotesque ousting of privately owned movies theaters iin America in return for corporate conglomerates. But in the end, i feel like Murphyis missing the real point of film. (And let me preface this by saying i was a film student too, i made films--not videos-- and i worked on some hollywood productions and commercials. Big ones with Steve Martin and such. But i digress) People go to films today to escape. That's about it. Quite frankly, i don' want to see a film that make me reassess my outlook on Icelandic Fishing and the family struggle it creates. I want to see explosions and boobs because working sucks, because paying bills is awful, and losing a loved one really does hurt. I just want to leave earth for and hour and half and have a goo dtime. Whats wrong with that. And i agree the snakcks are too pricey, but i really don't want to see the matrix or LOTR in some small backwoods ho-dunk theater with crackly sound and out of focus projectors. So If you're looking for a bit of film snobbery with an ocasional well made point, read this. If you want to read something funny, pick up Mike Nelson's movie books instead.
Rating:
Summary: More than just funny.
Review: Once you wrap your head around the fact that this is not a book of movie reviews, per se, it becomes a very enjoyable read. Murphy's talking about the human experience of going to the movies, not about the movies themselves. I for one think this is a pretty cool idea. There are more than enough books out on the market that fill the, "Golden Turkey," category, and I bet that Murphy realized this as well. To write a book of snarky movie reviews would be cheap, fast, and easy. But to write a book about what it is to sit in a dark theater, and share 2 hours of your time with an audience full of people, and some images on a screen...Now that's a challenge. To steal a phrase, it's like dancing about archetecture. And boy, can Murphy dance. This isn't a funny book. It's got many funny moments, as Murphy is a funny guy, but it's an emotional book, a thoughtful book, and a very human book. Murphy is a gifted storyteller, and I use "storyteller" in a guy-sitting-next-to-you-in-a-bar sense of the word. If anything, I found the format a little limiting. I'd love to see him take a bigger journey, like Michael Palin in "Pole To Pole" and "Around the World in 80 Days." This book put me in mind of both of those projects, and I'd gladly follow Murphy on whatever journey he decides to take next.
Rating:
Summary: Not just about the movies...
Review: The book is about the whole moviegoing adventure. He is not just talking about the movies, like the first Harry Potter flick, or just about the stars, like Jackie Chan, but everything. The theater, the audience, the food, the seats! He goes to film festivals in France and Finland, drive-ins in the desert, theaters in the South Pacific, Italy and in Australia. He talks about films from Hong Kong and films from before the invention of sound. He talks about the smallest commercial movie theater, where the owner sells the tickets out of his bedroom window, to the multiplex, the sing-along film, the club cinema and the cinema grill. He deals with the food, even trying to live on popcorn, individual pizzas and shrink-wrapped sandwiches for a week. He deals with movies in the park, movies in the museums and movies in Hollywood! He deals with the people too. The critics, the fanboys, the kids and the people who work AT the movies.
It is funny, yet has serious points. One whole chapter is on September 11. It so happens I was reading this while on the bus to the Pentagon. This chapter was so powerful that I started to cry.
The book reminds me of the greatest movie I ever saw. Star Wars. My family saw it when it first came out in a drive-in theater. My brother and I sat on top of the car, a station-wagon, and watched this great sci-fi flick on a background of real stars. AND it will never happen again. Drive-ins are few and far between. The movie itself has been CHANGED and even cars are different. I don't trust any of this tiny models to hold up my own weight (or even that of my brother's young kids).
Each chapter is a week, with the list of the films he saw and where he saw them (which makes a nice list of movies you might wish to rent or buy in the future).
Flip open the book, get a bucket of butter-flavored popcorn and ENJOY!
Rating:
Summary: Too much repetitive complaining
Review: The fact that the author went to a movie everyday for a year is a complete gimmick to get you to buy this book which basically is 362 pages of him ranting about all the things he hates about going to the movies. Some stuff is genuinely funny but after a while you get sick of reading him complaining about these things (such as advertising) that really aren't that big of a deal. He hardly even talks about the movies themselves.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books about movies
Review: The first point I would like to make is although Kevin Murphy performed and voiced the puppet Tom Servo on MST3K, this is a book about going to the movies. Although a slight amount of material touches on his job with Joel and Mike, this isn't a book about Mystery Science Theater. That said, this book is a treasure. It's not really about film, or cinema, or the art of the motion picture; it's about the process of going to the movies. It's about soul-less multiplexes with sticky floors and jewel-perfect theatres built in private homes. It's about the popcorn and the soda and the guy on MovieFone. And, through this investigation of the movie-going rituals, we can see anew the miracle of the motion picture. Kevin's gimmick was that he would go to the movies every day for an entire year. As if this wasn't enough, he sees these movies all across the world. He would watch pictures at a midnight sun film festival in Iceland, or during a downpour on a South Sea island, or in the glitz and glamour of Cannes. He would also spend many, many nights at generic multiplexes. To keep to his goal, he would dutifully watch the movie shown on the airliners he frequented (airliners, he said, are the worst and most expensive movie theaters in the world). There are some hilarious moments, such as his encounter with hard core fanatics of Hong Kong action films. Other scenes are remarkably poignant, like the outpouring of support shown him in the South Pacific after 9/11. Over the course of the year he saw dreadful movies (many of them repeatedly) and wonderful ones. He sat in the best theatre in the world (a screening room in Cannes) and the worst (most any airline coach seat). In the process of this journey he questioned why we go to the movies, and why we do it the way we do. His answers affirm his, and our, love of a great art form, and the value of an honored social ritual. A fine book for anyone, and a must-own for any movie lover.
Rating: 
Summary: A film lover's hymnal, very funny, but slightly flawed
Review: The merits of this book are many and accessible, not the least of which is Murphy's unabashed, red-cheeked, out-loud funny yet thoughtful love of all things cinematic. You'll share his adventure, joy, reflections, tragedies and triumphs as he hits each new lavishly described and discussed screening venue, from the far-flung Australian Outback and Cook Islands to the nighmarish Mall of America, near his own home. Few details escape this talented humorist, experienced traveller and film-toughened MST3K luminary, so it's a great read for film lovers, travel buffs and Tom Servo fans alike. Perhaps a bit too personal--I know, I know, it's 'one man's filmgoing odyssey,' just like the cover says--though I, for one, could have done without the many lavish and enthusiastic descriptions of what alcohol was consumed where. A binding theme of booze makes it appear as though Murphy's a major lush, or perhaps was sponsored by the liquor lobby; it's not important if you were drinking Pacifico Claro at the famous Route 66 dive-ins, or Victoria Bitter back in the bilabongs, or Absolut vodka in Quebec, or cheap blush wine at the Faith in Film Festival... then again, you'd need to be drunk to watch "Corky Romano." Still a good book, if the heavy fumes didn't detract for us, the reformed.
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