Rating: 
Summary: 2 Levels
Review: There are really two approaches to take to this book, and the book works on both levels:The first approach is the serious one. As noted by other reviewers here, this book really isn't so much about "a year at the movies" as it is about a year spent in various movie-watching locales. If you think about it, this makes sense: the "business" end of the movie business really doesn't produce and widely distribute enough material for anyone to realistically go see a different movie 365 days a year. This is a rather telling commentary about the subject of the book (i.e., movies) in and of itself. Furthermore, the author makes clear very early on that he did not see 365 different films during his year at the movies. Still, there's an element of "false advertising" here; for example, there's really no reason whatsoever that a listing is provided at the beginning of each chapter of what movie Murphy saw each day of the week, given that the ensuing chapters focus on the movies themselves only infrequently.
If you can get past such little matters, however, consider: for all the ink generated each year about movies, this is one of the few books out there (and one of the only ones written for a non-academic general audience) about the communal experience of moviegoing. Murphy misses what is the most obvious point about moviegoing these days: home technology such as VCRs and DVDs has gone a long way toward spoiling the filmgoing experience. Today, anytime most people plop themselves into any kind of chair in front of any kind of screen, they associate the experience with being at home, and they accordingly feel free to talk loudly, eat too much, stand up, walk around, take phone calls, etc. Going out to movie theaters is no longer an event, and in fact is as often as not kind of an inconvenient pain. But, as Murphy emphasizes, it doesn't have to be like that. Murphy reminds us that at its best, going to the movies can be a peak experience; it can be fun; it can bring people together and reinforce, if not create, a sense of community. The second approach is the entertainment one. Murphy wrote for MST3K; he's an entertaining guy. On this level, the first half or so of the book - when Murphy is sticking closer to home to see movies - is the best section. Murphy's run-ins with a fellow fat Minnesotan on the flip side of "Minnesota nice," to use just one example, is a funny read, and it's not that easy for any book to be funny. Even the book's later chapters, wherein Murphy waxes rhapsodic about the moviegoing experiences he had in exotic locales, are great stories, warmly and vividly told. Overall, I highly recommend this book even to people who may not be fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It's a genial, amusing, colorful group of short true stories about moviegoing. It has certainly rekindled my interest in going out to the movies.
Rating: 
Summary: A Refreshing & Hilarious Look into the Movie Experience!!!
Review: When I read "A Year at The Movies", I really did not know what to expect. What I found was one of the funniest books I have ever read. Murphy's observations are both funny and provocative. I could only imagine what it would be like to watch a movie in a theater made entirely of ice! And to sneak an entire Thanksgiving Dinner (table and all) into a theater without being caught?!!! When you read about the different experiences, the type of theater, the specific movie, the genre, the culture or country in which He is watching the movie, you feel like you are there with him, like your his buddy tagging along for the experience. The ONLY thing that upset me was when it was over. It left me wanting more. I hope that there will be many more books to come!!!
Rating:
Summary: Ooooooooooooooo all that popcorn is making me sick
Review: When I reserved A Year at the Movies, I was expecting a laugh-fest. The guy played Tom Cervo on Mystery Science Theater 3000, for heaven's sake! Of course it was going to be funny. Then I read Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese and I thought "uh oh." If one alumnus from the show wrote such an unfunny book (and he was the star of the show in the later years!), what would this guy do? So when I got the call from the library that it was in, I wasn't that enthused. But it did sound like an interesting concept, so I said "What the heck?" and dove in. Am I glad I did. This is a fantastic book. The interesting concept is that Kevin spent the entirety of 2001 going to a movie. Every day. Without fail (though he did almost miss a couple). Home rentals didn't count. One emergency in Italy necessitated watching a movie on TV, but that was the only time. Airline movies counted only because otherwise he wouldn't be able to travel anywhere. Instead, he traveled all over the world to fulfill his promise to his readers. He visited the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finnish Lapland, where the sun never sets and everybody gets funky from weird sleep patterns. He went to Australia and visited the smallest movie theater in the world (around 25 seats). At home or abroad, he paid for at least one movie every day of the year. It's a project that I found impossible to resist, and I even envied him a little bit. Here was a guy who was going to write a book from the audience's perspective. He is one of us, just wanting to see movies. The wonderful thing about this book is that it's not just a list of movies, or even a critique of them. He does judge some of the movies and tells us what he thinks of them. No, this book is a love letter. Murphy's passion for film shines through in every essay, and you can really tell that he loves the cinema. Every chapter covers a week in his journey, but he never mentions all of the movies he watched that week (though they are conveniently listed at the top of the chapter heading, with location included). Each essay, thus every week, has a theme. One week, it was the Sundance Film Festival. Another, it was Cannes. Another, it was Quebec City and the hotel and theater made completely of snow and ice. Sometimes, he just uses the week's films to talk about a cinema subject dear to his heart, like silent movies, or classic comedy shorts. The chapter for November 19-25, he details how he smuggled an entire Thanksgiving Dinner into a movie theater. The topics go all over, but in every one of them, you can see Murphy's love shining through. Passion is not the only thing Murphy has, though. He has wit as well, and each essay has its share of it. Murphy doesn't constantly tell jokes and hope the reader laughs (which didn't work for Nelson but Joe Queenan does so well). Instead, the wit comes out of his personality and is a little more subtle. I found this book amusing, but not laugh out loud funny (with the exception of a couple of instances that would take too long to explain). The thing is, amusing is fine when the book is well-written and you enjoy reading it like I did this one. I expected a retrospective of bad movies similar to Nelson's book, but I guess he figured that had already been done. Not only had it been done, but it goes against everything Murphy wanted to get out of this project. After ten years of being on the show, watching cheesy movies and creating jokes for Joel and Mike (and himself as well) to tell, he wanted to spark his love for the cinema again. He wanted to become an audience member again and revisit exactly why he loves movies. Thus, this was the perfect thing to do. I was especially interested in (and envious of) the travel he did. He went to France, Italy, Finland, Australia, Mexico, and the Cook Islands, which is where he was on September 11. He tells this in a very poignant essay, saying how he felt when he heard the news, the reactions of the other islanders, and how he almost gave up his odyssey because it felt very insignificant. But then he went to see Waking Ned Devine, shared a few laughs with friends even through their tears, and realized the human togetherness that movies bring, and that feeling of closeness that you get in a good movie crowd, even if you don't know any of them. You still share this one bond, this one movie, and you feel better. This essay actually brought a tear to my eye, something I really didn't expect in a book I thought would be a comedy. A Year at the Movies contains 52 essays about the entire cinema experience. Kevin even worked for a theater for two nights and got to see exactly what a theater employee gets to see. He finds out that American movie-goers are pretty much slobs. Sure, there are a couple of clunkers in there. But you know, I wouldn't even call them clunkers. They were all interesting in their own right, just a few that were less so than the rest. Through his journey, he regains his love of film, his affection for that flashing light and flickering screen, and he brings us along with him. He's not the most wonderful writer in the world, but he makes up for it with an intensity about his subject that's contagious. I've never been a huge movie person, but he almost made me become one. I think I'll go watch a Buster Keaton short film. David Roy
Rating:
Summary: A great round the world movie date!
Review: Whether you like your humour writers highbrow, lowbrow, philosophical, or just plain laugh out loud funny, this book is a must read. Mr Murphy takes the reader around the world in a way that is sure to strike a chord in anyone who has had to sit thru and excruciatingly bad movie, gone on an akward movie date, been perplexed by an incomprehensable foreign film, or just wondered what Hollywood was thinking! The part where he and former MST3K partner Mike Nelson take in "Corky Romano" is just hilarious, and some of the odd, out of the way places he has gone will make you yearn for something spicier than the basic mall googoplex venue.
Whether or not you were a fan of MST3K, this book is a keeper!
Rating:
Summary: An amazing account from a very interesting man
Review: You have to admire Kevin Murphy for taking on such a gargantuan task as seeing a movie with an audience every day for a year--and not just at his local multiplex, but all over the world, from Grauman's Chinese to Finland to the Cook Islands. Even if you don't like movies, "A Year at the Movies" is still worth reading for the range of moviegoing experiences described in it. Murphy offers neither a bunch of capsule reviews nor a comprehensive journal of his entire year but rather an ongoing meditation on films, theaters, and audiences. As he explains the ways in which each new experience adds to--or alters--his perspective as a filmgoer, we can't help but have our own viewpoints challenged and our curiosities piqued. Another reviewer has panned the book and called it "self-righteous," and at certain points I found myself agreeing with this sentiment. Kevin Murphy is a strongly opinionated man with no compunctions about lashing out at the people and institutions he deems responsible for taking the fun and excitement out of moviegoing. Understaffed multiplexes, uncreative producers, and inconsiderate audience members are all subjected to Murphy's poison pen. Sometimes his tirades are hilarious and insightful; sometimes they're annoying. But all in all, they take up very little of the book. Murphy's mantra is to make the best out of any movie in any situation, and for the most part he does exactly that. Besides, in the final analysis he's considerably less self-righteous than Andy Rooney, who gets paid obscene amounts of money to complain without having to get off his ..., travel around he world, and see close to 400 movies in a year. "A Year at the Movies" is an excellent book to read if you like movies, enjoy travel, or simply want to find out how someone could conceal an entire Thanksgiving dinner in his coat and smuggle it into a movie theater undetected. Whether you agree with any of Murphy's opinions or not, his spirit is infectious. I enjoyed the book a great deal.
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