Rating: 
Summary: Would you please shut up! I'm trying to watch a movie here!
Review: Joe Queenan is a cynical b*stard. No, that's not an insult, and he probably wouldn't take it as such. In fact, he'd probably revel in it and tell me to keep up the good work. Queenan used to write for Movieline magazine and, for me at least, was the only thing worth reading in there. Confessions of a Cineplex Heckler: Celluloid Tirades and Escapades is a collection of some of these articles. As long as you don't mind raw language and (usually) snarky comments about movies and movie stars, you won't find a funnier book of entertainment essays around. I had to read parts of this book out loud to my wife (who has already read it, but so long ago that she doesn't remember details) because I had to talk about them to somebody.This was my first exposure to Queenan (at my wife's urging) and I can definitely say I'm going to track down the rest of his books. He has a self-admittedly bad attitude which doesn't really suit every reader, but makes me laugh and giggle endlessly at what he says. The title article, where he goes to certain movies and heckles them loudly to see how long it will take before other movie-goers will do something other than say "shhhhhh!" works on two levels: it shows what a complete a** he can be, but it also shows how passive a society we have become. He went to ten films and shouted things at the screen or at audience members who politely asked him to be quiet (such as "The movie's in Greek, pal. Potato chips can't drown out subtitles") In only one of these movies was he thrown out, and most of the other time, people either just tried to ignore him or basically just said "shhhh!" Very rarely did anybody actually do anything about it. That's one of the great things about Queenan. Sometimes, behind all the cynicism and general bad behaviour, there's a point to his articles. There's a wonderful article on Spike Lee in here, where Queenan not only interviews him, but comments on the interview too. Queenan doesn't ask the soft, simple questions but instead asks Lee things about the craft of his movies, even criticizing a bit and asking him to respond (like asking him about the long, drawn out endings to his movies). He comments in the article about how good he thinks Lee is, despite some of the problems in his films. Some see the article as tearing down Lee, but I saw a lot of respect underneath the smart-a** questions, questions that say "I like your movies, but couldn't they be better if you do [fill in the blank]?" Of course, he does end the article with a note written since the article was published, saying that he would think that, after Lee heckled Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers in a playoff game, inspiring him to 50+ points and the win, that the New York Knicks would have "kicked his scrawny a**. No such luck." But again, I think that's his good-natured cynicism. There are plenty of other hilarious articles in this wonderful book, and only a couple of clunkers. Some of the great articles are: the first "Don't do this at home" where he tries to enact certain movie scenes to see if they are at all realistic, an article on Irish films and their cliches, an article about the suddenly common practice of ear mutilation in films, Antonio Banderas and why he keeps getting pushed down our throats as "the newest star" though his movies keep bombing, bad hair in films, and too many more to mention unless I just do a list, which would get boring really fast. There are a couple of skippable ones in this book, though. "For Members Only," an article about the mutilation of male genitalia in movies, is kind of boring. An article about how he became a crusader against sitting through bad films, and started reimbursing customers who went to see them falls a little flat. And the article on his foray into watching just foreign films and how he discovers they are the same horrible stuff that Hollywood is putting out, while mildly interesting, lacks some of the zing of his other articles. Unfortunately, the book ends on a lackluster note with another "Don't Try This at Home" article that's nowhere near as good as the first one in the book. Still, if you like cynical humour, can put up with foul language and wondering if there is a movie in the world that Queenan likes (he does compliment quite a few films, though some of those compliments are sort of back-handed), then you will love this book. Queenan has quite the way with words, and as long as his style doesn't turn you off, he's a great writer. Some of the articles talked about movies I'd never heard of, but I didn't care. His writing made the article worthwhile. Personally, I'm going to be tracking down all of his other books and giving them a try as well.
Rating: 
Summary: For the contrarian cinemaphile.
Review: Look, Joe Quennan is a jerk. He thinks many, if not most movies, are just bad. He thinks many directors are overrated and most actors are shallow, preening nincompoops. And he hates Mickey Rourke. He may be right (especially about Rourke.) He is funny. Mean can be funny; look at the success of "South Park" or "Mystery Science Theater 3000." In another of his books, Queenan is described as a hatchet man movie reviewer. Exactly. If you think most of the current product of Hollywood or foreign studios is tripe, this is the guy for you. This is a collection of pieces originally published elsewhere, so you will get some of the same jokes. That's okay. Just read them a day or two apart, especially where he talks about nun movies or the Blarney blather of movies made about the Irish.
Rating:
Summary: King Queenan
Review: So many nasty reviews about this book have missed one point entirely. Is Joe Queenan funny? Yes. Is Joe Queenan mean and cynical? Of course. Does Joe Queenan have a right to be? Well, have you seen the dreck that Hollywood releases every Friday? Of course Joe Queenan is going to be mean and cynical, especially when we could pay off the nation debt if we took all of our movie going and video renting money and sent it to the government instead of waiting in line to rent "Bring It On" or catch the matinee showing of "Dude, Where's My Car?" I wholeheartedly support Queenan's endeavours, and pray to God Jason Biggs and Freddie Prinze, Jr. will retire from acting. Write on, Joe.
Rating:
Summary: King Queenan
Review: So many nasty reviews about this book have missed one point entirely. Is Joe Queenan funny? Yes. Is Joe Queenan mean and cynical? Of course. Does Joe Queenan have a right to be? Well, have you seen the dreck that Hollywood releases every Friday? Of course Joe Queenan is going to be mean and cynical, especially when we could pay off the nation debt if we took all of our movie going and video renting money and sent it to the government instead of waiting in line to rent "Bring It On" or catch the matinee showing of "Dude, Where's My Car?" I wholeheartedly support Queenan's endeavours, and pray to God Jason Biggs and Freddie Prinze, Jr. will retire from acting. Write on, Joe.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny stuff from a mean guy.
Review: This a great collection of essays by Joe. There are some real treasures here and the beginning of the book had me crying in the aisles of the plane. Unfortunately as the book wears on you come across some less exciting articles. They're all well written and entertaining but the guffaws become a little less frequent. I can see why you'd apprciate coming across his articles once a month in Movieline rather and trying to chug through them all at once. Still I thought it was a lot of mean spirited fun and recommend this book. My only other recommendation is that you take a break between chapters.
Rating:
Summary: One Star?
Review: This book is a well-needed, tongue and cheek, throw at Hollywood,Backseat directors and reality impaired people. Amen. If you have a genuine sense of humor and you love to laugh at yourself ( and others )this is a quick fun read.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, it's funny....kind of.
Review: This book would have been much funnier had it been published five years ago. In 2000 and beyond, jokes about the instantly forgettable movie Speed are not exactly at the apex of the comedic hierarchy. The guy is an overgrown teenager--yeah, he does some funny stuff, but the book itself is comprised of vingettes that don't flow with one another and ultimately look like some kid's journal (albiet an intellegent kid). If you're looking for clever humor, this will only leave you mildly satisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is not funny
Review: This guy Joe Queneen, or whatever his name is, has got to be the biggest jerk on the planet. I would use stronger language than jerk but i want to make sure this review stays so that others will not have to read his load of B.S. All you need to know to figure out that he is a jerk is to read his essay on heckling. He agrees in the essay that he acts like an a-hole, but, in true a-hole fashion, he trades blame from himself to the victim audience by calling them spinelss for not standing up to him. His true colors come really clear when he goes to some dumb coming of middle-age comedy and is only one of two people there. Not only does he insult the movie, which he might justify by saying it's his job, but he mocks a woman to her face. Then he proceeds to insult her behind her back by calling her a doormat. But who in there right mind would approach someone making wisecracks at a movie theater, to no one in particular, when there are only two people there? All of this might have been at least easy to take if this guy was funny, but he's not. All of you who liked this book have got to learn to look at something someone writes from both perspectives, sure you feel all smug when reading it from his point of view, but if it was from a victim's point of view you would see him for the deranged pathetic loser he is. In case your wonddering if i'm some guy who got heckled by him, or one of his ilk, your wrong. As a matter of fact i used to do stuff like that-but then i turned twelve.
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitive Essays
Review: This is the first Joe Queenan book I have read (it was a gift), so I had no expectations one way or the other. I gave this book two stars only because most of the essays, taken individually, were clever and amusing if not overly funny. But read consecutively, they were very repetitive and were characterized by the same theme... that this guy seems to hate most films. He also has a somewhat pretentious writing style, which is also accentuated by the repetitive themes. He really doesn't have much to say that isn't basically mean spirited. But he is quite clever and occasionally amusing. If you buy this book, try reading an essay every month or so... but not over a short period of time.
Rating:
Summary: Mean, spitful, fun
Review: You could make a pretty strong case that Joe Queenan is one of the funniest people around (the good folks at the Simpsons would, in my mind, be his stiffest competition). You could also argue that Queenan is the meanest man in the world, although Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight seems to have a stranglehold on the title (no pun intended). But without a doubt Queenan is the funniest mean man on the planet, or the meanest funny man, take your pick. His humor isn't based on a quirky take on modern society or on expletive-laden tirades against foreign convienience store workers. No, Queenan focuses his hilarious malevolence on those people who stare down at us from the covers of People and Vanity Fair, the famous actors and singers and writers and other entertainment types we all supposedly revere. The reviews and essays aren't just lazy hack jobs done from the confort of his couch. Queenan's great service to the public is through his exhaustive research of such esoteric topics as Bad Nun Movies and Blarniful Irish Films. He exposes himself to ludicrous risks to shine the light of truth and dispell the darkness that Hollywood casts. He takes a dip in the Atlantic to prove that Leonardo DiCaprio wouldn't have been so chatty bobbing around in the drink at the end of "Titanic". He volunteers to watch the entire Merchant-Ivory catalogue. In the title essay he assumes the role of the jerk at the back of the theater who shouts insults at the screen, ruining "El Mariachi" and "Alive" for the other moviegoers, any of whom could be a hulking Vincent Spano fan prepared to cave in Queenan's skull. It is amazing, as you read Queenan's malevolent reviews, what total crap Hollywood regularly excretes and expects us to revere as art. He exposes many movies as stupid, insulting, moronic, self-serving, or just plain awful. That his reviews are also hilarious is just a nice added bonus.
|
