The Film Snob's Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Filmological Knowledge

If you like classical cinema, get this funny and intelligent book... Theoretical definitions are hillarious (Apparatus), biographical entries are clever and sometimes brilliant, the view of "film culture" very insightful (film circles with 19-year olds who have already seen every film, fans with penile defficiencies who like violent films...). This is a good present for the coming holidays if you have a film buff for a friend or relative (AND it's not expensive...).

It's funny 'cause it's true. Tom Servo owns two copies in case one gets lost. If you were born before 1970, I need only say, This Was Written By Two Guys From Spy Magazine. What are you waiting for? Also includes helpful tips on matters such as distinguishing Sydney Pollack from Sidney Lumet, which used to be a problem for me, but no more!

A true snob, of course, will crack the spine with an eager eye for chinks in the armor. But quit hatin' and start congratulatin' -- this Dictionary is too well-crafted, funny, and steeped in film culture to be dismissed. Its real significance, though, is the new breed of snob that it represents -- one that can name-drop Cahiers du Cinema and then laugh at its own pretense; one that's at ease with Wire Fu and Bergman both; one that's comfortable enough with its gut reaction to say "Dude, Tarkovsky's kinda boring." Which means you'll get a heavy dose of the canon, along with some serious arcana about the marginalized weirdness that'll wind up in the canon, one day, if these guys have their way.

Oh yes, I'm one of those "insufferable" chaps this book takes great aim at. And I enjoyed every moment of it. This is a very amusing little book that manages to serve as a surprisingly decent introduction into the names, faces and works that your basic so called "film snob" holds sacred. At the same time, it's also a painfully funny jab at the admittedly elitist world the "film snob" inhabits. The book was so damn accurate that it sometimes hit too close to home. If you've ever found yourself driving for over two hours to catch that acclaimed film everyone at Cannes was raving about. If the words "The Criterion Collection" causes your pulse to race with excitement. If you've suddenly found yourself friendless because your buddies got sick and tired of you raving about the latest and greatest Cronenberg film. Or if you find yourself in online arguments about why 'French Connection II' is the better film than the original, then this book is for you. If you have a friend who is all of the above and who forces you to sit "in the third row" on the left when he drags you to a film, this book is the perfect tool that you can use to keep up with him. Or bring him back down to Earth! A nifty little book. Oh, and by the way Messers Kamp and Levi, you guys are correct. 'Office Space' really does suck!!!

If you've ever watched Meshes of the Afternoon at Anthology Film Archives on an August day when the air conditioning was broken...or laughed knowingly at Joan Crawford's and Mercedes McCambridge's performances in Johnny Guitar...or refrained from laughing when Annie Lennox inexplicably began warbling "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" during that awful Derek Jarman movie, well, this book is for you. Or maybe it's not-it might hit a little too close to home. But for everyone else it's really, really funny. Highly recommended. I especially like the guide to determining whether you're watching a "movie" or a "film." And yes, I do know that the phrase "awful Derek Jarman movie" is oxymoronic.