Millennium Movies by
Kim Newman
pbk out April 99
(Titan Books)
at £12.99
I have, in these reviews, previously extolled the considerable virtues of Kim Newman as both a short story writer and a novelist, but Newman has yet another notable career as a film critic and
reviewer. In his work for SIGHT & SOUND and EMPIRE, as well as in books such as NIGHTMARE MOVIES and THE BFI COMPANION TO HORROR, Newman has shown that he is every bit as clever, witty and insightful in his nonfiction as in his fiction. MILLENNIUM MOVIES is par for Newman's course: a thoroughly delightful journey through the
cinema of apocalypse, with a tour guide who is part stand-up comic, part film studies professor.
You might not believe that anyone can be as familiar with the details of some of the films discussed in MILLENNIUM MOVIES as Newman
seems to be, but I can vouch for the fact that he is a walking encyclopedia of movies. There is virtually nothing he has not seen and remembered well enough to freely expound upon. And not *just*
expound: his discourse is never mere pontificating, but is invariably characterized by discernment and perspicacity. Though much of the ground of MILLENNIUM MOVIES is familiar and oft-written about - end of the world movies, 50's mutant monster flicks, atomic paranoia cinema - Newman manages to draw new nuggets of insight from the material. Importantly, while Newman does not hesitate to castigate bad films or pretend that grade-Z, grind-house filler is anything other than the crap it often is, he invariable hones in on and
singles out what is interesting about such work. He has that rare skill to make clear that good cultural criticism is not dependent upon the quality of the work discussed, but upon drawing from the
work what there is to learn about the artists and culture that produced it. And Newman avoids the many cliches which have all but become writ, particularly about science fiction and horror cinema of
the fifties, offering considered judgement in place of knock-off caption writing.MILLENNIUM MOVIES has undoubtedly been titled to capitalize on the Dome-crowned moment at hand, and indeed, the subtitle "End of the World Movies" is a more reliable indicator of the book's content. The actual End of the World should only be as enjoyable as Newman's
work.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
Millennium Movies by
Kim Newman