For my next book, I read Mike Nelson's 'Movie Megacheese' . Nelson being most notable as the guy from Mystery Science Theater 3000 that talks over B-movies with two robots. I will admit that I have not seen much of this show at all, but do appreciate the occasional crappy flick once in a while. In this book, Mike Wilson has no shame in hammering away at every subpar action movie, or romantic comedy that came out between 1980 and 2000, when this book was released. Classic movies such as Face/Off, Anaconda and anything starring Jean-Claude Van Damme are appropriately skewered. The likes of Patrick Swayze, Paulie Shore and all of the Baldwins are also the subjects of much cinematic ire, and rightly so! Swayze's Road House is actually held as the very pinnacle of bad movies and is the benchmark against which every other movie is compared!
My wife was actually who suggest I read this book because she is a fan of MST3K(as it is termed) , and that "it is a funny, quick read and will be good research." I will admit that it was indeed those things, an entertaining read that provided a little insight into amusing movie reviews that roast the mediocre. This is something that I have been interested in doing, but for a very specific breed of movie or television, those involving architects as characters. It fascinates me that a particular profession can be so poorly represented in film and television. Likewise, Nelson cannot seem to resist going after poor depictions of pretty much anything! His method is commendable and he fully commits to experiencing these movies completely, not only making it through the movie but forcing himself to watch it again with DVD commentaries and going through all the bonus features. The reviews didn't get too in depth, and he often side-tracked with personal anecdotes, but you could tell that as silly and cranky as his essays were, Nelson was writing about a subject that he thoroughly enjoyed and spent more time with than should be humanly capable.
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