Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer

Customer reviews:

One of the most poorly researched books I have ever read..., 2008-08-14
Having heard nothing but praise for this book, and being a massive film fan, I was really looking forward to reading Blockbuster. However, no sooner had I started than I found myself having to resist the urge to throw the thing out of the nearest window - this has to be one of the sloppiest, most poorly researched books I have ever read.

As pointed out by a previous reviewer, the author states that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in 1989. It wasn't. It was released in 1984. Shone also states that Radio Flyer was never made and never released. It was. But even worse is that Shone develops an entire argument based on glaring factual inaccuracies, therefore making a stance I am somewhat supportive of seem ridiculous.

"Blockbusters do not win awards", Shone laments, pointing out that Jaws lost out in the major Oscar categories to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This, he reasons, is because Academy Award voters don't like to reward money makers and instead choose to reassure themselves that they are making art by backing smaller, more worthy films. Hence, blockbusters lose out. However, just four pages later he prints a list of the top ten box office performers of 1975. Can you guess which film nestles in second place on that list behind Jaws? That's right, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with total US takings of over $60,000,000, a figure that would also have made it the top earning film in three of the previous five years. Thus, by attempting to provide evidence to support his position, Shone only succeeds in contradicting himself. So although I agree that some of the best blockbusters have been unfairly overlooked come the awards season, reading Shone's argument is like watching the author take this sound logic outside and shoot it through the head. But, staggeringly, it gets worse...

Shone then manages to work himself into a rage about how Raiders of the Lost Ark was defeated at the Oscars by Ordinary People, something which he describes as "as fine a series of upper-cut injustices as can be imagined... Ordinary People having long since ascended to the ranks of the Great Unwatched in the sky". Just one slight problem - these films were nominated in different years. That's that, Ordinary People won best picture of 1980. Raiders wasn't released until 1981, and in fact lost out to Chariots of Fire. An injustice perhaps, but also quite an incredible demonstration that Mr Shone not only has little grasp of his subject matter but also has problems supporting his own arguments.

In short, if a child had written something this poorly researched for a school project, their teacher would draw a big red line through it and tell them to take it away and start again. Surely it isn't too much to expect that a film writer should have a basic knowledge of film? However, what's more worrying is how something of such low quality has managed to make it through the publication process and into print. I guess there's hope for all of us... Avoid.

Top Bloke, Decent Read, 2007-07-04
I'd been drawn to this book for several years due to it's subject matter of offering some much overdue praise to Spielberg & Co & whilst it's by no means a classic it's still a good read if you're a fan of 70's & 80's "Block-Busters".

The book quite simply follows a timeline of genuine block-busters from Jaws through to The Lord of the Rings, tossing in Behind the Scenes anecdotes & Box-Office matters along the way. It's well written but I often grinned when the Author let down his guard to take swipes at those foolish enough to dismiss the likes of Back to the Future & Indiana Jones as mere childish drivel. It's long been a severe annoyance of mine to read far too much movie-snobbery so it's nice to have read a mainstream book that sides with us "mere mortals". It's not all sweetness and light however as the Author readily admits that in this day and age the Block Buster has now turned into something vastly different from Jaws & Star Wars - the two movies most often refrered to as bench-marks.

The Author DOES become self-indulgent in focusing on several movies that weren't anywhere near block-busters but quite simply "personal favourites" that have gone onto become Sci-Fi favourites (namely the Alien franchise & The Terminator) but this can be overlooked as I'd have done the same - not sure I'd have gotten a chapter out of Ferris Bueller's day Off" though !!!

If you like Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, Zemeckis & Co and have a genuine interest in their works it's well worth a read.