50 Books in 50 Years: Book #4

Book #4: David Kemp with Lawrence Levi, The Film Snob*s Dictionary.

This is a sequel, or a companion volume, to The Music Snob*s Dictionary, and it does for film snobbery what the earlier volume did for music snobbery. That is to say, it provides useful background information for aspiring film snobs, or for anyone who has friends or loved ones who are film snobs. It doesn't pretend to be a comprehensive dictionary of film (God forbid), but provides capsule summaries of many of the current obsessions of movie geeks — Hong Kong martial arts films, John Cassavetes, the Hammer Film studio, and so on.

I suppose that the book would have limited appeal to people who don't socialize with film snobs, but for those who do it's both useful and amusing. I was particularly taken by their neat list of differences between MOVIES and FILMS, to wit:

It's a MOVIE if it's preceded by a trailer for the latest Jerry Bruckheimer epic.
It's a FILM if it's preceded by an announcement from a pear-shaped, balding man down in front who identifies himself as "Michael, the programming director."

Tom Waits will never, ever star in a MOVIE.
Tom Hanks will never, ever star in a FILM.

If you commune with film (or music) obsessives, by all means pick up a copy of the appropriate book.