Action Movie Freak

by Katrina Hill

Written by woman of action Katrina "Action Flick Chick" Hill, Action Movie Freak is packed with spine-tingling excitement and thrilling moments that make action movies a beloved genre for those who crave crashing cars, exploding buildings, and faces getting kicked six ways to Sunday. With badass heroes that ain't got time to bleed, women warriors, thrilling chases and outrageous fisticuffs, Action Movie Freak celebrates a wide variety of more than 100 movies that have left audiences on the edge of their seats. Complete movie reviews are divided into various sub-genres including Classics That Defined the Genre (The Bond movies of the 1960s, "Bullit," "Dirty Harry") Bloodiest Action Movies ("Ninja Assassin," "Rambo" series, "RoboCop") and Action From the Far East ("Bangkok Knockout," "Ong Bak," "Ip Man"). The book also spotlights specific action heroes/actors, and features 250 color photos and movie posters, as well as fun Top 10 lists, including best one-liners and most over-the-top kills.

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2012

Reviews

[Anton Klink · Rating 2 out of 5]

An extremely light fare, this was more about a genre fangirl just gushing about each movie than anything of substance. What I expected from this book was two things. First was to discover new movies to watch and in that respect the somewhat book delivered. Second was to discover new things about movies I have already seen and liked, but unfortunately this was the biggest failing of the book. Instead of presenting us with interesting facts or tidbits about the movies, it just went on and on about how each hero delivered a whole lotta whoop-ass in each movie, which really doesn't say anything at all about the movies apart from the blatantly obvious, which is already spelled out on the cover. Two stars for the effort but honestly, one would better be served by pulling up just any random list of "best action movies" on the internet.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun romp through decades of action movies. This has become a big conversation piece for me and my friends. Clever writing. Insightful. Chick knows what she's talking about and her love of the movies shines through.

[Andrew Shapter · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those new to action movies, it’s a compilation of many films that must be seen. To those of us who are well versed in action cinema and were born around the early 80s, this is a nice collection of photos from some of our fave movies, with the occasional bite of new information.