A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey – A Joyous Celebration of Cinema from Arctic Circle to Equator

by Kevin Murphy

For some of us, moviegoing is an occasional pleasure. Kevin Murphy made it his obsession, and he did it for you. Mr. Murphy, known to legions of fans as Tom Servo on the legendary TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, went to the movies every day for a year. That's every single day, people. For a whole fricken' year. And not only did he endure, he prevailed -- for this is the hilarious, poignant, fascinating journal of his the first book about the movies from the audience's point of view. Kevin went to the multiplex, sure. But he didn't stop there. He found the world's smallest commercial movie theater. Another one made completely of ice. Checked out flicks in a tin-roofed hut in the South Pacific. Tooled across the desert from drive-in to drive-in in a groovy convertible. Lived for a week solely on theater food. Took six different women to the same date movie. Dressed up as a nun for the Sing-Along Sound of Music in London. Sneaked into the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. Smuggled an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a movie theater. And saw hundreds of films, from the Arctic Circle to the Equator, from the sublime to the unspeakable. Come along on a joyous global celebration of the cinema with a man on a mission -- to spend A Year at the Movies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Film, Media Tie In, Memoir, Comedy, Essays

368 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[ALLEN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kevin Murphy, a current member of RiffTrax and for many years the voice of "Tom Servo" on televisions's Mystery Science Theater 3000, relates how, in 2001, he saw at least one movie a day. High points: Murphy's witty judgments and writing style, the broad range of movies he saw (everything from renowned classics to formulaic junk), and the many venues he saw them in, including many unusual foreign locales, posh revival houses, the Cannes film festival, and generic multiplexes (which he calls "Googolplexes").

Demerits: Murphy discusses only about a third of the movies he saw, and in this reader's opinion spent too much time critiquing the alienating quality of those modern "Googolplexes." I'd rather he had not repeated his opinions of the small-screen atmospherics of suburban multi-screen theaters, and critiqued more films, at which he is superb. A longer review of this book is available at Amazon dot com.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Murphy spent many years as the lovable gum ball machine robot Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000, of which I have long been a devoted fan. In this book, he watches a movie every day for year, and also embarks on other stunts, such as seeing a movie in the smallest theater in the world, in the largest, exploring the concept of "date movies" and popcorn movies. The book is amazing, with Murphy's humor and love the movies shining through every page. His writing is superb, and he is also, well, wet-your-pants funny. But also very sweet. He takes his four-year-old nephew to see Monsters, Inc., he dresses as Santa Claus for the month of December and speaks lovingly of the reactions of the children who see him. I've read and reread this book many times, most recently in December of 2013, when I picked it up to reread the bit about Santa, and ended up reading backward through most of the book!

Reread 2018: It's interesting that he has a chapter on how IMAX is amazing, but how come all IMAX movies are boring nature documentaries?! And now there are major movies shot in IMAX, and I would love to have his thoughts on them. I also found it funny/sad that he twice uses Trump as a punchline about how tacky/ridiculous certain things are and now . . . yeah.

[meghann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Kevin Murphy on MST3K, and I am so glad that he, Mike and Bill are back together doing Rifftrax. I somehow came across this book and just had to read it. I thought it would give descriptions of the movies he saw (at least one a day for a year) and humorous stories about his experience. This book does contain those things, but it has so much more. On January 1, 2001, Kevin was cynical in regards to the movies currently being made as well as the multiplexes they are shown in. He felt that the entire moviegoing experience has degraded so much that we are content with mediocrity. Throughout the book he travels the world visiting all sorts of cinemas and seeing films that would never be shown at your local multiplex. He attended film festivals, analyzed how the movie experience changes based on where you sit, calculated the minimum armrest width to ensure comfort for you and your neighbor. He watched silent films accompanied by organists, saw a movie in a theater made of ice as well as all the big Hollywood releases (he did indeed see Pootie Tang). By the end of the year he realizes that great film experience can still be found, even in the dreaded multiplex. I thought this would be a quick read for me, but I found myself taking my time with it and really thinking about my own experiences and tastes in film. What a cool way to spend a year.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be all movie reviews and sort of the movie version of Nick Hornby's awesome reading journal compilations The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt and Shakespeare Wrote for Money. Instead, Murphy tackles various themes of the moviegoing experience, e.g., extreme theaters, independent theaters, seeing the same movie at different theaters, theaters that serve food, etc, each week, and writes a short essay on each. It's not some revealing academic anthropology text, but it's moderately interesting and occasionally funny -- and there are some good reviews in there to boot.

4/16/09 - This book didn't make the cut to be kept -- going to sell.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a guy who claims to be a movie fan, he pretty much just bitches about every aspect of the moviegoing experience (except when the film is being shown in some hard to reach exotic locale). I think Murphy pictures himself as a lovable curmudgeon. He comes across as a cranky old fart.

[Jack Herbert Christal Gattanella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminded me of all the problems I have with moviegoing, but moreso and more importantly why I love it so, and why there can be adventure and excitement in going to a little dark room (or, in this case, sometimes in an igloo!) Murphy's travails are funny, insightful, and deep and dramatic at times too. It also has some personal significance for me as he went during a year when I was going to see EVERYTHING that was coming out to theaters, regardless of quality, so some of these mini-reviews took me back a-ways. For the average reader (that is not the rabid movie-goer I am) I would still recommend it as a fun week-by-week journal that looks at the philosophy of cinema ans the ideas of it as well as the films itself. For any film buffs out there though, it's a MUST MUST MUST read.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of entertaining topics in this book. Don’t go to it for film reviews. This is a recounting of a year where the author went to a movie every day in what he defined as public theaters. He doesn’t quite make it in my opinion but I don’t really care. He goes to different parts of the world and down the street to his local megaplex. This would all be so much more fun if Kevin could write. If you like a folksy tone, conversational, chatty, sprinkled with fairly lame dad humor, this book is for you. I give him points for his obvious love of movies and everything about them, his campaigns for comfy chairs, better food, independent theaters, and, of course, better movies. But really, the writing gets annoying very quickly. (Read sporadically while in bathroom)

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Because I love Tom Servo, I really wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards. It has it's funny moments to be certain, but the author comes across as angry and very bitter. It just wasn't a fun book. I wish it was.

We discussed MST3K in a special episode of the all All the Books Show:
https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2001 Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo on MST3K during the Mike Nelson years) watched a publicly screened movie every day (except for one, because of a broken super-8 projector) and wrote a weekly essay about the filmgoing experience. He knows movies, and while there were fewer takedowns of bad movies than expected, it was well worth reading. It was funny (though as Kristen Wilson pointed out to me, often in dad-joke mode) and well thought out and written. He watched a movie in an igloo, projected on a beach, in Australia, in a public theater run out a guys house, you name it.

Aside from his love of film, what made this book for me was his antipathy towards advertising. Since 2001, advertising has become even more a part of the film experience and, along with other recently read books, it's gotten me thinking about the deleterious effects of being constantly marketed to. Not the insight I expected when I picked up the book, but I'd be interested to hear him talk about the current scene given how strongly he reacted to it 16 years ago.

Recommended, but more to MST3K fans than to anyone else.

And since we're on the topic, my Top 10 Films from 2001:
1) The Royal Tennenbaums (which Murphy didn't care for)
2) Waking Life
3) Devil’s Backbone
4) Mulholland Drive
5) The Man Who Wasn’t There
6) The Pledge
7) Ghost World
8) Amelie
9) Donnie Darko
10) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Runner up: Tape

[Erikka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize Tom Servo could write so well! I fully appreciated Kevin's quest and the many interesting ways he went about achieving it. I felt like he was a bit overly judgmental at times, that he was maybe a bit too stuck in the past (in the "golden age" before digital), and I wish he would have seen a wider variety of films (lots and lots of repeat views). However, it was a really fun book, quite funny, and at times very reflective and thoughtful. He also manages to make a book about things that are inherently time-restricted (movies) timeless by drawing from deeper truths instead of focusing on the films themselves. This keeps the book from becoming uncomfortably dated. I also appreciated his random stunts during some weeks that helped to bring a flourish to his journey (the Thanksgiving dinner cracked me up). I would totally recommend this book, not just to MSTies, but to movie fans and people who are entertained by yellow journalism (this hearkens to Nellie Bly and the era of sensational fears for entertainment purposes, and it's just as entertaining.)

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Servo is beloved by me, so I was excited to read his real-life counterpart’s (Kevin Murphy) yearlong adventure with movie theaters. While Murphy is funny, he needs a serious editor. A 360-page essay on the evils of multiplexes and Hollywood’s formulaic storytelling is a bit much. And he’s generally preaching to the choir, right? Nonetheless, Murphy has some interesting stories to tell about an ice-and-snow theater in Quebec, a film festival in the land of the midnight sun, and the smallest theater in the world. It was pleasant reading over the holidays while trying to block out the noise of my nephews tearing my parents house apart, but I don’t know that I’d stick it in anyone’s hands purposefully.

“Movies should be neither a waste of time nor a waste of money; that’s what television’s for.”

[Joe Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery Science Theater 3000's Kevin Murphy went to the movies every day for an entire year, and chronicled his adventures in this wonderful book. But it's not so much a collection of movie reviews as an examination of why we, as a culture, go to the movies. Some beautiful writing is contained in these pages, including Murphy's recounting of his visit to The Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles, another trip to the world's smallest cinema (located in Australia), a pilgrimage to the few remaining Route 66 drive-ins, the experience of projecting Laurel and Hardy silent comedies to the enthusiastic patrons of a Mexican bar, and lots more. I have read this book many times over the years, and it never fails to make me happy.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise: a film a day for a year (2001), grouped by weekly theme. Murphy doesn't (generally) focus on the films themselves, as much as the experience of them, which helps keep the narrative from feeling dated. Glad I read it, although I admit my enthusiasm did flag towards the end.

[Bob Lintz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cheese and Whine

Mainstream films often suck the root,but sorry Kev ya gotta lighten up Francis. I just found this book too be too contrary,one chapter we are all sheep in the multiplex,later Kevin finds solace in the joy of the unwashed masses enjoying their low rent fare.

[Jeff Learned · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stupid fun. I enjoyed it.

[Paul Whitla · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book starts with a very interesting premise - one man going to the cinema every single day for a year and in the process visiting some of the worlds most interesting cinemas and reporting chapter by chapter on some of the associated activities that go along with attending the cinema, such as cinema food, attending foreign language films etc. The book itself however is significantly less interesting because the author comes across as a self-obsessed dork who tries desperately to be funny but fails miserably time after time. This is one of the few books where I have had to skip ahead page after page because the author somehow finds a way to make interesting topics indescribably boring and to say absolutely nothing new or memorable about anything. Unfortunately the author seems to think the most interesting thing about him visiting the cinema is himself and sad to say it isn’t.

A nice idea - very poorly executed. A book even the most rabid ciema-goer will find it difficult to get any pleasure out of.

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being that I've become the de facto expert on yearlong daily projects I couldn't help but pick up this 2001 release when I spotted it at the Green Valley Book Fair this past fall. It certainly doesn't hurt that I'm a longtime Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan and the author was not only one of the writers, but the voice of Tom Servo. Based on that criteria alone, I figured there would be just the right blend of genuine movie love and sardonic humor for my tastes. And indeed there was. I thoroughly enjoyed following his attempt to see a projected movie, on a screen (even if it was one he set up himself a day), in public, every single day for a year (broken into 52 easily digestible chapters). Only a true lover of the cinema would attempt such a feat and I enjoyed the blend of thoughtful critique of the film industry, paired with the ridiculous antics that come with the territory of taking on such an overwhelming task. Hats off to Mr. Murphy on completing his task with aplomb!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved MST3K so when my brother loaned me his copy of "A Year at the Movies" by none other than Kevin Murphy from the show, I dove right in. And was thoroughly entertained. Kevin watched one movie every day for a single year, and while he does occassionally have reviews of the movies he sees, the book is more about the movie-going experience from all angles, what he loves about movies, what he hates about them, and how he fell in love with the movies all over again. Each chapter is short--I told Tracy that had Kevin written this book, it would have been blog posts instead of chapters. It's a fast, entertaining read and all I wanted to do when I finished was go to the movies. Highly recommended!

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kevin Murphy one of the MST3K gang vowed to see a movie every day of the year in every kind of venue in every reach of the globe. The book is chopped up into short chapters of movie going experiences. I found this book better to take in short doses than read cover to cover. What a gleaned from this tome is that he hates multi-plexes and churned-out Hollywood product. The best theatre in the world for movie-going Kevin discovered is in Rarotonga(?sp), a small island near New Zealand. Its walls carved out of coral and it serves the best tutti-fruiti ice cream at intermission(and there always is an intermission). If you are a movie fanatic this is the book for you.

[Onionboy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I don't know why I keep reading this book. I had such high hopes when I saw the concept, but the execution was terrible. This guy says he loves movies. I think he actually loves to *hate* movies. And it seems he hates people too. He is really a movie snob. No, I'm not just saying that; he admits it in the book. But I think even movie snobs would say, "Wow, that guy is really a movie snob!" I'm sorry, *film* snob. I guess my idea of enjoying movies and his idea of loving film are just not compatible.

I will admit, though, that some of his rants were funny.

Don't read this if you enjoy movies casually. Actually, I don't know who would enjoy this book.

[John Pitcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not expected, but still good

This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it was still good. And because of the unexpected, it took me awhile to get to where I was really enjoying the book. I made some notes to see a few theaters across the country if I’m ever in those cities... This was more about theaters and the movie industry than about a review of movies. Although we get some of that as well.

[Jake Ambos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny and surprisingly moving "diary" of one man's year spent watching at least one movie per day. Murphy's joy and love of life is infectious, and his anecdotes (such as setting up a Thanksgiving dinner in the theater as he watched MONSTERS, INC. with his family, and being stranded on a Pacific island immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks) are priceless and heartwarming.

[Neven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kevin is a very entertaining guide through the world of movie theaters and movies, but his style is too self-conscious to sustain an entire book. The central premise - seeing a movie a day for a whole year, in a proper theatre - seems to bore even him very early on.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly entertaining look the experience of going to the movies. Lots of interesting info about the state of movie theaters and theater oddities. The writing was a bit hokey at times -- unfortunate for a topic with a lot of potential.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

For lovers of the social moviegoing, movieloving experience. Murphy crystalizes the unpretentious joy - he sees Broken Blossoms AND Corky Romano.

[Matthias Ferber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I wanted more about the movies. It kind of defeats the purpose otherwise, doesn't it?

[Neva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Kevin Murphy, a lot.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was bad. One mans journey to discover and write about what it is to go to the movies in 2001 turns out to be a long repetitious complaint that things were better then. Don't waste your time.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I expected at all!

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a giant, massive, fervent MST3K fan!! I love the show, the cast, the live shows, Riff Trax. I have autographs and commemorative posters. I have donated to kick starters ... I am a fan girl.

This book by Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo) is a love letter to the movie going experience. Not movies - well one or two movies but all the the things we love and hate about going to the theater.

He decided in 2000 that the next year he would see a movie / day preferably in a theater but failing that projected in some way in a group setting.

Starting 1/1/01 he began his quest. And he was realistic and didn't say "A Different Movie" So some weeks he saw the same movie up to 7 times, bless his heart.
He saw them locally, in googleplexs, in art houses, in bars. He saw them internationally projected onto a sheet in a Mexican beach town, he saw them in Cannes, Venice and the Cook Islands.
He saw them on airplanes.

He saw new releases, silent classics and everything in between. He even endured a showing of The Rocky Horror picture show. [Disclaimer in my youth as a nerd I loved RHPS; but I think I would rather have dental surgery than sit through it today]
This isn't a book that sets out to review movies, although there are some reviews, it is a travel log and life log from a movie fan.

Kevin is funny, the book is funny.

Presented in Weekly installments you can, as I did, read a few bits and then put it down.
I really really liked it.