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Movie Geek: The Den of Geek Guide to the Movieverse
Movie Geek is a nerdy dive into popular movies, brought to you by the award-losing Den Of Geek website, with a foreword by the UK's foremost film critic, Mark Kermode. Discover hidden stories behind movies you love (and, er, don't love so much), and find out just why the most dangerous place to be is in a Tom Hanks film.
Fascinating, surprisingly and hugely entertaining, this leftfield movie guide is gold for film buffs, and might just bring out the geek - hidden or otherwise - within you...
Includes:
Alternative movie endings that were binned
Movie sequels you didn't know existed
Massive box office hits that were huge gambles
The collateral damage of Tom Hanks movies
Hidden subtexts in family movies
Disastrous things that went wrong on modern movie sets...and much, much more!
234 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 5, 2017
41 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
July 25, 2018
This book, while it does contain some new material, is largely a collection of articles (some of them rewritten and knocked into shape for book format) that previously appeared on the 'Den of Geek' website.
When I received it as a Christmas present last year I wasn't overly enthusiastic to read it right away, as the fact that it's taken me seven months to get to it will attest.
I expected it to be a bit of a slog. 'I'll read a couple of articles per day' I thought 'and I'll eventually get through it'. What a Muppet I can be sometimes.
This book is actually highly entertaining and pretty damned interesting to boot. Instead of a slow trickle of articles, I've ended up devouring it in just three days! Rather than getting it over with, I'm probably going to add Den of Geek to my RSS feed.
Lesson learned: actually BE as open to new things as I like to think I am...
When I received it as a Christmas present last year I wasn't overly enthusiastic to read it right away, as the fact that it's taken me seven months to get to it will attest.
I expected it to be a bit of a slog. 'I'll read a couple of articles per day' I thought 'and I'll eventually get through it'. What a Muppet I can be sometimes.
This book is actually highly entertaining and pretty damned interesting to boot. Instead of a slow trickle of articles, I've ended up devouring it in just three days! Rather than getting it over with, I'm probably going to add Den of Geek to my RSS feed.
Lesson learned: actually BE as open to new things as I like to think I am...
December 13, 2022
I picked up this book because I like to dip into the Den of Geek website from time to time. I’m a genre fan and I find it’s a good resource for news and reviews about SF, fantasy and horror (although they also cover other genres too) and I appreciate the reviews, which I find to be honest without being unnecessarily cruel and knowledgeable without being elitist. If you haven’t visited it before, I’d recommend it.
Following an introduction by film critic Mark Kermode, the book is structured around the life span and format of a film, from development and pre-production through production, postproduction, watching films and credits. Format wise, the sections are divided between longer form pieces that address a particular subject, such as how Alien: Resurrection led to the Ice Age movies or films that fell apart mid-production, and compilation sections that contain short summaries about a number of films to illustrate a particular theme or point (e.g. the things that action heroes get up to on their days off, movie villains who kill their incompetent henchmen, and brilliant opening credit sequences in movies).
There are lots of fascinating nuggets in the book, my favourite being the section that discusses the timeline of a movie by looking at how The Hunger Games adaptation came into being. The book covers a wide range of genres, but Star Wars does feature quite heavily. I would have liked it if there’d been more foreign cinema covered within the book (although I understand there’s only a limited amount of space) and I also wished that older films had featured more but the writers’ love of the medium really does come through and while there were stories and facts here that I was familiar with, there was plenty more that was new to me. It’s also the type of book that you can dip into as and when you want or read from cover to cover as you prefer and not lose anything by doing so.
If you’re a hardcore movie nerd, then you might find this book a bit too basic, but if you’re a regular at your local multiplex (or, at least, you were before the pandemic!) and always check out the new movie releases on TV, then I think you’ll find this book a lot of fun and get a lot from it.
Following an introduction by film critic Mark Kermode, the book is structured around the life span and format of a film, from development and pre-production through production, postproduction, watching films and credits. Format wise, the sections are divided between longer form pieces that address a particular subject, such as how Alien: Resurrection led to the Ice Age movies or films that fell apart mid-production, and compilation sections that contain short summaries about a number of films to illustrate a particular theme or point (e.g. the things that action heroes get up to on their days off, movie villains who kill their incompetent henchmen, and brilliant opening credit sequences in movies).
There are lots of fascinating nuggets in the book, my favourite being the section that discusses the timeline of a movie by looking at how The Hunger Games adaptation came into being. The book covers a wide range of genres, but Star Wars does feature quite heavily. I would have liked it if there’d been more foreign cinema covered within the book (although I understand there’s only a limited amount of space) and I also wished that older films had featured more but the writers’ love of the medium really does come through and while there were stories and facts here that I was familiar with, there was plenty more that was new to me. It’s also the type of book that you can dip into as and when you want or read from cover to cover as you prefer and not lose anything by doing so.
If you’re a hardcore movie nerd, then you might find this book a bit too basic, but if you’re a regular at your local multiplex (or, at least, you were before the pandemic!) and always check out the new movie releases on TV, then I think you’ll find this book a lot of fun and get a lot from it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2021
This is really informative but I do wish that they added more recent films. I do believe that there are more prominent directors aside from Scorsese, George Lucas, etc. Some pages are really redundant and it contains more of the sci-fi and fantasy genre.
Nevertheless, this was hilarious and geeky in a way. I have never learned so much about the in and outs of a movies if it wasn't for this.
Nevertheless, this was hilarious and geeky in a way. I have never learned so much about the in and outs of a movies if it wasn't for this.
July 13, 2024
2.5/5
Возможно, в формате отдельных статей на Den of Geek оно и норм, но в формате книги как-то не впечатляет, грызла 1,5 месяца и чего-то прямо очень необычного про киноиндустрию не узнала.
Возможно, в формате отдельных статей на Den of Geek оно и норм, но в формате книги как-то не впечатляет, грызла 1,5 месяца и чего-то прямо очень необычного про киноиндустрию не узнала.
November 9, 2017
I've rated some 3,846 films on the IMDB, which probably makes me a movie nerd of sorts. Now, I've never heard of The Den of Geek, so I didn't really have any expectations of their approach to world of cinema and video. There's an easy going style to the content, very colloquial and approachable. and content rich. Where many film reference books are filled with photos and illustrations, Movie Geek aims to please with lots of interesting trivia, where the smaller photos (never more than 1/3 page) support the text rather than bulk the book out (and it offers about 220 pages of content!).
Despite the entertaining and informative facts presented, I still found the book a tease. With many of the articles I found myself wanting more information, more description and, in many cases, a need to watch the film again. There are so many interesting links, backstories and revelations in the film industry, keeping Movie Geek (relatively) concise must have been tough for the editors. The book sticks with popular film and mostly blockbusters, famous titles and with leading actors. This makes the book very accessible, couple this with its easy reading style, you have a winner.
Easy to pick up, Movie Geek isn't hard work yet pays back in spades - a good read for any movie geek, full of trivia and entertaining articles. Considering my long-term love of movies, I found plenty of engaging articles, packed with stuff I didn't know. Thumbs up.
Despite the entertaining and informative facts presented, I still found the book a tease. With many of the articles I found myself wanting more information, more description and, in many cases, a need to watch the film again. There are so many interesting links, backstories and revelations in the film industry, keeping Movie Geek (relatively) concise must have been tough for the editors. The book sticks with popular film and mostly blockbusters, famous titles and with leading actors. This makes the book very accessible, couple this with its easy reading style, you have a winner.
Easy to pick up, Movie Geek isn't hard work yet pays back in spades - a good read for any movie geek, full of trivia and entertaining articles. Considering my long-term love of movies, I found plenty of engaging articles, packed with stuff I didn't know. Thumbs up.
November 1, 2023
Lots of fun filmic trivia to be found herein to be sure, but WOW, there are just too many errors in the proofreading (missing parentheses and other vital punctuations, missing words in sentences, etc), and too many mistakes with regards to the accuracy of years and numbers and chronologies, which altogether drive me up the wall.
One such example of a baffling factual error, that somehow slipped through the cracks all the way to publication, is in the chapter “The Man Who’s Made The World’s Most Expensive Film Four Times” (spoiler alert: it’s about James Cameron), whereupon the chapter opens with the following statement:
“The most expensive film ever made is said to be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The 2007 sequel is thought to have cost some $375m just to make. The second-most expensive film is its follow-up, At World’s End, which looks a bargain in comparison at $300m.”
There are a few glaring issues with this paragraph.
1) “On Stranger Tides” isn’t from 2007. It came out in 2011.
2) The “Pirates” sequel that DID come out in 2007 was “At World’s End”.
3) How can “At World’s End” be a follow-up to a sequel that came out 4 years AFTER it?
(However, since this book was published in 2017, it can be forgiven for not reflecting the most recent information updates from 2023, which reveal that “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is now actually the most expensive movie ever made (to date), with a total net budget spent of $446.6 million (!!), so I guess “On Stranger Tides” doesn’t have to bear the ignominious weight of being saddled with the “most expensive movie ever” trivia it’s been known for for so long. Unfortunately, that also means it no longer boasts the one interesting thing it had going for its memorability, so alas, it must fade into the same irrelevance as its follow-up, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, a.k.a. “Salazar’s Revenge”.)
But perhaps the worst example of an inexplicable failure of fact-checking is when this book states that the original “Godzilla” is from 1933. In actuality, it is from 1954, which ought to have been an obvious error to catch, considering THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF GODZILLA was borne from the terror of nuclear holocaust that was instilled in Japan after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which happened in 1945. So where the hell did 1933 come from, considering saying that was the year “Godzilla” came out is wrong on so many levels?
Shame you can’t re-edit a printed book’s mistakes like you can edit an online article’s, because this sure could benefit from such a thing…
One such example of a baffling factual error, that somehow slipped through the cracks all the way to publication, is in the chapter “The Man Who’s Made The World’s Most Expensive Film Four Times” (spoiler alert: it’s about James Cameron), whereupon the chapter opens with the following statement:
“The most expensive film ever made is said to be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The 2007 sequel is thought to have cost some $375m just to make. The second-most expensive film is its follow-up, At World’s End, which looks a bargain in comparison at $300m.”
There are a few glaring issues with this paragraph.
1) “On Stranger Tides” isn’t from 2007. It came out in 2011.
2) The “Pirates” sequel that DID come out in 2007 was “At World’s End”.
3) How can “At World’s End” be a follow-up to a sequel that came out 4 years AFTER it?
(However, since this book was published in 2017, it can be forgiven for not reflecting the most recent information updates from 2023, which reveal that “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is now actually the most expensive movie ever made (to date), with a total net budget spent of $446.6 million (!!), so I guess “On Stranger Tides” doesn’t have to bear the ignominious weight of being saddled with the “most expensive movie ever” trivia it’s been known for for so long. Unfortunately, that also means it no longer boasts the one interesting thing it had going for its memorability, so alas, it must fade into the same irrelevance as its follow-up, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, a.k.a. “Salazar’s Revenge”.)
But perhaps the worst example of an inexplicable failure of fact-checking is when this book states that the original “Godzilla” is from 1933. In actuality, it is from 1954, which ought to have been an obvious error to catch, considering THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF GODZILLA was borne from the terror of nuclear holocaust that was instilled in Japan after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which happened in 1945. So where the hell did 1933 come from, considering saying that was the year “Godzilla” came out is wrong on so many levels?
Shame you can’t re-edit a printed book’s mistakes like you can edit an online article’s, because this sure could benefit from such a thing…
January 28, 2020
Perfectly fine movie fact book but I feel as though anyone calling themselves a movie geek pretty much already knows everything this book. I certainly knew most but it's an enjoyable read nonetheless. One thing that irked me, though, as trivial as it is, the section on "Bizarre Movie Merchandise" fails to mention that the Rambo children's books were actually based on the sanitised animated series rather than the violent Stallone movies. There are a couple of other moments like that but I can't quite remember, I only remember that one as it's towards the end of the book and I just finished reading it. And for the section on post credit scenes, it incorrectly says it's John Candy's boss still looking at photos when it's actually Steve Martins' boss. Who's the movie geek now?
Oh and the authors have an awful habit of using the term "late" for someone who has died at the time of writing but not in the time of the movie or event they are talking about. This dates the book as any actor still alive at the time of writing could very well be dead in a year or two if someone reads this for the first time. One part about a critic who doesn't exist states- "Manning lauded praise on... the Rob Schneider comedy The Animal. He also described the late Heath Ledger as "this year's hottest new star" for a Knight's Tale." Not mentioning dates confuses matters. I could just be complaining about nothing but it's all through the damn book.
Oh and the authors have an awful habit of using the term "late" for someone who has died at the time of writing but not in the time of the movie or event they are talking about. This dates the book as any actor still alive at the time of writing could very well be dead in a year or two if someone reads this for the first time. One part about a critic who doesn't exist states- "Manning lauded praise on... the Rob Schneider comedy The Animal. He also described the late Heath Ledger as "this year's hottest new star" for a Knight's Tale." Not mentioning dates confuses matters. I could just be complaining about nothing but it's all through the damn book.
March 24, 2021
Pretty fun read but definitely written by boys and about boy movies. Could use more diverse content instead of just fanboys talking about movies made by white men.
The articles themselves, however, are entertaining and thoughtful and provide lots of fun trivia but the authors should expand their horizons to more female directors and movies by and about people of color.
The articles themselves, however, are entertaining and thoughtful and provide lots of fun trivia but the authors should expand their horizons to more female directors and movies by and about people of color.
February 13, 2020
Movie Geek is basically a book full of movie trivia. It gives you some background information on how films are financed, how they are cast, audience trends etc but the really interesting stuff is the little bits of trivia that most casual movie watchers won't know about. The parts of the book I found really fascinating were the insights into what could have been with some pretty big and well known movies. The author discusses various incidents where the original actor or actress dropped out of the movie only to be replaced by someone else at the last minute, changes in director and writer which completely changed the tone and direction of the original idea, alternate endings to movies that were scrapped at the last minute after poor test screenings and ideas for sequels that never came into fruition. Although this kind of trivia is fascinating for anyone who is into movies, I also found it frustrating to learn of so many good ideas for films that were scrapped because of interference from production companies or poor test screenings in the United States.
Anyone who knows me will know I spend an unhealthy amount of time watching movies and so this was a really interesting book especially as I had seen about 90% of the films referenced. Obviously if you're not a complete movie fanatic it might not hold so much interest. Even so, probably not a book I would go back to again but an interesting read the first time around.
Anyone who knows me will know I spend an unhealthy amount of time watching movies and so this was a really interesting book especially as I had seen about 90% of the films referenced. Obviously if you're not a complete movie fanatic it might not hold so much interest. Even so, probably not a book I would go back to again but an interesting read the first time around.
March 4, 2018
I think I first came across the Den of Geek website in 2014, 2015, thereabouts, at a time when I was interested in looking to see wht the critics thought of a particular film or tv series (I can't even remember which!).
Sine then, it has become one of my most-visited sites (generally for reviews - which I don't always agree with, and generally after watching whatever said review is about), and one of only a handful I have bookmarked.
Alongside those reviews, the website also runs 'fluff' pieces (although I'm not even sure if that is the right term), such as 'The Things That Inspire Movies' or 'How Alien: Resurrection led to the Ice Age movies', which is really what this is: a collection of those articles spilt over the sections titled:
'Development and pre-Production'
Production
Post Production
Watching films
& Finally
As a result, I'd actually already read a fair view of these articles, but it is still useful (and intereeting) having these all in the one place (as it were).
I just wish the website would get rid of the flamin' annoying 'Videos from around the web' in the middle of the articles, that causes it to load slowly and/or crash 9 times out of 10 on my ageing iPad2 ...
Sine then, it has become one of my most-visited sites (generally for reviews - which I don't always agree with, and generally after watching whatever said review is about), and one of only a handful I have bookmarked.
Alongside those reviews, the website also runs 'fluff' pieces (although I'm not even sure if that is the right term), such as 'The Things That Inspire Movies' or 'How Alien: Resurrection led to the Ice Age movies', which is really what this is: a collection of those articles spilt over the sections titled:
'Development and pre-Production'
Production
Post Production
Watching films
& Finally
As a result, I'd actually already read a fair view of these articles, but it is still useful (and intereeting) having these all in the one place (as it were).
I just wish the website would get rid of the flamin' annoying 'Videos from around the web' in the middle of the articles, that causes it to load slowly and/or crash 9 times out of 10 on my ageing iPad2 ...
October 30, 2017
Overall a pretty fun book for movie fans of all ages and types, there's a refreshing amount of varied topics covered ranging from ' The 1998 Blockbuster that was turned around in six months' to 'movie villains who kill their incompetent henchmen'!
I pretty much read the whole thing on a (quite long) train journey home, which goes to show how much of a page-turner it really is. I consider myself a bit of a movie buff and still learned a lot of trivia/facts that I didn't know before.
My only real gripe with the book is that is does feel a bit 'lightweight', I can see myself flicking through certain chapters again but not much more. On a minor note, I really like the uber-nerdy Den of Geek articles like the one's they run on You've been Framed or an obscure tv series but feel that they weren't included due to the international audience.
Still makes for an ideal Christmas gift for the movie fans in your life.
I pretty much read the whole thing on a (quite long) train journey home, which goes to show how much of a page-turner it really is. I consider myself a bit of a movie buff and still learned a lot of trivia/facts that I didn't know before.
My only real gripe with the book is that is does feel a bit 'lightweight', I can see myself flicking through certain chapters again but not much more. On a minor note, I really like the uber-nerdy Den of Geek articles like the one's they run on You've been Framed or an obscure tv series but feel that they weren't included due to the international audience.
Still makes for an ideal Christmas gift for the movie fans in your life.
June 21, 2019
I read this right after Mark Kermode’s Good,Bad, Multiplex moanfest, and (ironically since Kermode writes an intro to this) there is a huge contrast in tone – this is an overwhelmingly POSITIVE celebration of contemporary movies. You can dip in and out to various articles randomly. There is nothing special about the writing except a giddy enthusiasm for those cool things that many popular movies have in common. Obviously, I can relate. Something like this was made for me. I’ve always loved Den of Geek, but I love it even more after this. My only real gripe is that it never gave me enough!
9/10
9/10
September 17, 2019
A very informative read, with wonderful insight into the many elements involved with making movies. It never talks down to the reader, doling out the information in a way all can understand, no matter how deeply invested they are in films. It also has interesting chapters, such as the one which detailed how Alien Resurrection led to the creation of the Ice Age films. If you liked this, I also recommend Simon Brew's podcast, Film Stories, which has more of these wonderful elements detailing specific films. It's a great companion piece to this entertaining book.
April 6, 2021
Tons of fun movie trivia and tidbits, but absolutely a "bathroom reader". Film fans everywhere will enjoy this book, so I absolutely recommend adding it to your shelf.
My only downside to the book, and admittedly it's likely my own fault as a reader, is that when I sat down and read this book in large sections all at once it turned a bit stale and forgettable. But this book isn't designed to be read in just a sitting or two, and if you take it as just enjoying a chapter or two here and there, it's full of fun stories and information about the films you love.
My only downside to the book, and admittedly it's likely my own fault as a reader, is that when I sat down and read this book in large sections all at once it turned a bit stale and forgettable. But this book isn't designed to be read in just a sitting or two, and if you take it as just enjoying a chapter or two here and there, it's full of fun stories and information about the films you love.
February 7, 2019
While the content is fun and occasionally intriguing, I found the prose to be overblown, vague and reminiscent of a series of blog posts, not something worthy of putting in a book (I know a lot of these articles came from the excellent Den of Geek website, but I expected better in this medium). You can't fault the enthusiasm the author(s) have for film, but the execution leaves something to be desired.
August 16, 2020
Simon Brew is the founder and former editor-in-chief of the Den of Geek website while Ryan Lambie is deputy editor and Louisa Mellor is the television editor. This is an entertaining collection of articles and movie trivia structured around the life span of a film that covers a range of genres. I’d have liked more foreign and old movies to be covered but the writers clearly love the medium and you’re guaranteed to learn something interesting.
December 28, 2017
Reading Movie Geek was a fun experience, with plenty of movie knowledge to dazzle your friends with included. Plus, if a book has chapters with names like “How Alien: Resurrection Led To Ice Age”, how can you not love it?
February 23, 2018
A bit light.
The book contains lots of various nuggets of trivia, a lot of which wasn't especially enlightening. I was hoping for some more in-depth analysis of movies to be honest.
Also, I found the writing to be purely functional, rather than witty or particularly entertaining.
The book contains lots of various nuggets of trivia, a lot of which wasn't especially enlightening. I was hoping for some more in-depth analysis of movies to be honest.
Also, I found the writing to be purely functional, rather than witty or particularly entertaining.
December 17, 2017
A fun and informative book to dip in & out of for movie geekery. Much love to the Stath and with wry tngue in cheek observations about films and the movie business.
December 10, 2017
Lovely little book that played to my innate film geekery. Learnt some new things and was made to remember being a geek is not a bad thing.
February 12, 2018
You know you are a real movie geek when you read a book like this and realise that you already know the majority of the tales in it.
February 19, 2018
Mostly trivial; way too much stuff about crappy superhero films.
February 21, 2018
A bargain compilation of enormously fun movie articles from one of the best pop culture sites around.
February 28, 2018
Great compendium of behind the scenes stories, trivia and just general film facts that is a really interesting edition for anyone interested in the behind the scenes of movies and film making
November 1, 2018
The most fun book I have ever read about movies. :)
And I’m still going to count this book as read for my October TBR challenge.
And I’m still going to count this book as read for my October TBR challenge.
February 20, 2019
Fun for any movie buff. I dipped in and out of it and found out plenty I didn't know before.
September 9, 2019
A great collection of movie facts and anecdotes.
September 24, 2019
A mixed bag: some great articles and fascinating facts on one hand; repetition of information and a boring, unnecessary obsession with box office figures on the other.
March 26, 2020
An entertaining and light-hearted romp through movie trivia.
July 23, 2022
This had some fun moments.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews