Mark Bramhill

If you truly knew nothing about writing or cinema terminology, this may be a good resource. If not, this book will feel condescending, needlessly lengthy, and meandering. The book deals too much with writing practice in general — I don't need a film writing book to know I should proofread my writing.

A fun, easy read. Sloan has a lot of wacky, entertaining ideas and a enjoyable plot that kept me going with this. But the writing is really nothing special — so much ‘meh' description, and so much of it feels like a repeat (I swear, everyone “raises an eyebrow” or “narrows their eyes” as their primary form of emoting, one character always “totters” around, etc). The characters are fine, but not deep — some are quite fun despite this, but are total caricatures. And then the fun ideas I mentioned — about technology, typography, coding, and museum archives — they are so outlandish and absurd that I question if Sloan knew that they had no resemblance to reality or not. Even knowing a good deal about these subjects (why the book was recommended to me), I can get past them to enjoy them for what they are: pure, fantastical fun.