Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese
by Michael J. Nelson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael J. NelsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-06-20
ISBN: 0380814676
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: It Books
Book Reviews of Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese
Book Review: (bows down before the Humor Writing God)
Summary: 5 Stars
"How's he doing?" one of my English college professors e-mailed me. "Vomitously well," I typed back. "Don't read him on an 'I Hate Me Day.'" "Oh, hell, Mary Beth," he answered, "did you expect anything less?" The vomitus he in question was Michael J. Nelson, head writer and star of our just canceled, favorite-of-life television show, "Mystery Science Theater 3000." When the Sci-Fi Channel pulled the plug on the program, Nelson turned to pure essayism..... nauseatingly well. Much anticipated in MSTie-dom, Nelson's first solo book, this collection of reviews on movies and the entertainment world in general, is smashing. Witnessing the evolution of a writer is always fascinating, and more intriguing still when you've become accustomed to his work in another realm. Here Nelson leaves no doubt that he can do what an appalling number of television creators cannot: actually write. Everything that made us love "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is marvelously present in "Movie Megacheese"-- for in an age where each individual "Friend" is pulling down a million dollars a show, the knowledge that once upon a time, a scrappy band of well-read Minnesotans churning out something far more intelligent without resting against NBC's wallet is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking. It's thrilling to find that Mike's intrepid battle against the mindeless and the myopic continues with this collection of much-warrented attacks on the likes of "Titanic" and the Culkin family. Unlike the Emmy-bloated Jerry Seinfeld, whose bestselling "SeinLanguage" consisted solely of a typed-up version of his standup routines, Nelson has taken care to shade his writing with depth, savvy pop-culture criticism, and cerebral wit. The only humor writer I've ever come across to use the word "sartorially" mid-sentence, Nelson's unique, relentless push to appeal to the highest common denominator delightfully juxtaposes a childlike sense of play. The result is an SAT word-riddled joyride through the finer points of everything from Carl's Jr.'s to the lesser works of the First Folio. Dave Barry points and laughs; Nelson points, laughs, and analyizes. A sample: "(Francesca's) husband returns and, unaware of her indescretion, goes about his job of being laconic," he says in a chapter decimating "The Bridges of Madison County." "He's the apocryphal Midwestern farmer who loved his wife so much, he almost told her." Like many devotees of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," after staring at the back of Nelson's head for five years, I felt a sharp pang when the show departed in 1999. I'd lost, it seemed, a dear drinking buddy. But as Nelson comes out of the shadows to mock the world on his own, the nostalgia has given way to anticipation. With a word processor as his only mechanical sidekick these days, it seems that Mike Nelson is surviving his return to Earth quite nicely.
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