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Hatchet Job

by Mark Kermode

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Narrator Mark Kermode

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Length 7 hours 53 minutes

Language English

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Summary
About the author
About the narrator

A wry, robust and developed defence of accountable critical voices' 4 stars, Total Film

For decades, the backbone of film criticism has been the hatchet job – the entertaining trashing of a film by professional reviewers, seen by many as cynical snobs. But with the arrival of the internet, have the critics finally fallen under the axe? With movie posters now just as likely to be adorned by Twitter quotes as fusty reviewer recommendations, has the rise of enthusiastic amateurism sounded the death knell of a profession? Are the democratic opportunities of the internet any more reliable than the old gripes and prejudices of the establishment? Can editing really be done by robots? And what kind of films would we have if we listened to what the audience thinks it wants?

Starting with the celebrated TV fight between film-maker Ken Russell and critic Alexander Walker (the former hit the latter with a rolled-up copy of his Evening Standard review on live television) and ending with his own admission to Steven Spielberg of a major error of judgement, Mark Kermode takes us on a journey across the modern cinematic landscape.

Like its predecessor, The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex, Hatchet Job blends historical analysis with trenchant opinion, bitter personal prejudices, autobiographical diversions and anecdotes, and laugh-out-loud acerbic humour. It’s the perfect book for anyone who’s ever expressed an opinion about a movie.

History Art

Mark Kermode (@KermodeMovie) is resident film critic for BBC Radio 5 live, where he co-hosts the Sony Award-winning Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review (@wittertainment). He also co-presents The Film Review on the BBC News Channel, and presents the bi-weekly BBC video blog Kermode Uncut. He is the author of several books on cinema, including The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex: What’s Wrong with Modern Movies, and two BFI Modern Classics monographs, on The Exorcist and The Shawshank Redemption. He has written and presented a number of film documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, including Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils, On the Edge of Blade Runner, Burnt Offering: The Cult of the Wicker Man, and Alien: Evolution. He is a contributing editor to Sight & Sound magazine, and recently became chief film critic for the Observer. He plays bass and harmonica in the skiffle-and-blues band The Dodge Brothers, who regularly perform live musical accompaniment for silent movies such as Beggars of Life and The Ghost that Never Returns. He is a proud member of Bafta. His favourite movies include Mary Poppins, Silent Running and The Exorcist; his least favourite include Sex and the City 2, Pirates of the Caribbean and Exorcist 2.