This week we spoke to Tom Shone, author of Blockbuster, one of the most interesting and entertaining books about movies out there. As always it’s a long-form interview, talking about the book, blockbusters of the seventies and eighties, and movies in general. Tom was very generous with his time and we had a great time talking to him.
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Great interview- really enjoyed how it was that much longer than usual so you could get into talking about blockbusters more in depth. Funny that Conor should mention that a film for him would be ideally ninety minutes as the interview was that length!
I appreciated what Tom was saying about the landscape of film appearing much better in retrospect. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we tend to remember only the films that we had an emotional attachment to while lesser, mediocre films fall by the wayside. That tied into one of the most acute observations that I took from ‘Blockbuster’- the idea that films like the Godzilla remake were considered flops, though they made a huge amount of money, on the basis that they were impossible to love. There was nothing emotionally engaging about Godzilla in the same way as there was about Jaws or Close Encounters or Raiders. So they become the ‘flop that wasn’t’.
As Tom says it’ll be interesting to see what critics will make of Pixar’s run of films. It will be hard to see them as anything else but a new golden age of animation.
Have you read “In the Rooms” by Mr. Shone ? . It was a terrific read . A new and improved version addressing the american market sometime next year will be released . I’m looking forward to it .
@Len Babb No I haven’t read that actually, I almost asked him about it in the interview but I didn’t want to stray too much from movie-talk.
I’m going to pick it up and give it a read. Blockbuster showed a really deft comic touch which I imagine will translate really well to fiction.
-Conor
Hey, Conor . I enjoyed your interview with the author.Thank you. He’s obviously very bright with a dry british wit.. I enjoyed his first novel . As you might expect, it was serious but with a deft sense of humor. Wasn’t crazy about the ending but I suspect that it’ll be better in the new version coming out next year. He definitely has a style about him. Definitely material for an Indie movie.
Again, thank you.
Hi Len,
You’re very welcome, and thanks for listening! We’re always delighted to get responses to the show. Tell your friends, mount a campaign, click Like on our Facebook page, or just keep listening!
-Conor