Nobody's Perfect: Writings from The New Yorker

Anthony Lane is very snarky, in a good way.

Most entertaining critic...

Film crit, profiles and journalism from the New Yorker over the last ten years - what the UK has been missing since Tina Browne snaffled Anthony Lane from the Independent. Highly commended for its wit and erudition (and for propping open doors - it's 800 pages) but be warned that it's a kind of depressing read too. I've been wasting my time on all this stuff all my life, but I now realise that I...more

Film crit, profiles and journalism from the New Yorker over the last ten years - what the UK has been missing since Tina Browne snaffled Anthony Lane from the Independent. Highly commended for its wit and erudition (and for propping open doors - it's 800 pages) but be warned that it's a kind of depressing read too. I've been wasting my time on all this stuff all my life, but I now realise that I actually know nothing and have not a solitary idea worth the name in my empty head. The guy's just too smart, not just on the cultstuds stuff but on Eliot, Waugh, Shakespeare - the big guys - and maddeningly witty and charming with it. Had this one next to the loo for a couple of days thinking I would spin it out over a year or so - after all how many reviews do you want to read at a stretch ? - but it was soon out and by my bedside, and soon after that seemed to be following me round the house. I finally finished it off over a couple of days solid reading. And laughing. Haven't had this experience since Pauline Kael's mighty 'For Keeps', next to which it now sits, a worthy companion.   hide