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Cinema Speculation

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Cinema Speculation

By: Quentin Tarantino
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Quentin Tarantino
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About this listen

A unique cocktail of personal memoir, cultural criticism and Hollywood history by the one and only Quentin Tarantino.

The long-awaited first work of nonfiction from the author of the number one New York Times bestselling Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: a deliriously entertaining, wickedly intelligent cinema book as unique and creative as anything by Quentin Tarantino.

In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films.

Now, with CINEMA SPECULATION, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans - and all movie lovers - could have hoped for.

Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining.

At once film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history, it is all written in the singular voice recognizable immediately as QT's and with the rare perspective about cinema possible only from one of the greatest practitioners of the artform ever.

©2022 Quentin Tarantino (P)2022 Orion Publishing Group Limited
Art Direction & Production History & Criticism Screenwriting Thought-Provoking Funny
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Incredible.

Wish Q had read the whole thing but superb nonetheless. The last chapter is fantastic.

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A Quint Take

I enjoyed this book and Quentin’s take on films, films he liked or loved and those he didn’t enjoy or disliked completely. I could listen to him speak about cinema and movies until the cows come home, he’s an absolute pleasure to listen to about his passion.

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Incredible!

What a book. Incredible. 9 hours of QT waxing lyrical about the movies that made him.

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A great book, wish it was read by the author!

Tarantino’s enthusiasm is there for all to hear, and a real love of film comes across. The narrator was good, Tarantino would have been better…

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Great book but change of narrator slightly spoils it

I really enjoyed this book and when it started I really felt immersed in the story but Quentin only narrated the first and last chapter and everything in between is somewhat devoid of some emotion (even at 1.3x speed!) in the narration. I'm not saying the other narrator is bad but just lacks that classic Tarantino enthusiasm that this audiobook deserves and needs.

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A cinephile's dream


if you like someone talking with great insight about their movie influences then I can but hop you enjoy this book as much as as I am.

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Sheer bliss

If you're a film lover and you enjoy listening to someone who knows about the films AND love then, then you simply must buy this book.

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A pit stop tour of 70s Hollywood

Reading like a hybrid of memoir, review and film essay, this uses a dozen films as a lens to look at 70s Hollywood. It's very well written, easy to get through and certainly encouraged me to watch a bunch of films I hadn't seen before, but there are no major revelations. If this is a sign of what QT has planned for his retirement,I'd really rather he keeps making movies.

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Screen Time

Quentin Tarantino went to the cinema a lot when he was a primary school kid to see Dirty Harry and other violent movies. His mum took him - along with whoever she was dating at the time. Tarantino had a child psychologist at school - who was also a movie buff and talked about violent films with the young QT. So you can see perhaps where his love of films and later movie-making started (and his penchant for violence in his work). This is in some ways a book about going to the cinema in the 1970s and what the movies were like. It’s extreme geekery, as you’d expect, probing esoterica, much of it long-forgotten (and maybe rightly so). There’s also talk of more mainstream hits such as Jaws and Rocky (which QT loved). At times, my mind wandered - especially, for example, when we got into the weeds of an elaborate plot for a creaky 1970s thriller. The problem is the narration. QT narrates the first and last sections - and this works very well. The last section is probably the best bit. Ballerini does a serviceable job overall - though sounds a little sedated - but there’s no substitute for the passion of the man himself. Not having QT narrate the whole book was a mistake. That said, this mix of cinema reportage and memoir does work well and fans will love it. It’s at its strongest when QT takes a broad overview of the industry and its history, though some of the synopses of his favourite movies can be fun. If you’re a cinephile, you’ll find it interesting; if you’re a QT fan, you may have heard or read it already. Either way, it’s worth your time if you take movies seriously. But it’s hard to imagine anyone taking them more seriously than QT…

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Even better than I expected

Enjoyed every second of it. Excellently narrated by both men. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

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