Ben Elton is probably best known for his writing for Blackadder and the Young Ones. Popcorn is one of his novels where his razor sharp wit and bleeding sarcasm come together and create a hard hitting comedy about a oscar winning movie writer who writes Tarantino style movies and two young mass murderers who could have walked off the screen of one of his movies. It's a hilarious riff on violence, mass media, Hollywood culture, human fascination for empty entertainment and who in that mix is responsible for the horrible results.
The novel was published in 1996 and is still as relevant as it ever was. Elton's insight in the modern human condition is amazing and chilling at the same time. You can perfectly see how this would play out in social media, even though when this novel was published it wasn't there as it is today. A prescient, witty, hilarious and deeply scary work by one of the greatest comedic writers of the last 50 years. Very much recommended to everyone, especially people who love Blackadder or the young ones.

An entertaining read. I can't decide whether the epilogue is funny or terrifying!

The whole backbone of the book is the discussion of whether violence in movies propogates violence in real life. In Popcorn [1996] Ben Elton tries to juxtapose an Oscar winning Director's violent movie with the actions of a modern day Bonnie and Clyde who are terrorising the country.

The real problem I have with it are twofold:

1. The two plot lines are all a bit Pulp Fiction [1992] meets Reservoir Dogs [1994], but just the violent bits; there's none of the subtlety evident in the two movies. So much so, I started to think of Quentin Tarantino everytime we were in Bruce's (the fictional director) presence and as for our Natural Born Killers [1994] (yes, the throw back to the movie plot is deliberate - especially as it is a Tarantino story) I found myself thinking of Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer (as opposed to Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis).
I can understand why there are similarities but it did feel as though the plot was lifted directly from these films.

2. The deliberate blurring of whether what we were being shown was real or fictional. Particularly towards the end of the book, there is deliberate blurring of whether this is all scripted and being acted out on a sound stage or if it is really happening. Unfortunately, it is clumsily executed so rather than being a deft tool it turns in to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The facile nature of fame is well executed in the tale though and I did enjoy that. Whether it is the red carpet phonys before and after the Oscar ceremony or the breathless media reporting of yet another atrocity. Unfortunately, it never manages to open the dialogue that it intends to (as all Mr Elton's novels are intended to) as it just owes too much to what has gone so recently before and his influences are definitely showing in this one. Maybe it would have been more impactful had I read it closer to release time when the media was full of scare stories but somehow I doubt it.

Despite the subject matter it is a jolly enough read - if you don't mind blood, guts and gore aplenty. There are some reasonable character studies within the pages - especially Bruce and the downtrodden sidekick. Ultimately though it falls very short of the mark.

Picked this up on holiday as I finished the book I took away with me. I had never read any Ben Elton and thought I would give him a try. I have mixed feeling and about this book. For the first time in my life I read a book from cover to cover in a week. I could not put it down and took it everywhere we went on holiday so I could sneak a page or tow at every opportunity. However the storyline was un pleasant and struck some kind of nerve with me. The book proclaims to be “laugh out loud funny” but I only managed a chuckle to myself once. There must have been something about it for me to have completed it in one week, but cant say I am encouraged to pick up another Ben Elton just yet.

Όχι η καλύτερη στιγμή του Ben Elton (αλλά μάλλον όχι και η χειρότερη). Σε ένα παρχωχημένης (αλλά περιέργως πάντα επίκαιρης) θεματολογίας ανάγνωσμα, ο συγγραφέας μας φέρνει αντιμέτωπους με τη βία και τη διαμάχη ως προς το τι τη δημιουργεί και ποιος είναι ο υπεύθυνος.

Ένας σκηνοθέτης που κερδίζει το όσκαρ με μια ταινία όπου η βία είναι αχαλίνωτη, στη συνέχεια της βραδιάς της απονομής και ενώ είναι έτοιμος να πηδήξει ένα μανούλι στάρλετ που έχει ποζάρει στο πλέιμπόι (συγγνώμη για το σεξισμό, αλλά είμαστε στα 90ies) έρχεται σε επαφή με τη νέμεσή του, ένα ζευγάρι που ζει από τη βία όπως οι ήρωές του. Όμως οι συνθήκες δεν είναι ακριβώς ιδανικές. Ή μήπως είναι; Κρατείται όμηρος από τα δύο white trash τυπάκια που σκοτώνουν κόσμο χωρίς λόγο και στο τέλος καλείται μπροστά σε κάμερες να υπερασπιστεί τον εαυτό του, τις επιλογές του και την τέχνη.

Μέχρι να φτάσουμε όμως εκεί, έχει χυθεί αρκετό αίμα…

Σχεδόν αμήχανο και όχι απόλυτα σίγουρο ως προς αυτό που θέλει να πει, το βιβλίο είναι στη γκρίζα ζώνη μεταξύ ενδιαφέροντος αναγνώσματος και εγχειρίδιου διδακτικισμού με το δάχτυλο προτεταμένο, ενώ στο background μετεωρίζεται (αφήνοντας αρκετές πορδίτσες) το αμείλικτο ερώτημα «η ζωή μιμείται την τέχνη ή το αντίστροφο», με ένα φινάλε που δεν θα ικανοποιήσει ΚΑΝΕΝΑΝ.

Σατιρίζει τα μέσα ενημέρωσης; Ναι, το έκανε και ο Νόρμαν Σπίνραντ πολύ πιο αποτελεσματικά, βαθύτερα και… εκρηκτικά στις «Ειδήσεις των 11» και το «Bug Jack Baron». Η υπόθεση ήταν καλή; Ήταν, αλλά δε σε έριχνε τανάσκελα. Τουλάχιστον μετά τη δεκαετία του ’90… Ήταν οι χαρακτήρες πιστευτοί; ΟΧΙ! Πολλές φορές, πιάνεται ένοχος ο Έλτον να κάνει υπερβάσεις, ιδιως όταν βάζει δυο σκουπίδια να μιλάνε πολύ πιο συγκροτημένα απ’ όσο θα περίμενες από δυο αγράμματα τσογλάνια που σκοτώνουν κόσμο «επειδή» και μετά φακαμιώνται κιόλας ανάμεσα στα πτώματα. Είναι επαρκής η σιχαμάρα από τις πρωινές εκπομπές, όπως την αποδίδει ο Μπεν; Ναι, εδώ 10/10. Ήταν σενάριο για ταινία του Ταραντίνο; Όχι, γιατί εκτός από το λουτρό αίματος, έβγαζε και κάποιο νόόημα (αυτό το περνάω στα θετικά). Αξίζει να διαβαστεί; Αν ζείτε ακόμα στα 90ies, ναι.

This is the first Ben Elton book I have read, but I am a big fan of his movies and TV shows. Overall, I liked the book, but I did find the satire a little heavy handed at times. His point about personal responsibility (or lack thereof) is still timely, almost 30 years later, but the sexist tropes have not aged well (a common criticism of Elton's work).

DNF at 12%, so no star rating. Jeff and I were listening on audiobook, and we were in complete agreement.

Firstly, we had been looking for this audiobook for years. Jeff has had a physical shelf copy of this book for over a decade, but with his bananas work schedule, he mostly has time for audiobooks only. The audiobook we were eventually able to procure seems to have been financed by a British goverment office that specifically makes audiobooks available for the blind. That is a very worthy venture, but I'm guessing they can't afford the best readers. This story jumps around constantly between characters and timelines without notice, so the reader was TRYING to note that with voice changes. He wasn't completely successful. The "Hollywood" voice sounded like 'Mr. Moviephone'. A robotic, old timey, movie-reel voice. His Southern accent was quite jarring as well. This made the book hard to follow and goofy.

Secondly, I don't think the ideas in the book have aged well. The director character is definitely supposed to be Quentin Tarantino. There is a scene that is totally supposed be 'Pulp Fiction'. The whole debate of 'do movies cause violence or reflect the violence of society', is not even a hot topic. Or a lukewarm one.

Thirdly, you can tell that Elton just really hates all of these characters. He doesn't care about them. Not one seems to have any redeeming characteristics.... or even a real personality yet. Combined with not much plot so far, I don't know why I'm supposed to care about any of it. I know Elton was also a screenwriter, but it's like he didn't bother to research anything about them or Hollywood. The Tarantino guy makes what is supposed to sound like a stereotypical, horrible Oscar speech, but it's ridiculously done. As a person who throws an Oscar party every year, it's like no speech I've ever heard. Has Elton ever watched the Oscars? The Tarantino character, who is supposed to be the hottest man working in Hollywood, is teaching a basic editing class? On Oscar SUNDAY morning? No. No, he's not. Also, since when have the Oscars been in the summer? Not even in this Covid year. The author also thinks he's sooo clever with the editing class "reveal". It went on for waaaay too long. We were both groaning, because we understood that someone was just watching 'Pulp Fiction' from the start of the scene... Which you aren't supposed to understand? You suddenly just think there are a bunch of drug dealers and hitmen in the book? No, you don't. It almost feels like the author is mad at us for wanting to read this.

Will not be picking up more by the author.

Quite a decent book, better than most thrillers, though I found it a tad obvious and on the nose near the end. The couple of killers reminded me of Mickey and Mallory of Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, and two of the main characters are called Bruce and Wayne. That kind of Spiel.

Adorei! Não só pela forma diferente como é apresentada a narrativa, como também pela crítica à sociedade dominada pela comunicação social e pelos egos. O humor negro, com situações a roçar o ridículo, torna tudo mais hilariante sem no entanto se desviar da, muitas vezes, macabra realidade.

http://bicho-das-letras.blogspot.com/...

Coming soon

Maybe more like 2.5. This is a very 90's satire of the gangster/crime drama genre of films that was ubiquitous and popular at that time.

I was interested in this book because Elton was a writer for two of my favorite shows from the 1980s, The Young Ones, and Black Adder II-IV. He certainly knows how to structure a plot and write dialogue.

Unfortunately, the book jacket/promo blurbs led me to believe this was going to be WAY funnier than it actually was. There were a couple of mild chuckles, but mostly it was ironic, not laugh-out-loud funny.

It's very meta and there are lots of bits in screenplay format and the whole thing is slick and superficial. It could be turned into a film easily. If the characters were a bit more developed the story would have been funnier because then, as a reader I would have been involved as the situation became increasingly dangerous if I had any insight into these people. As it stands, there are no heroes or relatable characters in the book. Everyone is a spectacular tool.

The material that it satirizes, such as Natural Born Killers, was already pretty meta and had its own messages about glorifying violence and depicting killers as folk heroes in the media. Satire should be better than what it’s satirizing, and this is not; it's not even as good.

There were a couple of strong points about Popcorn. The final confrontation did have me very tense. I also appreciate that Popcorn takes a swipe at both liberal and conservative views and suggests that we take responsibility for our own actions and don't blame the media or any other circumstances for our mistakes and failures.

Access: Gifted (Harry Harthog)

Picked this one up and polished it off after a two-week reading hiatus due to a veritable clusterfuck of uni work. My brain is firing at best, a quarter neuron right now, so any attempt at sophisticated literary critique will be a meagre one.

This one fires on damn near every cylinder for me. Heavy pop culture references, dark comedy overtones, social satire, erection cream - what else could a guy want? Ben Elton's twisty narrative culminates to a finale of both stark political indictment and hilarity - a delightfully delicate balance. My only notable criticisms are a universally underdrawn character pool, but I'm willing to forgive this aspect, given the pulpy nature of their environment. Ben Elton has won me over with this one - I'll be back for more.

My Pomodoro timer is ringing - guess I oughta return to my studying...