Books Reviews

Yippee Ki-Yay Moviegoer! – Book Review

By Patrick Luce Jun 7, 2010, 14:33 GMT

With the hilarious "instant cult classic? Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal, Vern wrote a book that shook the very foundations of film criticism, broke their wrists, and then threw them through a window. Now he\'s back, and this time he\'s got all of \'the films of badass cinema\' in his sights... From Die Hard to The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Transformers to Mary Poppins, ...more

Internet film critic Vern’s latest collection of reviews, Yippee Ki-Yay Moviegoer!: Writings on Bruce Willis, Badass Cinema and Other Important Topics, sees the author’s unique take on the action genre, and several other films you wouldn’t expect to find in a collection that features the Brian Bosworth classic Stone Cold.

With his tongue planted firmly in his cheek for many of the reviews, Vern gives readers a unique and often funny look at a variety of action films (not all from Bruce Willis), sci-fi, and horror. He even throws in some heavy drama with reviews of Brokeback Mountain, Finding Neverland and the musical Across the Universe.

Vern also provides several thoughts on the action genre, and some of the greats – most notably Bruce Willis and the Die Hard franchise. He also includes several reviews of action greats like Arnold Schwarzenegger – through his classic films Commando, the Terminator movies, and Predator.

The book isn’t for everyone and those easily offended might want to give it a pass (I would also recommend Tony Scott and Michael Bay pass on it as well since Vern rakes them over the coals quite often). Vern has a different voice from most film critics and tends to rant more than critique a film.

However, these rants are often hilarious (unless he is ripping into a film you really enjoyed or happened to be named Tony Scott or Michael Bay). Vern often gets sidetracked into why he disliked a film and uses very colorful language to describe his reaction to it.

Whether he likes the film or not, the reviews are often entertaining to read, and might even make you want to re-visit a film (his review of Terminator 2 made me want to watch it again since I never saw the E.T. connection). This also has some bad results since you also kind of want to re-visit some not so great films like Stone Cold, Action Jackson, and Predator 2.

If you are a fan of the action genre or film in general, Yippee Ki-Yay Moviegoer!: Writings on Bruce Willis, Badass Cinema and Other Important Topics is worth the read and will provide a few chuckles (again you have to not be easily offended by Vern’s use of colorful language).

I would recommend the book to anyone wanting to check out reviews on some of the greats of the action genre and some of the films you catch yourself watching late at night when you can’t sleep and the Ambien just isn’t working.