5001 Nights at the Movies

The celebrated, multi-award-winning film critic's intelligent guide to the movies—with more than 2,800 reviews.

“A master of synopsis, Pauline Kael has contrived to tell us between the covers of one book what eight decades of film are about and who is in them and behind them, and to reflect, swiftly but astutely, on what they signify. No one else has done that; no one else could have done that.” —Wallace Shawn, from the Foreword

Look up a movie in this guide, and chances are you'll find yourself reading on about the next movie and the next. Pauline Kael's reviews aren't just provocative—they're addictive. These brief, informative reviews, written for the “Goings On About Town” section of The New Yorker, provide an immense range of listings—a masterly critical history of American and foreign film. This is probably the only movie guide you'll want to read for the sheer pleasure of it.