Overview

101 Films You Could See Before You Die: A Film Guide for the Disenchanted is not only a film guide, but a love letter to discovering movies: a handbook to expose films better run across than sought out. These are films reserved for turning on the television late at night or for accompanying a friend to the theater on a rainy day. The films in this book are a mixed bag. Some are lost classics. Others have interesting elements in place. But all of them deserve a look. Or not. You'll be okay either way. GONER BOOKS SAYS Why release a film guide now? There are loads of genre websites dedicated to exposing a new ""lost"" masterpiece. There are so many entities jockeying to define a canon. And lists. So many lists. Many of these lists are designed specifically to evoke clicking, and as more streaming services search for new content, more obscure movies now get their poster-sized screen icon for your perusal. Still, many are still passed over by viewers. Some of the mystery and fun of searching for ""cult"" or ""lost"" movies dissipates as websites throw everything at the wall at once to see what sticks. But one thing the Internet can't control is the compulsion of being as film buff. Billups Allen is a film critic and pop culture enthusiast who enjoys writing about films languishing outside the arena of cult status and/or movies derailed from the curve of the academic canon.

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Reviews

""Billups Allen is my kind of film writer and 101 Films You Could See Before You Die is my kind of book: a user guide for the infinitely curious; a begin- ner's mindset for the trenches-dwelling buff. I discovered movies that felt like they'd been waiting for me all along and was reminded of ones I loved that had been sacrificed to time and a crumbling memory. In Billups's world, there's only one bar to talk turkey when the movie is over, and you leave your brows-highs, lows, and in-betweens-at the door."" - Nate K., host of Burn It Down!, WFMU ""His taste is wide-ranging-that is to say, all over the map. He reviews everything from Kind Hearts and Coronets to The Cable Guy; Angel Heart to Zodiac. He finds an interesting angle on all of them, invariably rooting out what good he can find in even the worst movies..."" - Mike Stax, Ugly Things ""Billups not only sneaks you into amazing films you might not have heard of, he gives you a fresh perspective on what you already saw. Reading 101 Films You Could See Before You Die feels like you are hanging out early at the theater together with a soda and candy, learning about absolute gems. The book has that genuine excitement to see what trailers are going to come up before the movie you've been waiting so long for. Movie reviews are better with Billups' enthusiasm."" - Mike Plante, director of We Were There to Be There (2021) / programmer at Sundance Film Festival ""- ...smart, unpretentious and entertaining writing."" - Steven Puchalski, Shock Cinema ""A no-nonsense film guide written with candor and charm, full of a passion that decries pretension. This book is for people who want to experience a true smorgasbord of cinema curated with an informed, often funny and refreshingly unique voice."" - Josh Schafer, Editor-in-Chief, Lunchmeat Magazine ""101 Movies You Could See Before You Die isn't a definitive list of what a film fan should see. It's a reflection on what a fan has seen. Reading the impres- sions of other fans is what fanzines are all about. I'm a fan too. That's how I know this book is a fanzine in disguise."" - Greg Cartwright, Reigning Sound ""If you've never had a friend who always has a movie you've never heard of to recommend, who has a thought-through opinion on every DVD in the dollar bin, who knows exactly who that actor you vaguely recognize is AND what band they were in in the '70s AND why the band broke up AND what '90s CD compilation their only single was re-released on-this book could be that friend."" - Dorothy Gambrell, Cat and Girl Comics ""If someone's gonna talk movies to me, I want it to be Billups Allen."" - Bloodshot Bill

Author Information

Billups Allen spent his formative years in and around the Washington D.C. punk scene. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a creative writing major and a film minor. He has worked in seven different record stores around the country and currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee where he works for Goner Records, publishes Cramhole zine, contributes music and movie writing regularly to Razorcake, Ugly Things, and Lunchmeat magazines, and writes fiction. (cramholezine.com, billupsallen@gmail.com). He is the host of the semi-regular Goner TV online variety show. 101 Movies You Could See Before You Die is his first book for Goner.

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