Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! Absolutely Hilarious!
Review: This book had me rolling on the floor. Mike Nelson is right on target with his commentary. I loved MST3000 so this was right up my alley.
Rating:
Summary: Funniest thing I've read in ages
Review: There's nothing like a bad movie, is there? And there's nothing more satisfying than a blisteringly funny review of a bad movie. This book is full of them. How funny? I read his review of "The Bridges of Madison County" in bed one night. I had to leave the room because I was laughing so hard I was disturbing my sleeping husband, and couldn't stop for some time afterwards.But it's not just movies. Mike puts the skills he mastered on Mystery Science Theater 3000 to use analyzing the great television shows of our age (including Baywatch, of course!), and the stars of the movies themselves, Val Kilmer being a favorite (and deserving) target. I hope there's a sequel; I can't wait to see what he says about "Battlefield Earth."
Rating:
Summary: (bows down before the Humor Writing God)
Review: "How's he doing?" one of my English college professors e-mailed me. "Vomitously well," I typed back. "Don't read him on an 'I Hate Me Day.'" "Oh, hell, Mary Beth," he answered, "did you expect anything less?" The vomitus he in question was Michael J. Nelson, head writer and star of our just canceled, favorite-of-life television show, "Mystery Science Theater 3000." When the Sci-Fi Channel pulled the plug on the program, Nelson turned to pure essayism..... nauseatingly well. Much anticipated in MSTie-dom, Nelson's first solo book, this collection of reviews on movies and the entertainment world in general, is smashing. Witnessing the evolution of a writer is always fascinating, and more intriguing still when you've become accustomed to his work in another realm. Here Nelson leaves no doubt that he can do what an appalling number of television creators cannot: actually write. Everything that made us love "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is marvelously present in "Movie Megacheese"-- for in an age where each individual "Friend" is pulling down a million dollars a show, the knowledge that once upon a time, a scrappy band of well-read Minnesotans churning out something far more intelligent without resting against NBC's wallet is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking. It's thrilling to find that Mike's intrepid battle against the mindeless and the myopic continues with this collection of much-warrented attacks on the likes of "Titanic" and the Culkin family. Unlike the Emmy-bloated Jerry Seinfeld, whose bestselling "SeinLanguage" consisted solely of a typed-up version of his standup routines, Nelson has taken care to shade his writing with depth, savvy pop-culture criticism, and cerebral wit. The only humor writer I've ever come across to use the word "sartorially" mid-sentence, Nelson's unique, relentless push to appeal to the highest common denominator delightfully juxtaposes a childlike sense of play. The result is an SAT word-riddled joyride through the finer points of everything from Carl's Jr.'s to the lesser works of the First Folio. Dave Barry points and laughs; Nelson points, laughs, and analyizes. A sample: "(Francesca's) husband returns and, unaware of her indescretion, goes about his job of being laconic," he says in a chapter decimating "The Bridges of Madison County." "He's the apocryphal Midwestern farmer who loved his wife so much, he almost told her." Like many devotees of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," after staring at the back of Nelson's head for five years, I felt a sharp pang when the show departed in 1999. I'd lost, it seemed, a dear drinking buddy. But as Nelson comes out of the shadows to mock the world on his own, the nostalgia has given way to anticipation. With a word processor as his only mechanical sidekick these days, it seems that Mike Nelson is surviving his return to Earth quite nicely.
Rating: 
Summary: Megalaffs!
Review: Mike Nelson is every bit as funny in print as he was on MST3K. When the first draft came in, this book had editorial assistants reading it out loud in the hall and reducing each other to tears of laughter. *Then* we corrected Mike's *spelling*! [Just kidding.] If you need a solid rush of endorphins, look no further. Let the megacheese roll!
Rating:
Summary: Ahhh, it's good to be home.
Review: I admit up front that I am a MSTie. This book is like an MST fix for junkies. The only real difference is that this time, Mike Nelson takes aim at the "big" Hollywood movies. I'll be renting a few of these gems. And viewing with proper precautions and protective eyewear, as advised. That said, you do not have to be a fan of Mystery Science Theater to appreciate the humor here. I think just about everyone has gone to see/rent a "blockbuster," only to walk away from it wondering why there were good reviews/word-of-mouth. This book is for you. The only quibble I have is that I wish each review was longer. (Subtext: Please write a sequel.) Other than that, the tone is the same dry, intelligent wit I've come to expect from Mike Nelson. Don't miss the author's photo at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Caution!
Review: This is a book that can cause you to drown if you're reading it in a pool. Trust me, I know. You will laugh so hard at Mike Nelson's observations that you will lose control of your muscles, and if you happen to be standing in a swimming pool, as my friends and I were, you will go limp and sink to the bottom. It's highly dangerous, and should only be read if you have the proper medical personnel standing by, or if one person in the group is resting on a pool float. You have been warned, now buy this book immediately.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Michael J. Nelson, Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese (Harper, 2000)
Quite a surprise this book turned out to be. I've been a lifelong non-fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000; the movies were often fun, but the skits in the middle made me throw things at the TV. So when Mike Nelson pops out a book of reviews, despite recommendations from friends (whom I have long suspected of being closet MST3K fans), I did approach it with a good deal of trepidation. Now I'm wondering, how did the writer of this book come up with a show as profoundly and steadily unfunny as Mystery Science Theater 3000?
Despite some obvious blunders in the movies he chooses to attack (and those will likely vary from person to person; Mr. Nelson is not, oddly, the first person with whom I am acquainted who believe Se7en to not be one of the best movies ever made. The poor, deluded fools), this compendium of reviews, rantings, reflections, and other assorted skullduggery is laugh-out-loud funny more often than not. If I could write reviews half this good, I'd have already dethroned my arch-nemesis, Harriet Klausner, as the Ruler of the Amazon Universe. (But Mike Nelson wouldn't make it at Amazon, either. Nary a review to be found here is under a thousand words, even if you cut out all the extraneous stuff about nose hair, jelly beans, nuclear weaponry and its effects on the African Rhododendron, hippo lovin', and other assorted amusements. But I kid with the reviewer.) Surprisingly, despite his share of easy targets (he accurately notes that bashing Carrot Top, for example, has become a national sport), Nelson is also willing to take on some overblown, overrated windbags that have long needed air taken out of them (e.g., Basic Instinct).
Anyone can do comedy with bad movies, though. Ebert once said bad movie reviews often write themselves, and how true he is. What truly surprises about Nelson's compendium of collagen-crusted crap is its eruditeness. Nelson thinks nothing of dropping in an oblique reference to Zeffirelli, throwing in a paragraph on Aquinas, tossing off a nod to the horrible, and yet oddly annoying, Road House. These things appear in places where they should never, by the light of all that is moly, ever be. (Speaking of, how many movie reviews have you ever seen make reference to molybdenum? There's one here!) And yet somehow, he makes them fit. This just adds to the humor.
Surprisingly wonderful. I'm now wondering if I should be approaching Ebert's I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie with trepidation. Nelson may have put me off serious reviewers for life. *** ½
Rating:
Summary: If you love Patrick Swayze, you may not love this book! :)
Review: The best part of this book is that you don't have to be a MiSTie, or even have watched an episode of MST3K to find this book to be side-splittingly funny. Mike Nelson's clever barbs and insights into many of pop culture's favorite movies and over-hyped studio blockbusters are something that people of all walks of life can enjoy. I read this book cover to cover - twice! And then I would just randomly open it to a page and the tears of joy would just start to flow... The only bad part of this book is that it's just 304 pages. So many movies, so little time, I guess! Kudos to Mike Nelson for consistently delivering such a quality product!!
Rating: 
Summary: Cheesy clunker, and unfortunately it's the book
Review: Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese is a book of supposedly funny essays on movies. However, it also brings in some TV shows and some essays about celebrities and some celebrity families as well. I thought it would be a book filled with wry and funny comments on films similar to the comments made on Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show where Mike was the head writer for 10 seasons and the on-air host for 5. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep the magic that the television show did. Instead, this book is such an eclectic mix of both subject matter and quality that my head hurt after a while. There would be a couple of funny entries, and then dead silence from me for another two or three. There didn't seem to be any middle ground. The book is divided into nine sections, most with obvious titles. First, there are action movies (where he takes aim at the rather large target of Jean-Claude Van Damme, for one). Then there are the animal movies, though for some reason Batman is included. I understand the "Bat" motif with the animals, but with all of the other movies being actually about animals in some way, this felt a little forced. Then Mike starts talking about television shows. Then there are science fiction movies, acting families (like the Baldwin brothers), Chick Flix, the Legends (like Brando), a catch-all chapter with movies that don't fit into his subjects, and finally "megacheese." This chapter consists of two movies: The Blair Witch Project, and the movie version of Mystery Science Theater. The book starts out on a good note, with some good and funny essays about action movies. Then again, these are the easiest targets. He takes some easy potshots at Steven Seagal as well as Van Damme here. The essays are better in this section and the book hasn't slowed to a crawl, though there are a couple of clunkers here. When he talks about Val Kilmer's The Saint, he continually (and annoyingly) makes fun of the original author's name, Leslie Charteris. He constantly changes his name to "Margaret," "Rachel," and others. I didn't find it funny in the slightest, though he did make some good points about Kilmer and how he always gets the girl even though he acts in ways that no real woman would fall for (like stealing the Evil Russian formula from her bra). The animal movies chapter has the wonderfully funny essay on Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas' The Ghost and the Darkness, where he hits home run after home run with his witty comments. He comments on the stupidity of some of the things they do, like trying to lure the lions into a trap by dousing an abandoned hospital with blood and then lying in wait. Of course, the lions attack the hospital that the patients had been moved to. Some of his best essays are in this section. Unfortunately, the book hits a brick wall when it starts talking about television, and it never recovers. I don't think I laughed once at any of these. In the essay on "Savannah," the Aaron Spelling soap, he spends more time talking about "Melrose Place." In fact, this is one of Mike's problems in almost all of his essays (even the good ones). He starts going down tangents and then milks them for all they're worth. He spends two or three paragraphs on them sometimes, and they're pointless and not funny. In an essay that only goes two or three pages, two paragraphs can be a lot. I could forgive him if they made me laugh (Mark Steyn, my favourite newspaper columnist, does this all the time, and they're usually hilarious), but they don't. I found myself wondering when he'd get back to the point. Then again, in some of the essays, even the point isn't that interesting. He has a couple of good essays after this section, but they're hard to find. The one on the Sheen family is pretty good and his tearing apart of What Dreams May Come almost equals The Ghost & the Darkness, though I could have done without the gratuitous "Mork & Mindy" bit. He points out that every time he found himself laughing out loud at the corny imagery in the movie, something tragic happens (like Robin Williams' wife killing herself). He said it ruined the fun, and from the way he describes the movie, I can only agree. Finally, his essay on the career of Joe Eszterhas is really good too. I especially like how he says that the people protesting Basic Instinct got it completely wrong. Since it's such an awful movie, protesting it is pointless. As he says, "If you find something offensive in an episode of, say, `Webster,' it's best to just leave it alone and let the problem disappear by itself." But that's really about it. There are some other amusing moments, but nothing major. He is capable of a truly wickedly funny aside, as long as he doesn't dwell on them. Sometimes, they come out of left field and make you laugh despite yourself, such as when he's talking about Blade and he makes a comment about vampires being all over the place with "the Count from `Sesame Street' being just the tip of the iceberg." It may not be funny on it's own, but in the context of the essay and the suddenness that it hits you as you're reading, it really works.
There's not enough meat in this book. Perhaps I've been spoiled by other humour writers. Or perhaps I've been spoiled by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Whatever the case, I thought this book would be a lot better than it is. If you find it in a bookstore, check out the essays I mention. If you can get it at the library, even better. Otherwise, give it a pass. David Roy
Rating:
Summary: Take it away Mike
Review: He's smart, he's charming, he's funny, he is of course Mike Nelson!
I just can't get enough of this guy. He never fails to reduce me to hysterical laughter.
Mike Nelson has also succeeded at making me feel incredibly stupid for liking certain movies(Event Horizon) and justifying my hate for others(Volcano, Stepmom).
Filled with halarious essays on poplular movies as well as T.V. personalities, all with blazingly witty and comedic stabs at the faults their faults.
This is the best lecture I have ever recieved.
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