Noah
FilmQuake is a perfectly fine book about the short history of film as a creative medium, best suited for people beginning in the world of filmmaking or film criticisms. The authors compiles a list of note worthy films throughout periods in film's history. Where he falls short is his innability to observe anything new, leaving his descriptions of films base level and at times, uninteresting.
Why exactly is this book so popular? It's such a hollow shell of the movie, a mimicry, written like a 6th Grade narrative assignment. It's inferior to the absolutely beautiful film in almost every regard, and the only enjoyment I got from this was when I thought about the film. I was excited, but now I've been left disappointed after completion.
Those 4 pages of repeated phrase was some David Byrne singing Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads bullshit.
Some of the essays in this collection drag, but then the whole book is held up by the handful of great ones, like the titular essay, the ones about Hollywood, and a few others.