The prize-winning author of nearly 40 books, preeminent film critic Schickel offers his top picks—skewering classics (Gone with the Wind), pumping up bombs (A.I.), and hailing unnoticed gems—while clarifying what makes a film really work.

Roger Ebert said, "a film critic doesn't have to be right, but he does have to be interesting." Schickel—longtime critic at Time magazine and author of books on Marlon Brando, Woody Allen, Gary Cooper, and others—is often right and always interesting here. He takes us on a random walk through decades of films, starting with the silent era and focusing on the decades up to the 1970s. The book's title signals its informality. The author is not a pretentious cineast; it's more like being with a chatty and knowledgeable friend—a friend who happens to have known Clint Eastwood and Frank Capra. On Casablanca: "What it's saying is that normally love should find its way, but not when the world is in crisis." On Orson Welles: "The possibility that Welles was not a genius at all presents itself. Maybe he was just a very talented guy self-deceived by too early success, running endlessly to catch up with an inflated ego." Schickel is confident and charming. Even his negative assessments are free of the acid of Pauline Kael or David Thomson. VERDICT Film buffs can use this to start conversations with their friends. [See Prepub Alert, 1/1/15.]—Michael O. Eshleman, Bloomington, IN