The film review can be a little art form, not just a consumer guide, as this collection shows. Covering more than 30 years of film releases, celebrated critic Adam Mars-Jones guides us through the most entertaining, most appalling, most fantastic films of his viewing lifetime, interleaving his original film reviews with new insights and reflections.

Mars-Jones answers the questions that no other book has even bothered to ask. What is Twister really about? How many Steven Spielbergs are there? (Spoiler: he counts thirteen). How many of them are worth anything? Who had the greatest slow-burn career in the movies. (Clue: he taught Montgomery Clift how to roll a cigarette.) Which science-fiction film features the most haunting use of slime? Funny, combative and revealing, Second Sight is a celebration of the art form that maintains the strongest hold on the modern imagination.