At the Movies

by Jim Bostjancic

At the Movies, follows the story of Garbonzo, a young boy growing up in Vancouver, whose passion for movies leads him on a journey of self-discovery.
As he befriends the local film critic and starts sneaking into "Restricted" shows, develops a love for the works of director Sam Peckinpah and a deeper understanding of the power of cinema. When he gets caught up with the wrong crowd and ends in jail, loses his love interest and his job at the local theatre,

Years later, returns to his home town to find the theatre industry in decline,
but is given a chance to save the remaining theatres and makes his dream a reality.
At the Movies is a coming-of-age tale that explores the transformative power of cinema on both an individual and community level.

Paperback

About the author

Jim Bostjancic is a screen-television writer and new novelist who grew-up in Vancouver B.C. His 2nd novel "At the Movies" is available for pre-order and being released March 31, 2023.
Website pictures and pictures coming soon...

Reviews

[Swati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book was amazing and more realistic...this is a story about a young boy whose passion for movies leads him on a new journey...
He faced many ups and down in life and even ends in jail, loses his love interest and everything..
"At the Movies " is a coming to age story if you say..
It's very interesting story.. And I really recommend this to everyone..

[carolina · Rating 1 out of 5]

being a huge cinema fan myself, the premise of this book easily captivated me, as well as the story of the main character. however, i can't say the book itself did.

first of all, i feel like the language used could have been different. i understand that the way it's written, essentially on the first part of the book, reflects the mentality of young boys, but it felt like too much. the language was too crude and there are some parts which i thought were kind of unnecessary and out of place. also, the presence of typos was constant or simply words that weren't spelled correctly.

then, the movie references. yes, it's a book related to cinema, i get it, but too much is too much and there are pages only referencing movies. after a while, it gets tiring to read all those titles and all those actors.

besides that, i believe the childhood of the protagonist was overdeveloped. 70% of the book concerned his teenage years and i think the story could have dived more into his struggles as an adult. it did, but it felt too rushed comparing with the rest of the book.

bottom line: although it had the potential to be a good book, i didn't feel like it was accomplished.

(got the book in exchange for an honest review)

[azu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I really liked the story. A boy looking to accomplish his dreams, and always dreaming about the movies.  

As a person who enjoys films, it was entertaining reading about Garbonzo, how he was discovering this magical world and learning from it. At the end, I was just thinking, "Please make it good for him; he deserves it". And the finale was good, even if I wanted to know more about his life now. 

As for the other characters, sometimes I really didn't like them, and I couldn't connect with them. A shame! 

I am a little troubled with the writing. I understand the use of references, but sometimes it was a lot, and I felt a little bombarded. I think the references would have been perfect for someone with cinematic knowledge; unfortunately, I am just an aficionado in the matter, so I understood a lot of them, but some were lost to me. And because of that, I'm afraid I couldn't enjoy the book to the fullest. 

Maybe in a couple of years, a rereading will be good, when I have seen more movies and can understand the narrative better.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of pop culture references - film references, and references to pop music. So, in that sense, I thought it was quite a fun, entertaining read. I think the references will be appreciated by readers, whatever their tastes. I also found it quite humorous, and appreciated some of the humour.

Although I found it entertaining, I didn't really connect with the characters, and I suppose I didn't really feel like I was reading a story. I also felt the crude language and profanity made the characters seem a little unlikeable at times.

I think big film fans will like this book though.

[Beverley Graham]

I taught the author Jim Bostjancic in 1975 when he was in Grade 5. the book is fictional but it is semi biographical. many of the early Chapters were clearly about the time and old neighborhood.
the book followed the main character throughout the book and was a very enjoyable read. the language of the book was not overly complicated, but the character development was very sound.
i can safely recommend this book for an enjoyable read.
sincerely Beverley Graham

[Cherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little hard to understand for me and there was a lot that I didn’t know about in the book. Also the constant short sentences were a little discomforting. But the book was about a boy’s and his friends love for cinema that ends up being with his life. I would definitely recommend it to someone who loves the old Hollywood cinema

[Cherry Apple · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is great for passion-developers

Garbonzo returns to the reality of his regular day job stocking items
on supermarket shelves. Waiting for the wheels of his life to finally take a turn to turn.

This book is highly recommended to teens and adults who are longing for a passion development......
.Be free to read and share the book and find the rest of the story.