Customer Reviews

1001: A Video Odyssey, Movies to Watch for Your Every Mood (What to Eat, When to Watch, Great Movie Quotes)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

". . . And if you've ever experienced the misery of hour-long fruitless searches for decent rentals in an unorganized Blockbuster store, you'll undoubtedly find something to appreciate in Tatham's dogged collection. You'll probably also enjoy the anthology's final chapters, which include personal and unpopular picks you've likely never heard of, as well as "interesting movie tidbits" and Oscar trivia...Tatham does offer some insightful choices. Fortunately, Tatham also knows a lot about movies and defines "mood" broadly so that his anthology includes "genre" lists and auteur lists (and lists for Allen and Hitchcock) along with holiday, cult and period picks."

Outstanding! Many a night we have gone to the video store in search of the latest releases only to find that they are all checked out. This finally ends our frustration. Tatham opens the eyes of the consumer and shouts at them that there are hidden gems on those dusty shelves marked "comedy", "drama" and "action/adventure". He also makes it almost (and I mean almost) palatable to rent a movie with subtitles. His acidic commentary on not only the plot summaries but also the genre of the films he is recommending is "laugh out loud" funny. It makes you wonder why the television networks aren't using this guy to lift their I.Q. demographics. 1001: A Movie Odyssey is a must have for the cinema connoisuer. It's a video bible. This should be handed to you right after they cut your umbilical cord and slap you in the (...).

1001: A Video Odyssey - Movies To Watch For Your Every Mood is a movie buff's delight for simple browsing or film watch scheduling. Steve Tatham offers an entertaining and often very funny guide for video rental and movie collectors. This compendium of movies missed, forgotten, or never heard of is artfully organized and grouped by politically correct and no-so-correct ideas and attitudes. A hip, original, and fun video guide offers such novel categories as Zit Flicks; Before They Were Stars; Lethal Wenches; Dysfunction Junction; Splitsville Hits; Films That Should Have Won Best Picture Oscar, and (my personal favorite) Not In Front Of Your Parents. No cinema buff can call his film and video reference collection complete without the inclusion of Steve Tatham's 1001: A Video Odyssey!

A collection of lists of movies, movies and lists for every mood you can be in. I really like this concept (i don't think it's been done before, not quite just like this), and i enjoy Tatham's writing. The only complaint i have is that for many films the description is highly idiosyncratic, and if you don't know the film ~ or much about Tatham's taste ~ you won't really learn much of the movies listed, certainly not a good idea of whether or not to watch it. The lists, then, function more as a reminder of movies that you already know something about, categorised, listed, to remind you of them, rather than a video guide. (Easier to carry than the video guide, though.) While i disagree with some of his opinions (his adulatory view of Woody Allen is highly suspect in my view ~ and maybe that makes me suspect in yours), the opinion and placement of a movie in a specific list does aid me in thinking about that movie.

Tatham is, according to the blurb, a comedian and writer. Most of the time (when he's not straining), his writing here shows it; the descriptions of the films, though not always helpful, are usually amusing at the least, sometimes honestly funny. This is a fun book to read ~ a nice compliment for a 'reference book'.

I love this guide. It makes it so easy to choose new movies as I have seen just about everything. I highly recommend it!!!

Outstanding! Many a night we have gone to the video store in search of the latest releases only to find that they are all checked out. This finally ends our frustration. Tatham opens the eyes of the consumer and shouts at them that there are hidden gems on those dusty shelves marked "comedy", "drama" and "action/adventure". He also makes it almost (and I mean almost) palatable to rent a movie with subtitles. His acidic commentary on not only the plot summaries but also the genre of the films he is recommending is "laugh out loud" funny. It makes you wonder why the television networks aren't using this guy to lift their I.Q. demographics. 1001: A Movie Odyssey is a must have for the cinema connoisuer. It's a video bible. This should be handed to you right after they cut your umbilical cord and slap you in the ass.

I have VideoHound and Maltin's video guides. This book is muchbetter....and much more enjoyable to read for the avid movie lover andfilm buff. It is quite useful in helping me decide what to rent on the weekend. I have discovered and found many great movies through this book. Tatham is extremely thorough and quite funny at presenting unique categories and a generous selection of movies to watch. He hits the mark so many times with his sarcastic and witty commentary. My favorite categories are Zit Flicks, Pregnant Cinema and Before They Were Stars....worthy of owning in this crowded field of video guides.

What a great read! And useful to anyone who wants to match a movie to a mood. Even if you don't use it for "matching," the book is just plain hysterical. If you're a fan of the movies, this book deserves its place in the front of your bookshelf.

Can't imagine why author was ever considered worthy of publishing such a listing. Basically, a useless reference book and I stretch to use that term.

I'm at a loss to understand how five people found this book of any value whatsoever, let alone contributed to the book's 5-star average.
For all intents and purposes, this "guide" is nothing more than a buyable LIST of movies some schlub has watched, ostensibly organized in a fashion to lump movies of similar themes together. That's all!! The one-sentence (sometimes shorter) synopses impart, in most cases, zero information about the films; none of the two-or-three-sentence entries could be considered anything approaching a review. Why anyone would even consider publishing such a book, and wasting precious trees in the process, requires a formal inquest.
The front-cover quote declares "1001: A Video Odyssey" a cross between Dennis Miller and Leonard Maltin. First, Maltin's guide, though admittedly superficial, covers 20,000 films, and includes a reasonably sufficient synopsis and qualitative assessment for each one. Secondly, anyone who finds this book's humour comparable to that of Dennis Miller is about as insightful as a hammered, post-lobotomy Anna Nicole Smith trying to explain Hawking's "A Brief History of Time".