Customer Reviews

The Guinness Book of Film

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In a review for another book (1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) I wrote "I will not waste your time by expressing outrage over titles that should or should not have been included. Everyone has their own opinion and finding out what is and isn't written about is part of the fun." While I still feel that this sentiment is a wise one, I have to break it for this book because some of their choices are objectively ridiculous. Now, as the title of this review implies, by and large the book is pretty good. The factoids are interesting, as are the tidbits about films that never ended up being made. The reviews leave something to be desired, as the majority of them have little room for anything beyond plot summary, but they write one large review per year and the selections are largely good ones. But then the 90s happen and everything begins to tumble. Home Alone is apparently worthy of movie of year for 1990, Hook and Judge Dredd actually get articles written about them, as do The Cable Guy and the live action 101 Dalmations. Alien Resurrection gets an article, the Spice Girls are described as "naturals under the camera" in SpiceWorld, "one of the best pop films since A Hard Day's Night." As if that weren't bad enough, Godzilla is chosen as the *movie of the year* for 1998. Other dubious inclusions from the year include Armageddon, Scream 2, The Avengers, and Lost in Space. Obviously other people presumably have different opinions than I do, but do we really wish to extoll the virtues of The Avengers (currently sporting a 3.3 rating on IMDB) while omitting American History X, Shakespeare in Love, and other worthy picks? In what universe does Godzilla deserve twice as many words as Saving Private Ryan? Maybe the fact that the book was penned in 1999 left the writers with no perspective for the 90s, because something weird happened and it marrs the conclusion of the book.

If so, this book will solve your problem pronto. It just might be the best general guide to movies I have ever seen. I doesn't cover EVERY movie ever made like some review books do, but it covers the cream of the crop for every year from 1927 to 1998. Granted, some of the more recent reviews are a little questionable, and some gems might have been missed (they can't please everyone). But overall this movie is a great way to find a movie that you might like to rent or buy that you have overlooked.

The descriptions are short, but give a good general idea what to expect. As another reviewer mentioned, movie MPAA ratings are missing, which is a minor inconvenience to the family oriented or morally selective. Finally, this movie book contains some REALLY cool pictures from classic movies, some of which you won't find in the actual movie because of the aspect ratio. So there you have it, my favorite movie book, and a bargain at any price.

I think this book is very good but i also have a reason for not giving it the full five stars and that is that the book did not have the ratings for each movie and i think they should well,because i'm 11 and a lot of the movies sound good but they could be R or NC-17.

I think this book is very good but i also have a reason for not giving it the full five stars and that is that the book did not have the ratings for each movie and i think they should well,because i'm 11 and a lot of the movies sound good but they could be R or NC-17.

I think this book is very good but i also have a reason for not giving it the full five stars and that is that the book did not have the ratings for each movie and i think they should well,because i'm 11 and a lot of the movies sound good but they could be R or NC-17.

I think this book is very good but i also have a reason for not giving it the full five stars and that is that the book did not have the ratings for each movie and i think they should well,because i'm 11 and a lot of the movies sound good but they could be R or NC-17.

This books reviews some of the best and/or most memorable films from the early 30's to the late 90's. As a general film guide it is very useful, giving basical info (like plot, credits, genre, etc.) on every movie featured. My only complaint is that this book is a little too judgemental in its choice of films. For example, they ignore great classics like "Candyman", "Hellraiser", "The Fox & the Hound", "Chasing Amy", etc. while including some movies that shouldn't even be considered (I still can't believe they included "Starship Troopers" or "Godzilla"!). In resume, I recommend buying it so as to have a general idea of which movies would make a great film library, but keep in mind it's not a precise guide.