Customer Reviews

Halliwell's Film Guide 2008 (Halliwell's the Movies That Matter)

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

 

 

A must have for movie hounds, this huge volume has (almost) every movie ever made, with selections of criticism. If you're trying to figure out what to record or rent, this is the ultimate source.

The 2000 edition of this book had a very bad habit of
giving away crucial plot twists -- frequently, and
without warning the reader. If the editors have gone
through the tens of thousands of entries to eliminate
the spoilers -- which seems unlikely -- then I would recommend this book for the extensive information supplied, such as Oscar awards and nominations, screenwriters, cinematographers, etc. -- even reviews from other critics are quoted,
which is an excellent idea. But if you buy just one movie guide, I would recommend Leonard Maltin's---it's still the gold standard.

I had an older copy of this book and wanted to get the newest update. I was happy to discover that the publisher had added not just new reviews but also an average rating of the reviews for the most recent movies (for example if 7 out of 10 reviews were positive the movie received a review rating of 7, if only 2 out of ten were positive, it received a 2)

As always, this is an erudite and entertaining volume. It is remarkably complete, with even B (and C) movies getting a mention. It provides a clear and concise opinion of each film, dispensing with much of the tortured, reverential twaddle which seems to seep into other such books. Depending on your mood, you'll find the Britishness of its style either quaintly endearing or vaguely annoying.

I bought this for my husband who is 86 -- he has an earlier version from 20-something years ago. He loves looking through it when he is looking for information on some movie he remembers, especially the oldies. Great book for movie buffs of all kinds.

this book is a helpful adjunct in picking a movie to view-- it gives a perspective not seen in other guide books and is very objective-- I would recommmend this book to serious movie goers. I use it along with Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide book-- the two books together give the most comprehensive description and rating of the movie.

I am especially happy to have this film guide, as it is the last of it's kind to be produced by Halliwell. It includes mini reviews and information about 24,000 movies.

The subsequent versions of Halliwell's are subjective and review far fewer films.

Halliwell's Film Guide lists all one would want to know about film: actors, directors, reviews. Stars indicate the quality of the film. It's fascinating to read the reviews of critics--especially when they panned a film the public loved! My one objection to the book is its weight. It's the thickness of a major city phone book. I would like to see it divided into Volumes 1 and 2 for ease of use.

Rich, pithy reviews as we've come to expect from L. Halliwell Inc. Forget the rest, buy the best.

Ten years have passed since I first saw Halliwell's guide and I still have no idea why Halliwell's film guide is considered as definitive. True it is probably the most comprehensive film guide and it is amazing how the author manages to see all those films. Yet, you don't want to take those ratings and brief commentaries too seriously. It ocasionally comes as a disappointment when you see a bad review of the film you just watched and are deeply impressed by. It even comes as a surprise when you see the author singlehandedly denounces some acclaimed award winning films. I warn you that the review is very subjective to say the least. On top of that, as this is typical of all current film critiques, the author tends to be very conservative in praising all what are nowadays regarded as "classic" films while he gives extremely modest reviews to newer ones. I have no trouble in author's appraisal of some classic films which are historically important. But to evaluate older films from historical point of view is one thing, it is quite another to make litle of newer films. After all, our knowledge of how to make good films is only improving and to that extent, we have much better chance of making better films. Some of the older "classic" films received good reviews from purely historical point of view. No one really thinks Leni Liefenstahl's film is, from purely cinematic point of view, one of the greatest of all time. But her film has such a historical importance. If you disregard background knowledge and assess purely as a motion picture, there are a lot of films that are superior to older reknowned ones. Yet newer films tend to get significantly lower ratings. Most emotionally satisfying film can get a lower rating than an older boring film, that's because hardly any films are regarded as epoque making nowadays. To see this, just look at the list of "10 greatest films of all time" in Sight and Sound. The latest film in that list is "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Kubrick which was made about 40 years ago.

So Halliwell clearly employs two different strategies in assessing films. I am relatively certain about the strategy that he employs in assessing older films. The strategy is to pick out films that are unanimously acclaimed by current critics. But I am quite uncertain about the stragegy he employs in assessing newer ones, because he dismisses a lot of award winning films which are usually thought to be the most critically acclaimed. The selection is subjective through and through. He obviously doesn't follow the strategy of picking out films that are praised unanimously partly because there isn't such a film. It probably takes at least 40 years for any films to get a unanimous recognition. But you never know if the newer films he rate highly along with classic ones will itself become a classic. In conclusion, the book may be a good guide for beginners who wish to know the history of films, but not to those who want to hear an objectively reliable critiques on more recent films. There are better movie guides for the latter purpose.