Customer Reviews

Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 2000

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

There are a lot of books on the market that have attempted to duplicate the success of Maltin's annual guide, but this one remains the most thorough and convenient. Rather than classify films according to genre as some of his competitors do (Where would you look for "Dr. Strangelove"? In Drama? Sci-fi?), the titles are arranged alphabetically making the search for a particular film fairly easy. The information provided (year of release, running time, cast, director, availability on DVD and video) is all relevant and useful.

Certainly, this book has its faults. The ratings are often inconsistent, a result, no doubt, of its having been written by more than one person, and some classic films ("Taxi Driver," "Unforgiven") are dismissed with shockingly low ratings. Still, the capsule reviews are often witty, and whether or not you agree with the ratings, there is just enough pertinent information about thousands (and thousands and thousands) of movies to make it the most useful of these reference guides. My major complaint would be that, though each year's edition is larger than the last, a lot of older films are tossed out to make room for the new. I'd prefer that some of the extras added in the last decade (the list of actor and director credits at the end of the book) be eliminated instead. A complete list of films by a particular star or director can be found in other sources, and is not really essential here.

I've had this new 2000 edition of Leonard Maltin's video & movie guide for just a little while, but I do look through it every now and then. I have to admit that it's not my favorite movie guide though--that honor goes to Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever (the best out there in my opinion). Something I have noticed about this guide is that the index of stars in the back isn't totally complete. Great actors like Klaus Kinski and Christopher Walken aren't even included. I still think that this guide is pretty good and worth owning, but Video Hound's Golden Movie Retreiver is much better and the best on the market.

I have been purchasing this book for the past 12 years and have found each new one better than ever. This is the only book I seek come the holiday season. I look forward to reading this one cover-to-cover.

No sense of humor. No sense of film noir. No sense of cinema. If you rely on this book for video purchases or rentals, you'll miss EVERYTHING good and cool. Predictible and uninteresting. The guy I'd least like to be marooned with on a desert island or even five minutes at a cocktail party. I'm too old to face a murder rap at my age.

I still respect Leonard Maltin as a fine film critic, with reviews that capture a film in only two or three sentinces. But he really does not give as much adequate attention to small films as he used to. Remember when low-key dramas like Harold Pinter's BUTLEY, Skolimowski's MOONLIGHTING, or Olivier's production of THREE SISTERS would receive the illustrious four-star rating? Sure, modern films such as RUSHMORE and GODS AND MONSTERS have a three-and-a-half to their credit, but the absence of insight for films such as PI and SMOKE SIGNALS is traumatizing. There hasn't even been a four-star review in five years! Still, it's nice to go back through the book and search for all those smaller films, many of which, such as BUTLEY or THREE SISTERS cannot be found on video today.

This is one of the most insightful movie reference books in existance. Maltin is not only articulate and thoughtful, but he obviously loves movies, which is more than I can say for many film critics. Even in the reviews for poor films, his insight is less that of someone that is angry to have wasted their time, but saddened at lost resources for potentially great movies. He is also one of the few critics that doesn't maintain a lack of respect for certain genres of film (animation, action, comedy, etc.) I have purchased this book every year since 1991 and yearly look forward to the updated edition. A must have for serious film buffs.

...for film lovers. I remember that when I recieved my first edition several years ago, I spent many hours flicking through this Tome. I would think of one movie, which would lead me to another and so on.

A comprehensive body of work that almost defies you not to find a review of any given movie. With many good movies in circlulation and many more poor ones, it helps to have a "guardian angel" to help you decide how to spend a solid 2 hours of your life.

A dry wit and a tell it like it is attitude help to make this an enduring classic and anything but a "BOMB".

4 stars due to tiny typeface (which I can understand due to the books volume).

I realize that Maltin's only human, that he's reviewed thousands of films, and that five stars give one only so much leeway in providing a sense of scale. But even those mitigating factors can't account for Maltin's inconsistencies.

"Blank Check" as good as "Bladerunner?" "Space Jam" and "Much Ado About Nothing" equally well made? "Titus" and "Addams Family Values" feature the same quality filmmaking?

Given that a) his reviews are frequently flawed and b) most of them are online at the IMDB anyway, I can't imagine why you'd buy this book.

Okay. There are some good things about the book. It has basically every movie ever made in it and some reviews appear to be accurate. I have a problem with someone giving such films that are universely considered great, bad ratings. I'll start with Taxi Driver getting 2 out of 4 stars. That is a crime against humanity. Amadeus 2 and a half out of 4 stars. Are you kidding? The original Godfather got 3 and a half but certainly one of the top 5 films of all time deserves a 4. The Cider House Rules getting a 4 still shocks me every time I see it. Forrest Gump, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, and Crouching Tiger all got 2 and a half stars. God help us all!

This is great to help remember plots and actors from movies throughout the century. Though I don't agree with all of his ratings, I figure if I enjoy the movie it doesn't matter what Mr. Maltin or his team of reviewers think. But I get annoyed at people who use it just as a review book. Review your own movies, make your own opinions, develop your own tastes, use this book simply because it's the best of its kind.