Customer Reviews

Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 2002

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I enjoy reading len's one line summaries of great films and his dismissals and praise. I grew up with the 1975 version of this book and always loved scouring through it. He's better informed on the old classic films than he is on newer stuff. I just finished reading lots of reviews complaining that he doesn't know anything about films and hates films-just because he gives bad ratings to a lot of cool films. You shouldn't take his word on everything that's for sure. Here are a few dodgy Maltin ratings:
taxi driver ** (too violent) the thing *1/2 (too much gore)
blade runner *1/2 usual suspects **1/2 (convoluted). He complains of a lot of films being overlong,actually a valid criticism sometimes folks. Taxi DRiver and the thing are probably my two favourite films of all time but still i'd recommend the book for the sheer pleasure of looking through it for fun. And if you want to know if some old black or white film is any use, i reckon maltin knows his stuff here. For example he gives Northwest passage 1940 3 1/2 stars, one of my favourite films, he gives all the classics the praise they deserve, king kong ,citizen kane,robin hood. Knows a lot about movies. Knows tonnes about cartoons (check out 'of mice and magic' his book). Up until recently his reviews were available on imdb but they took them off. He gave Baby snakes a BOMB rating for being self indulgent, a fair criticism even though i love frank zappa (it's a great flippin movie!). Always worth a look to see who's in a film, plot,length,general quality.

But never trust any critic.

Only trust yourself.

Thanks for the memories Leonard

Everyone has a different taste in movies. There is no such thing as the most accurate critic and there is no such thing as the most sophisticated taste in movies in the world, so why is everyone so offended by this book? No matter who you talk to, you will always find people who like the movies you hate or hate the movies you like, but do you hate them for it? Anyone who rates this book bad because they don't agree with one of his reviews has a serious attitude problem. Leonard Maltin's guide has been published since the 60s and contains over 19000 entries which means he has only seen, like, 15-17000 more movies then the average movie watcher yet anyone who seems to disagree with one of his reviews gets all defensive and personal, stating how crap his taste in movies is, as if there taste is so much more accurate. I disagree with plenty of his reviews, but I don't hate him. I don't hate someone for their personal taste in movies. I actually find it interesting to read his difference in oppinion and I start to understand why he has a difference in perspective. He even states that this guide should be taken as a "guidline and not a gospel". People just need to learn to lighten up, relax and remember that these reviews are just "someone's oppinion".

I accidentally ordered this book instead of the video book I normally order (the one by Mick Martin). It is far more difficult to find a listing for a movie in the Maltin book...their means of alphabetizing the movie listings is the oddest I have ever encountered in a book. It is poorly organized and haphazard. Didn't the editors graduate high school?