Customer Reviews

Time Out Film Guide, 7th Edition

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK: first things first. What this book is NOT. This book is NOT one of those volumes filled with 1-4 stars which rate each movie and let us know which is available on DVD. It is also NOT one of those volumes written by a cheesy, so-called critic who, simply because he's got good hair, is allowed to put thumbs up or down on movies and plays for your local tv station.

What IS it? It is the 9th edition of a 1500+ page, soft-covered film guide written by more than 200 British film critics.

"Time Out," itself, is the best guide to what's playing and what's happening in London (and, more recently, New York City). This weekly magazine includes film reviews and the "Time Out Film Guide" is the latest collection of those reviews.

The movies are listed alphabetically, but at the end of the book we are treated to a list of "Time Out's" readers' top 100 favorites, obituaries for the year 1999-2000, and a section on how to find movies on the web. There are also 15 appendices grouping films by type. i.e. horror movies, musicals, swashbucklers, etc. And then, along with several other indexes, one that I've not seen in any other periodical or bound collection: it is a general subject index. Interested in finding a film that was adapted from the works of Bertolt Brecht or movies that feature the British Museum, a list of Israeli, Iranian or Indian films, or perhaps you need to find movies about child prodigies---this is your source.

In all, 13,300 movies are reviewed, with very strong coverage of independents and international films. And it weighs less than my cat. Highly recommended.

This film guide is packed with witty, engaging and wonderfully analytical writing by some of London's most capable film critics. Each film is presented with a short, terse description (larger than those given by Halliwell/Walker and Maltin, but shorter than Ebert's for instance) written by one of over 200 contributors -- the good thing about having so many disparate voices is that readers are bound to find one or two with whom they really connect, those critics that share their preferences in more ways than not. My own favorite, for instance, is Geoff Andrew, one of the few critics I've seen that admires Malick's "The Thin Red Line" for the masterpiece that it is.

One thing that may put off some readers is the lack of star ratings given to certain films. This is not necessarily a bad thing since it forces readers to read the passages instead of relying on the short-hand rating that can't capture subtle nuances about a critic's opinion of a film.

The book also has comprehensive indices where films are listed by actors, directors, genres, etc. Another bonus is the Critics and Readers poll results which lists the favorite 100 films of all time from both groups.

There's no denying that this is a terffic book for casual flipping as well as serious research. It's surely a keeper!

I don't want to criticize Leonard Maltin, who's a bright guy with good taste by and large; but this is the film book to buy if you have to buy only one. The English critics for Time Out cover a huge range, including work that has barely made it out of the festival circuit but which richly repays attention--Hou Hsiao Hsien's films, for example, the new Korean cinema, American indies like "George Washington" and the lesser-known Iranian offerings. There were odd omissions in the ninth edition--lots of mediocre Disney, usually overpraised, and nothing at all from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli; Hollywood treasures like "The Good Fairy" left out; but that's to be expected in any reference book. And the comments are sometimes a bit boosterish and sometimes a little churlish, but generally they're on the money. Compulsively readable, and essential next to the DVD player or digital cable.

The market is awash with film guides but Time Out excels in bringing us concise, informative and often amusing reviews, in a dry British tone and from a fantastic range of films. Far more European film content that your average American guide. I couldn't dream of picking up one of those pulp fiction film guides, which clog the bookshelves of the world, after buying my first copy of the Time Out Film Guide. Mikael Colville-Andersen European screenwriter

I have about five or six film and video guides I consistently use for reference, and the Time Out Film Guide is certainly one of the better ones and among the most interesting. I would not recommend it for someone just looking for one all-purpose guide because it's fairly quirky. It spotlights fairly obscure actors or films (and not always good ones either--they feel obligated to highlight interesting weak films as well as strong ones), and its biases can take some getting used to, especially if you're not from the UK. (The editors' marked prejudices and beliefs about Americans are often hilarious, and only sometimes intentionally.) But the reviews are written with intelligence and care, and are never bland, and the series of lists at the back of the book (filmographies for various important directors and actors, and lists of films grouped around key themes) are very handy.

Head and shoulders above all the other guides in the market containing informed reviewing in classic Time Out fashion. The wit and style deployed in the sometimes caustic reviews and the sheer volume of information and trivia also makes for fascinating browsing. Beware, not for the faint hearted as this book takes to task those weaned on quick reference film guides using dog bones/stars etc as rating systems.

What sets this guide apart from the pack? The reviews are the reason. If you're not the type that needs some sort of rating system, such as stars, you should consider this guide. I recently replaced an ageing Maltin guide with this one -- I examined quite a number of guides before settling on the Time Out. Although Halliwell's is not bad, they sacrifice review space to lists of blurbs. The Time Out Guide provides the essential info, such as major credits and running time, and then you get a review that summarizes the plot and then provides criticism. Review lengths are based on the film's importance, so some reviews may be twice or even three times as long as others. The 10,000+ films that other guides will include won't be here for the simple reason that they are most likely not worth placing in a general film guide. So if you must have that sort of completeness, I would augment this guide with another (take your pick). Some reviewers think that this guide is snobbish -- well, no. It is clearly written by people who know film, and a glowing endorsement only accompanies a film that is well directed, written, photographed, and acted. They strive to point out each film's strong or weak points along those criteria; they may not always be successful, but they have hundreds of contributors. Others have found this guide Anglocentric; I have not, although I do believe it is much more complete than most guides in its inclusion of British film. Whether you agree with their assessment of a film or not, they are generally not far off the mark, and I would contend that most opinions they venture are the stuff of a lively discussion of film. All in all, a job well done. I reserve the fifth star to the guide that could outdo this one, once it is available. I could grouse about their unkind review of "Arsenic and Old Lace", or their overkind review of "The English Patient", but this is the sort of thing that comes with the turf. By the way, the print is tiny, so be forewarned.

Of the various phonebook-sized film-review databases this is the one I prefer. The plusses are:

1) the reviews are brief but usually actually say something useful & entertaining--for single-paragraph essays they pack a punch. There's a healthy leavening of wit (one reviewer refers to _The Good Earth_ as "The Lychees of Wrath"; another remarks that _Labyrinth_ is notably for "David Bowie's saddest ever haircut (no mean achievement)") but also some serious commentary, & the summaries are almost always accurate & don't reveal too much of the plot. Some of the pans are hilarious (I particularly appreciated the skilful demolition job on _Sammy and Rosie Get Laid_--I've seen it & everything they say is true)

2) there are thoughtful one-page feature essays about various films, some of them reappraisals of famous films but others appreciations of undeservedly little-known ones.

3) the credits are relatively full, listing (among other things) all major cast members & even the composer of the score.

4) while its coverage is inevitably incomplete (especially of films before the 1970s) for the most part it's pretty thorough, with a fair bit of space devoted to foreign films & (inevitably) a lot of reviews of British films (though the coverage of these is by no means boosterish--there's no-one harder on British films than British film critics!).


There are a few flaws, admittedly. The worst is that while the index of directors is pretty complete, the index of actors is woefully inadequate, as it only covers a very limited range of (star) actors. If you want to track down, say, films with Thelma Ritter or Esther Williams or William Bendix, you'll need a biographically-organized referencebook like Katz or Thomson. There are inevitable inconsistencies resulting from the book's being compiled by countless critics over many years: films may be referred to positively in one spot while panned in another, & sometimes it's pretty obvious the entry hasn't been updated since the film was reviewed upon its first release. Still, the inconsistencies are actually surprisingly rare--it's generally fairly reliable. Some of the omissions are a bit arbitrary--on a recent flipthrough I noted the absence of _My Neighbor Totoro_, _Pride of the Yankees_, a raft of Shirley Temple films, any version of _Treasure Island_ prior to the 1970s, &c.--but, well, that's always going to happen with omnibus film guides.

Combines a critical eye with a genuine love for movies. More typos than you can shake a stick at, plus some inexplicable omissions, but overall, far better than most of the nonsense review guides out there.

When it comes to film guides, Time Out can't be beat. It is by far the most comprehensive guide on the shelves and has been handsomely repackaged to include "cinefiles" on landmark movies down through the years. It covers not only anglo but many foreign language films as well. While other guides tend to focus on American, Canadian and British productions, Time Out will help you find a broad range of Russian, Indian, French, German, Italian, and Japanese films as well. You will even find such esoteric titles as Freedom (Laisve) by Sarunas Bartas. Imagine that! It breaks the films down in the appendices by categories, making it easier to track down movies whose titles have eluded you. In addition, it has extensive actors and directors indices to further narrow your search. It not only includes past Oscar winners, but those of the British Academy, Cannes, Berlin and Venice as well. The short reviews are well written with an extensive list of contributors. There is even a guide to help you build the ultimate DVD collection. Enjoy!