Customer Reviews

DVD & Video Guide 2005

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

 

 

What I found most telling about DVD Video Guide is that the reviews, for the most part give you the positives and negatives (if there are any)of a particular movie. In other words they will give the reader more of a chance to see the movie or not. Of course there are a lot of stinkers made and the guide will let you know. I'm not going to agree with every Martin/Porter review but there are just too many movies that main competitor Leonard Maltin completely trashes due to an extreme point of view, length of the movie or the amount of violence in a film. It seems like he's too easily disgusted or impatient and there is no margin. Like other amazon reviewers have noticed, Maltin's general preference is for the "classic film era". Nothing wrong with that. It's just that had I followed his opinions, I would of missed a ton of great movies. Most people are going to see a film if they are interested regardless of the review, but Martin & Porter are a little more open about it. A critic IS supposed to be critical(I know it's a cliche)but I respond to Martin & Porter's style better. Buy this guide & Videohound as an alternative opinion.

Very simply, this is not the best movie guide out there as other reviewers have stated. While, it does add a lot of new films released each year, it does so at the expense of older films. The reviewers have a tendancy to gush over these new releases and underrate or compleletly ignore films that truly have standed the test of time.

I don't want to get in a rant about specific film reviews but I think the reviewers do follow a certain pattern. If the movie made lots of money it is most likely to be rated higher than so called "flops". However, an exception is made for films that are too violent, too sexual, or too dark, even if they were succesful or developed a cult following because this is basically a family orientated movie guide. Movies made in the last several years are usually rated higher than the ones that were made in the film industry's youth. Many people's opinion will agree that today's films are more entertaining for today's audiences but I am of the opinion that there are film treasures to be found in all eras. In some cases the reviews of these older films are so vague that it makes me wonder if the reviewer ever saw the film that is being reviewed or are they just recycling and paraphrasing some old review. The biggest weakness of this book is that it does not include a great many movies at all. In comparison with the Blockbuster movie guide and Maltin's classic guide, this one is the most likely to have the film missing. It is weak on B-westerns and films prior to the 80's. Maltin's classic guide is good because at least pre 1960 films won't be dropped and forgotten completely, the blockbuster guide is nice because it has detailed reviews that aren't too pompous in regards to the reviewers opinion.

Besides the lack of old reviews I do have a problem with this guide's ratings of many more modern films. Independence Day given 4.1/2 stars, this film is truly awful besides the special effects. The US is having all kinds of problems finishing off the Iraq war yet we could beat aliens in a day or two with the president doing the dirty work. This is laughably bad even though President Bush might think it is believable, Starship Troppers was better or at least more entertaining treating basically the same subject tongue in cheek, the reviewers gave Troopers 2 stars. Perhaps the most disappointing visit to the theater I ever had was going to see Star Wars episode one, the reviewers gave it 5 stars, saying it was only second to the original. What? Enough said. Episode two also got 5 stars. I could go on all day ripping on the reviewers here, instead let me just say this is not for film buffs, maybe if you are half way interested in films and want to save a couple of bucks buy this guide. No guide will ever be fully comprehensive or objective, and this one is truly an example of that fact.

I collect movies and as I enter them into my palm pilot I add some of the information on them from this book such as director, rating, grade (stars) and year.

The main problem I have found is that the stars tend to go soley on the authors opinions of the movies. For instance the movie "Fight Club" with Brad Pitt got rated a turkey by them. The Internet Movie Database shows it with their rating of 8.3.

I just recently bought the 2005 edition and found that it does not contain "Finding Nemo". Go figure.

Overall I like their guide and I do use their stars (grading) as a guide. I bought it because:
1. I had the previous version and was concerned about changing formats
2. It was cheaper than Leonard Maltins.

I picked up my first copy of martin and Porters video guides probably close to 20 years ago when the video boom was really taking off. They never featured as many films in their guides as other people, Like Maltin for example, but they generally gave more comprehensive reviews and didn't disregard B movies as many other reviewers did. Through their guides I discovered many wonderful films over the years and generally bought their new guide at least every other year if not every year.

Their guides have always been well organized with thorough indexes to find films and stars. Over the years they've continued to add more and more films to an ever growing impressive list of films. The only problem is, and its with any film guide, but in this day and age where there are SO many websites with both amateur and professional film reviews, it's really made books almost obsolete. Even putting out a new guide every year they are still going to lag behind websites which have reviews posted upon release.

If you absolutely want a hard copy guide then this IS the one to buy.

The big downside to these volumes is that they eventually split in half! However... I also own a stack of other film encyclopedias but for weight and manageability this is the best of the lot. The book is around 2 inches thick - but is the size of a novel and you can hold it in one hand. It is a full resource (with over 18,000 titles!), easy to carry around and has a full listing of directors and cast at the back along with Oscar winners. Overall the reviews are not very good and they are limited to just four of five lines at best. I mostly do not use it for the reviews though. It is more of a "find a director or star that you like and quickly flick through the index and the corresponding works to see what else they have done". For that it is very impressive but if you are looking for in-depth reviews then you should go elsewhere for the more unmanageable volumes and Arnold Schwarzenner to help carry them around for you.

I guess Mick Martin and Marsha Porter died. I can't find them anywhere on the internet. I had been buying their video guide for years because there reviews seemed so well informed and objective. Its too bad that Lenord Maltin's guide dominates the book stores because I think variety is important and because like the Fox News channel it seems to dominate the American culture.

I have been buying the Martin & Porter Video Guides for more years than I can remember. Because they were the first ones to offer a section in the back: Actor Lookup ("Cast Index"). Each Actor is listed, with all the movies (mostly) they have made. That is just a Huge bonus for me. I mean ANY guide can review movies!

I'm not an every movie fan, and I like to know a little about what I am buying. This book is very comprehensive and complete for 2005. Don't always agree with all reviews, however. For a real movie buff, this book is a must.

I bought the DVD player for my son. I wanted something that did not have a flip-top screen that could be broken. The Coby player has bright buttons and a very clear screen for such a small viewer. We love it.

This book is a "must have" for movie buffs like myself!
Very handy when you want info on movies, actors, directors.....
It's AWESOME!!!