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VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 1998 is the most comprehensive single-volume film guide you can buy. It contains capsule reviews of more than 22,000 movies, written with wit and good humor; the films are rated in a range from "four bones" to "WOOF!" Each entry notes the year the film was released; its running time; its availability on videocassette, laserdisc, and DVD; its chief credits; and whether the film was made in black and white or color. Unlike many rival guides, the
Retriever includes made-for-television movies, straight-to-video releases, miniseries, and television shows that are currently available on video. But that's not all: the second half of the volume is an enormous book of lists, making it a valuable film encyclopedia as well. The award index covers not only the Oscars, the BAFTA Awards, and the Cannes Film Festival winners, but also the Golden Globe, the Canadian Genie, the Independent Spirit, and the MTV Movie Awards.
VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 1998 categorizes films by their country of origin and by director, star, writer, cinematographer, and composer. If you want to find information on the World Wide Web, check out the directory of the best film Web sites. Best of all is the category index, which catalogues movies according to conventional genres ("Comedy," "Film Noir," "Romance") and also under topics as wild and diverse as "Murderous Children," "Flatulence," "Satire and Parody," "Cyberpunk," "Marriage," "L.A." and "Nuns with Guns."
VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 1998is a lively and entertaining guide that will point you toward new experiences in film and strengthen your cinematic expertise.
From Library Journal
Several capsule movie review sources now appear annually, including Halliwell's Film and Video Guide (HarperCollins), Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide (Plume), and the Blockbuster Entertainment Guide to Movies and Videos (Dell). Comparable in scope, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever stands out by dint of its biting attitude. The latest edition adds 1000 reviews, bringing the total to approximately 22,000. Access is via 13 indexes: by cast, director, writer, and so on. Particularly helpful are the alternative title index and the category list, an acerbic grouping of titles under rubrics like "Post Apocalypse: No more convenience stores." Coverage of foreign films is solid, and the extensive cross references are to be applauded. An awards index and a website guide only increase the reference value. VideoHound's Horror Show is more focused, providing 999 paragraph-length reviews of horror films. Encompassing both silent films and 1990s slasher pictures, it is accompanied by a subset of the indexes found in the larger Golden Movie Retriever. The contents are fleshed out by 50 sidebars highlighting topics along the lines of "The 1950s: The Bugs, 3-D, and the Birth of Hammer." A "Horror Connections" section lists websites, magazines and newsletters, organizations, and books, and photographs enhance the text. Unfortunately, this volume suffers from the inclusion of nontraditional horror films like Apocalypse Now and Trainspotting. While these films are indeed chilling, their inclusion casts doubt on Mayo's entire project. Why, for instance, is Full Metal Jacket left out? Public libraries may nevertheless be interested in both volumes.?Neal Baker, Earlham Coll., Richmond, IN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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