Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide

Rating:
Summary: Not as complete as I'd like
Review: I have been buying Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide for nearly twenty years now. It remains a vital and enjoyable purchase and is a great reference for major Hollywood features, breakthrough independents and widely-distributed foreign films. However, Maltin admittedly is a film historian who wastes a lot of space in this book on obscure, decades-old Hollywood films that are seldom, if ever, shown on television and have been unavailable on VHS or DVD for years. In this volume, he says he is going to divide the guide into different volumes, one focusing on classics, others on more recent releases. This is a good idea. I really do think Maltin needs to devote one guide to DVD and video releases and another to his beloved classics, both of which I would buy. That way, the smaller films (such as "Local Boys", for instance) that receive direct-to-video release and obscure titles that are not featured in this volume will be covered and Maltin's impeccable taste and invaluable advice will prove more useful.

As for his reviews, the only fault I find (and it's really more a difference in personal taste) is that Maltin tends to prefer classic-style filmmaking, which explains why a mediocre film like "Cider House Rules" ranks **** while Clint Eastwood's masterwork "Unforgiven" only gets ***. Also, his constant carping about "overlength" in any movie over two hours gets old, especially since few of the films he complains about truly are overlong. But that's what makes this book so much fun--complaining about and disagreeing with the somewhat odd rankings he and his staff come up with, along with the occasional surprise of knowing he also liked that badly-reviewed film you have a fondness for. And a special kudo to Leonard for finally admitting he blew it with his original review of Ridley Scott's brilliant "Alien" and upping that pathetic **1/2 rating by a *. It's nice to see critics admitting when they're wrong.

As I said, this is a fine collection of reviews that needs to be divided into volumes in order to provide a more complete collection of relevant reviews. Regardless, it's still the best guide out there. **** (out of *****)

Rating:
Summary: The best quick reference
Review: I only agree with the reviews about 55% of the time, but the team that assembles this guide does a superb job of writing brief capsule descriptions of a wide variety of films. The reference information --- stars, directors, dates, widescreen processes --- may all be available elsewhere, but it's often a lot easier to pick up the book then it is to get up out of your easy chair, boot up the computer, go to the imdb, type in the info you're looking for...

It's true that this edition, formatted to fit into a mass-market paperback, has very small print. As an AARP member who needs trifocals, this can sometimes be an issue. However, Maltin's does publish the book in a larger-type edition (a "trade" paperback) which is published about three months after this smaller sized version. (Why don't they publish both simultaneously? Who knows...)

P.S. This book is also very handy for working crossword puzzles.

Rating:
Summary: STILL NICE TO HAVE EVEN IN A PC WORLD
Review: I remember picking up my first Maltin guide almost 20 years ago when guides like this were indispensible to the burgeoning home video market.

Today, the reliance on home guides has really been greatly reduced. There are so many great websites out there such as the Internet Movie Database where you can get reviews in an instant that it has made old paper guides almost stone-age in comparison. I mean, the fact that by the time they hit the market, there are all ready hundreds of newer releases not in the book.

Still, I love Maltin's wit and his enthusiasm. He's never been high-brow like many reviewers and has a great appreciation for animation like I do.

His book has reviews for over 20,000 movies, an index of leading actors and actresses, and much more. Leonard's style has always been fun to read. If you are going to guy a book, then this is the one to get.

Rating:
Summary: i THOUGHT THERE WERE NO MORE TV MOVIES ALLOWED IN GUIDES
Review: I was under the impression that Mr. Maltin no longer put tv movies in his recent movie guide books unlike his guide books of 20 years ago. But this 2005 book has a review of a very old tv movie called Elvis starring Kurt Russell. No fair! TV movies were outlawed in Maltin's books a while ago.

Rating:
Summary: Print and book size
Review: If you buy this book be sure you have a very good magnifying glass. The pages have been reduced in size and the print is extremely small. They have also reduced the number of entries by thousands. The price has been reduced so that is a plus. Keep your old book.

Rating:
Summary: Bag O Sha 2005
Review: Let's drop the average for Lenny's book a notch for his panning of the great movie Kingpin, which does have heart, contrary to what this buffoon says. It seems that all of Lenny's taste is in his mouth.
Bah.

Save you pennies and visit some online dvd-review sites as well as reading other customer views, it will certainly be more comprehensive.



Rating:
Summary: I like Maltin & his show....but not this guide.
Review: Maltin has an obvious enthusiasm on his television show and I enjoy watching it, however his guide is a letdown in terms of the amount of movies he completely dismisses. This guide is comprehensive, well organized & easy to read but the manner in which he reviews is black and white. Instead of telling me the good and bad in a film that is borderline, he will trash it entirely. You get the impression that the film has no merit whatsoever. Acting, dialogue, plot, mood, pacing & other variables are considered in the films he favors and he gets all the "classics" right, but when it comes to a film that isn't perfect but still enjoyable he will brand it a useless piece of garbage or a waste of time. There are too many films I would have missed had I taken his advice in the book. I know it's part of the fun of difference of opinion in these guides and it is amusing sometimes to read a crafty review that destroys a film or cd (you gotta spice things up a bit now and then)but in accordance with another famous reviewer..."THUMBS DOWN". Buy the Martin/Porter Dvd & Video Guide or Videohound instead. A bit more open in their reviews.