Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 2000

Leonard Maltin's Film Guide premiered in 1969, pre-dating the now crowded market of contemporary movie database books. It's still the best and most clearly organized of these types of references...essentially what people utilized back in ancient times before the Internet Movie Database. For in-depth film analysis one should look to Pauline Kael's 5001 Nights at The Movies, David Thomson's A Biographical Dictionary of Film or The Time Out Film Guide...this book is not film analysis and never was intended to serve this function. It's a comprehensive listing of all major films released worldwide including running time, date of release, film aspect ratio and other technical details. There is a brief one or at most two sentence review and then a star rating. This is not film analysis (which requires more than two sentences), it's simply the subjective rating system used by every other film guide on the market. Most of the time Leonard is on the mark although with over 20,000 entries there will inevitably be discrepencies. I recommend the larger format Plume paperback over the mass-market size as the typeface is more readable.

For years, "Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide" has been a staple in my library. For quick and easy reference, this volume puts the facts you need at your fingertips, including availability, formats, ratings and capsule reviews that include director, stars, running time and date of release, for over 20,000 movies. There is also an "Index of Stars," which, though fairly limited (due to space, no doubt) is valuable nonetheless, especially when you need "facts fast." Even the most astute movie buff will encounter the "When was that movie made?" or "Who was in that film besides-" questions from time to time. With this handy guide, you simply flip through the alphabetical listings, and you have your answer in no time. Included,as well, are "Also known as" titles and many cross-references. An interesting addition this year is the "100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century" list, which, as Maltin notes, is to be considered merely a starting point for the comprehensive viewing of truly significant movies. All in all, "The Maltin," (as I like to call it) contains the most helpful information, and is the easiest to use reference guide I have read. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to watch, talk, collect and think about movies.

The most complete and accurate movie analysis out there. Though I do not agree with every review of every movie, no one can. My experience with every addition of this book since 1990 has been that it is a genuine help in determining which films are four stars and which films are bombs. An additional feature of the 2000 edition is the list of Leonard Maltin's must see movies of the 20th century. As he noted at the outset, no one is going to completely agree with this type of list, but I also must say that in my opinion there is no movie on that list that is not worth seeing, and most are must see for the genuine movie aficianado(though there are a few surprisingly not on the list i.e., Touch of Evil). Additionally, if you need Leonard Maltin's book to tell you whether or not you want to see Titanic then you really can't be helped. Also if your taste is in bad movies, you probably won't like the book because they are routinely panned. Finally, as to Roger Ebert, though I find his advice helpful in choosing new movies, I think he is under too much pressure to recommend some film for people to see every week, which can affect his objectivity. Leonard Maltin, on the other hand, works woth an editorial staff, and can determine each review based upon a number of opinions. In any event, it is difficult to give too much credence to a reviewer such as Ebert who gave "thumbs up" to Home Alone 3.

i might not agree with LM's comments, but this is the complete guide to all movies and contains useful info (actors, when made etc) when you're trying to work out whether to watch a particular movie or not.

I have been purchasing this book for the past 12 years and have found each new one better than ever. This is the only book I seek come the holiday season. I look forward to reading this one cover-to-cover.