|
I do have an older version of this book and it really is handy to have around if you are a big movie fan. The company was great about it, and made sure that i recieved my money back. I never recieved this book. I suppose it was lost in the mail.
We consider it a must have. My husband and I consider ourselves to be movie buffs. This is essential in our house, as the older we get the less we remember.
I don't want to put across the impression that all "big-time" critics aren't really that great, but more and more often these folks seem to think they're in a competition with their counterparts to see who can find and use the most obscure phraseology and biting criticism that it's like trying to follow a Dennis Miller routine if you haven't read every major newspaper in the country that day. Of course, it has to get bigger every year, (2008's has 1800+ pages, but it's also a blast just to scan thru.because as well as reviewing almost every movie made, the reviews give exhaustively complete credits, i.e., cinematography, music score, screenplay, based on a book by ___, etc., etc., you also get, after the movie section, a cross-referencing group of sections that defies you to try and play "stump the Hound". If you like movies check it out, if you love them, just buy it. My wife and I have been buying this book annually since the early/mid 90's. My wife and I started calling it the "boner book" from the second week we found our first one. You laugh, you cry, yada, yada. BTW.you can pre-order the '09 edition right now, you sicko.
It rates on a system of dog bones, 1 bone (actually they have a no-bone rating, simply stated as "woof") through 4 bones, and when they give a movie 4 bones, I think you would really have to try very hard to find that particular movie unlikable. Just stroll through the section on actors, and you'll soon learn that many of your favorite star's went through a relatively inauspicious beginning, and that's just one of the many categories that are almost voyeuristic in their "completeness".directors, with their bodies of work just lying there chronologically for you to pick at, lol, the category list, which contains genre, sub-genre, thematic, even significant scene selections, and a "kibbles and series" list, actually a bunch of off the wall indexes rolled into one index.you would look here to find out what your favorite movie's genesis really was.literary, theatrical, cartoon, television adaptations, plus there's a quality check with categories like "woofs", "4 bones" top grossing, jeez, I'm getting carpal tunnel while trying (woefully unsuccessfully) to keep this somewhat short. I would say it could satisfy (at least to a certain extent)., the very freakishly obsessed with movies and movie-making trivia. We have rented or purchased a "4-boner" on those criteria alone. or maybe a disturbing filmography of David Lynch, this is where you look.
It's been a rare moment that it has disappointed, and believe it or not, the reviews are intelligently written and, in this movie nut's opinion much more fair and helpful to the would-be viewer than many of the top US newspaper's and web site's highly paid guns-for-hire. If you cannot find out information on, say, Bud Cort's first film appearance, (M.A.S.H). After all, it is a MOVIE, right. These folks seem to understand the critics job in more of an everyman way, sure they're witty, and they can bite with the biggest dogs out there, but we find that the reviews are very often right on the money. Just my opinion, but they just seem to tell it like it is, but still have a little fun with it.
What more can I say. Every movie ever made. With summary, IDs of actors, writer, Director.
Guess I'll relegate it to the use as a door-stop or grandchild booster at the dinner table. It is more than obvious that the editor and staff didn't see the movie, nor talked to anyone that had. There are worse fates, I guess. Couldn't wait to receive this tome of video nuggets, but the first movie I looked up, one of my favorites, had a short, lame, synopsis that didn't even touch one iota on the uniqueness, humor or twists involved in the plot. (It's a cult classic, Rustler's Rhapsody, with Tom Berenger and Andy Griffith; hilarious).
|
