Rating: 
Summary: Slanted to Horror and Recent Films; Not Woman-Friendly
Review: "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" is slanted toward the tastes of teen male fans of the grotesque and the sensational who are unaware of, or don't care about, older and more woman-friendly films.
Just flipping through the book is an unpleasant experience if you aren't looking forward to seeing large images of a woman's eye being sliced open by a razor weilded by a male hand (p 74), a woman being hung by her neck, her mouth smeared with blood (p 639), a monster and a bloody body (p 653), a giant human cockroach eating another bloodied human body (p. 804), etc. etc. etc.
This emphasis on horror, the sensational, and the grotesque, and on the presence of females as the objects of horror, is demonstrated by the book's front cover -- Janet Leigh screaming in horror before her character was stabbed to death in "Psycho."
Molly Haskell, in "From Reverence to Rape," records how films, that used to feature an abundance of female characters in a variety of ranges, now focus on male ticket-buyers. This book focuses on males, as well.
Female stars are given very short shrift. Example: unless I missed it, there is not a single photograph of Greta Garbo in this large, heavy, 960 page book, with photographs on almost every page.
Greta Garbo? Greta Garbo? Not a big enough star?
Okay, it's understandable that a 14 year-old male fan who thinks of "Star Wars" as an example of the Dark Ages of filmmaking would have never heard of Greta Garbo, but when a book christens itself with the pretentious title, "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," the reader is entitled to expect a bit more knowledge.
I guess Garbo's sin, in these editors' eyes, is that she was never stabbed to death in a film, or eaten by a giant, slimey monster. (One can almost hear the editors of this book thinking, "Man! Cool!")
Another star completely missing from this book -- Rudolph Valentino.
Umm ... do I need to explain this?
See, boys, half of the human race consists of women. Women like to watch movies, too. Once upon a time, Hollywood gave women beautiful men to ogle. Valentino was the first male megastar. His funeral was one of the most important events in the twentieth century history of the celebrity.
Guess you missed that ... while watching "Dawn of the Dead" one more time.
Readings of the relatively few women-friendly films that are mentioned are hopelessly off-key and uninformed.
"Broken Blossoms" is lauded for its use of oil-coated lenses.
Never, in the full page review, is it mentioned that "Broken Blossoms" is a full-length, mainstream Hollywood movie treatment of domestic violence, and that it contains a scene where the film's female protagonist, played by Lillian Gish, a huge star, is *beaten to death,* on camera, by her father.
It is remarkable that an early, silent film was so brave. No mainstream Hollywood film since has treated domestic violence against women with such power and frankness.
Even if you didn't care a whit about domestic violence, even if your only concern were for technique, you'd have to mention that Gish won praise for her ability to depict the girl's terror as her father breaks in on her hiding place.
The book never utters a word about the film's treatment of domestic violence, or even Gish's legendary handling of it.
The book has other flaws. Many of the more recent films listed are pleasant, but are not films that you should worry about dying before seeing. So, breathe easy about a lot of these pleasant but mediocre films.
In at least one case, a spoiler -- the ending of a movie whose ending you should not know before seeing the film -- is revealed. There may be spoilers in other comments, as well. I don't know, because, after a while, I stopped reading. This is not one of the 1001 books I must read before I die.
Rating: 
Summary: Will enhance film library holdings
Review: A 'must purchase' acquisition that will enhance film library holdings, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is a weighty reference edited by Steven Jay Schneider and outlining the best movies and what elements contribute to their high recommendation. From casts, plots and little-known facts to black and white clips from the pictures, the handy A-Z 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is a recommended pick for cinema students and film buff alike.
Rating:
Summary: Before you die books
Review: Add this to your roster of great reads and even more importantly, see the movies before you die. If you love movies, this book describes 1001 of the best films from around the world, with black and white and color photos. All my favorites were mentioned and there are about 500 more I need to see.
Rating: 
Summary: Caution
Review: Although this book provided an acceptably organized compilation of movie classics, I was bugged by the fact that reviews/thoughts included spoilers, or revelations of the movies' endings.
I purchased this book in order to discover movies I knew not of previously or had heard of and was interested in seeing. The occasional spoilers are given without warning and made me read with caution to those movies that I did not yet know the outcome of, which was quite tedious.
Overall, the reviews were convincing and thoughtful when not completely blatant, but do proceed with caution.
Rating: 
Summary: This is definitely a fun book.
Review: Any book that includes Satyajit Ray's "The Music Room" gets my vote as a possible buy. I don't know who picked the newer movies -- maybe it really was someone who is emotionally fourteen years old or maybe they wanted to pander to young people as the above review suggests. "Up in Smoke," "Meet the Parents" -- these are great movies? And omitting Polanski's "Knife in the Water" considered by many to be his best movie, not to mention "The Road Warrior" which made Mel Gibson an international star -- not good. And "Gladiator" is included and "The Duellists," Scott's beautiful rendition of a Conrad story not? Buy it for fun, but with the knowledge that it's far from a definitive best movies book.
Rating:
Summary: Movie Buff Bible
Review: As a baby boomer I love the movies! Why? Well in the mid fifties of the last century the big guys in Hollywood began to see that Television was a real threat and pulled up their socks!
As a young teenager I got the biblical epics Ben Hur , Spartacus, etc and I was in awe of their spectacle. As Chuck would say they put me "Into the Arena". But the musicals the Gene Kelly marvellous magical moments, printed indelibly on my young mind! Well they are all there in my mind's eye BUT now they are in this marvellous book "1001 Movies-You must see before you die". Well I have not been able to put it down and I no sooner have read one review than I turn the page and the memories keep flooding back. The excitement and the shear joy of what it was like in that mid-century movie theatre and to see those stars, play out the brilliant film scripts so carefully crafted. Well done Mr.Schneider, for editing such a treasure of a book for me to endlessly thumb through!
Rating:
Summary: Great source but a few errors....
Review: As soon as I saw this book on the shelf I knew it was for my ever-expanding collection of cinema sources & the selection contained herein did not disappoint. Except maybe for the alarming number of errors I found. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN did not win best picture in 1976; as the next page testifies, ROCKY did. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was not narrated by Dr. Everett Scott; it was narrated by The Narrator(Charles Gray). DANGEROUS LIAISONS did not win Best Picture in 1988; a few pages later it states,correctly,that RAINMAN did. In the piece on Charles Chaplin's brilliant MONSIEUR VERDOUX, the end result of his work & the sentiments expressed in his film made him the target of the political right which led to his permanent departure from the United States in 1952. He returned in 1971 & was presented with a lifetime achievement award at The Academy Awards.
Rating:
Summary: A Reliable Guide to the Art of Cinema
Review: I bought this book on a lark, and much to my wife's chagrin, I have begun using it as checklist to survey the whole art form of cinema. I have taken it as a personal challenge to view as many of these movies as possible--cinema being the one art form that has been compacted into a little over one hundred years, and this book has just about all the vertabrae in the spine of the art. Granted that a number of these films are impossible or very difficult to obtain, but I figure if I can see 70% of these movies, I'll have had a pretty good glimpse into what a complete art form can say about human experience. Incidentally, one major error in this volume is the description of the film "L'argent," which discusses an entirely different film from the title. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this volume on all counts.
Rating:
Summary: Best of its type that I've found so far
Review: I have been a film lover for 40 years. Five years ago, when I was in a position to begin collecting films, I built a wish list of four-star titles using the late, lamented software program Cinemania, which contains reviews of 30,000 films. That list has since grown to more than 1,500 titles, of which I have more than 1,000 in my collection. I also have a decent library of books about film.
This book is simply the best collection of concise, informative reviews of quality titles that I have seen to date. I could quibble with some of the inclusions and omissions, but by and large, the book, along with Roger Ebert's Great Movies series, is an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to explore the riches of a century of film.
One of the book's greatest values is the fact that it includes films that are rarely shown in the United States and that I had not heard of before. Thus it has helped me to broaden my horizon. I believe that the reason for the inclusion of these unfamiliar titles is that the contributors come from many different countries, as well as from cities such as London and Paris where film is taken more seriously than in most of the United States. Simply put, they get to see titles that we don't, and vice versa.
Other reviewers have pointed out some errors in the sidebar information that accompanies each review. This information includes cast, credits, and awards. These errors are unfortunate, but in a work of this scope, they are bound to happen. Accurate information for the more obscure titles is next to impossible to come by, particularly if they are in a foreign language. In the case of DVDs and VHS cassettes, I have often seen disparencies between the credits on the screen and those on the packaging.
Only a handful of my film books are in the night table next to my recliner. This book is one of them, and I refer to it almost every day.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely priceless film guide
Review: I received a copy of "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" for my birthday, and it was truly an inspired gift. I love foreign films, and recently went on a film noir bender. I have a list of favourite directors, and I make a point of trying to seek out films I've heard of--even if they're not available as rentals. I buy an annual video film guide faithfully every year, but I still have this sneaking suspicion that there are many great films out there that I'm missing. The book, "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" proved my suspicions to be correct--I have missed many great titles. This book is a marvelous resource for film lovers. The editor states that it's "a book that seeks not just to inform and to prescribe, but to motivate." The contributors began selecting films by taking "a close look at a number of existing 'greatest,' 'top,' 'favorite,' and 'best' film lists and prioritizing titles based on the frequency with which they occurred." At the front of the book, films are indexed by genre. In the 'meat' of the book, the films are in chronological order (beginning with 1902 and ending in 2002). Film information includes: country of origin, language, director, producer, screenplay, director of photography, main stars, Hollywood awards, and international awards. Each film entry includes a plot synopsis, and gorgeous photographs complement the text. Contributors include professors of Film Studies, journalists, writers, filmmakers, and doctoral students. There's a wide range of expertise here, and it truly shows. And for those who want to search by title, there's a complete title index at end. I am really impressed by the range of the selections here--including--classics, foreign, documentaries, comedies, horrors, and musicals. While I was happy to see I'd watched many of the titles here, I was shocked at the number of films I've never heard of. Believe me, I'm going to remedy that. I heartily recommend this book to all film lovers who--like me--are sick and tired of going to the video rental place and renting the same old rotten mush. Film lovers--this book is for you--displacedhuman
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