Rating: 
Summary: A Must Have Movie Guide
Review: Great book, although not as complete as Leonard Maltin book.
There's no rating/stars . . only capsule review which i think better then Maltin writing style.
This book is the shiny version of Maltin's Guide (of course, you could see the price tag)
A bit dissapointment for the Cover quality, the plastic layer is easily tear-off.
Rating: 
Summary: Best film/video guide--no question
Review: I don't want to criticize Leonard Maltin, who's a bright guy with good taste by and large; but this is the film book to buy if you have to buy only one. The English critics for Time Out cover a huge range, including work that has barely made it out of the festival circuit but which richly repays attention--Hou Hsiao Hsien's films, for example, the new Korean cinema, American indies like "George Washington" and the lesser-known Iranian offerings. There were odd omissions in the ninth edition--lots of mediocre Disney, usually overpraised, and nothing at all from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli; Hollywood treasures like "The Good Fairy" left out; but that's to be expected in any reference book. And the comments are sometimes a bit boosterish and sometimes a little churlish, but generally they're on the money. Compulsively readable, and essential next to the DVD player or digital cable.
Rating:
Summary: Obscure 3rd world flick lover unite!
Review: I have purchased a number of film guides over the years and the Time Out Film Guide is probably the best one that I have run across. As another reviewer has pointed out, the subject index alone makes the Guide worthwhile. Looking for films about UFOs or films about eunuchs? Check the subject index!In these days of digital cable, independent film channels, and the availability of less popular and foreign films for purchase over the internet,the Time Out Film Guide should prove to be a valuable tool. The Guide should satisfy those who like Hollywood blockbusters as well as those who enjoy "obscure, third-world flicks" (as another online reviewer of this book sneeringly refered to foreign films). A good film guide should review as many films as possible, both domestic and foreign, and direct you to other films that you might also enjoy. The reviews should both inform and, hopefully, entertain. The Time Out Film Guide fulfills these functions better than any other guide that I have encountered. Whether you like "East of Eden" or "East Palace, West Palace", "Gone with the Wind" or "Gonin", this is the one film guide to own.
Rating:
Summary: the best book for short reviews
Review: Many folks rate this above Maltin's m0vie guide. Why? It has an overall tone of snotty, over-intellectualized condescension that grates on the nerves. Plus, it delights in reviewing obscure, third-world flicks no-one's heard of, nor would want to see. It doesn't have a rating system, doesn't show availability in any format, doesn't show MPAA ratings, nor does it tell you where films are available for purchase or rent. In contrast, Maltin supplies all of these. Even if you don't always agree with his evaluations, in all, he provides much better info for decision-making.
Rating:
Summary: Both useful & entertaining in its own right
Review: Of the various phonebook-sized film-review databases this is the one I prefer. The plusses are:
1) the reviews are brief but usually actually say something useful & entertaining--for single-paragraph essays they pack a punch. There's a healthy leavening of wit (one reviewer refers to _The Good Earth_ as "The Lychees of Wrath"; another remarks that _Labyrinth_ is notably for "David Bowie's saddest ever haircut (no mean achievement)") but also some serious commentary, & the summaries are almost always accurate & don't reveal too much of the plot. Some of the pans are hilarious (I particularly appreciated the skilful demolition job on _Sammy and Rosie Get Laid_--I've seen it & everything they say is true)
2) there are thoughtful one-page feature essays about various films, some of them reappraisals of famous films but others appreciations of undeservedly little-known ones.
3) the credits are relatively full, listing (among other things) all major cast members & even the composer of the score.
4) while its coverage is inevitably incomplete (especially of films before the 1970s) for the most part it's pretty thorough, with a fair bit of space devoted to foreign films & (inevitably) a lot of reviews of British films (though the coverage of these is by no means boosterish--there's no-one harder on British films than British film critics!).
There are a few flaws, admittedly. The worst is that while the index of directors is pretty complete, the index of actors is woefully inadequate, as it only covers a very limited range of (star) actors. If you want to track down, say, films with Thelma Ritter or Esther Williams or William Bendix, you'll need a biographically-organized referencebook like Katz or Thomson. There are inevitable inconsistencies resulting from the book's being compiled by countless critics over many years: films may be referred to positively in one spot while panned in another, & sometimes it's pretty obvious the entry hasn't been updated since the film was reviewed upon its first release. Still, the inconsistencies are actually surprisingly rare--it's generally fairly reliable. Some of the omissions are a bit arbitrary--on a recent flipthrough I noted the absence of _My Neighbor Totoro_, _Pride of the Yankees_, a raft of Shirley Temple films, any version of _Treasure Island_ prior to the 1970s, &c.--but, well, that's always going to happen with omnibus film guides.
Rating:
Summary: This treats movies as art!
Review: OK: first things first. What this book is NOT. This book is NOT one of those volumes filled with 1-4 stars which rate each movie and let us know which is available on DVD. It is also NOT one of those volumes written by a cheesy, so-called critic who, simply because he's got good hair, is allowed to put thumbs up or down on movies and plays for your local tv station. What IS it? It is the 9th edition of a 1500+ page, soft-covered film guide written by more than 200 British film critics. "Time Out," itself, is the best guide to what's playing and what's happening in London (and, more recently, New York City). This weekly magazine includes film reviews and the "Time Out Film Guide" is the latest collection of those reviews. The movies are listed alphabetically, but at the end of the book we are treated to a list of "Time Out's" readers' top 100 favorites, obituaries for the year 1999-2000, and a section on how to find movies on the web. There are also 15 appendices grouping films by type. i.e. horror movies, musicals, swashbucklers, etc. And then, along with several other indexes, one that I've not seen in any other periodical or bound collection: it is a general subject index. Interested in finding a film that was adapted from the works of Bertolt Brecht or movies that feature the British Museum, a list of Israeli, Iranian or Indian films, or perhaps you need to find movies about child prodigies---this is your source. In all, 13,300 movies are reviewed, with very strong coverage of independents and international films. And it weighs less than my cat. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: 13,300 MOVIES
Review: OK: first things first. What this book is NOT. This book is NOT one of those volumes filled with 1-4 stars which rate each movie and let us know which is available on DVD. It is also NOT one of those volumes written by a cheesy, so-called critic who, simply because he's got good hair, is allowed to put thumbs up or down on movies and plays for your local tv station. What IS it? It is the 9th edition of a 1500+ page, soft-covered film guide written by more than 200 British film critics. "Time Out," itself, is the best guide to what's playing and what's happening in London (and, more recently, New York City). This weekly magazine includes film reviews and the "Time Out Film Guide" is the latest collection of those reviews. The movies are listed alphabetically, but at the end of the book we are treated to a list of "Time Out's" readers' top 100 favorites, obituaries for the year 1999-2000, and a section on how to find movies on the web. There are also 15 appendices grouping films by type. i.e. horror movies, musicals, swashbucklers, etc. And then, along with several other indexes, one that I've not seen in any other periodical or bound collection: it is a general subject index. Interested in finding a film that was adapted from the works of Bertolt Brecht or movies that feature the British Museum, a list of Israeli, Iranian or Indian films, or perhaps you need to find movies about child prodigies---this is your source. In all, 13,300 movies are reviewed, with very strong coverage of independents and international films. And it weighs less than my cat. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Guide Made Greater---Highly Recommended!
Review: The 12th edition of the "Time Out Film Guide" (2004) has a totally new look. Gone is the drab unbleached paper of the earlier editions, replaced now by glossy white paper printed in black with blue highlights. Many pages are in full color. The "Time Out Film Guide" always had classy contents, now it also has classy packaging. Another big change is the inclusion of 101 cinefile pages, each devoted to a long fascinating review of a single film. Other changes are discussed below. Of all the film guides, that by Time Out has certainly the best capsule reviews. They are longer and tell you much more about the artistic aspects of the film than either the Maltin or Halliwell guides, which are the main competition. Occasionally, because it gives you more detail on the plot, it sometimes makes small errors or tells too much. This is a small price to pay for analyses that are generally very incisive and right on the money. This is a great guide. But it is not a perfect guide. No guide is. THE DIRT: Number of Reviews: The 2004 Time Out guide reviews slightly fewer films (about 15,700) than Maltin (about 19,000) or Halliwell (about 18,000). If you must have a guide that is likely to have a capsule review of every movie that comes up on cable, even if the reviews aren't nearly as detailed, then you had better get Maltin. Technical Data: If you want a lot of technical data beyond duration, year, color or B&W, widescreen process, country of origin, MPAA rating, director, and principal cast, which are the technical data in Maltin, then you should turn to Time Out or Halliwell, which also display systematically, for example, the producer, production designer, screenwriters, composer, cinematographer, editor, assistant director, and the title in the original language. Halliwell has a slight edge over Time Out in the amount of technical data (for example, it also tells you the production company and distributor) and it is also the size of a telephone book. Completeness: Does the "Time Out Film Guide" review all the really good films? No, but almost. Remember, this guide is a collection of capsule film reviews from a weekly London entertainment magazine (Time Out), and that magazine has been around only since 1968. Thus, if the film is much earlier than 1968 and hasn't been screened in a London repertory cinema in the last 35 years, you might not find it in the Time Out guide. It appears that for the 11th edition (2003), about 4% of the films rated **** or ***1/2 (Maltin) and 20% of the films rated *** (Maltin) aren't reviewed in the Time Out guide. This amounts to about 70 **** or ***1/2 films and 850 *** films (1/4 later than 1968). This situation has changed only slightly in the 12th edition. A solution to this problem: buy Maltin as well; it can be had for the cost of a small pizza. Ratings: The "Time Out Film Guide" has wonderful analyses and technical data, but no numerical ratings of the films. You will find words like wonderful, masterpiece, diaappointing or boring, but not systematically. Is the absence of ratings a disadvantge? I think so. Humans are pretty good at understanding ratings. They're good information, and one can absorb them much more quickly than an entire review. So what do you do if you must see stars? Same as before, you buy a copy of Maltin in addition to the Time Out Film Guide. The Halliwell guide rates only about 8000 of the 18,000 films it describes, so it's not as good as Maltin as a second guide for the ratings. Lists: The "Time Out Film Guide" still has great lists but not quite the same as in the 11th edition. In the front of the book, the Readers' Poll is still there but not the Cinema Century Top One Hundred list (sadly missed) or the ten-best-film lists of about 150 Sight and Sound critics, replaced now by the "Ultimate DVD Collection" (I was not impressed). All of the lists at the back of the book remain intact. The actor and director lists, however, are now in chronological order with the dates, a great improvement. The lists by country of origin, by genre, and by special topic are unchanged except for updating. If you have a hankering to rent a film about construction workers or polygamy, lotteries or lawnmowers (I kid you not) you can still find a dedicated list in Time Out. OTHER GUIDE CHOICES Although not as good, in my opinion, as Maltin, Halliwell, or Time Out, it is worth checking out the "Martin & Porter DVD & Video Guide 2004," and the "TLA DVD and Video Guide 2004." Roger Ebert's movie yearbooks are superb, of course, but a very different animal from the movie guidebooks. A FINAL WORD: If you are going to purchase only one guide, my recommendation is Maltin's guide because of its completeness and ratings. For a second guide, the choice is certainly the "Time Out Film Guide." The two complement each other very well. For a third book to keep next to your TV, consider Ephraim Katz' "The Film Encyclopedia," a marvelous book packed with information.
Rating:
Summary: Best Overall Guide I Have Seen
Review: What sets this guide apart from the pack? The reviews are the reason. If you're not the type that needs some sort of rating system, such as stars, you should consider this guide. I recently replaced an ageing Maltin guide with this one -- I examined quite a number of guides before settling on the Time Out. Although Halliwell's is not bad, they sacrifice review space to lists of blurbs. The Time Out Guide provides the essential info, such as major credits and running time, and then you get a review that summarizes the plot and then provides criticism. Review lengths are based on the film's importance, so some reviews may be twice or even three times as long as others. The 10,000+ films that other guides will include won't be here for the simple reason that they are most likely not worth placing in a general film guide. So if you must have that sort of completeness, I would augment this guide with another (take your pick). Some reviewers think that this guide is snobbish -- well, no. It is clearly written by people who know film, and a glowing endorsement only accompanies a film that is well directed, written, photographed, and acted. They strive to point out each film's strong or weak points along those criteria; they may not always be successful, but they have hundreds of contributors. Others have found this guide Anglocentric; I have not, although I do believe it is much more complete than most guides in its inclusion of British film. Whether you agree with their assessment of a film or not, they are generally not far off the mark, and I would contend that most opinions they venture are the stuff of a lively discussion of film. All in all, a job well done. I reserve the fifth star to the guide that could outdo this one, once it is available. I could grouse about their unkind review of "Arsenic and Old Lace", or their overkind review of "The English Patient", but this is the sort of thing that comes with the turf. By the way, the print is tiny, so be forewarned.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best film guide available!
Review: When it comes to film guides, Time Out can't be beat. It is by far the most comprehensive guide on the shelves and has been handsomely repackaged to include "cinefiles" on landmark movies down through the years. It covers not only anglo but many foreign language films as well. While other guides tend to focus on American, Canadian and British productions, Time Out will help you find a broad range of Russian, Indian, French, German, Italian, and Japanese films as well. You will even find such esoteric titles as Freedom (Laisve) by Sarunas Bartas. Imagine that! It breaks the films down in the appendices by categories, making it easier to track down movies whose titles have eluded you. In addition, it has extensive actors and directors indices to further narrow your search. It not only includes past Oscar winners, but those of the British Academy, Cannes, Berlin and Venice as well. The short reviews are well written with an extensive list of contributors. There is even a guide to help you build the ultimate DVD collection. Enjoy!
|
