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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Reviews but Incomplete
Review: The TLA guide makes no claim to review all films but only those that the editor believes to be of high quality or at least significant. The 2004 edition contains about 9100 reviews (not the more than 10,000 claimed), about half the number of reviews in the Maltin or Halliwell guides (and only one third of the films reviewed in Maltin or Halliwell are considered to be at least "good" by these guides). Unfortunately, very many excellent and important films from very famous directors are not reviewed. Some of the more glaring examples: All About Eve (1950), The Jazz Singer (1927) and The Red Badge of Courage (1951). One would think that the editor of the TLA Guide would have consulted other guides to limit the number of omissions of highly meritorious films, but apparently this did not occur.Films in the TLA guide are rated from zero to four stars with half-star gradations. About 1000 films are given a rating of ****, and another 1700 receive a rating of ***1/2. Thus, the TLA Guide dishes out stars at the top of the ratings much more generously than does Maltin (not to mention Halliwell). Another 3000 films receive a rating of ***. The number of films, then, which receive three or more stars is about the same in both the Maltin and TLA guides. However, it is harder to pick out the best films from the TLA guide. Minor inaccuracies in the titles abound. In addition, Clouzot's 1943 film "Le Corbeau" is reviewed once under that title and again as "The Raven." Ratings were missing for "Le Corbeau" (1943) and for "Black and White in Color" (1977). These are only the few booboos that immediately caught this writer's eye. They are not Earth shaking, but they show a lack of care. The author includes some useful lists in the appendix, notably: a list of TLA favorites, a list by country of origin, a director list, a star list, and a list by themes. I can understand that not every film in a list can be reviewed in the guide, but this should not be the case for the list of TLA favorites. Unfortunately, it is. All of the sublists would be much more useful if the films were put in chronological order, even if the date is not shown. In the case where there is more than one film of the same title, of course, those particular titles should be supplied with dates. The value of the TLA Guide lies not in its ratings or in its level of completeness. It lies in the quality of its reviews, which, because it examines fewer films, can be longer and more informative. However, they lack the detailed data that accompanies every Halliwell or Time Out review. There is much to be learned from the TLA reviews. Nonetheless, if one must choose one or two guides, these should probably be Maltin and Halliwell or Maltin and Time Out.
Rating: 
Summary: Discerning film lover loves this book
Review: This book is exactly what I needed to separate the good/excellent films from the bad and the ugly. I don't watch films (primarily those on TV) without consulting it. It has enabled me to find popular as well as little-known films that are well-made, well-acted, and well-directed. It has saved me hours of watching films that I wish I'd never seen and reading film guides that include most of the films ever made.
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