Product Description

The seventeenth edition of the "Time Out Film Guide" now weighs in with 18,000 reviews, all reviewed over the last 40 years by highly regarded "Time Out film" critics. Covering every area of world cinema - classic silents and 1930s comedies, documentaries and the avant garde, Europe and Asia, the Hollywood mainstream and B-movie horrors - its reach now extends into home entertainment, with the best DVD releases of 2007/2008 and, uniquely, stop-press coverage of the Cannes film festival. New for 2009: "Bushwacked"! On the eve of the US presidential election, an analysis of how the movies have reacted to eight years of George W Bush and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #152218 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1700 pages

Review
"the essential film reference tome...compulsory for time in" --Uncut

Review
"the leader of the pack...informed and passionate and the scope of the book is unrivalled"

Customer Reviews

Massive but flawed
Although this guide contains reviews of an immense number of films, and although the blurb says it 'reaches into home entertainment', with DVDs, productions that were originally TV series are almost all missing. This is fair enough, as the guide is marketed as a 'film' guide, but it does mean that several TV series now available on DVD that are very much better than films reviewed here are missing. For example the George Cukor 1935 version of David Copperfield is included, although W C Fields as Micawber with an American accent, makes it simply unbelievable. All criticism involves a personal opinion, but I believe that most people would prefer the Simon Curtis/Daniel Radcliffe/Maggie Smith BBC version. However, the excellent Roger Mitchell/Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds BBC version of Persuasion is in, whereas the equally good (in my opinion) Adrian Shergold/Sally Hawkins/Rupert Penry-Jones Channel 4 version is not (this was released on DVD in 2007, so either Time Out's reviewers don't think it's good enough, or there's a long time lag before something gets into the guide).

Inevitably some of the opinions expressed will seem strange to some readers. I nearly fell off my chair laughing when I read that 'If ever actress and role were meant for each other, it's Reese Witherspoon and Becky Sharpe' (of Vanity Fair), especially as the reviewer then goes on to slate the film, and ends up telling us that Witherspoon is 'too nice, as if afraid of losing our sympathy'. Once again the contrast is with the captivating Natasha Little (sorry, again a TV series) who maintained her deceitfulness to the end.

Many (perhaps most) of the films reviewed here have probably not been screened in public cinemas for years in Britain, even at the British Film Institute, so availability on DVD is important. For example I saw Antonioni's L'Avventura in the early 1960s when it was first screened in Britain. I had to wait until the mid-1980s to see it again (at a student film society in Cambridge) and when Antonioni died, and obituarists raved over this film, it was not even available as a Region 2 DVD (it still is not available, as far as I know, in a satisfactory Region 2 version at a reasonable price, although there is, of course a Region 1 version if you have a multi-region player). Time Out do apparently realise the importance of DVD, but they haven't yet caught up. I'm not suggesting that Time Out should delete any of their reviews: someone might be prompted by a review to transfer a film to DVD.

If there are several versions of a film, you usually will find only one version reviewed here. It may be the best version that is reviewed, but it's a pity not to have the opportunity to decide.

I don't think there is, at present, a satisfactory film/dvd guide: they all have their failings (Halliwell was always interesting, but idiosyncratic). If you're interested in finding whether a film is worth seeing, or buying on DVD, and especially if there are several versions, you might be better off comparing what the multitude of web sites, and Amazon's reviews, say. However, this is a useful guide, as long as you realise its limitations, and it really is very cheap (at least from Amazon) for over 1300 pages.

What ! No photos !!
I bought this for my husband who is a real film buff. He has a new copy every other year and really enjoys all the information it contains but in the 2009 copy there were no photos which was a real disappointment. Hence 4 stars rather than 5.

a little excessive on the art front
If you're in to artistic impression, director and actor/actress carreer progression and development, then this book is probably for you! - However, if you just want to know what the movie is about, and whether it's likely to be a nice way to while away a couple of hours, then i think it is a little dissappointing. - The synopses are lost in the commentry on cast performance.