World Famous Comics: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
From: Barron''s Educational Series Publisher: Barron''s Educational Series Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Barron''s Educational Series Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 960 Publication Date: October 01, 2005
Product Description: Updated with brand-new entries to describe the most recent major motion pictures, this critically-acclaimed volume spans more than a century of moviemaking, concisely describing 1001 of the best films from around the world. New in this edition are entries to describe such film hits as Lord of the Rings, Mystic River, Farenheit 9/11, and Million Dollar Baby. But in fact, this volume's team of critics goes back to 1902, describing such films as The Great Train Robbery, and progressing chronologically across the decades to cover the best cinematic dramas, comedies, westerns, musicals, suspense and horror films, gangster classics, films noir, sci-fi epics, documentaries, and adaptations of novels and stage plays made by filmmakers around the world. Each entry includes a full list of cast and credits, awards won by the film, an essay summarizing the story line and screen-history, and still shots of the film's memorable scenes. At the back of the book, both an alphabetical index and a genre index will help readers find any film they're looking for. Movie fans will find descriptions of great musicals like Singing in the Rain, westerns like High Noon, science-fiction classics like Star Wars, dramas like Chinatown and Schindler's List, and international classics from master directors who include Fellini, Antonioni, Resnais, Truffaut, Eisenstein, Kurosawa, and many others. Here is a volume that belongs in the personal library of film buffs, movie reviewers, collectors of DVDs-and every reader who enjoys reminiscing over great movies of the past and present. Hundreds of movie still shots in color and black and white. "... a great motivating guide to cinema. After reading one of its engaging, often profound entries on a missed film, you want to ... rent it. Best of all, it includes international, silent, animated, and recent films." --Dallas Morning News
Great! but... As a movie lover this seemed to be a perfect gift for me...until I learned there was a new edition coming in the fall. Apart from that I was absolutely pleased with this book and I'm looking forward to watching the movies listed in the book that I haven't seen. If you don't mind having this edition (that only lists movies till 2004) then I wouldn't hesitate on buying it.
Massive work, sloppy errors Ideal compendium for it's attempt to focus novices on a more complete path of film experience, but in many places not to be trusted for it's facts and digests. Forgivable I guess because of it's many contributors, but not so for any one reviewer not to be fully conversant with the film they wrote about.
They left out "Song of Bernadette"!
great book except......................... I have read this book so many times it is falling apart! It has opened my eyes to many classics, before 1980 that is! My big problem with this book is like another reviewer has commented is the later films in the 80s and 90s and even in the current millenium. I think the writers thought they needed to even out the movies a little bit so you have many great films ommitted while you have complete junk like Independence day, Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, Good Morning Vietnam, Die Hard, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Rain Man, Pretty Woman, Terminator 2, Many movies by Spielberg, Forrest Gump, Strange Days, Clueless, and the list goes on! As well as overrated crap like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Titanic, American Beauty, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Memento, O Brother Where Art thou, Any Lord Of the rings, Chicago. I could go on forever! However there are many great films in here and i have seen probably 3/4 of them. Oh did i also mention other stupid movies like Tootsie, Gandhi, Back to the Future, Moonstruck, Big, When Harry met Sally, Dances with Wolves, Edward Scissorhands, Thelma and Louise, Philadelphia, Scream, and The Blair Witch Project are just a few. So if you are going to buy this book please beware of films after 1980! Except for masterpieces like Raging Bull, Eyes Wide Shut, The Decalogue, The Double Life Of Veronique, Full Metal Jacket, Brazil, Ran, This Is Spinal Tap, and a few others.
Don't buy this book The issue with this book isn't that there are factual errors or that its list of movies isn't what you would pick. The big problem with this book is that the writers frequently spoil the movie for the reader. The most blatant example I've found is the review of "Don't Look Now", where the third paragraph recounts what is probably the entire last five minutes of the film. The writer then has the audacity to add, "It is no exaggeration to say that few scenes in the history of cinema have proven as effective at sending chills up the spines of viewers as this one." Also, I recently watched "Oldboy" and followed it up by reading the review in this book. The second sentence of the first paragraph, if fresh in a person's mind, would definitely have given away an important plot development. I'm glad I didn't read it before watching the movie.
Please, do yourself a favor and don't buy this book. Or if you feel you still want to, watch the movie before reading the review.
Good, despite some reservations with later choices As the title says, 1001 movies of the last hundred years (considered by the editor to be the best ever) as reviewed by some of the top film critics in the English speaking world. Hollywood movies are included, but there is a fair amount of lesser known films from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America; Star Wars is included as well but also films by avante garde auteurs like Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith and Michael Snow - this book cannot be accused of provincialism or commercialism. Of the 1001 films reviewed here, I seen more than 300 hundred - which I think makes me a cinephile in relatively good standing considering that I tended to avoid Hollywood studio movies, many of whom are included here. Generally, the movies from 1900 to 1980 are hard to argue - the movies after that date are more debatable, especially from 1990 on - Lone Star? Independence Day???. It takes a while to build a canon, it takes time to see if an artwork will endure, and whomever selected this films should have known this. A solution to that is not to include the most recent films - Scorsese did this a decade ago when he filmed his Personal Journey with American Movies. Despite this reservation, I reccomend this book for cinema lovers.
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