DVD & Video Guide 2004: Amazon.ca: Mick Martin, Marsha Porter: Books

Product Description

Review

“THE BEST.”
—People

“THE BEST ALL-AROUND VOLUME.”
—Newsday

Book Description

Wondering what video to rent tonight? This bestselling, fact-packed guide is the only sourcebook you and your family will ever need. Mick Martin and Marsha Porter steer you toward the winners and warn you about the losers. DVD & Video Guide 2004 covers it all—more films than any other guide, plus your favorite serials, B-Westerns, made-for-TV movies, and old television programs! Each entry, conveniently alphabetized for easy access, includes a summary, fresh commentary, the director, major cast members, the year of release, and the MPAA rating, plus a reliable Martin and Porter rating—from Five Stars to Turkey—so you’ll never get caught with a clunker again!

THE BEST IN THE FIELD FOR 19 YEARS!
Including
• BRAND-NEW DVD LISTINGS
• DIRECTOR AND STAR INDEXES
• COMPLETE ACADEMY AWARD LISTINGS
• WHERE TO BUY THOSE HARD-TO-FIND VIDEOS

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The best, complete, honest, no nonsense movie guide around, May 11 2004

By

Lynos - See all my reviews

This review is from: DVD & Video Guide 2004 (Mass Market Paperback)

Ten years ago, long before Istarted surfing the web, I purchased my first ever copy of what was then called VMG. As I was passionate about movies (and still am), I read every single review there was in the book, and in the end it looked as tattered as hell. I still have my first copy, it's yellow-brownish and torn, and for me symbolizes my great love for this book and for movies.

I've leafed through Maltin's guide quite a few times, and the "video and dvd movie guide" is hands down the best there is. Here's why:
Five stars to turkey, a rating system flexible enough for nuiances, and there are also the 1/2 ratings, i.e ***1/2. This allows for great accuracy in reviews, as opposed to the broad strokes which a four star rating sometimes uses.

The book is very easy to read, the title is highlighted, the stars are bold and clear (unlike in Maltin's). Not to mention the Turkey!

The fabulous cast and director indexes. Today, at the Internet age, you can log on to imdb.com and find complete filmographies, but in the past those indexes taught me a great deal about cast and directors body of work. And it still does. Sometimes I don't feel like opening the computer to find something.

This is a no nonsense guide. It's totally unpretentious, it usually shows a movie true worth, without over analizing, without apologies. It is impossible to agree with everything in the book, yet I've seen hundreds of films which appear in this guide, and as far as I'm concerned, it stands at about 90 percent hit, 10 percent miss.

So, ten years later, I'm still buying the new editions of this book. It was and still is a great tool for me, and it taught me a great deal about movies.

People Magazine was right. This is THE BEST.

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4.0 out of 5 stars very good but sometimes frustrating, Jan 2 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: DVD & Video Guide 2004 (Paperback)

I get this tome every year for Christmas from my hubby because I couldn't live without it! I used to get the Maltin one, but I switched because I like the more complete Porter and Martin way of reviewing--from a big old turkey to five stars and also because of the Oscar guide and complete actor guides in the back. I like to just read this book and mark movies I'd like to watch, which leads to my only two complaints:
1) I wish the foreign films with subtitles were not mixed in with normal American movies--or if they must be, mark them in an obvious way before I get all excited about it--there are plenty of people, like me, who can barely sit through a subtitled film no matter how highly rated.
2) There are TONS of movies not rated at all. Now I know that the point of this book is only movies you can RENT, but when I''m playing with the TV remote and come across a movie, I'd like to be able to look it up and see if it's worth watching. Many times I go through the bother of looking it up only to find that, apparently since it's not in video stores, it's not in the book.

Otherwise, the reviews are very good, (though some inexplicably longer than others) sometimes downright funny. Be forewarned, though, ladies...a great chick flick can nearly never get a great rating, but a great shoot 'em up invariably will.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes Incorrect, Dec 22 2003

By

Kristopher Haines (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: DVD & Video Guide 2004 (Mass Market Paperback)

I was all set to title this review "head and shoulders above Maltin's guide, 4,000 more reviews of movies that can actually be purchased" But now I see that statement is not entirely true. Who wouldn't prefer a guide devoted to films you can actually buy instead of wasting space on movies that have never been released on home video, and as such are virtually impossible to find? And all this for a dollar less than Maltin's. But what if Martin/Porter are wrong? So far I've found two movies that haven't been released in the Martin/Porter guide. They are also reviewed in Maltin's guide and correctly identified as unavailable. Plus, there are some films that Martin/Porter don't review, but Maltin does, then again the reverse is true. The main reason I switched is that I have used Maltin's guide since 2001, and all of them with the exception of the 2003 guide have fallen apart in one way or another. The 2001 guide actually split in half. I think that I'll stay with Martin/Porter for at least another year and give them a chance to correct their errors, but getting your hopes up that something is available only to find out that it is not is quite frustrating.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy manageable size. Reviews are very small.
I also own a stack of other film encyclopedias but for weight and manageability this is the best of the lot. Read more

Published on Dec 1 2003 by OverTheMoon

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 STARS !!!
I've been turning to Martin and Porter for around 14 years now and all I can say is that I eagerly await each year's edition. Read more

Published on Nov 4 2003 by M. R. ZOGLIO