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| "Time Out" Film Guide 2009 (Time Out Film Guide) | 
 enlarge | Author: Time Out Guides Ltd
Publisher: Time Out Group Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £11.71
You Save: £8.28 (41%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (1 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6675
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 17#2009 & Revised,#e.
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1700
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 11 x 7.4 x 2.1
ISBN: 1846701007
Dewey Decimal Number: 016.7914375
EAN: 9781846701009
ASIN: 1846701007
Publication Date: September 4, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Massive but flawed December 29, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
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