**1/2 for The Double Life Of Veronique still rankles twenty years on for some reason.
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:44 (eight years ago) link
http://www.listology.com/chris102385/list/leonard-maltins-35-and-4-star-movies-21st-century-2000-2012
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:45 (eight years ago) link
United 93 2006World Trade Center 2006
You had to be there.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:51 (eight years ago) link
The Tree of Life, Certified Copy and Holy Motors all missed the mark, but Win Win is a win in Maltin's book. My sense of order is restored.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:53 (eight years ago) link
check out the Malt!
Yi Yi (A One and a Two) 2000Gleaners and I, The 2001Muhlholland Dr. 2001
4 stars
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:00 (eight years ago) link
3.5, surely? The scant 4-star ratings on that list are at the top and include such all-time classics as Benjamin Button and Skyfall.
― Simply Sensational (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:03 (eight years ago) link
(NB. I just saw Skyfall the other night, and it was very good for a movie that I would never ever in a million years give my highest possible rating.)
― Simply Sensational (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:04 (eight years ago) link
Oh god, **** for Little Children, Frost/Nixon and The King's Speech.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:08 (eight years ago) link
He surely deserves some credit for his cameo in Gremlins 2 (a cartoonier movie than its predecessor, so maybe more grist for the mill of the animation historian thesis).
I always felt he was a not-bad guide to the territory of pre-sixties Hollywood cinema (and his guide was the most comprehensive for a lot of stuff that wasn't on home video for a long time — a lot of it probably still isn't). It made sense to me that he introduced all those Warner Night at the Movies DVD features, since I discovered a lot of those movies through his book.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:17 (eight years ago) link
The fallacy here is that there could be some kind of objective and universal ratings system against which Maltin's purely personal and subjective system could be compared and proved to be wrong. I imagine Leonard reading this thread and thinking 'Damn! I was spot on about Benjamin Button and Skyfall, wasn't I? And I pity the fools who think Blade Runner is better than Yi Yi'.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:19 (eight years ago) link
Maltin would be correct on that last point.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:20 (eight years ago) link
Aimless, you're Leonard Malton, aren't you
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:26 (eight years ago) link
Maltin
ai yi yi
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link
I would never wear that shirt.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link
laserblast
― rushomancy, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:34 (eight years ago) link
Deserves credit for this, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hp4mPczQog
― I might like you better if we Yelped together (Phil D.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:38 (eight years ago) link
Little Miss Sunshine 3.5 stars? Oy.
― I might like you better if we Yelped together (Phil D.), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:41 (eight years ago) link
Maltin doesn't write all of the reviews in his guide, does he? I would hope his contributors get to assign their own star rating.
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
And yes, for many years - and maybe even now, to a much lesser extent - his guide was the only source of info about certain obscurities (for UK readers it was especially good on 70s American cinema)
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:52 (eight years ago) link
I used to have an issue of Esquire from 1970 or thereabouts that had this big viewing guide article for late night movies on tv written my Maltin when he was about 20--even came with an author photo, the only time I've ever seen the dude without a beard.
Also:
Marge: "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?"
― Love, Wilco (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 19:15 (eight years ago) link
I've still got a couple of '80s or '90s editions downstairs, and I might even have one from his long-forgotten competitor, Steven H. Scheuer (more eclectic, if I remember right: he'd give the occasional 4-star review to a Warhol film and such).
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51uYXM-0e2L._UY250_.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 19:20 (eight years ago) link
I always felt he was a not-bad guide to the territory of pre-sixties Hollywood cinema (and his guide was the most comprehensive for a lot of stuff that wasn't on home video for a long time — a lot of it probably still isn't)
otm. Though they've outlived any usefulness, I loved looking through Maltin's and other movie guides as a kid.
― intheblanks, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 20:52 (eight years ago) link
At least he provided a great service discouraging people from watching Taxi Driver
― Josefa, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 20:58 (eight years ago) link
LOL the UK equivalent of Maltin was a guy called Leslie Halliwell - some of his greatest hits here:
http://www.lesliehalliwell.com/modern_times/index.html
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 21:03 (eight years ago) link
This Is Spinal Tap earns three stars. I wonder what those guys could have done to turn that movie into a comedy classic? Or even into something as good as Airport?
(btw, that thing you do!: ***)
― Josefa, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 21:03 (eight years ago) link
I have the 2004 edition of Halliwell's book somewhere, the one that stuck with me was him dismissing Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul as pointless because relationships between 60-something German widows and young Moroccan Gastarbeiter must be fairly uncommon irl
― soref, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 21:12 (eight years ago) link
"Caine adds some light moments as an aging hippie who's managed to survive in his own hideaway compound." Pull my finger.
― Vic Perry, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 22:02 (eight years ago) link
"Highly original story also involves adultery, lust, and lesbianism, somehow manages to avoid meanspiritedness while taking dead aim at its subjects." [name that review]
― Vic Perry, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 22:07 (eight years ago) link
first complaint, although I wonder how much affection this movie has on this site anyway:
"Good dialogue and a fun cast make up for the overblown special effects and cluttered array of characters. 2 1/2 stars." That's some pretty generic crit there.
― Vic Perry, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 22:14 (eight years ago) link
[name that review] Bound
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 22:19 (eight years ago) link
Blue Velvet (1986): **
― Josefa, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 22:53 (eight years ago) link
"Highly original story also involves adultery, lust, and lesbianism, somehow manages to avoid meanspiritedness while taking dead aim at its subjects." [
JFK
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 3 September 2015 00:08 (eight years ago) link
Halliwell was one cranky fucker
― as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Thursday, 3 September 2015 00:42 (eight years ago) link
he gave 2 1/2 for Spice World, just for some perspective
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Thursday, 3 September 2015 00:43 (eight years ago) link
Surely he was long gone by then and that review was written by his successor
― Exile's Return To Sender (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 3 September 2015 01:08 (eight years ago) link
Would that be his daughter Geri?
― Josefa, Thursday, 3 September 2015 02:25 (eight years ago) link
he kicked The Thing to death and gave Peter's Friends 3 and a half out of 4.
― piscesx, Thursday, 3 September 2015 02:44 (eight years ago) link
he was always way too fair on just about every kind of British flick.
― piscesx, Thursday, 3 September 2015 02:45 (eight years ago) link
also someone on ILX once mentioned this which still makes me laugh; Haliwell's capsule review for The Vikings: "Low-grade hokum for the easily pleased..."
― piscesx, Thursday, 3 September 2015 02:46 (eight years ago) link
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Thursday, September 3, 2015 12:43 AM (17 hours ago)
appallingly low
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 3 September 2015 17:57 (eight years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/jFvMM5y.gif
― pplains, Thursday, 3 September 2015 18:31 (eight years ago) link