Review: VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever Guide

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Here we are:  it’s 2009 and there is no new 2009 DVD & Video Guide by Mick Martin and Marsha Porter.  The publisher has stopped making this book because some stuffed shirts think we movie geeks don’t use the book guides.  Not true!  For more information about the subject, and to try and get them to see the light of day, check out this previous post.

I hated Lenord Maltin’s video guide.  Bleh.  The man doesn’t like Science Fiction, it seems.  So, what to do?  I decided to pick up the VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever 2009 book:  “The Complete Guide to Movies on Video Cassette and DVD” according to the cover.  “It simply doesn’t get any better than this,” said the Library Journal, also on the cover (just once, wouldn’t you like to see a negative comment on the cover of a book or movie poster?  “This movie sucks!  I fell asleep twice in the opening five minutes!”).

VideoHound is huge; its about the size of a phone book.  Movies are given a WOOF! if they are simply terrible.  Four bones is the best.  Apparently they don’t rate most cartoons and television shows, only movies.  They do rate according to genre, comparing romance to romance, and sci-fi to sci-fi.

Besides ratings, the book has sections for awards (including nominations), cast, director, writers, cinematographer, and composer indexes, a video source guide (to help you find movies to buy), and a website guide.

Unfortunately, several of the movies that are out now have descriptions, but no rating.  Two for example:  The Incredible Hulk (with Edward Norton) and The Dark Knight (Bale, Ledger).  In those cases, the book simply says “Not yet reviewed” at the end.  That is ok, though.  You can go to their website and see current reviews for both titles.  I’m not going to tell you what the website is, but you could probably guess.

So how are the reviews?  Well, I can tell you I agree more with this book than I did with Leonard Maltin, but it still isn’t the DVD & Video Guide.  I wish, for example, that they gave five bone reviews instead of capping it at four.  Having 5 stars (or bones) just seems right to me.  It allows for more freedom, and a more refined grading system, in my mind.

I do like that it seems the reviewers have a sense of humor.  Maltin seemed a bit stuffy for my tastes.  I also like that you can get current reviews on their website.

One other negative is the size.  This is a huge book.  So big, in fact that I can’t just leave it downstairs on my table next to the couch where we normally watch movies.  It’s also really expensive:  $25.00.  Lucky for me I happened to have a gift certificate, or I may not have bought it.

Still, in the end these are minor quibbles.  It’s a good review guide.  It’s not the DVD & Video Guide, but it is a heck of a lot better than Maltin.

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