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The Variety Movie Guide 2000 serves a different function than, say, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 2000. Instead of grading 22,000-plus titles with a historian's eye, Variety--the bible for industry insiders--covers about 8,600 flicks with a you-are-there-at-the-first-screening mindset and a famously entertaining prose style dubbed "slanguage." There's a glossary to explain terms like "thesp" (actor), "legiter" (stage play), "legituner" (stage musical), and "a.k." (ass-kisser). The Winchellesque flavor of slanguage accounts for what Variety might call the book's "boffo b.o." (impressive box-office, or sales).
Editor Derek Elley gives us the running time, cast, director, and other credits with each review. He also tells whether the title is available on videotape, laserdisc, or DVD (but not which format--check updates on Amazon.com). It's interesting to see classics reviewed by deadline journalists unaware that, say, Casablanca is fated to be a classic (Bogie gets thumbs-up as a bitter guy, thumbs-down as a lover). But guess what? Variety scribes often hold up as well as a Pulitzer-winning critic like James Agee, who called Casablanca "tinny romantic melodrama." Variety's 2000 edition reviews few foreign flicks, and about 100 new films since the 1999 edition. The most recent: The Hurricane (Denzel Washington is tops, and "all thesps do well.")
You might also like Derek Elley's Leonard Maltin-size Variety Portable Movie Guide and his delightful The Variety Insider, an in-depth look at 1998's films, plus a fun almanac of all-time movie facts. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
Since the dawn of the film industry, Variety has been the source for informing the public about what goes on behind the scenes and on the screen. Now, in this accessible, carefully researched, and informative reference guide, the expertise of Variety's film reviewers is at your fingertips. And you get more than reviews.
Includes:
Comprehensive coverage of mainstream, classic and foreign films
A-Z listings by title (including alternate titles), with details of cast, crew, running time, production company, country, and more
Academy Award winners and nominees
Availability of films on video, laser disc, DVD, and wide-screen formats
Directors index
"The market leader in the ever-expanding field of film reference books."-- Empire Magazine
About the Author
Derek Elley has written for and edited a wide variety of film publications in the past twenty years, as well as arranged programs for London's National Film Theater and advised for international film festivals. His books include The Epic Film: Myth and History and Chronicle of the Movies. He currently works as senior editor for Variety.
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