Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 2003

Like a movie-land version of our ever-expanding universe, this massive home reference continues its inexorable growth. The latest edition adds 300 recent video, DVD and laserdisc releases to its nearly 19,000 entries on mostly American films. Film critic and historian Maltin presides over a stable of reviewers whose often tart capsule reviews are dedicated to holding the line against ratings inflation in the 21st century, ""a time of creative bankruptcy in Hollywood."" Beleaguered parents will find helpful warnings about sexual content and violence, and can turn to a list of ""100+ Recommended Family Films"" to settle video-rental disputes. Entries for multi-film video anthologies, together with filmographies of famous actors and a list of specialty video mail-order companies, will assist those looking to put together their own private film festivals. Movie buffs may occasionally raise their eyebrows at Maltin's assessments (Boys Don't Cry and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves both get two and a half stars) but his methodology-judging a movie against what it could have been and what it wanted to be-is ultimately an extremely sound one.