Leonard Maltin is probably the film critic and historian I’ve had the most exposure to over the years. Partly through his work on ‘Entertainment Tonight’ (although I haven’t watched that for years), his array of film books and the website which he currently runs. But undoubtedly his most significant impact is his famous annual film guide. I’ve had a copy always handy for many, many years and refer and flick through it constantly.
While his tastes to have a tendency to be middlebrow at times, I’ve always respected and noted Maltin’s views on films. And his articles on aspects of film history display and excellent and detailed knowledge of Hollywood and its substantial culture and history.
So when I heard last year that he was publishing a book about a list of quality, overlooked films, I was greatly interested. Alas, when I saw the list of 151 films he put in his book, I was disappointed with the overall tone of the choices. I was expecting obscure, unjustly forgotten Hollywood gems from several decades ago. Instead, the list seems to be weighted too much to not only films made in the last 15 years (and are obviously more accessible than overlooked older films) but a fair chunk of them seem to be humdrum modern mainstream films that bombed at the time and are of little significance (e.g Zathura).
Still I always enjoy lists like this and as I’ve seen only a tiny percentage of the films on it, I’m sure there are plenty of interesting titles worth pursuing.
After the jump is the list with comments on the films that I have seen.
