So a really cool thing happened to me recently and it's all thanks to this blog, so I figured I'd better pop in and tell you all about it.
While doing my daily perusing of my e-mail inbox a couple of weeks ago, I noticed an e-mail from Eric Lowenhar, the Marketing Manager over at Barron's Educational Series. For the unaware, Barron's Educational Series is the publishing company that puts out the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" books and their numerous incarnations. Eric struck up a little e-mail conversation with me, one thing led to another and he was asking me how many followers this here blog had, as he was interested in sending me out a review copy of the latest edition, which hits stores next month.
Well apparently I had enough followers to warrant a review copy, because Eric and the very gracious people at Barron's sent me out a copy and it arrived today. Before I get into the actual book itself, I just want to send out a very appreciative "thank you" to Eric and all of the people at Barron's. It's pretty damn cool that they sent the book out to me, considering I'm just an Average Joe, writing about a subject that I love - film. To think that it wasn't even me who contacted them, but them who contacted me, is even more of a humbling experience and again I say "thank you" to those guys.
Now, let me tell you first and foremost, as appreciative as I am for the free book, I want to make it clear right now - I am not switching editions. I started doing this project with the 5th Edition of the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, with Indiana Jones on the cover and I can assure you that I will finish this project working out of that same edition. It is very nice to have a nice, new crisp copy of the book though, as the copy that I've been working out of is starting to show some wear and tear. Flipping it open and closed for two years will do that to a book, and needless to say it's spine has seen better days.
The new book is nice and they left it alone, for the most part. Almost all of the pictures that appear within the first 900 or so pages, have pretty much stayed the same and that goes for the entries as well. I haven't studied the book carefully enough to spot all of the deletions yet, but one that I'm pretty much furious about is the exclusion of "Sideways", a film that long time readers of mine will know that I am VERY fond of and a film that took the top spot in my second TOP 20. It's even more infuriating when you notice that a movie like "Borat..." has still made the cut. Some of the additions, though, are intriguing and while I might not agree with every single one of them, you quickly realize that, to sell more copies, they have to include some of the heavier hitters from recent years. So, of course, you get things like "The King's Speech", "The Hurt Locker", "Inglorious Basterds" and "Black Swan". Here is a quick reference point for the interested, including some brief comments and links to my own reviews, of what has been added and deleted from the new edition:
IN
*Paranormal Activity - Ridiculous inclusion, in my opinion. It's good for what it is, but I certainly would not wrap a "MUST SEE" banner around it.
*Anvil! The Story of Anvil
*The Good, the Bad and the Weird
*The Dark Knight - I didn't go all fanboy on this one like some did, but Heath Ledger's performance alone, nearly makes it a must see.
*Slumdog Millionaire
*Gomorrah
*Let the Right One In - Good stuff and a bit of an off-the-wall choice. No complaints here.
*The Hurt Locker
*Avatar
*District 9 - Loved this one. My most hated genre is sci-fi, but here is one sci-fi movie that is highly recommended from yours truly.
*The Hangover - I understand their need to include a little something for everyone, so if they just had to have a modern comedy, then this was a fine choice. Still it's hard to wrap my head around "The Hangover - IN, Sideways - OUT".
*In the Loop
*The White Ribbon
*Inglorious Basterds - As a big Tarantino fan, I wasn't big on this one. It was good, but it just didn't measure up to some of his earlier efforts. However, I can't complain about it's inclusion.
*Fish Tank
*Monsters
*Of Gods and Men
*Black Swan - Fantastic choice. I'll leave it at that.
*Four Lions
*The Social Network - Not the greatest choice in the world, but again it's hard to argue. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "MUST SEE", but again, I get their logic.
*Inception - Hated it! I get why it's in, because I know a lot of people when ballistic for this one, but it just didn't tickle my fancy, in the slightest.
*The King's Speech - Again, I get it, but I don't have to agree with it.
*True Grit
OUT
*Happy Together
*There's Something About Mary
*Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Cannot believe they cut this. It's kind of a ballsy move, if you think about it...but also a bad one.
*The Queen - This was expendable and if you're looking for British history, "The King's Speech" is just as good - so you break even.
*Atonement
*Into the Wild
*The Host
*Go, See and Become
*Fahrenheit 9/11 - As long as "Roger & Me" is still intact, we're good. This is good and all, but it's expendable.
*Sideways - *shakes head in disappointment*
*Crash - The review that I linked up to has me giving this an "8/10", but on further thought, I actually don't like "Crash" THAT MUCH AT ALL. It's totally expendable and kudos to them for kicking it to the curb.
*3-Iron
*Irreversible - Expendable!
*Rabbit-Proof Fence - Expendable!
*Lantana
*The Royal Tenenbaums - Another tough shot to my personal tastes. I'm a long-time fan of this one and think that cutting it was another bad move.
*Moulin Rouge! - Expendable!
*Amelie - Cutting "Amelie" was completely unnecessary, as well. This is a great movie, harmless, charming, delightful and it just makes you feel good. Why they cut it, when there were plenty of other perfect candidates for the boot, is beyond me.
*Traffic
*Meet the Parents - A really good comedy, but it's also expendable.
*Boogie Nights - WOW! I'm not the biggest fan of "Boogie Nights", but can you believe they axed this one? I sure can't. Again, I think it was an unnecessary cut and there were plenty of other films from 1997/1998 that I'm sure would have been more deserving of the chopping block.
*The Butcher Boy
*Princess Mononoke
Just to reiterate:
I AM NOT SWITCHING EDITIONS! I'm sticking to the Indiana Jones cover until the end, my friends. However, I MAY...MAY, pop in from time to time with actual, formal reviews for some of the newly added films. They won't be official or anything and won't count toward my ultimate goal or be eligible for my TOP 20 lists, but they'll be a little something extra for you to read and help in getting me up to date with some of the more recent head-turners.
Thank you so much to the people at Barron's Educational Series and specifically Eric Lowenhar for sending me out a free copy of the updated edition. I can, without a doubt, say that this is the coolest thing that I've ever been given for free. Also, if you're reading this blog right now and saying, "You know what, I need to follow this guys cue and start watching some of these MUST SEE movies", well you can. Swing by Barron's website and pick-up the new edition. It's full of color photos, well-written movie reviews and will make choosing a movie, for your next movie night, a breeze. If you don't want to get as "INTO IT" as I am, that's fine. Barron's latest edition would be a great edition to your coffee table and probably lead to some pretty hefty film discussion too. Check it out and "NO", I was not told to say that. That's the double truth, Ruth!
Check out Barron's Educational Series and the latest, updated edition of the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" book, by clicking here.
And you should also like them on Facebook, because they're a pretty likable company. You can do that by clicking here.
In the meantime, I'm still on hiatus. I'll more than likely be back on the 11th of next month to pat myself on the back a bit and yap about the two year birthday of this here blog. See 'ya then kiddies!
P.S. If you're living in an area effected by Hurricane Irene, then my thoughts and prayers are with you. As Stan Lee would say, stay safe true believers.
August 28, 2011 12:04am
Phew, that is a relief! What losses, what rubbish added/left in.
ReplyDeleteOK, we need to remeber this is NOT a 1001 best films, but 1001 films to see.. to give a good all round education in world wide films. But to put c**p like Hangover (Which I will confess I have not seen - just the posters and TV ads), and take out sideways?? Oh come on. One starts to suspect they fear the book is to elitist and or older.,So lets shove some junk in to keep the demografic young..
I'm still with 'Psycho cover'. I have a list of 'ins' from other editions and try to keep on top of those.. but this lot? No, no no .. if it means watching hangover, Avatar, paranormal I will remain old and elitist thank you
Ray
Congrats on receiving the book! Hopefully it won't be the last, but hopefully you will be through the list by the time the next one comes around.
ReplyDeleteRay - You're right, it's not a 1001 best, but rather a 1001 you must see. So, in that case, I can give them a little lead way as far as throwing in "The Hangover" and the Oscar contenders. Thanks for commenting Ray.
ReplyDeletejumpraven - Thanks a lot. I hope I'm done before another one of these things comes out. I got an e-mail from Barron's this morning saying they loved my post and they loved that I was as honest as I was.
Re-reading whats in and out, I was struck by the thought that everyone should always be using an edition at least two or three out of date.
ReplyDeleteThen all the 'big splash, lots of talk and gimmic stuff will have come - then and gone, leaving a more considered list.
So we don't have to watch Paranormal and hangover.
I almost updated last year from 'Psycho' cover to 'Joker' cover. At the time, the only thing that stopped me was the prospect of transfereing all those ticks and comments, and all the pencilled in notes on avaialability ("Not know on Love Film; Not available in UK, R one only, Second hand copy £300 on Amazon").
I'm glad I didn't.
Glad to see I am a couple ahead on the new list.. Saw 'Let the right one in' the other day..very good (though personaly I could have done without some of the gore), and I have 'white ribbon' waiting.
Ray
I have been doing the 5th edition of this series for about 2 years now and I still can't even find 32 of these. Yeah, 32 of them and I will be finished. I don't mind the wait, it's the fact that the only way to see them is to but them, which is something I'm really trying to avoid.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's something I'm hoping to avoid too.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this! Your review of the edition is just what I was looking for. I'll explain... I'm Russian (so excuse my English). And I've got an edition, like you, with Indiana Jones on the cover, but translated to Russian. And this one is the worst translation ever! It's like they used some kind of a robot or a prog to do that. Just transformed words from English into Russian, not even changing their order, it seems to me, or bothering about the sequence and meaning. So... Now I want to get myself the original edition - latest one, with Gary Oldman as Smiley on the cover. And as I went searching for the distinctions between the different editions, I found your blog. It's really helpful, and I'm appreciative.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the 2012 edition's list of the movies (http://www.matthewhunt.com/blog/text/1001movies2012.pdf), to my mind, may surprise one even more in its latest ins and exs then that one you've observed here. Luckily, "Hangover" is out - but just to give way for "Bridesmaids". There's a place here for "Tree of Life" - but not for Trier's "Melancholia", and it's double sad because it's simply a boycott and is a political decision - whatever your opinion of the movie and author may be. The same for Mel Gibson - both "The Passion of the Crist" and "Apocalypto" left overboard. That last one is MY huge crush, as "Sideways" for you... Let alone all you've said about "Kill Bill", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "Boogie Nights" and sweet "Amelie" - especially while "Paranormal Activity" and monstrous Tom Hooper is there! And, oh my God, "The Descendants", really? "War Horse"? of course, Spielberg IS a Must-See in any case - and we saw this one, and one time was enough (although the soldiers' dialogue over the trapped and bruised horse is brilliant). It makes me even think of waiting for the next edition's out to see "War Horse" replaced by "Lincoln" with the unbelievable Day Lewis in it. As for the little joys after all - thanx God, "The Artist" is in, and this is the best coda for the book, to my mind, one can dream of. "Drive" is my own guilty pleasure. "A Separation" - love it, fresh and unexpected choice. Do not laugh, but "True Grit" is, probably, my Coens' favourite. And - "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"...
Tnanx a lot again. Forgive my verbosity. And a sma-a-all question if you allow me. What about the graphic part of the book? Did they replace shots or photos with which they illustrated the movies? What i mean is - if one movie is still there through different editions, do they change its decoration or is it the same?
Olga
Thank you Olga. It's great that my reviews are even reaching people in Russia, that's pretty cool, if you ask me! I've actually just been in touch with the marketing director (I think that's his title) at Barron's and he assures me that in August/September they'll be sending me their newest addition for review. Unfortunately, I've been too focused on getting through the 5th addition to see any new movies, so I'll probably be (mostly) oblivious to the new selections and whether or not they should or should not have been included. I pretty much agree with what you said though. Most selections are sort of predetermined with little surprises. We MUST include the newest Spielberg offering, the latest Best Picture winner, etc, etc.
DeleteAs for the graphics, ALL of the pictures are the same, except of course for the new additions to the book. No extra work has been done to change out any graphics with different pics. That too is unfortunate.
Thanks for the comment!
Wow, thank you for your answer, Andrew, that's so nice of you!
Delete//No extra work has been done//
They do not like extra work that much, as far as I can see...oops! I hope they did not hear that))
No, seriously - the book is very-very nice. But, having different editions compared, I've realized all of a sudden that the best choice for me would be, probably, the very first edition, "Psycho" covered. It's most honestly compiled, I guess.
As for you - I think in short time you will need a special bookcase for "1001 movies" editions)...
Olga
You're welcome Olga. I always try to respond to my commenters, TRY being the key word. I believe that Ray, a frequent commenter here at the blog is working out of the "Psycho" edition and yes, the first is probably the one that the most thought was put into.
DeleteWhat I'd really like to see them do and I realize this is wishful thinking, is go back through and replace a couple hundred titles throughout the ENTIRE book and not just the latest couple of years. I'm sure they'll never do that, but it's what I'd prefer.
Please keep visiting and commenting and I'll keep answering.
Hello again Olga..
DeleteYes, as Andrew says, I am using 'Psycho cover' as my aim. You put it well in saying it could be the most honestly compliiled. A few new revisions, now and then is fine, but I now feel they are just churning out yearly updates, with obvious new releases, to get people to buy the same book several times. I mean, really, what are things like 'Hangover' ad 'paranormal activity' doing in this book? They will only be there for a year and then out. I hope.
Sure, a list of FYMSBYD must evolve.. but perhaps not so fast. If it was to be revised,say, every 5 or 10 years once a new, headline grabbing film has had time to settle in.
Ray
Agreed
DeleteHello and welcome to Olga. It is great to hear from another correspondant.
ReplyDeleteI would say your English looks very good indeed in the above message. You probably are better off with an English language edition if the translation is so bad.
And Andrew.. This is great.. thanks for the new 'go to new comments' section you installed only a week or so ago.. otherwise the rest of us would not have seen this.
Ray
You are welcome. Although, a quick note about that new comments feature. If I don't actually click the "Update" button every single time a new comment is posted, it doesn't update. So if new comments aren't always showing up there, then you know I must have forgotten to click it. I'll try to remember though.
DeleteWell, I guess we don't need to see every little new comment - especialy on new posts and if it is just 1 line ("good review Andrew").. but it is REALLY great when someone comments on an old post and you bring it to our attention.
ReplyDeleteRay
Is it just me, or are those 'didtorted letters' getting considerably harder?
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have fuzzy photos of numbers.. often so out of focus they are unreadable. (or that could just be my eyes getting older). I guess the spam generating robots are catching up.
Ray
Hmm I couldn't tell you Ray. Fortunately, it doesn't make me do that in order to leave a comment and if I could turn it off, I would.
Delete