1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by various authors
(Note: I read the 2003 version, which documents movies made up until 2002. I believe the editors have updated the list a few times since then.)
It's a simple idea -- there are many great movies that should be seen by people all around the world. Which are the 1,001 best?
This book has an interesting mix of movies. It is dominated by American movies, of course, and includes most of the movies critics have unanimously dubbed classics. But there are also plenty of movies from the rest of the world -- Japanese cinema (Kurosawa, Ozu, anime, J-horror, etc.), a bunch of Chinese cinema, stuff from Germany, Russia, Mexico, South America, Australia, and so on. Lots of variety, with a ton of movies I have never heard of before and am eager to see.
The descriptions are good, too, even the shorter ones. They are generally well-written and insightful, with just enough plot detail to get you excited about seeing the movie, and interesting details about the actors, directors, etc. who made these pictures. In fact, I probably spent more time reading about the movies I had already seen than the ones I hadn't, because the details about them are so fascinating.
These descriptions also contain my biggest problem with the book, however. The title implies the reader is going into this without having seen the movies listed -- obviously this is not going to be true for all of the movies, but the descriptions should be written with that thought in line. Most of them are -- but some are not. There are a few where huge plot details are tossed away, many of which ruin the endings of the movies (Psycho is a big one that pops into my head immediately). Minor spoilers are not a terrible thing, but shouldn't be common sense to avoid giving away the ending of a movie?
Overall, though, it is an interesting book and one that is worth reading for any movie lover. Anyone can find faults with the list (Independence Day makes the list, but Ed Wood, Heathers and Evil Dead II don't?), but it is a more than solid representation of what the movie industry has to offer.
