Leonard Maltin and www.imdb.com? (1 Viewer)

[George Fogel]

I was just at the internet movie database for the first time in a few weeks and noticed that Leonard Maltin's reviews were no longer available.

Anyone know what happened?

 

[Bill J]

I think they replaced his reviews with Amazon.com reviews, but I don't know why. Maybe they want you to buy his book or something.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It's all about the money!

 

[Ricardo C]

Maltin's reviews are also missing from Amazon. I guess sales dropped and the web availability of his reviews was to blame.

 

[David Lambert]

I'm sure that the agreement simply expired and one of the sides decided not to renew it.

 

[GerardoHP]

Maybe it has something to do with the new IMDb Pro, or whatever it's called, where you have to pay a monthly fee for access. Does anyone know what that's about?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have IMDb Pro and he isn't on there either.

Crawdaddy

 

[MaxY]

Well his reviews used to be on Direct Tivo and disappeared a while back too.

I suspect it has something to do with his pushing his TV show Hot Ticket and it's website maybe.

BTW anyone watching how that show is evolving quickly?

Max

 

[David Lawrence]

It's a shame; although I often don't agree with Maltin, his reviews are, in my opinion, much more useful than the Amazon.com reviews (which aren't even available for a lot of the movies I've looked up as of late).

I've been using an old Cinemania CD I have more and more as of late. Do MS still produce them?

Dave

 

[Jay E]

I have now gone "Old School" and keep a copy of his book at work. And for all those who gave up before the end, Zuma Beach did it (sorry Steven).
And David, I would love to see Night Moves on DVD too.

 

[Nick Graham]

Unfortunately, MS ceased making the Cinemania CD-ROMs, which is a shame, because it's because of them I got hooked on PCs to begin with. After MS axed Cinemania, the main guy behind the discs started up a site called Cinemapad or something like that, but I believe it too shut down long ago. The last Cinemania disc I remember being published was the 96 or 97 version, which had downloadable updates every month.

 

[KDHM]

With Microsoft Reader or Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader you can buy Maltin's 2002 Movie and Video Guide E-Book at Yahoo Shopping $19.95 or Pinguin UK £7.65 ex Vat
kd

 

[David Lawrence]

Jay: Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many of us that do - I don't seem to recall it ever being mentioned in a Warner chat here? A simply superb movie from Arthur Penn, which I have unfortunately never seen in its OAR.
Nick: Thanks for the info. I have the 96 version, which was given to me by a friend who had two copies. It has the online updates option, which no longer works obviously.
EDIT: Shortly afterwards, I saw this thread

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

I bet Leonard discovered that more people might buy his book if the reviews werent available for free online .

 

[David Lambert]

I bet Leonard discovered that more people might buy his book if the reviews werent available for free online

:shrug: I won't.

As for Night Moves, I was gonna pipe up and agree with y'all, until I realized we weren't on the same page. The "night" movie from Gene Hackman I want is the comedy All Night Long, with Barbara Streisand. Funny stuff. But not a day-and-date item...just something to pick up when I see it cheap.

 

[Patrick Picking]

I asked Leonard Maltin about this a few weeks ago, and he had no idea why he was dropped. He didn't know anything about it until after it was done. He asked me to write a letter to the IMDB to support him, and here is their reply:

"The capsule reviews from Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide are being replaced by longer reviews written by Amazon.com's editorial staff. This is a more cost-effective solution for us, which will also improve our coverage

of new and recent titles."

 

[Page]

"The capsule reviews from Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide are being replaced by longer reviews written by Amazon.com's editorial staff. This is a more cost-effective solution for us, which will also improve our coverage

of new and recent titles."

I've heard that the IMDB is funded/owned? by Amazon.com so this makes perfect sense. (Cost-effective wise.) I don't recall reading very many (if any) negative reviews of films from Amazon.com because in the long run they want you to buy the movie from them.

 

[David Lambert]

Oh, the IMDB's ownership is in no doubt. Go to the bottom of any of their pages, and you'll see this:

• An Link Removed company. Advertise on IMDb. License our content