People love movies. Some of these people may even consider themselves film buffs. There is even a good chance that these people know more about movies than the average homo sapien, but there is still one man out there who has truly earned this title. That man is Leonard Maltin. Mr. Maltin is a renowned film critic, film historian, New York Times Bestseller, and teaches a class at the University of Southern California on films. He has published several movie guides including ones on classic movies, Disney movies, and animated movies. His most recent movie guide, Leonard Maltin’s 2012 Movie Guide, is a new edition that includes over 17,000 reviews, including 300 new ones from his last edition.
Needless to say when I was given the opportunity to do a phone interview with Mr. Maltin, I was flabbergasted. Aside from my usual fear that I will accidentally say something beyond embarrassing in my nervous fit that will unleash my inner baffoonery, I was nervous simply because he is one of the movie experts out there. I can honestly say, though, that Leonard Maltin is one of the nicest people out there and was a joy to interview.
In the interview he reveals what he thinks is missing from contemporary films, his favorite comic book movie, along with other thoughtful insights on films and filmmaking. After the interview I thanked him and then told him that this was my first interview ever. He said that I did a good job :)
This new edition has over 17,ooo reviews. Do you ever sit back and think about the sheer number of movies that you have watched?
I don’t because I guess it’s like scaling a mountain in a way. I’ve never scaled a mountain, so I don’t know, but I guess it’s like scaling a mountain. You don’t think about the mountain, you think about the immediate path in front of you. So, since I see new movies all the time every week and trying to keep tabs on them I just work at it, you know, bits at a time.
