Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film critic, historian, and author known for concise movie reviews, film history books, and annual movie guides.
Film criticism: The analysis and evaluation of films through written or spoken commentary. Maltin's reviews are a prominent form of concise, audience-oriented film criticism.
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide: A film reference book by Leonard Maltin that published annual editions for decades. It is the best-known expression of his concise reviewing and reference work.
Bosley Crowther: An American film critic who wrote for The New York Times from 1940 to 1967. Crowther represents an earlier generation of newspaper criticism preceding Maltin's broad media career.
Roger Ebert: An American film critic and author known for newspaper reviews, television criticism, and film commentary. Ebert's expansive public persona and review style offer a useful comparison with Maltin's guide-centered work.
Capsule review: A very short evaluation of a work, designed to convey a judgment with limited space. Maltin's concise entries helped popularize the capsule review as a film-guide format.
Film history: The study of cinema's development, including its works, industries, technologies, and audiences. His books document American movies and the people who made them.
TV Movies: A reference book by Leonard Maltin devoted to films made for television. This companion guide extended his cataloguing beyond theatrical releases.
Pauline Kael: An influential American film critic known for vivid, personal essays and polemical judgments. Her essayistic style contrasts with Maltin's compact, reference-oriented assessments.
Rotten Tomatoes: A website that aggregates film and television reviews into critic and audience scores. Its aggregate scores differ from a named critic's individual capsule reviews.
Home video: The distribution and viewing of films on physical media or through digital services outside theaters. His guides helped audiences identify films as home viewing expanded.