Bleiler, David, ed. TLA film, video, & DVD guide; the discerning film lover's guide.

2002-2003. St. Martin's Press. 776p. illus. indexes. c2001. 0-312-28209-5. $19.95. SA

According to the introduction, "TLA Video was established in 1985 as a subsidiary of the Theater of the Living Arts, one of the country's leading repertory cinemas." Bleiler, the editor of this collection of opinionated capsule reviews of nearly 10,000 films, also has a background in art cinema, and this shows in the volume's attention to independent and foreign titles as well as mainstream releases. A sample excerpt, from Chocolat: "a lightweight fable that charms through sheer determination." The reviews are arranged alphabetically by film title and include year of release, running time, country, director, cast, rating (up to four stars), and video and DVD pricing information. There are indexes of TLA favorites, countries of origin, directors' filmographies, authors and screenwriters, and most interestingly, themes, along with appendices of TLA bests (in various categories for 1990-1999) and major awards (1975-2000).

An interesting supplement to other such film review collections, like Leonard Maltin's, and particularly valuable to libraries for its thematic index, with categories ranging from the Holocaust to McCarthyism to whales. No indication of rating such as PG, R, etc., for some reason. The text is broken up by hundreds of b/w film stills. For larger public and high school libraries. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT