Leonard Maltin Quotes (44 Quotes)

Certainly he would have liked meatier roles or roles that allowed him to go beyond just the look, the hangdog look, that he seemed to have. I met him on a number of occasions, and he was a very upbeat kind of a guy.

A good story is a good story, and I think kids relate well to good stories about identifiable characters. I have parents and grandparents stop me all the time to tell me kids watch these Disney Treasures all the time I can tell you from the feedback I'm

I think the people who are making Christmas-themed movies today feel that people are more cynical about Christmas. There's more of an edge.

Anyone who says that someone is a sure bet for an Oscar is a fool. There's no such thing as a sure thing, least of all in a five-way vote.

A Christmas Carol is such a fool-proof story you can't louse it up.

While it was occasionally done here or there, nobody else had a figurehead like Walt doing it. Jack Warner wasn't on TV. Walt was the boss, but he had a real public profile and he used it to his advantage. And he became a household face.

When Tim Allen made The Santa Clause, I thought that was a delightful film. It took a modern sensibility but layered onto it a kind of sentiment.

Beauty and the Beast became the first animated feature ever nominated for best picture.

She's quite wonderful in that role. She's totally convincing as the mother who has to walk a fine line in raising that little boy. She's a terrific actress there's never any sense that she's acting. She commits to any character she plays.

NBC anchor Brian Williams is a standup comic in disguise.

Hollywood executives believe that money is both the be-all and end-all to the moviemaking process.

Polar Express is not an attempt to do animation. It is a technology-based film.

I'm a lifelong Disney nut.

Most other world-shattering events have not been depicted so soon.

Tim pays homage to Ray Harryhausen and George Pal and people whose films he saw growing up and who also used this technique.

If I were less than honest as a critic, I think people would spot that right away, and it would destroy my credibility.

I think people in Hollywood are afraid of sentiment because they think audiences will reject it.

The year of 'Saving Private Ryan,' everybody was certain it was a lock. People thought it was a sure thing to win best picture given the subject matter (D-Day heroics) and the people behind it (Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks), until the middle of December

I had the great good fortune to interview Peggy Lee. Her memories of working with Walt Disney and his team were warm and upbeat.

The last person to stand still and repeat himself was Walt Disney. He refused to repeat himself. So to think that he'd be making the same kind of film in the year 2001 that he made in 1941 is absurd.

Everyone is looking for the sure thing. They are looking to hedge their bet. They think the way to do that is to go with a proven quantity, a remake of something you have already seen. That is their mindset.

Shakespeare wrote great plays that we're still watching all these years later. Charlie Chaplin made great comedies and they are still as funny today as they ever were.

He's got it all. He's got charm, he's got looks, he's got brains, he's got a conscience. He has everything any movie star could want to have, any director or producer, and then some.

He's a great choice. He's both smart and funny. He can be serious when the case demands. He can be silly. Knowing when to push those buttons is the key to being a good host.

She was one of these character actresses who could fill any number of roles. She played a lot of 'earth mother' types, especially in later years.

He followed Mr. Allen to California in the late 1950's, appearing in such films as Sex Kittens Go to College, ... shockingly unfunny.

It is as old as the movies themselves.

He was not exactly destined for success. It took him time to find himself, and part of that came about when he moved to Austin. Anyone who knew Louis in his quasi-hippie phase, or as the world's oldest grad student, might find it surprising to see how successful, and influential, he is today.

The man responsible for the original 'King Kong,' Willis O'Brien, started experimenting with stop-action animated films for Thomas Edison in 1916 and 1917. A whole generation of special effects people grew up on these films.

Audiences deserve better.

He apparently had a Svengali-like approach or control over her and set out to mold and shape her every performance and appearance on screen, ... Those instances are rare, I think.

The movie is in some uncharted waters, because it shows what it's like for two men to feel that kind of longing and passion for each other, and people aren't used to that. No one movie is going to turn things around, but they can be building blocks. That

We know Jodie Foster is a smart woman. But it's always tough for women to find leading roles in commercial Hollywood movies. She looks for the best material she can find, and if it happens that it's thrillers, then it's thrillers. What ultimately matters is that she's always good. Movie audiences not only like her, but respect her.

The Little Rascals The Life and Times of Our Gang.

Quality survives.

She could be dogmatic, of course and Lord help you if you disagreed -- that was the tone of many of her reviews. But she spoke with great authority and great love. She loved movies and that was crystal clear every time you read her.

Movie theaters still exist in spite of all of the alternatives that are available, video and video-on-demand and DVD and streaming video and all of these things.

What she said seemed to matter. She provoked response, discussion, arguments. She was so passionate.

Los Angeles has the greatest concentration of surviving movie palaces in the United States, yet most residents have never been inside one of them.

You want to make an impression. Being clever helps.

Dumbo... makes me cry. Every single time and in the exact same spot. I just have a special affection for Dumbo.

Timing in life is everything.

I teach at USC. I have a big class of 360 kids, only about a fifth of whom are film majors. I don't just show the Hollywood blockbusters. I show independent films, foreign films, documentaries.

Television is what made It's a Wonderful Life the classic it is today.