LibGuides: Film Studies: Film Reviews

Film Studies Librarian

She/Her

Email Me

Contact:

Meredith Wisner
Research & Instruction Librarian for the Arts
Office: 306 Milstein

Mon & Tues: Zoom only
Wed - Fri: In-person/Zoom

212.854.7652

Subjects: Architecture, Art History, Dance, Film Studies, First-Year Writing, Music, Theatre

How to Find Film Reviews

Key Databases and Indexes for Film Reviews

Many databases with scholarly articles for film studies also contain reviews, so head over to the Articles tab for a list of film article databases.

Nexis Uni
In addition to the article databases, Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis) contains many reviews. To find reviews, select the News tab. Then look in the Sources dropdown list and select Book, Movie, Music, Play, and Video Reviews.
ProQuest
ProQuest also contains many news reviews. Make sure to select 'newspapers' or 'magazines' for reviews.
Variety Archives
Contains digitized articles of the Variety entertainment magazine, allowing archive users to trace the history of the entertainment business and its players. Weekly Variety, starting from 1906, and Daily Variety, starting from 1933, are both available up to the prior week. The database has a search function with date ranges in addition to terms and keywords which helps archive users find articles, advertisements and images.

Reviews in CLIO

A subject search of "Motion Pictures Reviews" in CLIO brings up all the books at BC/CU containing film reviews. Add in a language, such as Italian or Spanish (eg Motion Pictures Italian Reviews) to see reviews of movies from that country

Reviews Online

Film reviews on free websites. Many of these have ads, FYI.

Film Threat
Formerly a xeroxed fanzine from the '80s, Film Threat now lives online, reviewing Indie films, shorts, underground films, and posting interviews.
The International Federation of Film Critics
Contains reports and reviews from various film festivals around the world.
ScreenDaily Reviews
Reviews from Screen International
Roger Ebert Reviews
Reviews from Roger Ebert
Rotten Tomatoes
Contains reviews from both fans and critics of TV and movies. One of the most comprehensive review sites.
Metacritic
Provides access to and summarizes entertainment criticism available online. Combines the individual critic scores into an overall grade for each item.
Movie Review Query Engine
Simple search engine query webpage for finding movie review articles on film titles. Also browseable by pre-compiled lists of titles by category/awards nominations.