Film CRITICISM Subject Guide LRC@TCC

Stop by the reference desk and ask a TCC librarian for help, or click here.

Scope of this guide: To find resources on film reviews and criticism for both early and contemporary feature films.

Browse the Shelves in these areas:

Feature Films: PN 1995.9

Search the TCC catalog for DVDs:  TCC has over 2 thousand feature films alone, and over 8 thousand visual items combined.  Finding a good film for instruction or just for recreational viewing is easy!

Keywords to search: motion pictures, film, feature films, screenplays, reviews, evaluations, movies, criticism, appreciation, awards

Examples of subject search terms:
Film criticism, Motion pictures–Criticism, Motion pictures, Motion pictures–Evaluation, Motion pictures-Reviews, Motion picture plays, Motion picture plays–History and criticism

Library of Congress Subject Headings for Visual Materials handout

Full-Text Articles Available through Library Databases (r):

Important Note: use My TCC username and password to log in from off-campus .

Academic Search Complete:  Well rounded database with hundreds of relevant periodicals such as the New Yorker offering reviews of contemporary films.

Films For the Humanities: A collection of over 9 thousand films.

Factiva:  Search specific newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post, or Chicago Sun Times.   This database offers articles from nearly 300 newspapers. 

JSTOR:  A great database to use if you're searching for reviews for older films such as The Graduate or Raging Bull.

OmniFile Full Text:  A comprehensive database, which allows the searcher to filter content by "film reviews."

Project Muse:  Scholarly database with many journals that cover film.

Ambrose Video: Documentary films on a variety of topics such as History, Science and Mathematics.

Specific Film Journals: Search specific journals such as Film Quarterly, Wide Angle, On Film, and others.

Internet Resources:

Academy Awards Database:  Look up every award and nominated Oscar winner by category or by year.

American Film Institute (AFI)  100 Years, 100 Movies:  Maintains highly regarded lists of best films by category and productions year.

Tim Dirks' 100 Greatest Films:

James Berdardenelli's Reelviews:  Great reviews from a now-established American film critic who writes entirely for the web. 

From Google: Movies Reviews and Movies Theory and Criticism links.

From Yahoo: Movie review links.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb): covering over 325,000 titles and over 1,000,000 people with facts, trivia, reviews, plus multimedia links.

Rotten Tomatoes: A comprehensive movie review site which captures the consensus of professional critics from across the nation.

Metacritic Film: assembles about thirty reviews per movie from publications around the U.S. with links to the full reviews.

Boxoffice Magazine Online: Film industry news, interviews, reviews, and previews.

Roger Ebert on Movies: Full text of recent reviews, a "one minute summary" of recently reviewed films with a brief synopsis and rating, and a searchable archive of Ebert reviews going back to 1985. Great Movies has his reviews of his all-time favorites and is regularly updated. From the Chicago Sun-Times.

Slate:  Thorough and incisive reviews on contemporary films.

At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper: Archive of movie reviews. Search by actor, director, or movie.

FilmSound.org: "Learning Space dedicated to the art and analyses of Film Sound Design."

Tell us what you think of this subject guide!