Research Guides: Film: Criticism, Reviews, Summaries

Criticism, Reviews, Summaries

Read this first. Use indexes and databases to search for specific criticism, reviews, or summaries of films. Often the full text of the review will be immediately accessible in the database you search. Sometimes, however, the database only provides a citation (article title, journal name, year, etc.) for the review. If you have only a citation, determine if the library has the journal that contains the review you want by following the steps to find journals. The list below provides a selection of sources to find criticism, reviews, or summaries.

Academic Search Complete
This database provides full text for 3,288 scholarly publications from many academic disciplines including social sciences, humanities, education, language and linguistics, arts & literature, and ethnic studies. It is a good starting point and enables researchers to search a single topic across many disciplines.
Film & Television Literature Index
The definitive index to film and television literature. It is a bibliographic database that provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 300 publications, and selected coverage of 300 more. The database has been designed for use by a diverse audience that includes film scholars, college students, and general viewers.

Films in Review (printed book)
Located in Hamilton Reference, click on title for call number.
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Printed index. Use in library. Click on the title to see the library catalog record with the call number.
Film Review Annual (printed book)
Located in Hamilton Reference, click on title for call number.
The library holds volumes for 1982-1994 (and until 2002 in Sinclair Library). Very useful for full-text reviews of films during the mid 1980s to mid-1990s. Also contains citations to additional reviews in other sources.
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Printed resource. Use in library. Click on the title to see the library catalog record with the call number.

International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA)
IIPA's current content draws from more than 130 international periodicals and also indexes articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post. IIPA covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry including dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic and more.

Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

Nexis Uni
A good place to go for reviews of films in newspapers from the past 10 years. To access reviews in LexisNexis, choose the News tab on the main page and select All News, then Limit search to Movie Reviews.

Magill's Cinema Annual (printed book)
Located in Hamilton Reference and Sinclair Library, click on title for call number. Check holdings carefully for locations.
An in-depth retrospective of significant domestic and foreign films released in the U.S. Distinguishing features include its extensive credits, awards and nominations, MPAA ratings, eight indexes, and most importantly its exhaustive critical reviews with author bylines.
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Printed index. Use in library. Click on the title to see the library catalog record with the call number.
The New York Times Film Reviews (printed book)
Located in Hamilton Reference, click on title for call number.
A chronological collection of facsimiles of every film review and awards article published in the New York Times. Includes a full index of personal names, titles, and corporate names.
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Printed resource. Use in library. Click on the title to see the library catalog record with the call number.
Variety's Film Reviews (printed book)
Located in Hamilton Reference and Sinclair Library, click on title for call number. Check holdings carefully for locations.

Reviews covering years 1907/1920 to 1991-1992 (v.1-v.22)
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Printed index. Use in library. Click on the title to see the library catalog record with the call number.