Finding Articles
You'll likely find a combination of scholarly and popular sources that talk about the film you are researching. To find scholarly research articles, you will want to look in academic databases. Film history is also documented online by a variety of reputable sources. Be sure to use a combination of sources for your project!
How to Find Film Reviews (Modern)
- Rotten TomatoesReviews of many films. Search for your film and under Reviews choose "Top Critics" for high-quality movie reviews. Make sure to read the full reviews, not just the small previews.
- MetacriticReviews of many films. Search for your film and scroll down to the Metascore. Look at the Critic Reviews for high-quality movie reviews. Make sure to read the full reviews, not just the small previews.
- RogerEbert.comReviews, commentary, and a glossary from Roger Ebert's years as a movie reviewer.
Academic Databases with Film Criticism
Each of these three databases will have scholarly research articles about specific films. Click open any of the databases and search for the title of the film you are researching in the main search box. You will see options on the left to narrow your search results further.
- MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new windowCovers literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore from 4,400 journals and series worldwide. Coverage from 1926 to the present.
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowPopular multidisciplinary database covering thousands of scholarly/peer-reviewed publications.
How to Find Film Reviews (Historic)
Film Review Index (Online-Internet Archive) by
ISBN: 0897741536Requires free Internet Archive account to borrow the book for 1 hour (subject to availability). This link takes you to Volume 1 (1882-1949) but Volume 2 (1950-1985) is also available.Film Review Index (Physical Book) by
Call Number: PN1995 .F513 1986Publication Date: 1986These books tell you information about reputable reviews for old films [1882-1985] (who wrote them, what publication they wrote them for, and the date they published them). You can use this information to find the reviews themselves.
American Film Criticism, from the beginnings to Citizen Kane : reviews of significant films at the time they first appeared by Call Number: PN1995 .K293 1979ISBN: 9780313212468Publication Date: 1979-05-01
