Start here
Database | Description |
---|---|
Film and Media Studies @ EBSCOhost | Selected EBSCOhost databases for Film and Media Studies. View Full Description |
Course guides
Course # | Title |
---|---|
FS | Student Research Guide for Film Studies |
FS240 | Film History to 1950 |
FS264 | American Cinema, 1929-69 |
- Finding criticism
- Finding reviews
- Main online sources for reviews
- Main print sources for reviews
- Reviews vs. criticism
Finding criticism
- Start with Film and Media Studies @ EBSCOhost
- Note you can limit your search to scholarly sources
- Also check the Primo Catalogue for books about your film or director
Finding reviews
- Find the release date of your film using IMDB or the American Film Institute Catalog
- choose a database, from the list below, that includes your date
Main online resources for reviews
- Film and Media Studies @ EBSCOhost
- For reviews, limit search to Document Type: "Entertainment Review." Includes full-text reviews from Variety, back to 1920.
- Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive 1880-2000
- For reviews, limit search to Document Type: "Review."
- Canadian Periodical Index (CPI.Q) 1988 to present
- Reviews Canadian and other films. Select Document Type: “Movie review.“ For reviews back to 1948, see "Movie reviews" in the print volumes of Canadian Periodical Index.
- American Film Institute Catalog 1893 to present
- Search for the film title, note the release date, and see the source citations at the end of the film record.
- New York Times 1851 to three years ago
- Search for reviews, profiles, advertisements, and movie listings. For reviews, limit search to month and year of release.
- Movie Review Query Engine
- Freely available database. Select “Critic reviews.“ Includes New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times (Ebert).
Main print resources for reviews
- Film Review Index volumes 1-2.
- Volume one covers 1882 to 1949; volume two covers 1950 to 1985. Print location: Z 5784 M9F513
- Selected Film Criticism.
- Includes full text from sources such as Photoplay and The Film Spectator. Print location: PN 1995 S426
Reviews vs Criticism
Criteria | Film Reviews | Film Criticism |
---|---|---|
Audience | general public | scholars and students |
Authors |
|
|
Accountability | may be reviewed by an editor | usually peer reviewed or refereed |
Content |
|
|
Documentation | may have no references to other sources, and no bibliographies or footnotes | always contains references to other sources, given in a bibliography or footnotes |
Publications | magazines, newspapers | academic journals, books |
When published | when film is released | months or years after release |
Examples | Crowther, Bosley. "Screen: Sordid View of French Life: Breathless' in Debut." New York Times 8 February 1961. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times. Web. 12 Sept. 2012. | Hayes, Kevin. "The Newspaper and the Novel in À bout de souffle." Studies in French Cinema 1.3 (2001): 249-251. Film and Television Literature Index. Web. 12 Sept. 2012. |
Selected Dictionaries: Definitions
- Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. 2012.
- Cinema Studies: the Key Concepts. Routledge. 2006.
- Critical Dictionary of Film and Television theory. Routledge. 2005.
- Routledge companion to film history. Routledge. 2011.
- Film Analysis Guide. Yale University. 2002.
Books: Primo Catalogue
Use the Primo Catalogue to find books.
a) Identify books by searching these selected Subject Headings
- Documentary films
- Experimental films
- Feature films
- Feminism and motion pictures
- Feminist motion pictures
- Film adaptations
- Film criticism
- Film genres
- Film noir
- Motion picture industry
- Motion picture music
- Motion pictures
- Motion pictures, Canada
- Motion pictures, history
- Motion pictures, political aspects
- Motion pictures, production and direction
- Motion pictures, reviews
- Motion pictures, social aspects
- Silent films
- Silent film music
- Video recording
b) Or look for specific names or titles:
- Hitchcock, Alfred
- Hamlet (Motion picture)
Useful starting point:
Film and Television: A Guide to the Reference Literature, by Mark Emmons. Print Location: PN 1994.E47
Other Resources
- Where are the books?
- Check Floor Plans
- For collections of online texts, see
- For film scripts, see: American Film Scripts, early 20th century to present
- To identify books not available locally, see
- WorldCat, a collection of more than 50,000 library catalogues worldwide
- Get Materials from Other Libraries
- More resources, including public library catalogues
- American Film Scripts
- Full text scripts of significant feature films.
- California Digital Newspaper Collection
- Selection of California newspapers from 1846 to the present.
- CineFiles
- The Pacific Film Archive's film document image database. Includes reviews, program notes, newspaper articles, etc. for selected films.
- Directory of International Film and Video Festivals
- Descriptions of collections including some film clips.
- Early Modernity on Film
- Bibliography of articles and books.
- FilmSound.org
- Includes articles and annotated links to film sound resources.
- Focus on Film
- From the U.K.'s National Archives. Includes clips from historical films.
- Internet Archive
- Includes digitizations of old film magazines such as Moving Picture World and Photoplay.
- Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections
- Includes correspondence, photographs, periodicals and sheet music.
- Media History Digital Library
- Classic media periodicals, including trade papers and fan magazines, in the public domain. Search using Lantern
- Moving Image Archive
- Selected, digitized titles from the Prelinger Archives: a collection of "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films.
- Moving Image Source: Criticism and Theory
- Pulls together quality sources for film and television.
- National Film Preservation Foundation (U.S.)
- Lists preserved films and their locations, along with selected film clips.
- News archives online
- Includes full text of New York Times, London Times, Globe and Mail, etc.
- ULCA Library Digital Collections
- Includes material for film history.