Film Studies

This guide provides information about viewing, studying, and producing films at K-State.

Library Research Guide

Finding Film Reviews... and What Makes Them "Good"

This section provides tips on finding reviews of films written by film critics.

Movie reviews range from brief summaries of the film, sometimes with an indicator of quality like stars or thumbs up/down, to critical analyses with cultural insight. The synopses help audiences decide if they want to see a film and can offer insight into how a film was received when it was released. The critical analyses help you understand the impact of the film on culture (or vice versa.)

When and Where Are Film Reviews Published?

Reviews of films released prior to the 1990s are most likely to appear in newspapers and magazines within a few weeks (either prior to or after) the film was released.

Reviews of films released starting in the 1990s and later may appear in newspapers and magazines, and are also published in blogs, online magazines, on social media, such as YouTube, and other websites.

What makes a "good" movie review or film criticism?

Because film reviews can be created by anyone, look for clues indicating that the reviewer is critically engaging with the film.

At the most basic level, in a good review:

key facts are correct, including character names, plot points, creatives involved in the project, etc...
the author provides concrete examples from the film that substantiate their arguments
the author demonstrates familiarity or expertise with film or the genre, by referencing concrete and relevant examples from other works by the director or other creatives, films in the same genre, or the source material (such as films based on books, historical events, etc)

More critical reviews may feature:

correct use of terms commonly used by film professionals, critics and/or scholars (not sure? check your class notes, the readings assigned by your instructor, or film encyclopedias or companions)
engagement with relevant theories, critics, scholarship, and other reviews of the film
A perspective or analysis that helps you understand the film, the film's reception, or something the culture and society in which the film was created or viewed

Film Reviews through K-State Libraries Databases

Find reviews of films published in newspapers and magazines through these databases at K-State. These databases include current and historical publications, pay attention to the dates covered by the databases in comparison to the date the film you are interested in was released or re-released.

Newspapers

African American Newspapers Series 1, 1827-1998
Publication Dates Covered: 1827-1998 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Covers African American experiences before the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement, and up to the end of the 20th century. Includes more than 270 newspapers (published by or for African Americans) from 35 states, including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles, and provides access to both full-text and images.
Alt-PressWatch
Publication Dates Covered: 1970 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Showcases unique, independent voices from many respected and cited grassroots newspapers, magazines, and journals. The database features around a million articles from over 270 publications, offering a wide range of unfettered, critical coverage of the news.
New York Times, Historical
Publication Dates Covered: 1851-2020 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Digitized version of The New York Times since its first issue in 1851. Search the full text of articles to find articles on a wide variety of topics. Full name of the database is ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index.
ProQuest Global Newsstream
Publication Dates Covered: 1980 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Search the most recent global news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring content from newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. This product provides one of the largest collections of news from the US, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Includes ProQuest's Canadian Newsstream, International Newsstream, and US Newstream collections.
Times Digital Archive
Publication Dates Covered: 1785-2019 Paid for by K-State Libraries
The complete issues of more than two hundred years of The Times of London are available for keyword searching by users, including articles, advertisements, and illustrations. Coverage of specific events and trends can be reviewed, providing a contemporary view to modern researchers.

Magazines

American Periodicals
Publication Dates Covered: 1740-1940 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals. Includes graphic elements and article layouts.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Publication Dates Covered: 1960 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Features newspapers, magazines, and journals of ethnic and minority presses.
ProQuest Research Library
Publication Dates Covered: 1971 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This is a good starting point for finding journal articles on almost any topic. Over 150 academic subject areas are covered, and most articles are full-text. Searches can be limited to scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.
Readers’ Guide Retrospective
Publication Dates Covered: 1890-1982 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Indexes popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States from 1890 through 1982. Includes citations for more than 3 million articles from 375 magazines.
Vogue Archive
Publication Dates Covered: 1892 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This database contains the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. There are options to browse complete issues or search by garment type, designer, brand name, photographer and more.

Specific Publications

These well-known titles can be found in the above databases and/or as print or microfilmed issues in the Libraries' collections. Follow the links for details about what issues/years we own or have access to.

Cinéaste
Cinéaste has been publishing in depth analyses of the film world since 1967.
Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter, a trade paper, has been published since 1930, first as a daily, then as a weekly.

News and some articles are also available on The Hollywood Reporter's website .
Screen International
Published out of the UK, Screen International covers international film news.

News and some articles can also be found on their website, Screen Daily.
Variety
Variety is a major film and media magazine that has been published since 1905.

There is a time delay of at least a month for full articles to appear in the databases, so you may need to request recent articles from Interlibrary Loan.

Some news and articles are available on the Variety website . The site defaults to US focused articles, but there is an option in the site's banner to switch to the publication's Asia or International pages.

Film Reviews & Commentary Beyond K-State

Modern Reviews and Commentaries

These free sites offer movie reviews and commentaries of modern films.

AFI Catalog
Search the American Film Institute's (AFI) catalog for your film. In addition to a synopsis, history, and credits, look for the source citations. The citations are for articles talking about something related to the film, including reviews.
In Media Res
In Media Res publishes online issues centered around a theme or a film. Each article is preceded by a clip followed by a brief commentary.
MRQE: Movie Review Query Engine
This site operates as a searchable index to movie reviews. Created in 1993, the site includes reviews for films released prior to 1993, but the reviews themselves are published starting in the 1990s.
The site name is pronounced "marquee."
The Independent
" The Independent supports the global community of independent, grassroots, and activist media-makers through coverage of their work online. The publication provides reviews, interviews, news and instructional essays to help keep the independent media communities informed on what’s happening in the world of film."

Historic and Archival Film Publications

These digitized collections offer insight into the history of film.

The Bioscope: Journals
The Bioscope provides links to film publications from the silent era. While most are free, some are available through subscription sites that K-State does not have access to.
Dormitor Journals Project
This site collects links to digitized of international early film study publications. Titles are organized by country.
Google Magazines
Access popular magazines through Google Books including: The Advocate, Ebony, and Life.
Media History Digital Library
Free online collection of materials covering the history of tv, film, and recorded sound
Periodicals, Books and Pamphlets: Margaret Herrick Library
The Margaret Herrick Library is the library for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This collection includes industry publications and fan magazines.

When websites disappear

When a review website like Television Without Pity disappears it's gone forever, right?

Maybe, maybe not if the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine took snapshots of it over the years as part of it's effort to archive the internet.

You can either enter the URL of the site you want into the WayBack Machine (helpful if you are following a dead link) or search using the name of the site to see if was archived.

The WayBack Machine organizes its snapshots of websites by date and the websites themselves are not searchable.

Not every website has been archived, not every page of a website is archived, and the snapshots are taking periodically throughout a year, so if a review was posted and then taken down in between snapshots, you may not be able to find it again.

Wayback Machine
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine allows you to search for a website and see snapshots of that site over time. This is very useful for researching an event that has occurred since roughly 1996.