LibGuides: Film: Film Reviews & Analysis

Reviews vs. Other Articles

A film review is a critique published in a magazine, newspaper, or online at the time the film is released.

Articles analyzing films are written by scholars and are published in scholarly journals after the film comes out.

Some publications, such as Variety, are devoted to the film industry and contain articles about grosses, studios, etc.

Databases of Articles and Reviews

FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
These archives index more than 500,000 articles from 340 film journals, dating from 1972 onward. The database also incorporates the International Index to TV Periodicals, Treasures from the Film Archives, which identifies silent film holdings in archives around the world, and the International Directory of Film/TV Documentation Collections.
The full-text version of the index, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Plus, adds searchable full text from many of the most important FIAF journals, including full-text coverage of FIAF index records from key titles such as Sight and Sound and Positif. Both resources provide in-depth, discipline-specific indexing and abstracts, with full searching functionality and citation management support.
Film and Television Literature Index This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive bibliographic database covering the entire spectrum of television and film writing. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association) This link opens in a new window
This bibliography covers literature, languages, linguistics, film and folklore from over 4,000 journals and series published worldwide between 1926 and the present.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
This database includes articles from magazines, major newspapers, and some scholarly journals. An excellent source for reviews.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
A database of full-text journals in a variety of the humanities and social science disciplines. It covers recent years including current issues and for some journals serves as an update to JSTOR.

Reviews from the Past

New York Times (Historical:1851-2014) This link opens in a new window
Full text image of the newspaper (1851-2014). For current online access see the New York Times entry.
America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Searchable scans of local and regional newspapers from the United States.

Fondren has access to the following collections:
- Early American Newspapers Series 1-8, 1690-1922
- Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
- African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
- Caribbean Newspapers, Series 1, 1718-1876
Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window
An index to popular American periodicals from 1890-1982. Contains comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and reflects the history of late 19th through 20th century America. (1890-1982)
Times Digital Archive (London), 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window
The full text of the Times from 1785-1985