Criticism analyzes a film in detail, discussing themes, cinematography, similar films, direction, acting, and more. Criticism is typically published in books or in scholarly journals.

Interested in shorter articles which offer recommendations as to whether to see a film or not? See the Film Reviews Guide.

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)

General, multidisciplinary index that includes film reviews and criticism.

Coverage: 1887 - present

Campus/Remote

Wilson MultiSearch (EBSCO)

To find film reviews and criticism, search for the film title and the words motion picture reviews. [ex: citizen kane and motion picture reviews] This link searches OmniFile Full Text Mega, Readers' Guide Retro, and Humanities & Social Sciences Retro (all formerly on the HW Wilson platform).

Coverage: 1890 - Present

Campus/Remote

JMU Library Catalog (LEO) (JMU Libraries)

To find books in JMU Libraries that include film criticism for specific films, do three different searches in LEO—a subject search for the film title, a subject search for the director, and a word search for the film title. In many cases, you will find different titles, all relevant, with each search.

Internet

Art Abstracts (EBSCO)

This database indexes articles published in scholarly journals from 1984 to date. To find film criticism, search for the title of the film and the words and pictures as keywords.

Coverage: 1984 - present

Campus/Remote