Film Criticism

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 Research Guide.

	Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) General, multidisciplinary index that includes film reviews and criticism.[more info] Coverage: 1853 - present Campus/Remote
	Academic and General Periodicals Search (Gale) Find academic journals, popular magazines, and reference information on all subjects in this multidisciplinary index...[more info] Coverage: 1980 - present Internet
	WilsonWeb MultiSearch (HW Wilson) 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 three databases at once....[more info] Coverage: 1890 - Present Campus/Remote
	LEO Library Catalog (JMU) 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.[more info] 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.[more info] Coverage: 1984 - present Campus/Remote
	Film Indexes Online (ProQuest) Contains both Film Index International and the AFI Catalog...[more info] Coverage: 1893 - present Campus/Remote
	FIAF - International Index to Film Periodicals (Chadwyck-Healey) FIAF is a bibliographical index offering in-depth coverage of the world's foremost academic and popular film journals... [more info] Coverage: 1972 - Present Campus/Remote
	Film Literature Index Online (1976-2001) Indexes film and television articles and reviews in scholarly and popular periodicals published between 1976-2001.[more info] Coverage: 1976 - 2001 Campus/Remote
	International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers The first volume of this 4-volume set is dedicated to films. Includes books and articles for further reading.[more info] Carrier Reference PN1997.8 .I58 1997
	Magill's Survey of Cinema: English Language Films Contains essay-reviews on 515 films produced between 1927 and 1980.[more info] Coverage: 1927 - 1980 Carrier Reference PN1993.45 M3
	MLA International Bibliography (Gale) Indexes scholarly articles, book chapters, and dissertations primarily about literature, but includes film studies, too.[more info] Coverage: 1926 - present Campus/Remote

This page is maintained by: Jennifer Keach