This guide is a starting point for identifying, locating, and evaluating film in popular magazines, scholarly sources and internet sites. If you need additional assistance, please Ask a Librarian or contact Mrs. Kathleen Lowe, Reference and Instruction Librarian, at lowek@montevallo.edu or 665-6109.

American Film Institute Top 100 Films
AFI Official Site
access to the list requires free login

Wikipedia link to AFI Top 100 list

Movie reviews in newspapers ....Talkies to recent time

Historical New York Times, 1851-2004
Full text access to film reviews in the New York Times. Valuable to locate film reviews for movies before 1990.

Movie reviews in newspapers....last 20 years

Specific newspaper databases include:

•  LexisNexis
  Provides comprehensive access to full text information from over 5,600 national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news and non-English language sources.   

• ProQuest Newspapers
  Full-text access to many major United States and international newspapers, regional newspapers, and wire services. Includes the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.

Magazine articles and peer reviewed criticism from scholarly journals
       
    Library Databases:

• Academic Search Premier Elite

• Art Full Text

• America History and Life

• LION  (Includes MLA)

• Central Search (search across multiple databases)
   

Movie sites on the Internet

• The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
  A valuable site on all levels.

• All Movie Guide
  Excellent plot synopsis, glossary and searchable databases.  Reviews are not always signed.

• Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE)
  Reviews are culled from newspapers (local, national, and international), entertainment publications and internet sources.  Limited reviews for most  pre-1990 releases. .
   

Movie sites on the Internet with values added

• Movie Theology: Movie Reviews  & Resources
  complied by Gordon Matties, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at Canadian Mennonite University

• Faith and Film Critics Circle
  The Faith and Film Critics Circle is a fellowship of critics applying Christian perspectives to film through reviews and discussion, seeking to encourage revealing and intelligent dialogue about the human experience. Affiliate d with the Matthew's House Project.

• Pluggedinonline.com
  "Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to help equip parents, youth leaders, ministers and teens with the essential tools that will enable them to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which they live. Entertainment is a potent influence on our culture for both good and evil. Through our reviews and discussions of that entertainment, we hope to spark intellectual thought, family discussion, spiritual growth and a strong desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office for Film and Broadcasting
  "The Office for Film and Broadcasting is responsible for reviewing and rating theatrical motion pictures, previewing and evaluating television programming as well as providing the Catholic public with information about the role of the entertainment and news media in influencing societal and personal values."

• Rotten Tomatoes

• Mr. Cranky
  Mr. Cranky savages the movies

• Razzie Awards 

Reference Collection...digging deeper

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries in the Reference Collection (Main Floor)
Once you have identified a movie consider investigating it further in specialized sources.

Armstrong, Richard B., 1956. Encyclopedia of film themes, settings and series. Jefferson,   N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2001.   
Ref. PN 1997.8 .A76 2001.

Buscombe, Edward. Cinema today. London: Phaidon, 2003. 
Ref.  PN 1993.5 .A1 B87 2003.

Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film.  New York:  Routledge, 2006.
Ref. PN 1995.9 .D6 E53 2006

Erskine, Thomas L. Video versions : film adaptations of plays on video. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2000.
Ref.  PN 1997.85  .V53 2000.

Muir, John Kenneth, 1969. Horror films of the 1970s. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c2002. Ref. PN 1995.9 .H6 M85 2002.

Nash, Jay Robert. The motion picture guide. Chicago : Cinebooks, 1985.  Ref. PN 1995 .N346

Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film.  Detroit : Gale, 2007.  Ref. PN 1993.45 .G65 2007
 

Salem, James M.  Guide to Critical Reviews Part IV: The Screenplay from The Jazz Singer to Dr. Strangelove Metuchen, N.J. : The Scarecrow Press, 1971.

Salem, James G.  A Guide to Critical Reviews Part IV: The Screenplay Supplement One: 1963-1980.  Metuchen, N.J. : The Scarecrow Press, 1971.

Tibbetts, John C. The encyclopedia of filmmakers. New York: Facts on File, 2002.  Ref. PN 1998.2 .T53 2002.

Tibbetts, John C. The encyclopedia of novels into film. New York : Facts on File, c1998. Ref. PN 1997.85 .T54 1998.

Tibbetts, John C. The encyclopedia of stage plays into film. New York: Facts on File, c2001.
Ref.  PN 1997.85 .T544 2001.

Wright, Gene, 1939. Horrorshows : the A-to-Z of horror in film, TV, radio & theater. New York, N.Y. : Facts on File, c1986.
Ref.  PN 1995.9.H6 W74 1986.

Variety film reviews. New York: Garland Pub., 1983.
Ref.  PN 1995 .V34 1983.

Sources for investigating the historical setting of the film

Readers' Guide to Periodical  Literature (print index)
Located outside the librarians office, this index is a valuable tool to assess the cultural movement in which the film originated.

New York Times (print index )
Red volumes located outside the librarians office.  Another valuable tool to assess the cultural movement in which the film originated

 

Schwartz, Richard A. Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts, 1945 – 1990.  New York:  Facts on File, 1998.
    Ref. E 169.12 .S39 1997
  
Parker, Thomas & Douglas Nelson, eds.  Day by Day:  The Sixties.  2 vols.  New York:  Facts on File Publications, 1983.  
         Ref. D 840 .P27 1983 vols. 1-2

Leonard, Thomas, Cynthia Crippen, Marc Aronson, eds.  Day by Day: The Seventies.  2 vols.  New York:  Facts on File Publications, 1988.  
Ref. D 848 .L4 1988 vols. 1-2

Meltzer, Ellen & Marc Aronson, eds.  Day by Day:  The Eighties.
         2 vols.  New York:  Facts on File, Inc., 1995.  
         Ref. D 848 .M45 1995 vols. 1-2

Tompkins, Vincent, ed.  American Decades.  9 vols.  Detroit:  Gale    
         Research Inc., 1996.   
         Ref.  E 169.12 .A419 1994 vols. 1-9

Singleton, Carl, ed.  The Sixties in America.  3 vols.  Pasadena: 
         Salem Press,   Inc., 1999.   
         Ref. E 169.12 .A5 1999 vols. 1-3

Citing the sources you find