Film Criticism
Criticism of a film may be written months or years after a film's release. In general, criticism is more scholarly than a film review; critical analysis attempts to place the film into a larger historical, social, or theoretical framework. Critical articles are usually longer than reviews, and contain extensive bibliographies. Criticism is usually published in scholarly journals or books, and is written by scholars who are experts in literary and cultural studies, media studies, performance studies, or other specialized fields.
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MLA International Bibliography
Indexes journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings and other materials supporting critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Sponsored by the Modern Language Association.
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FIAF: International Index to Film Periodicals
Indexes scholarly and popular journals, books, book reviews, and proceedings worldwide on a wide range of topics within the fields of film and television studies.
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Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text
Indexes 150 scholarly and popular periodicals from 30 countries cover-to-cover and 300 other periodicals selectively for reviews and articles on the topic film and television. Search by keyword, production title and more or browse by some 2000 subject headings.
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International Index to Performing Arts (IIPA)
Indexes and abstracts over 250 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, documents, biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, and reviews. Covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry including dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic and more.
Film and Video in OskiCat
You can use the Media Resource Center's website to browse for films on your research topic, or you can use OskiCat to find films and videos in the UC Berkeley Libraries. Enter your search terms in the "Keyword" box, like this:
social protest california
Use the "Entire Collection" pulldown menu to restrict your search to "Films/Videos/Slides." Your search results may include online video as well as items in the Media Resources Center collection, or elsewhere in the campus libraries.
Finding Film Reviews
Reviews and criticism are not synonymous. Reviews generally appear in newspapers and magazines, are written shortly after a film is first performed, and are usually written by journalists; they analyze the film from an entertainment or artistic perspective. You may be able to find reviews for your film in the following sources:
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Access World News
Provides full-text information and perspectives from over 600 U.S. and over 700 international sources.
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ProQuest Newspapers
Includes New York Times (Historical with Index, 1851-2008, 1980-current). Los Angeles Times (Historical, 1881-1988, 1985-current). Wall Street Journal (Historical, 1889-1994, 1984-current).
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Historical Newspapers (ProQuest)
Indexes articles from Chicago Defender (1905-1975), Chicago Tribune (1849-1986), Los Angeles Times (1881-1986), New York Times (1851-2004), San Francisco Chronicle (1865-1922), Wall Street Journal (1889-1990), and Washington Post (1877-1991).
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Academic Search Complete
A multidisciplinary index to articles in more than 10,900 journals and other publications in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese; full-text is available for over 5300 journals.
Enter the title of the film in the first search box. Scroll down to "Limit Your Results." In the "Document Type" box, select "Entertainment Review." Click "Search."
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LexisNexis Academic
Includes over 6,000 individual titles of international, national and local newspapers and wire services; radio and television transcripts; and business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters.
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International Index to Performing Arts (IIPA)
Indexes over 200 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals, documents, biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, and reviews.
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Internet Movie Database
A database of more than 120,000 movies. Includes biographical records (including complete filmographies) for close to 200,000 individuals involved in international film and television industries.