Reviews
How to find reviews of a variety of cultural materials; books, film, music, theater, & art.
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Local Film Reviews
Find Reviews in Print
Finding reviews of films released before 1990 can sometimes be tricky with certain electronic databases. You may want to consult these older print sources for reviews of films from 1900--1989.
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New York Times Film ReviewsPN 1995 .N55
A collection of the film reviews that appeared in the New York Times from the years 1913-2000. -
Variety Film Reviews808.25 V287
A collection of film reviews published in the entertainment trade/industry periodical "Vareity" from 1907-1990. -
Motion Picture GuidePN1995 .N3462 Hatcher Graduate Reference RoomThis ten-volume set provides comprehensive information on numerous English-language movies and many foreign films as well. Some 25,000 titles are covered, along with 3,000 silent films. The guide includes detailed production credits, plot summaries, and a ratings guide, and is exceptionally well-indexed.
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Magill's Cinema Annual808.25 M19
Offers an in-depth retrospective of significant domestic and foreign films released in the U.S. Distinguishing features include its extensive credits, awards and nominations, MPAA ratings, eight indexes, and most importantly its exhaustive critical reviews with author bylines.
Find Film Reviews in Library Databases
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Academic OneFileCoverage: 1980-present (varies by title)
Provides indexing for over 8,000 scholarly journals, industry periodicals, general interest magazines and newspapers.
On the Advanced Search page, type the name of the film in the first keyword search bar and in the box labeled "By Document Type" select "Movie Review." -
Humanities Abstracts (with Full Text)Coverage: 1984-present (varies by title)
Contains abstracts for more than 300 humanities publications, including reviews of plays and television and radio programs.
Type the title of the film in the first search box. Next, type "film review" in the second search box and change the dropdown menu to Article Type Phrase. (Also reviews radio and television programs). -
InfoTrac NewsstandCoverage: 1996- present (varies by title)
Searchable full text database combining articles from 1,000+ newspapers and news wires from around the world, plus some news blogs and television shows.
On the Advanced Search page, type the name of the film in the first keyword search bar and in the box labeled "By Document Type" select "Movie Review."
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Nexis UniCoverage: 1980- present (varies by title)
Provides full-text access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information, including hundreds of U.S. and foreign newspapers.
To find reviews, click on the News tab in the left sidebar, then click on the "All News" link. Type the title of the film in the search box and in the Article Type box, click the box next to Movie Reviews. -
OmniFile Full Text SelectCoverage: 1972-present (varies by title)
Provides multi-disciplinary content - indexing, abstracts, and full text - from 11 full-text databases from H.W. Wilson.
On the Advanced Search page, type the name of the film in the first keyword search bar and in the box labeled "Document Type" select "Film Review." -
ProQuestIndexes journals, magazines, and newspapers. Many articles are available fulltext.
On the Advanced Search page, type the name of the film in the first keyword search bar. Next, click on the link to "more search options" and next to "Document Type" select "Film Review."
Last Updated: Oct 9, 2025 11:12 AM
Subjects: General Information Sources
Tags: art reviews, book reviews, film, motion pictures, music, theater, theatre