SCRN 4001: Black Women in Film

This guide has been created to help you find sources for your papers. Don't forget, if you need help, contact a librarian!

How to Use These Websites (Hint: These are background info sources)

These are all websites that have reviews, commentaries, and information about movies and television shows. These can be found easily through internet searches and ARE NOT scholarly or peer-reviewed sources. But that doesn't mean they aren't valuable - these are useful sources in the background information stage of research (when you're compiling basic background information, these would not be sources to cite in your paper).

You can browse these websites to see what's currently being talked about, or you can use the search function to see if the movie or TV show that you're interested in has been reviewed.

To Find Basic Information about a Movie

IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
This is a good resource to find general information about a movie or TV show that you're interested in.
There are numerous ways to search (by title, cast/crew, etc.)

Review Websites

Metacritic
You can search for a movie or TV show by title to find critics' reviews. Click on the title that you're interested in and scroll down to find a collection of reviews. To get to the original review, click on "Read Full Review."
Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE)
A listing of reviews can be found by searching for a particular movie title. These reviews can be from websites as well as newspapers and are linked to the original source. You can also browse titles using the subheadings (Home, In Theatres, Streaming, Upcoming, and Most Popular).
Online Film Critics Society
A yearly collection of movie reviews from 2011 to present. "Clicking on each link will take you to the member review page for each film, listing all OFCS member critics who’ve submitted links to their reviews for the specified films."
RogerEbert.com
A collection of current reviews of major, independent, and documentary films as well as television shows. It also includes reviews by film critic Roger Ebert (1942-2013).
Rotten Tomatoes
A review-aggregator of "not only current reviews of films from major studios, but one of the most comprehensive coverage of reviews from independent and documentary film makers, as well as reviews of leading television or cable series and shows from various streaming platforms."
IndieWire
You can search for a title in the search bar on the right and then limit your results. You can also browse recent reviews by scrolling over the Film+ or TV+ links and then choosing Reviews.
AV Club
Reviews and commentary on film, TV, games, music, and more.
The Playlist
"Leading film and television website, offering smart yet accessible news, analysis, critical takes and more for the film community at large from moviegoers to entertainment industry players to the modern-day binge-happy viewer."