Links to archives of movie reviews and criticism by everybody from Roger Ebert to people you've never heard of but who have important things to say. Search for reviews of your favorite movies or essays about film history and technique. If you're specifically looking for DVD reviews, see Reviews of Classic Movies on DVD.
The AFI 100 Films
My personal analysis of the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Films, with links to other resources.
The Greatest Films Best of the Net
Tim Dirks' amazing site features plot synopses of 100 great films, plus a listing of even more movies by year, with summaries of the film history of each decade. Plus many other related features for the true film buff.
Roger Ebert
Search Roger's extensive Chicago Sun Times reviews archive. Be sure to check out the two sites listed here just below this one.
Roger Ebert's "Great Movies"
Roger started this project in 1996, in order to make up for the lack of reviews of older films on the Web. There are now over 50, with new ones added every other week.
Ebert & Roeper
The Web site for Ebert & Roeper's TV review program lets you check past reviews of both new films and videos, find out about upcoming shows, and learn more about the reviewers.
At-A-Glance Film Reviews: Great Movies
A pretty exhaustive list of mostly classic films, many with short reviews from the pundits of At-A-Glance, a film review site.
BoxOfficeCritic.com
A new site featuring reviews of current and classic films, general essays and editorials about all aspects of cinema, "best of" lists, and spotlight articles on cinema legends.
Chicago Reader Review Archive
An archive of brief reviews, including some classic films. Full text requires payment and registration.
CineScene.com
A very cool movie review site featuring both current and classic films. Describes itself as "an alternative to the run-of-the-mill film reviewers and sites, with their systems of stars, letter grades, and thumbs pointed up or down." Anybody is invited to contribute reviews if they have something to say, and contributors are encouraged to write about films from a personal perspective.
Combustible Celluloid
Jeffrey M. Anderson's site offers discussions, reviews, and theories on "the World's Greatest Movies." Click on the Classic Movies section for reviews of less recent films, including quite a few from what we think of as the classic period.
Cranky Critic
Chuck Schwartz offers reviews for the masses, with movies rated based on how much he and his crew think you should pay to see it, from $8 (see it twice) to $0 (wretched). Mostly current films, but you'll also find interviews, posters, etc.
Crazy For Cinema
Here's all you need to know about this review site, from the introduction: "I'm concentrating on classic films because I've found there isn't much written about them and that if they're still being broadcast they're usually of a higher quality than the garbage at the theater." Our kind of people.
CultureDose.net
This collection of irreverent, eclectic writing by people from all over the country includes book, movie, and music reviews. The link will take you directly to the movie section, where you'll be able to search for reviews alphabetically, by genre, or by writer if you discover somebody you particularly enjoy. There are also essays on general topics as well as reviews of specific films.
culturevulture.net - Films
The movie section of a site describing itself as "a somewhat haphazard and pronouncedly idiosyncratic sharing of matters cultural." The alphabetical listing of reviewed films includes some classics among the films from '98 and '99.
Dave's Other Movie Log
Dave Clayton created this page to showcase his reviews, most of them for current films. But he also has a nice "Mummy" site and a short list of current reviews.
Decades in Film
From Alan's Movie Haven, an examination of the author's favorite films from each decade, beginning with the 90s. He's gone back as far as the 50s at this point, with the early 50s just recently added and the late 40s soon to come.
Deep Focus
Well-written and hard-hitting reviews of both new and old flicks from Bryant Frazer, who says that his reviews are "completely subjective" and cautions that his site has been banned by CyberPatrol. There, you've been warned.
Destitute Gulch
Movie reviews and sound files from several classic favorites, including Blackboard Jungle and Fahrenheit 451.
Edinburgh University Film Society
Brief reviews of dozens of mostly classic films which have been included in the Society's programmes since 1994, written by several different Film Society members.
Brian W. Fairbanks Movie Reviews
Reviews and actor profiles by Brian W. Fairbanks, written for Movienutz, IMDB, and Amazon.com.
The Family Guide to Classic Movies
Web site for a guide book to over 500 classic films that can be enjoyed by families together (young and old alike). The book was awarded the Recommended Seal by the Parents Choice Foundation, and has received excellent reviews from both film critics and family experts. (This site was previously listed here and is being re-listed this week.)
The Flick Filosopher's Academy Award Special
MaryAnn Johanson offers reviews of every film that has won the Best Picture Oscar, adding one each day from January 11 until the Oscar telecast in March.
Goatdog's Movies - The Classics
Over a hundred classic reviews by Mike Phillips, otherwise known as Goatdog, a self-professed Oscar fanatic whose goal is to watch every film ever nominated for Best Picture and who runs the projector at a film revival house.
Greatest Films: Time Out's Centenary Top 100 Films
Tim Dirks reviews the London magazine's 1995 list of 100 great films. He also looks at the Readers' Choices from 1998.
Greatest Films: Video Detective's Top 100 Films
Tim Dirks takes a look at the top 100 films of all time, as chosen by the 1997 Video Detective film guide.
David P. Hayes
A collection of the best articles which originally appeared as newsgroup postings by Mr. Hayes, including pieces on film history, culture, technical issues, copyrights, talents, "quirky subjects," and specific films.
Andrew Hicks at All-Reviews.com
Links to over 130 reviews by Andrew Hicks, who also writes reviews for CultureDose.net (see above) and once had a list of over a thousand reviews on the U. of Missouri site (now offline).
Jake & Boomer's Silver Screen Home Page
This site was listed here when there were only nine reivews, but now they're back, after a brief personal hiatus, with new reviews of classic films from the 20s and 30s in their unique and entertaining style.
Movie Reviews by Edwin Jahiel
He's the film critic at the News-Gazette in Illinois, and professorof Cinema Studies at the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he's the Director of the Unit for Cinema Studies, which he also founded. More importantly, he writes thoughtful reviews of movies both new and old.
Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Though you might expect this site to be filled with current movie reviews (look for those under Leonard's Picks), it's actually filled with essays, photos, and suggested links, mostly on classic film topics. There's also an opportunity to subscribe to Maltin's print newsletter. A friendly place for classic fans; the man clearly loves movies!
The Movie Mom
Here's the "All Time Best" page from the Web site for the book entitled The Movie Mom's Guide to Family Movies. You can buy the book here, or just check out all the reviews and recommendations by Nell Minnow.
Movie Review Query Engine
Your connection to more reviews than you can read in the brief time you have before the movie starts on AMC or TCM!
Moviediva
Web home of the North Carolina Museum of Art's film curator, who offers reviews of about 80 vintage (and some recent) films. Includes a portion devoted to "moviediva jr.," her 12-year-old daughter, who is also a classic film fan!
Movienutz Movie Reviews
A nice collection of film reviews from the Movienutz section of Nutzworld. Click around for articles, news, and lots of reviews of current films, as well.
Mr. Cranky Rates The Movies
Mr. Cranky hates everything, and classic movies don't entirely escape his wrath. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll add your 2 cents worth if you dare.
Mutant Reviewers From Hell
If you enjoy candid, off-the-wall reviews of cult films new and old, you'll become a regular at this site. You'll also enjoy the features, web comix, message board, and the selection of MRFH t-shirts and other gear.
Nick's Flick Picks
While most of Nicholas K. Davis' well-written reviews are from the late 1990s, his site does include reviews of classic films, and his list of top 50 films is primarily pre-1980. For those who'd like to know more about 2000 Oscar nominees, he has an interesting section devoted to some of their lesser-known films.
The Reel World
Emily Way's site includes a list of pre-1950s movies she's seen, including a growing number of reviews, plus a nice selection of books about early Hollywood. Not updated in the past few years.
Reelingreviews.com
The online home of Reeling: The Movie Review Show, produced by Robin and Laura Clifford at Malden, Massachusetts' MATV, since March 1991. Though mostly reviews of current films, there is some classic content in their specials.
Reviews & Reflections
Film criticism by movie lovers William P. Coleman and Joan Coleman, much of it dealing with classic films, and ranging from reviews to reflections to blurbs.
Reviews by Steve Rhodes
From the Internet Movie Database, here are over 1900 reviews posted by Steve Rhodes to rec.arts.movies.reviews. Mostly current movies, but there are some classics here.
Salon Magazine "Home Movies" Archives
Past articles by Salon's Charles Taylor (named "Best Overlooked Online Critic" by Roger Ebert), many focusing on classic films like The Mummy and Pat and Mike. These reviews are from 2000. Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to earlier reviews.
Screen Scene Movie Reviews
Orson Cart reviews a little over a dozen classic films, part of the UK Screen Scene movie site which also includes features and a message board.
Senses of Cinema
A group of young movie fans from Australia is responsible for this online film journal devoted to a serious discussion of cinema. Their goal is to make Senses of Cinema "unique in its eclecticism."
Talking Pictures
An interactive British-based site whose goal is to examine film, television, and other aspects of modern culture, based on the magazine founded by Nigel Watson in 1991. You can join for free or not, depending upon whether you'd like to simply read the articles and reviews, or join in the discussion.
Teen Movie Critic
Most of the movies reviewed are from 1980 and after (although it looks like no films have been added recently), but there are some classic reviews as well, and the viewpoints are often quite refreshing.
The Top 500 Sound Films
From Carter B. Horsley, of The City Review, here's an actual list of 500 movies, most of them classics, some of them with links to reviews, including most of the top 20.
That Movie Site
Heather Picker has taken on an ambitious project -- building a database of reviews of classic movies on DVD. So far she has over 3,800 reviews of more than 780 films listed. You can make suggestions, too, if you don't find your favorite reviewers listed.
TV Guide
Search tvguide.com's extensive database of movie listings, which include brief synopses and star filmographies.
Articles by Alan Vanneman
An index to articles by Washington, DC writer Alan Vanneman, many of them of interest to classic film fans, including lots of Fred and Ginger movie reviews.
Video Vixens
Quirky and entertaining movie reviews by Gilda, Gradisca, Dorothy, Carlotta, and Odessa, including both current and classic films. Plus Top 10 lists and "snacks" (links).
