Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Harmonia (A) on November 14, 2008 at 13:28:54

In Reply to: RE: New releases - what do you guys use as a guide? posted by KKC on November 13, 2008 at 14:04:22

...salon.com. That's where I usually head first.

Just click on movies. Some of the best writing around on film.

They cover the latest popular stuff, foreign and indies, as well as the festival circuit, where you get early buzz on the most interesting non-multi-plex fare. Stephanie Zakarek and Andrew O'Hehir between them cover it all.

Sight And Sound, the website of the famous British film mag is also an excellent source of info on film past and present.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/

I also like to read reviews from The New Yorker and LA Times, all available on line through their websites, or you can usually grab them on rottentomatoes.com or metacritic.com. I avoid a lot of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes - a lot of their reviews are just junk as almost any schlub with a website can get listed there as a "critic". Metacritic weights reviews and is a better place to grab a quick overview of something you're interested in seeing.

Maryann Johansen - aka The Flick Filosopher - is usually a good and entertaining read on mainstream and indy fare, especially on all things geek (sci-fi and genre movies). www.flickfilospher.com

Roger Ebert is a good writer, and although he's often much too kind to current releases, he has a very good website with an excellent section on past classics and neglected films.

If you are at all interested in film history, and want to check out the greats of the past, Jim Clark has a good list on his website with great films and favored films in 30 genres:

http://jclarkmedia.com/film/bestfilms.html

I find my local major newspaper and rags like Entertainment Weekly mostly useless. I hate reviews that give films a letter grade.

Edits: 11/14/08