Popcorn October #1: The Very Best Movie Review Sites
Being a movie addict isn’t easy. So much possibilities, choices, trailers, comments and you simply don’t have the time to watch them all. Even gathering all the information and critiques can be very time consuming. That is why movie reviews exist. With their different rankings, review systems and grades, you can simply choose one that suits you best and rely on it to pick your next audio-visual treat. However, there are still a lot of movie review sites and that is why we bring you 9 of the best and most famous among them. So let’s start in no particular order with the first one.
Rotten Tomatoes
One of the most famous movie review sites, Rotten Tomatoes, was created as a spare time project by Senh Duong. It collets online reviews from authors that are certified members of various writing guilds or film critic associations. Each review gets ”fresh” (indicated by the icon of a red tomato) or ”rotten” (indicated bythe icon of a splattered green tomato). It also has a message forum and user reviews that have a rating system that differs somewhat from that of professional critics.
IMDB
IMDB is abbreviation for Internet Movie Database, so the purpose of the site is quite self-explanatory. It is the biggest movie database on the internetin existance, however, as a review site, it does not shine that bright. It has a rating scale that allows users to rate films, and since public opinion fluctuates a lot, so does the movie grade. The same movie can go in the same year from very good to very bad. But still, the rest of the site is very useful.
/Film
First blog in this category is /Film. It covers movie reviews, news interviews and trailers. Although an ”amateur” site, it provides insightful and quality reviews. With emphasis on geeky aspects of the industry, reviews are written by people who know what they are talking about. Blog has earned industry’s respect and is on the radar of most of the major movie studios. This basically means that /FIlm gets the best scoop, including fresh information from advance press screenings and movie sets.
Roger Ebert
Although Rogert Ebert, first movie critic with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, died earlier this year, his legacy did not. The Rogert Ebert site has four decades’ worth of this legend’s own critiques and is sill updated with the reviews of new releases. No, there is still no telephone connection with the afterlife, but current films are reviewed by the staff of writers that were handpicked by Ebert himself. And that is quite something.
Metacritic
Although Metacritic isn’t specialized in movies only, it is more than worth a mention. Similar to Rotten Tomatoes, its rating method is very different, and in my personal opinion, better. Reviews are divided in Green, Yellow and Red, summarizing the critic’s opinion. Each review is converted into a percentage, before taking a weighted average based on the critic’s fame or stature. That gives stable results that site is famous for.
MRQE
Another anagram, pronounced marquee, MRQE stands for Movie Review Query Engine. Unique in a way that it provides graphs of the critics grades, instead of simple ”good” or ”bad” review. Maybe not the pretties lady at the ball, but it can sort reviews by different categories, including the score of the review or the critic’s name, and that feature is quite unique.
Film.com
It would be a to skip the most obvious domain: Film.com. It is more than just a site with reviews and grades- this is a place where you can get a smart, educated and sober review. Films are rated on 10 point scale by writers. However, what makes this site really stand out is its team of writers, who are well informed and well-versed in the art of filmmaking. Each reviewer has a different style, but what they all have in common are their smarts and good grasp of the matter at hand.
Flixster
Although younger than the afore mentioned Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster is now its owner and parent company. And it is owned by Time Warner- so this is like one big happy movie family. Its biggest advantage over other sites is that it has strong social network component. If you want your info on the go, there are Flixster apps for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Facebook, MySpace and more. If there is the place where the Seventh Art chills and socializes, this is it.
Film Comment
Film Comment started out as a print magazine for Film Society of the Lincoln Center in New York City. One of the biggest advantages is that contains a lot of information about indie and art-house films. If youare looking for a professional review andsome insider information this is a place for you. After reading it, you’ll sound like a true movie connoisseur yourself. But don’t fret, Hollywood hits are not excluded.
And there you have it. For each its own, our best movie review sites. Get informed, rent a movie and don’t forget to grab some popcorn before you start watching. Stay tuned for the next Popcorn October installment!
