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Finding reviews for films can be easy or hard, depending on when the film was produced and how widely it was released. A widely released film will have many newspaper reviews, and you can find those in the newspaper databases below. For contemporary reviews before then, you have to use old-fashioned print sources. Fortunately we have a few of those.
That is why the sections below are divided between films produced before and after 1985.
For films produced after about 1985, these newspaper databases are great sources for reviews.
Prominent U.S. papers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. It's also a good place to look for Star Tribune articles, with archives from 1986. Use the advanced search tab to limit to particular titles or dates.
For films produced before 1985, you may need to do things the old-fashioned way — by using print indexes, microfilm, and books of collected reviews.
If you're not sure how to use these resources, don't hesitate to ask a librarian! We can help you find what you're looking for.
You can search the New York Times for reviews back to the beginning of film, but they are behind a paywall. DON'T PAY FOR THE ARTICLES!
We have all of theTimes in microfilm, and reviews published since 1985 are in our databases.