Film Studies Research Guide (Loudoun)

Motion picture critic Lisa Schwarzbaum reflects on her career writing reviews for "Entertainment Weekly" upon her retirement in February 2013, discussing topics including the reader responses she has gotten to her film reviews, her future projects, and why she enjoys reviewing films.

Schwarzbaum, Lisa. “For the Love Of Movies.” Entertainment Weekly, no. 1247, Feb. 2013, p. 56. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e5c8b73e-96e5-3148-999e-c4a76abfca25.

The article discusses the influence that film critics have over a film's success after actors Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer complained that critics caused the failure of their movie "The Lone Ranger" in 2013. Topics include the author's belief that critics have very little influence over the success or failure of a blockbuster film like "The Lone Ranger" or the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, changing attitudes towards film writers in journalism, and why actors dislike critics.

Gilbey, Ryan. “In Defence of Critics.” New Statesman, vol. 142, no. 5169, Aug. 2013, p. 18. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e9daa97b-8c96-388c-9f7d-515e18a85e0a.

This article offers tips and advice to authors in the writing of film reviews. The author reflects on expressing personal opinion and the desire and practice necessary to film criticism. Topics discussed include providing context without being pedantic, learning film history, and the development of a literary voice.

Abbe, Elfrieda. "6 key steps to writing film reviews." The Writer, vol. 123, no. 11, Nov. 2010, p. 13. Gale OneFile: Fine Arts, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A237941906/PPFA?u=viva2_nvcc&sid=bookmark-PPFA&xid=c8215c41.

Do experts and novices evaluate creativity the same way? This question is particularly relevant to the study of critical and public response to movies. How do public opinions differ from movie critic opinions? This study assessed college student (i.e., novice) ratings on movies released from 2001 to 2005 and compared them to expert opinions and those of self-declared novices on major movie rating Web sites. Results suggest that the student ratings overlapped considerably—but not overwhelmingly—with the self-described novices, student ratings correlated at a lower magnitude with critic ratings, and the ratings of students who saw the most movies correlated more highly with both critics and self-described novices than those of students who saw the least movies. The results suggest a continuum of creative evaluation in which the distinctions between categories such as “novice,” “amateur,” and “expert” are blurry and often overlap—yet the categories of expertise are not without importance.

Plucker, Jonathan A., et al. “Do Experts and Novices Evaluate Movies the Same Way?” Psychology & Marketing, vol. 26, no. 5, May 2009, pp. 470–78. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=18e49dae-1f7d-378c-a0bb-3076d0b80174.

The article discusses the declining influence of film critics. The author notes that increased Internet blogging and decreased advertising revenue has led to the dismissal of film critics at U.S. newspapers. He comments on the use of satire in motion picture reviews and suggests critics should emphasize a wider consideration of motion picture culture in their criticism.

James, Nick. “Who Needs Critics?” Sight & Sound, vol. 18, no. 10, Oct. 2008, pp. 16–18. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=6c00a5c8-8c59-30cd-a59d-9805c117bde9.