THE INTERACTIVE FILM MAGAZINE
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Some forms of movie info are easy find online. Want to know how many films John Wayne made with “Gabby” Hayes? Desperate to discover the name of the 2nd AD on Armageddon? Then IMDb is always going (cautiously) to be your first port of call.
But what if you're looking for something a little bit more in-depth? Or something that looks at the bigger picture (no pun intended) of movie history? Where do you go then?
A good starting point is Filmsite. Going for more than a decade now, this eclectic collection of timelines, lists, and histories is a goldmine of information.
Its section running through the history of popular cinema decade by decade alone would make it worth including here, but it's also got separate pieces on the history of specific genres, milestones in the history of film and a special section on the history of the Oscars. It's a must-bookmark site.
Also pretty useful is the Turner Classic Moviessite. Get past the marketing-heavy opening page and enter the name of an old movi e in their database search. It'll throw up an IMDB-lite list of cast members and crew, but most movies also
By Ceri Thomas
Tech/talk
come with articles about the film's influences or making of stories.
Collating together opinions from dozens upon dozens of reviews of any given movie, Rotten Tomatoes offers up an essential snapshot of critical opinion on just how a film is viewed now.
However, to see how well a film was thought of when it was actually released, it's always worth turning to the sites of venerable old rags like Variety and the New York Times. Both publications archive film reviews stretching as far back as the 1930s online.
Also worth a squint at when writing about any vintage movie is The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations. Run in association with the invaluable book of the same name by Tony Reeves, it's an unrivalled resource for finding out about the places films were actually shot.
Marry that to Google's Street Search and you can research or e-visit old movie locations without ever leaving the comfort of your desk chair.
Weblinks
Filmsite
Sites for sore eyes
