MovieFilter? Where can I find intelligent discussion about movies and t.v.?

October 29, 2011 6:27 AM

Where can I find intelligent writing or discussion about movies and t.v. shows?

When I'm done with a movie or show I enjoy, I want to read smart people writing about it. I'll often go home from the theater and read 3 or 4 reviews of the movie I just saw, but that doesn't quite hit the spot. I want analysis, I want tangents, I want recommendations for new material. Basically, I want MovieFilter.com and TVFilter.com, although personal blogs/sites are welcome too.

posted by callmejay to media & arts (24 answers total)

Television Without Pity is a great site, with intelligent analysis about TV shows. It can sometimes be a bit snarky, but generally, I've found the recappers to be on target and insightful.
posted by cider at 6:38 AM on October 29, 2011 [7 favorites]

Alan Sepinwall's What's Alan Watching column is my hands-down favourite source of writing about television—his episode analyses of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire, BSG, Game of Thrones etc are the most satisfying I've found (I discovered him viaMeFi.)

The AV Club's TV reviews are also usually of a high standard.
posted by hot soup girl at 6:56 AM on October 29, 2011 [13 favorites]

The AV Club
posted by msbubbaclees at 6:56 AM on October 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

For an insider's look, I really enjoy Ken Levine's blog. The comments are often just as smart and insightful as the blog content itself. This post, for instance, goes into a major deconstruction of a physical comedy scene out of Frasier.
posted by litnerd at 7:08 AM on October 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

I think The AV Club is kind of hit-or-miss based on which writer does the articles. For instance, the Breaking Bad analysis is really solid; the ones for Community sometimes sound like a guy writing his first paper for his first film analysis class in college. Their reality show reviews tend to be pretty decent, if you're into that, and sometimes hilarious. (If you watched Project Runway, you'll enjoy this one. I laughed the whole way through it. The poor owl!)
posted by phunniemee at 7:22 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

I sometimes like Tim Goodman's The Bastard Machine column. I also sometimes like Grantland's pop-culture writing better than their sportswriting.

And there's the MetaCooler.
posted by box at 7:27 AM on October 29, 2011

I like the Filmspotting podcasts
posted by Right On Red at 7:31 AM on October 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Look up a specific episode on Wikipedia. (You can do this either by Googling the title of the episode, or by going to the Wikipedia page for a whole season and following the links.) Wikipedia will describe the reviews and link to them.
posted by John Cohen at 8:04 AM on October 29, 2011

Jonathan Rosenbaum is extraordinary knowledgeable and his smarts about film art reach the level of wisdom sometimes.

Bright Lights Film Journal does what it says on the tin (i.e. erudite academic style journal on all matters filmic).

Sight and Sound is your typical "film magazine", in that they tend to cover stuff that rarely makes it out of the festival circuit, but they do it exceptionally well.

Slant are a pretty smart bunch of critics, and they like to watch everything under the sun too.
posted by Iosephus at 9:43 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Seconding Television Without Pity. They've got good forums, too. They moderate them pretty strictly to keep discussions on topic and to stop people from bickering, and they frown upon poor typing styles and people posting stuff like "That was great LOL" without adding anything of substance to a thread. I like it.
posted by wondermouse at 9:49 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Have you looked at the flagship wittertainment of Kermode and Mayo ?
Also have a look through You Tube for some previous Kermode reviews.
posted by Webbster at 10:06 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

Seconding Ken Levine and Alan Sepinwall.

Also: John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey. He's the show runner for Leverage, so there's abundant previews and production details about that show, but he has a vast archive on other topics as well. Plus, he's got a great blogroll. Plus plus, he gave us the Crazification Factor.

For a British perspective, there's the lovely Charlie Brooker. His current Guardian column is on a variety of topics, but they've kept his old Screen Burn archives available here.
posted by maudlin at 10:32 AM on October 29, 2011

In addition, Blogcritics.
posted by yclipse at 1:12 PM on October 29, 2011

Four of my favorite blogs (movies mostly, occasionally TV, great thoughts on other topics too):

• Some Came Running, blog of former Premiere mag film critic Glenn Kenny
• The Sheila Variations, deeply personal and erudite essays on all things cultural
• Self Styled Siren, for a mordant look at Old Hollywood and beyond. Her comments section is fantastic: it's some of the best online conversation I've ever found.
• Ferdy on Films: detailed looks at your favorite films (all eras) that you think no one else has ever heard of

When Mad Men is running, Wall Street Journal has a blogger who comments in depth the day after the newest episode. Worth a look.
posted by Currer Belfry at 1:57 PM on October 29, 2011 [2 favorites]

Entertainment Weekly is quite good.
posted by spbmp at 7:53 PM on October 29, 2011

I really like Pajiba.
posted by Ziggy500 at 8:50 AM on October 30, 2011

Todd Alcott isn't updating that much anymore ( he's making his own movie) but a trip through his archives is a very detailed and structured analysis of movie and tv scripts.
posted by The Whelk at 9:36 AM on October 30, 2011

I've been listening to Filmspotting recently, and have really been enjoying it.
posted by jpdoane at 1:47 PM on October 30, 2011

Cultural Learnings. From the about page:

Cultural Learnings, started in January 2007 by Myles McNutt, is a television blog with a focus on critical reviews and analysis of a wide range of television series. The goal is not to recap the events of the latest episode, but rather to place it within the context of the series, the season, its genre, and on occasion broad literary and cultural philosophies. While a fairly academic and analytical approach is generally employed, the subjects themselves are extremely diverse: from network to cable, Glee to Mad Men, science fiction to comedy, everything is both subject to criticism and, more importantly, open to interpretation.

posted by perpetual lurker at 2:28 PM on October 30, 2011

Seconding Slant, especially The House Next Door. If you really really want to dive deep, take a look at their Conversations series, e.g. the recent one on Barry Lyndon. Breathtaking.

Matt Zoller Seitz is the force behind the aforementioned THND, but nowawdays he's Salon's TV critic. Unmissable.

Jim Emerson's Scanners is great.

The Mubi Notebook has a good, wide-ranging selection of both subjects and writers.

Kim Morgan's Sunset Gun is superb if your interests overlap with hers.

If you're watching movies from the Criterion Collection, do try The Criterion Contraception.

And last but not least you simply must read Observations on Film Art. It is hands down the best single online film publication. Erudite, understandable, filled with explanatory screenshots.
posted by dst at 4:09 PM on October 30, 2011

Alan Sepinwall and A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago.
posted by kostia at 1:52 PM on October 31, 2011

I also love TWoP and post quite a bit. The Mad Men discussions are fabulous.
posted by jgirl at 6:40 PM on October 31, 2011

I'm really enjoying Splitsider, which is a sister site to The Awl, The Hairpin, and now The Wirecutter. Splitsider is really good at ridiculously comprehensive digs through the archives, like this.
posted by Sfving at 2:51 PM on November 2, 2011

Tom and Lorenzo is primarily a fashion blog, but they do some cool recaps and analyses of a bunch of tv shows as well. (Look under the "Reality TV" and "Television" tabs).
posted by sparrow89 at 12:47 PM on November 4, 2011