WORLD'S BEST FILM MAGAZINES? (1 Viewer)

Decent magazines about cinema and dvd are hard to find. My favourite magazines about cinema are the following:


SIGHT AND SOUND (U.K.) Truly the most brilliant magazine about cinema that has dozens of the most comprehensive reviews of new films ,brilliant articles and all things cinema related. It was formerly called the MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN and has been in existence for 80 years. ( more than 40,000 pages in their archives - all available on- line if you subscribe.) It is produced monthly by the BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE and is possibly the longest running film magazine in the world (trade magazines excepted). It is a highly intelligent magazine that covers world cinema. It has been compulsive reading for me for over half a century.

My other favourite magazines about cinema are: FILM INK (Australia); TOTAL FILM (U.K.); CLASSIC IMAGES (U.S.A. and FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE (U.S.A)

I would be interested to hear what other readers regard as great film magazines.

As an editorial board member I am not impartial, but Cineaste (est. 1967) is outstanding. Visit us at Cineaste.com.

Video Watchdog. They focus primarily on genre titles but they're one of the few serious film criticism magazines around and they've turned me on to many movies over the years.

I'd say Variety, especially the pre-IMDB years.It helped me find the filming dates for so many films, from the obscure, to the not-so-obscure.

CINEMA RETRO is one of the best film magazines covering the 60's and 70's. I also enjoy VIDEO WATCHDOG. Both magazines have web sites where you can find information to subscribe.

ahollis said:

CINEMA RETRO is one of the best film magazines covering the 60's and 70's.I also enjoy VIDEO WATCHDOG.Both magazines have web sites where you can find information to subscribe.

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CINEMA RETRO is fairly good, but very limited magazine They have yet to learn that the sixties decade starts from 1961 - not 1960.They reviewed PSYCHO and other films which were from 1960 (which was the last year of the fifties decade.) How dumb is that? It would be great if there was a magazine devoted to the fifties which was the decade that re-introduced wide screen cinema after a twenty year absence. Cinema Retro does not cover world cinema which makes it unworthy for film buffs. Cineaste is a magazine I have not seen for a decade or more. It does have an excellent reputation. VARIETY is a trade paper,which is indeed excellent but it is not the sort of paper that suits film buffs who are interested in international cinema.Personally,nothing compares to SIGHT AND SOUND.

cinerama10 said:

Decent magazines about cinema and dvd are hard to find. My favourite magazines about cinema are the following:


SIGHT AND SOUND (U.K.) It was formerly called the MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN and has been in existence for 80 years.

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Sight and Sound was founded in 1933 as a stand-alone magazine published quarterly. Monthly Film Bulletin was a separate magazine which only carried reviews and was published monthly. Then the BFI had a re-think and merged the two titles in the late 80s or early 90s, I can't quite remember. The loss was a completely comprehensive account of every film released in the UK - not sure what the gain was, apart from a financial saving.

I think the heyday of S&S was back in the 1950s and the 1960s. I think all magazines have golden periods - Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s when Godard, Truffaut et al were writing for it and discovering the American cinema. And Film Comment in the 1970s, under the stewardship of Richard Corliss, which really connected with the 'New Hollywood' yet also had a strong connection to international movie history. I think Film Comment's 'Film Noir' issue was the best movie single issue of a magazine ever published. And for a while, Premiere was pretty good, taking commercial cinema seriously and with a refreshing and glitzy layout.

I haven't bothered with any Film Magazines for years.

To me there was only ever ONE Film Magazine. I learnt just so much from it.
It was great enjoyable reading, I've kept every copy I have ( almost the complete set ) and I still read them over and over.

The Magazine? FILMS IN REVIEW of course. It taught me almost everything I needed to know about the Films and the associated Personnel.


R.I.P.

Doug Bull said:

I haven't bothered with any Film Magazines for years.

To me there was only ever ONE Film Magazine. I learnt just so much from it.
It was great enjoyable reading, I've kept every copy I have ( almost the complete set ) and I still read them over and over.

The Magazine? FILMS IN REVIEW of course. It taught me almost everything I needed to know about the Films and the associated Personnel.

FIR.jpg
R.I.P.

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I still have many issues of FILMS IN REVIEW. I remember particularly article on Vera-Ellen that I truly enjoyed. I miss this magazine too.

I always felt that one of the best magazines was the genre-oriented CINEFANTASTIQUE. Don't know if it's still being published but during the 70s and 80s, I never missed an issue.

I don't buy any now, but back in the sixties it was Films & Filming, I loved that mag. A few years ago I bought most of the sixties & a few seventies, full years nicely bound (& quite cheap in a secondhand bookshop), & I re-read them quite often.

I would love to get some of these magazines for the decades that interest me a lot which are the 50ies and 60ies.Are any of these available in electronic form for these decades?While it is a more technically oriented home theater magazine I always loved how as a reader of Widescreen Review one had the option to browse through almost all of their back issues in PDF-form, all the way back to their first year.

Empire.

For a genre magazine, nothing beats Filmfax, IMHO.

Hollywood! all films of the 30's,40's, and 1950's only. Great photos !!!.

Since the 1920s-1950s is my era, CLASSIC IMAGES and its sister publication, FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE are the two magazines that I subscribe to and wouldn't do without.

I used to get Fangoria, for around 17 years, very good articles and interviews, i stopped getting it as the local newsagent kept hanging it on something ( clips ? ) and damaging it, despite asking them not to do this it always happened, oh and an awful large sticker across the price section proclaiming it was from a UK distributor, i just use the internet now for my information.

Empire is always fun. They've good connections to Hollywood system and they can also write. They also write about "smaller" movies every now and then.They could move some of the reviews to the net, though. Too much space is wasted on reviews and I hardly ever read them.

E-Bay is usually a good source to purchase older film magazines as long as you avoid those with un-realistic prices.
I've bought dozens of old copies of "Films in Review" there in the past.

Leonard Maltin's "Film Fan Monthly" is another highly enjoyable magazine that is full of golden age information.


As a teenager growing up in the fifties I couldn't exist without my regular supply of the British Magazines "Picture Show" and "Picturegoer"


Every Friday night in the foyer of the local Cinema I would purchase the local 20th Century Fox dominated magazine "Screen News"

I couldn't resist adding the back page, just to make several HTF members (including myself) cry over the word "Anamorphic"

Doug.

Billy Batson said:

I don't buy any now, but back in the sixties it was Films & Filming, I loved that mag. A few years ago I bought most of the sixties & a few seventies, full years nicely bound (& quite cheap in a secondhand bookshop), & I re-read them quite often.

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I also never missed a copy of this great magazine.It was a sad day when they ceased publication. It was indeed the best of all the film magazines that were published at the time.A very intelligent magazine from the U.K.