filmtotaal.nl
When you want to read a movie review, you should go to Film Totaal. This website is one of the best movie review sites in the Netherlands and it has an exquisite user experience, tons of information, interesting top lists to peruse, well-written movie reviews, and an online community of fellow Dutch movie lovers.
I would like to introduce you to Film Totaal, a site that is widely regarded as one of the best resources for movie news, reviews, and information. This site has been providing quality content to its users for hundreds of thousands of years, and I believe that it can be very helpful in finding information about movies. I would encourage you to take the time to explore everything this site has to offer, as there is a great deal of information waiting for you.
Design
Overall, Film Totaal's website has an aesthetic that could best be characterized as bold. From the font choices to the layout to the color scheme, there may be no better word for this site. Whether it is the all-caps "Impact" font inspired type of the logo and site menu bar; the white, gray, black, and red theme of the site as a whole; or the neat and meticulously ordered and condensed layout in which content is presented, Film Totaal's website design is somewhat stern and mechanical but not at all uninviting. It's somewhat reminiscent, actually, of old war propaganda posters.
Personally, I like this no-nonsense, economical approach to movie review site design. It is something that you don't see all too often these days, let alone when it comes to movie review sites. I have found that movie review and ratings site suffer from one of two common problems: 1.) they try too hard to be playful (a la Rotten Tomatoes), which, when poorly executed can take away from the authority or credibility that a movie review site requires; or 2.) they try to jampack way too much content onto every page. Sites that fall into the latter camp are far more common than the former, and it seems as if it can be rather difficult to find a way to neatly organize and present a lot of information in a cohesive and well-paced fashion.
Film Totlaal offers a great deal of features, a ton of information, and many different types of content. I do not feel lost or confused as I browse this movie review and rating site. In fact, from the second that I landed on the site's homepage, figuring out how to browse everything it had to offer was almost like second nature. Now, that is how you know you have an intuitive site on your hands.
The homepage has three horizontal bars. The top one (red) has the site's logo in the center and a hamburger menu - this will be your north star while browsing the rest of the site. The middle is the official site menu bar, and it's black. Here, you can jump to any section of the site with ease - choose between news, movies on TV, reviews, cinema agenda, releases, trailers, top lists, DVD/Blu Ray, or forum. The 3rd horizontal bar is gray and empty; it serves as a clever way to visually separate the menus from the content of the homepage.
Finally, the bottom section is a blog written by the site's editor.
The website progresses logically from top to bottom. Scrolling down, you will encounter two news sections- one for movie news and the other for celebrities. There is also a third news section which changes its layout a bit to keep the website from becoming too static. This presents a background color change from white to gray and prominently features the site's most popular news story with a few other most-read articles listed beside it. Finally, the bottom section is a blog written by the site's editor.
Keep scrolling down and find that the next section of the homepage introduces a black background. This is where you can peruse featured videos (movie trailers, interviews, etc.). Below that, you'll find a ?movies on TV? portion of the site, followed by a section of reviews and then of top lists, in line with the alternating color pattern of the rest of the site. Film Totale?s site design is easily in the running for the best movie review site design that I have ever seen. I greatly appreciate how logical, organized, and concise it is. The fact that each section of the homepage is a 1:1 preview into each section in the site menu bar is the kind of thing that makes the OCD side of my personality very happy.
And did I mention that as you browse the site, you are followed by a giant "+" button in the bottom right-hand corner? Simply click this to immediately review the movie you are looking at, add it to your watchlist, or rate it. God, I love the way this site is designed - but I'll stop Stanning now, I promise.
Content and Features
Film Totlaal is not just a movie review site. It is also a site with many different elements. On one level, it is a site where professional movie reviewers provide insightful, thoughtful, and fair reviews. However, the official Film Totlaal rating of the movie is decided by its readers.
Therefore, Film Totaal is widely considered to be one of the best movie review and rating sites in the Netherlands. It is also highly interactive, so users have a lot of control over how they use the site. If they just want to read movie reviews and news, Film Totaal can be that type of site for them. But if they are looking for a place to discuss their favorite movies with other fans, Film Totaal is definitely it. Every film can be commented on and there is a great forum where users can talk about their favorite movies with each other.
My only real complaint with Film Totals is that it outsources some of its workload to IMDb. Whereas other movie review sites go through the trouble of providing in-depth and informative actor and filmmaker profiles, adding to a rich database of movies and actors, Film Totals is somewhat lacking in this department. Viewing an actor?s profile, for example, will only reveal a list of the other movies that they are in (at least the ones that are already on Film Totals). Instead of providing anything more, the site simply links you to that actor?s IMDb page instead. This is an uncharacteristically lazy move from a movie review site that is otherwise so fastidious.
The website features an extensive news section, interesting top lists, movie release schedule, TV guide of when movies are to air on cable or public television, and even a way to access movie times in theaters all across the Netherlands.
Mobile and Desktop Experience
There is not a Film Totaal mobile app, but that's okay. The movie review site is very mobile-friendly, offering an excellently optimized site, ready for any device. Be prepared to be subjected to a few ads, as is to be expected. Overall, though, the mobile experience of Film Totaal is nearly as good as the desktop one.
Conclusion
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Film Totlaal has no mobile app, but its actor and filmmaker profile pages could use improvement. Even so, it is one of the best movie review websites today, with high-quality reviews and an active, friendly online community. If you value quality film reviews and a lively online community, Film Totlaal is the site for you.