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moviezine.se
Movie Zine is a review site, rating site, actor database, and entertainment news site that provides everything that I need when looking for the best movie review sites on the web.
This online magazine, Movie Zine, has come a long way since 2003. In 2014, it had half a million unique monthly visitors and is known for its high-quality movie reviews. In 2012, Movie Zine began publishing free paper magazines to complement the website. Each magazine features new articles every three months.
Film Zine is not easily put into a box. It is many things all at once. Offering user ratings and reviews alongside professional, official ones, this is a movie review site for the most causal moviegoer and the pickiest film student alike. Whether you want to read reviews, rate movies yourself, or follow your favorite films, filmmakers, and actors, this Swedish site has the potential to be your new go-to resource for film criticism, community, and news.
There is so much to cover regarding this vast movie review website, though. I don't want to waste any of your time. So, let's get right to it, shall we? Let's see whether Movie Zine has what it takes to be the best movie review website for you!
Design
I am impressed with the sleek, intuitive design of MovieZine. This site has just about everything I want to see from one of the best movie review sites on the web. It functions well as a movie and actor database, archive of reviews and actors, and entertainment news site all in one. It is very easy to screw up the design on such a multifaceted site - trust me, I have seen more than my fair share of movie review sites that are overly cluttered, chaotic, and just downright messes - but MovieZine?s interface and layout is about as close to perfection as you can get.
I think it's worth mentioning that Movie Zine looks great. In addition to talking about the site's design and user experience in more depth, I want to point out how beautiful and professionally appealing this site is. The site's white background, smart use of negative space, and black and teal theme give it a sense of distinct branding and a professional appearance.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, can we talk about the more practical aspects of Movie Zine's site design? The best place to begin is, of course, the site menu bar located at the top of every page. This makes for an extremely convenient and handy way to quickly browse the whole of the site, as well as offering a dynamic experiential element.
The site even offers a search bar located in the top right corner of the menu bar.
As you scroll down the page, the entire site menu bar smoothly pivots slightly to the right, replacing the banner that sits above it when you are at the top of the page. The Movie Zine logo, too, seamlessly moves from this banner to the menu bar. Again, this may seem like a minute detail, but when it comes to great site design, I believe that it is often the small things that make a difference. Instantly jump around this vast site by clicking on news, reviews, calendar, "the biotope," trailers, streaming tips, shop, and more. The site even offers a search bar located in the top right corner of the menu bar.
The homepage of Movie Zine is composed of squares and boxes containing content that is meticulously organized and clearly labeled. The way in which this array of thumbnails, lists, captions, and links is staggered provides a wonderful sense of pacing and intrigue to the site that many movie reviews sites, in my opinion, tend to lack. Movie Zine does a great job of offering up a lot of content in a way that doesn't feel cluttered or as if anything is competing too much for your attention.
The movie info pages themselves are also well done. Atop these pages, you will find a banner that doubles as a link to the film's trailer. This is a clever idea, but, if I can be just a little bit picky for a moment, I do think this is a missed opportunity. When I first noted the ?play? button in the middle of the banner, I assumed that the banner would simply start playing the trailer; or, at the very least, that it would provide a popup media player. Instead, though, you are brought to a separate page specifically for the trailer. Again, this isn't a huge deal, but, with so little to complain about on this movie review site, I had to find something, right?
Overall, the website's layout, labeling, and navigation are all well done. There is a cast list, an image gallery, movie news, official Movie Zine review, user reviews, ratings and the IMDb score for the film. From homepage to backend, the site is well designed and integrated.
Content and Features
As a movie fan, you'll lover the features of Movie Zine. It has everything you need, like ratings and reviews, to help you make informed decisions about what to watch. You can also follow your favorite movies and actors, ?like? them, and join in discussions with other fans. So if you've been using one of the so-called best movie review and ratings sites like Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb up until now, it's time to switch to Movie Zine for the best movie reviews around.
What I mean by this is that Movie Zine, like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, offers two types of movie ratings: a professional (official) Movie Zine score, as well as a user rating. This is useful, in my opinion, because it provides two essential perspectives on every movie- what the ?professional? movie critics have to say versus what casual moviegoers and enthusiasts think of it. I like how this democratizes and decentralizes movie criticism- yet another reason Movie Zine is quickly becoming one of the best movie review sites in my mind.
As I have already mentioned, Movie Zine also includes some light social media features, such as "liking" and following actors, movies, and so on. However, the Movie Zine community is not quite as active or widespread as other similar movie review websites out there. However, it is not a ghost town either. There are perks to a smaller community, of course. On Movie Zine, discussions are not overblown or overcrowded. Everybody has a voice to be heard.
For entertainment news, streaming services feature certain movies thanks to the ?streaming tips? section of Movie Zine. For figuring out what streaming services feature certain movies, and for partaking in convos with likeminded movie lovers, Movie Zine has a forum. There is even a shop where you can buy movie related clothing and memorabilia.
The only thing I don't like about the Movie Zine reviews is that they are not very in-depth.
Although this may be a strength to some (I understand that not everybody is as longwinded as I am, nor does everybody want to read huge, sprawling movie reviews to get an idea as to whether a film is right for them), I prefer my movie reviews to skew more literary, more interrogative, more substantive. I also think that this movie review site could benefit by expanding their staff of writers (and yes, I am available). There are only a handful of voices critiquing all of the movies.
Mobile and Desktop Experience
Overall, the mobile site is just as user-friendly and well designed as the website.
Movie Zine does not offer a mobile app, though its mobile site is perfectly optimized and retrofitted for smaller screens. The mobile site experience is just as enjoyable to use on your mobile device as it is on your desktop or laptop computer. There will be a few ads here and there, but this is to be expected. Overall, the mobile site is just as user-friendly and well designed as the website.
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