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moviezine.se
Movie Zine is a website that contains movie reviews, rating sites, and actor databases. It also provides entertainment news.
Since its 2003 launch, this movie review site has seen tremendous growth. In 2014, it had half a million unique monthly visitors. And in 2012, Movie Zine began publishing free paper magazine to complement the site. New issues are released every three months.
So, as you can see, Movie Zine is a website that offers user ratings and reviews alongside professional, official ones. It's perfect for the most casual 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 site, and I don't want to waste your time. So, let's get straight to it, shall we? Let's see whether Movie Zine has what it takes to be the best movie review site for you!
Design
I really like Movie Zine's sleek, intuitive, well-organized design. This site has practically everything I want 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's very easy to screw up the design on such a multifaceted site - trust me, I've seen way more than my fair share of movie review sites that are cluttered, chaotic, and just downright messy - but Movie Zine's interface and layout is about as perfect as you can get.
I know it isn't the most technical thing in the world, but I feel it warrants mentioning: Movie Zine just plain looks good. Even on the outset of discussing Movie Zine's site design and user experience in more depth, I can't stress enough how sharp and, on a very basic level, how aesthetically pleasing this site is. It may not seem like a site's superficial appearance affects user experience as directly as, say, layout or functionality, but it does make a huge difference. The site's white background, smart use of negative space, and black and teal theme give it both a sense of distinct branding and a professional, attractive appearance.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the more practical elements of Movie Zine's website design that make it one of the best movie review websites on the web. The best place to begin, perhaps, would be the site menu bar located, of course, at the very top of every page. Not only does this make for an extremely convenient and handy way to quickly browse the whole of the site, but this, too, offers a dynamic experiential element.
As you scroll down the page, the site menu bar smoothly pivots 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, in my opinion, it's often the little things that make a world of difference. Instantly jump around this vast site by clicking on news, reviews, calendar, "the biotope," trailers, streaming tips, shop and more.
The homepage of Movie Zine is made up of squares and boxes with content meticulously organized and clearly labeled. The staggered layout provides a wonderful sense of pacing and intrigue, which I think many movie reviews sites 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 information pages themselves are also well done. Atop these pages is a banner that also functions 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?
The rest of the movie pages present the trademark Movie Zine layout I was talking about - great pacing, clear labels, and easy to navigate. Browse the cast list, image gallery, movie news, official Movie Zine review, user reviews, ratings, and even the IMDb score for the film. This site is excellently designed and integrated. Okay, I'll stop gushing now, I promise.
Content and Features
Movie Zine is a comprehensive movie review and ratings site that offers all the features you would expect from the best site. Users can rate movies, follow movies, follow actors, ?like? actors, review movies, and partake in discussions (both on movies and cast/crewmembers alike). If you have been using one of the so-called best movie review and ratings sites like Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb up until now, it is time to seriously reconsider Movie Zine. It is like a combination of the best parts of both top movie ratings sites, and then some.
I believe that Movie Zine is, like IMDb, an enormous movie and actor database. However, I think it's also helpful to have both a professional score (from the ?official? movie critics) and a user rating (from casual moviegoers and enthusiasts). This way, we can get a more complete picture of how people feel about every movie. I like how this democratizes and decentralizes movie criticism - which is another reason Movie Zine is quickly becoming one of my favorite review sites.
As I have already mentioned, Movie Zine also offers some light social media features, such as "liking" and following actors, movies, etc. However, the Movie Zine community is not quite as active or widespread as other similar movie review sites 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.
The Movie Zine is a great resource for entertainment news, figuring out what streaming services feature certain movies, and partaking in convos with likeminded movie lovers. There is even a shop where you can buy movie related clothing and memorabilia.
Additionally, I am not fond of the way that they structure their reviews.
I have one main complaint about the official Movie Zine reviews - they are not as in-depth as they could be. Additionally, I don't like how they structure their reviews.
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, for lack of a better word. I also think that Movie Zine 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 a great experience.
Unfortunately, Movie Zine does not offer a mobile app. It is fairly rare for even the best movie review website to offer a mobile app. That being said, the mobile site experience is perfectly optimized and retrofitted for smaller screens. Movie Zine 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 a great experience.
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