Leonard Maltin

The best of the best, the man who has been doing it for years. While he may not have his annual movie guide book any longer (that he had going for forty-five years), Leonard Maltin is still the go-to guy for great, insightful movie reviews. His reviews are still posted online at LeonardMaltin.com, and he also has his own podcast called Maltin on Movies where he discusses films with his daughter Jessie. Maltin’s reviews are always informative, entertaining, and told in earnest. The reviews aren’t too long that your mind starts to wander, but they aren’t too short to make you want more, either. They are straight to the point and hit the nail right on the head in complete honest, emotional reactions. Maltin’s especially thorough knowledge of Disney lore and history adds a bonus for those Disney movie fans out there.

Schmoes Know (Mark Ellis and Kristian Harloff)

Known as the “Schmoes,” Mark Ellis and Kristian Harloff are the perfect movie reviewing team. As a stand-up comic, Mark Ellis provides a lot of clever humor and jokes and reviews the film in a playful manner, although he is still able to be serious. Harloff is more the straight man, although he certainly can offer up some good belly laughs too. What’s great about this duo is just that: it’s a “duo.” You have two opinions right on the spot, sometimes, in agreement, sometimes not, but they each give their take and their spiel and listen carefully to digest what the other person has to say. Their personalities balance each other out: they can strongly disagree with each other, but they can kid each other about it and offer the YouTube viewer a unique experience. You’ll always have a good time watching one of their reviews, whether they do them traditionally as a pair or just have one of them on at a time. Both Harloff and Ellis know their stuff and know the business, having done these reviews for many years, and both speak very well publicly and professionally in every video. Their scoring system has varied over the years, most recently being the 0% to 100% Rotten Tomatoes scale, but now it’s back to where they started, a score out of five “schmoes” (stars). Check ’em out.

Alicia Malone

It is impossible to not like Australian red-head Alicia Malone. She is so full of energy and passion when she talks about movies, and always has a cheery disposition. A leading advocate for women in film (having delivered a TED talk on the subject amongst many other things), Alicia Malone is a Fandango correspondent, a Screen Junkies correspondent, film reporter, and host of the recent Film Struck program (also amongst many other jobs). Malone does not do many movie reviews now, but she does here and there offer in-depth movie discussions on latest films and classic films of the past, as well as on obscure noir and foreign films that you have not heard of but definitely need to check out. She also posts amazing vlogs of daily work routines and when she travels to various film festivals like Telluride, Atlanta, and Sundance, so we can get a sneak peak of the fun kind of work she does every day here and abroad. Never has a critic since Leonard Maltin offered such a likeable personality with candid insight and passion in regards to film critiquing and film discussion, and the added emphasis on the importance of women in the movies. And of course, she has an adorable sign off on her videos with a quick and simple, wave of the hand saying, “bye.” I implore all women, all filmmakers, all movie fans, and basically every one else to check out her YouTube channel and her website. You will not be disappointed.

Alicia will be having her first book released next month on August 15, 2017, entitled, “Backwards and in Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film.”

Chris Stuckmann

Chris Stuckmann is one of the biggest YouTube movie reviewers out there today, and for good reason. He has been doing reviews for about eight years now, and they never disappoint. Stuckmann gives truly honest, from the heart reviews of movies. He knows what goes into making a film and offers a more sophisticated approach to a movie than simply, “it was good” or “it was bad,” and sometimes will even record a professional-looking short film that relates to the film being reviewed. He has a very friendly, outgoing personality, which you expect from someone on YouTube, but Stuckmann really makes it feel individualistic for every person who watches his videos, sprinkling his own unique brand of humor throughout each review. He seems very down to earth, and easy to have a conversation with. Something else that is nice about Stuckmann and stands out from others is the fact that he reviews older movies from time to time. Many YouTubers just have time for the recent flicks that come out every week, and while Chris Stuckmann does cover those, he does take the opportunity to review movies that he has not yet reviewed on his channel, expanding an impressive movie review library. He uses the letter grading system for scoring movies (A+ to F). Go check him out if you haven’t and “get Stuckmannized.”

Chris has a book out now called, “The Film Buff’s Bucket List: The 50 Movies of the 2000s You Need to See Before You Die (Bucket List 101).”

The Flick Pick

Friends with Chris Stuckmann, “The Flick Pick” is the nickname of Mr. John Flickinger. This is a cool guy. While Flickinger definitely knows his movies, he does not pretend to be someone he isn’t. I probably get the biggest laughs from this critic, because Flickinger is a very laid back, informal kind of guy, and he is just like us and loves movies. His unmistakable, strong yet bubbly voice just makes you smile when you hear it, his persona coming off like an older brother for the viewer. He always has a joke, and he can always make you laugh, and every review is from the gut. He makes his reviews very personal too, so while you can appreciate his opinion, he lets you know they are “his thoughts,” and you can walk away knowing that you might have a different opinion, but Flickinger won’t denegrade you for it. Like Chris Stuckmann, The Flick Pick uses the letter grading system for scoring his movies (A+ to F).

Jeremy Jahns

Jeremy Jahns is the man. Like Chris Stuckmann, he is probably one of the most popular movie critics online today. He was the first YouTube movie critic I ever watched, and I still get a kick out of him to this day. Jahns is the guy to go to if you want a real quick answer to “should I see it or not?” His rapid, quick jump cut edits and fast explanations are not for everyone, but you can tell he knows his stuff, and if you don’t have the time to watch a longer, more in-depth discussion or review on a movie, and just want the facts plain and simple, this is the critic for you (his videos usually don’t go much longer than five minutes). For those who like to joke around, Jahns is the right guy for you too. His sometimes sarcastic, but always present level of humor is quite engaging and makes for highly entertaining videos. Jeremy Jahns creates a unique system for scoring movies, the best denoted “Awesometacular,” and the worst denoted, well, “Dog****”. Jahns has a great way to end his videos, and is really relatable to the movie buffs who just want to let loose their feelings on how amazing or how awful they think a movie is. Check out Jeremy Jahns’ channel, as well as his appearances on Collider, and his own show, “Awesometacular,” on the go90 XO channel.

Check out the Collider and ScreenJunkies News YouTube Channels as well for in-depth, discussion-based movie reviews, some of which include some of the above reviewers.