filmtotaal.nl
When you want to read a movie review, you might go to the New York Times, Roger and Ebert, or Rotten Tomatoes. However, if you're looking for a great movie review site that is also well-known in the Netherlands, we recommend checking out Film Totaal. Their user experience is exquisite and they have tons of information about movies as well as interesting top lists to peruse. Additionally, their movie reviews are written very well and are knowledgeable about the subject matter. Finally, their online community of Dutch movie lovers is really something special.
Film Totla is a great resource for movie news, reviews, discussion and information. If you're looking for the best movie review site, it's probably best to check out Film Totla to see everything that it has to offer. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to one of the best movie review sites in the world: Film Totla!
Design
Film Totall has an overall aesthetic that I think 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 Totall's site 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 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 pack 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.
But Film Totlaal does just that. It's a site with a great deal of features, information, and different types of content - so I never feel lost or confused as I browse this movie review and rating site. In fact, from the second 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) features the site's logo in the center while also housing a hamburger dropdown menu - this will be your north star while browsing the rest of the site, it contains all of the main sections (and subsections) of the site and can be expanded or collapsed at will. The middle is the official site menu bar, and it is 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.
The website proceeds smoothly from one section to the next, starting with a designated news section for movie news and continuing on to include other sections with different layouts. The most popular story is prominently featured on the home page, along with a few other articles that have been read the most.
Keep scrolling down and you'll find a black background. This is where you can explore 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, following the alternating color pattern of the rest of the site. Film Totla?s website design is easily in the running for the best movie review website design that I have ever seen. I greatly appreciate how logical, organized, and concise it is. The fact that each section of the homepage previews each section in the site menu bar is the kind of thing that makes my OCD side very happy.
Hey, did I mention that as you browse the site, you are followed by a giant plus 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 a hybrid site of various elements. On one level, it is a movie review site with a staff of reviewers who provide insightful, thoughtful, and fair reviews. However, the official Film Totlaal rating of the movie is decided by you, my friends.
Film Totale is one of the best movie review and rating sites in the Netherlands. It also has a great forum where people can discuss their favorite movies with likeminded people.
I have one big complaint with Film Totaal. They outsource a lot of their work 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 Totaal 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 Totaal). 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.
This additional features section has a lot of useful information, such as a news section, top lists, movie release schedule, and TV guide. You can also find out when movies are playing in theaters all over 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
.
Although Film Totlaal has no mobile app, it is still one of the best movie review websites on the web today. It has high-quality movie reviews and an active, friendly online community which makes it a great site for anyone who values quality movie reviews and an engaging online community.