MUBI has been my favorite website since I was first introduced to it some two years ago. Not only is it a wonderful and addictive forum for conversation about all things cinematic but The Daily Notebook, its online journal, has been steadily increasing in scope.
Its most redeeming quality is probably the frequent wrap-up style reports by David Hudson, which catalogue online critical responses to a variety of films and related interests. These wrap-ups feature a number of links that are easy to access and almost always introduce a new writer or website one will find worth paying repeated attention to. In addition to the links the wrap-ups summarize content with flowing quotations that let one absorb the breadth of overall critical reaction to any given work as well as offering a shorthand for identifying interesting critical thoughts that may be worth exploring in more detail.
The Daily Notebook also offers a number of recurring articles on certain themes. Adrian Curry writes a column on movie poster trends which always includes interesting visual elements. David Cairns writes one called “The Forgotten,” which digs deep to unearth lost gems of film history whether on the big screen, dvd, download, videotape or any other accessible format. A large group of writers also contribute articles of differing subject matter. The result is a unique grab bag of punchy readings.
Visually The Daily Notebook is very polished and well-organized, the site always easy to interface with. Although the comments sections offer some pleasing sub-conversations they are almost always less substantial (in quality and quantity) than those in the forum section of MUBI proper.
Overall, like any grab bag, with the type of writing in The Daily Notebook one never knows what one will get. Sometimes the style can be overly popular and often silly and at other times it can be piercing and revelatory. More often pleasing than not, almost always the articles are too short — which is maybe how The Daily Notebook is so effective at leaving an audience hungry and coming back for more.
The Daily Notebook
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts
MUBI