If you’re like me, a lot of what you’ve learned about cinema- aside from watching a ton of films- has come from YouTube, especially in the absence of behind-the-scenes features on most home releases for movies these days. There’s a wealth of material out there, and while this doesn’t even come close to covering all the great channels out there, here’s some quick highlights of some channels that’ll get you started if you’re looking to go deeper into learning more about film!
Corridor Crew
These guys started out in the very early YouTube days putting out some of the most creative and most professional-looking shorts in those first few years of the platform. Their second channel has blown up in recent years, taking viewers on not only inside looks on the making of their videos, but also highlighting some of the best (and worst) visual effects of both new releases and old films, with detailed breakdowns on why an effect did- or didn’t- work. Their videos serve as a crash course in filmmaking in a very entertaining way!
Jeremy Jahns
It’s pretty hard to find reliable critics amongst the biggest voices in film criticism these days, but Jeremy Jahns- who has been uploading film reviews on YouTube for more than a decade at this point- provides some pretty solid and witty takes that come from a place of true love for cinema. He’s pretty honest when a film does not work for him and even when he does like a film his analysis (usually accompanied by a glass of whiskey) is both entertaining and insightful. His voice can definitely carry a lot of weight for me sometimes when I’m unsure about seeing a particular film in theaters.
Every Frame a Painting
While this channel has been defunct for a while now (although creator Tony Zhou has promised a new, separate limited series coming soon), I still think the video essays on it are some of the best and most insightful ones I’ve ever watched, especially since this channel sort of set the standard for these kinds of videos for years to come. The research he puts into his videos- which range from talking about the lack of memorable themes in modern cinematic scores to why Michael Bay is an under-appreciated filmmaker- is second to none, and many of his videos have legitimately changed the way I view films.
Bullets & Blockbusters
This is one of the newer channels on this list, but seeing how fast it’s grown in the past two years or so there’s enough content on there to merit a place on this list. This channel focuses on films that either never saw the light of the day or looked much different in earlier iterations- ranging from Marvel movies with cancelled sequels to unmade films that never made it past the script phase. His videos are thoroughly researched and new videos appear almost every week- check it out for a fascinating glimpse into a whole slew of films that could have been.
Patrick (H) Willems
Last but not least, my personal favorite video essayist, Patrick (H) Willems. Patrick started out making fun parodies of his favorite superhero movies to making longform video essays, often accompanied by a narrative with Patrick himself getting into all manner of strange antics with his friends. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of Arts with a degree in Film Studies (a fact he is often amusedly self-deprecating about), his often hour-long deep dives are some of the most comprehensive on YouTube, diving into broad questions concerning the state of modern cinema and AI while also highlighting films that have been unfairly maligned or overlooked in recent decades. His videos may require more of a time commitment than many of the other channels on this list, but they are nonetheless every bit as informative and engrossing.
Hey, I already follow most of these! Haven't watched Jeremy Jahns in years, though. I'm more of a Chris Stuckmann guy.
I also recommend Thomas Flight and Like Stories of Old!