To look up a plot summary, the date, the leading actors and possibly the historical context of relatively popular movies, use the All Movie Guide and/or the Internet Movie Database.
The Baseline Released Films database on Lexis (BUSREF;FILMS) provides information on box office grosses for top films back to 1985; credits for U.S. feature films back to 1911; bios of movie industry personnel; estimates of the value of movies, studios, film libraries and film companies; star salaries; etc.
Reviews of current movies and available videos are posted on the All Movie Guide and Rotten Tomatoes .
The trade newspapers for the movie industry are Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Both publications are available on Lexis (NEWS;DLYVTY and NEWS;THR, respectively).
Top Academy Awards winners are listed in The New York Public Library Desk Reference.
Ticket sale data is available from BOXOFFICE magazine and ERC BoxOffice (Exhibitor Relations Company, Inc.).