Part of a special section on music in film. The writer discusses the state of film music criticism. The aims of film music criticism, she feels, are to call attention to, and hopefully improve, the quality of film music as music; to serve as a guide to the film-music CD market; to examine how a particular score works in the film it was composed for; a guide to trends in film music; and as a key to what is being portrayed in the film. She goes on to examine film music periodicals, periodicals on film and music, the place of film music criticism in mainstream film criticism, and books on film music.