Movie Reviews

     

Making a decision on what movie to watch can be hard especially when there are a lot of good ones to choose from. Movie reviewers like to help with that choice.

Movie reviews are written, not to tell you what to see, but to help you decide whether or not you would like to see a certain film. Movie critics offer their opinions on the qualities of a particular movie. What one movie reviewer finds entertaining, another may find disappointing.

         Anyone who loves watching movies can write a movie review.  All they need is that desire to watch as many movies as they can; if they are one to always have an opinion on matters then this can be their medium. And lastly, they just have to learn the important components expected in a typical movie review.

HOW TO WRITE A MOVIE REVIEW:

A good movie review must have these five different parts.

1.    Credits
2.    Plot
3.    Characters
4.    Vocabulary
5.    Conclusion
                     

CREDITS

As an introduction you  must write:     

·                             

CREDITS

As an introduction you  must write:  

   
·         title and year,
·         genre
·         director,
·         screenwriter
·         music or soundtrack
·         main actors

Sample:

American History X, 1998

Directed by: Tony Kaye

Screenwriter: David McKenna

Music by: Anne Dudley

Genre: Drama / Crime / Thriller

Main actors:

Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard
Edward Furlong as Danny Vinyard
Beverly D'Angelo as Doris Vinyard
Jennifer Lien as Davina Vinyard
Ethan Suplee as Seth Ryan 

Fairuza Balk as Stacey

PLOT

Synopsis or summary of the plot:  Make sure that your summary makes sense to a reader who does not know the movie. Do not refer to specific scenes and do not try to explain everything.

The next items should also be included as part of your description of the story.

Place and time: 

Where does the action take place? When does the action take place? (present time, 19th century…) Is the story chronological (according to the order of time ) or flash back. 

Background: 

Society, country, kind of people (age, culture social class...), historical time... 

Genre: 

horror, comedy, drama, adventure film, thriller...

CHARACTERS

Main characters:

·         physical description

·         psychological description

·         age, nationality social/personal background

VOCABULARY

In this section you must write:

·         the words you have learnt - chapter by chapter –

·         pronunciation

·         explanation in English

·         a sentence in English (not copied from the dictionary)

Nouns must be in singular, adjectives in the positive form and verbs in infinitive

CONCLUSION

In the last part of your review you are asked to think and write about the next questions:

·         What message is being told? (if any) What was the director's purpose or intention or the theme of the film?

·         Compare with other realities you know (your country, historical fact or event, other film from the same director or genre…)

·         What's your opinion?

Friends with Benefits (2011) – Sample Review

While trying to avoid the clichés of Hollywood romantic comedies, Dylan and Jamie soon discover however that adding the act of sex to their friendship does lead to complications.

Director: 

Will Gluck

Writers: 

Keith Merryman (screenplay), David A. Newman(screenplay), and 4 more credits »

Stars:

 Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake and Patricia Clarkson

Storyline

Jamie (Mila Kunis) is a New York head-hunter trying to sign Los Angeles-based Dylan (Justin Timberlake) for her client. When he takes the job and makes the move, they quickly become friends. Their friendship turns into a friendship with benefits, but with Jamie's emotionally damaged past and Dylan's history of being emotionally unavailable, they have to try to not fall for each other the way Hollywood romantic comedies dictate.

Rated R for some violent content and brief sexuality 

Country:

 USA

Language:

 English

Release Date:

 28 September 2011 (Philippines) 

COMMENT:

Hollywood movies often come in pairs as films with the same premise are released within months of one another. "Friends With Benefits" and "No Strings Attached" were released very close to one another and both pose the question of whether it is possible for a couple simply to have sex and be friends without becoming emotionally or even romantically involved. Many men have never had any problem with this concept and Hollywood is now toying with the issue of whether liberated women can think the same. There are no prizes for guessing the conclusion of both romantic comedies but it's entertaining to see how each film works round to essentially the same ending.

This time round the guy is Dylan (Justin Timberlake) who moves from Los Angeles to New York to take on a new job at the behest of headhunter Jamie (Mila Kunis). Like "No Strings Attached", "Friends With Benefits" has a lot of talk about sex - the script is sharp and often funny - but remarkably coy when it comes to showing it with nothing more risqué than a bare back. The film makes fun of movies that are overly romantic while coming quite close to being one of the works it parodies. So, innocent fun which finishes up being rather old-fashioned. The French would have done it differently.