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:
Writers:
Stars:
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:
Language:
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.
