BECOMING
A HALFWAY‑DECENT MOVIE REVIEWER—THINGS TO CONSIDER
· Consider your audience: Is the review being written for a general‑audience
newspaper or magazine, or for a specialized (i.e., targeted at a particular
audience) publication? How much
film/literary history can the reader be expected to know or to care about? Will the reader know earlier films by the
filmmaker?
· Do
not tell the story's ending (unless review is meant to be read after the
film is seen)!
· Try
to come up with a striking opening sentence/paragraph.
· Keep
plot summary to a minimum; a brief overview (a
couple of paragraphs) will suffice.
· Instead of telling the whole story, do an
overview, then pick a representative scene or two to bring the film to
life.
· Use
discussion of different characters to fill in additional plot details.
· When
it comes time to evaluate the film, be honest and clear. Don't be simplistic, but don't be
wishy-washy.
· Don't
rely on a rating system (stars, numbers) to do your evaluating for you. State your overall impression.
· Make
your descriptions sing! (but don't get too cute)
· Don't
forget to mention the elements that create atmosphere (music, cinematography,
setting); remember, movies are not just story.
· When
judging the acting, pick out moments where the actor is particularly effective.
· Generally,
mention weaknesses as well as strengths.
But don’t feel that you have to come up with a weakness if that means
being overly picky.
· Remember,
a film that you don't like may have elements that you do find interesting and
thought‑provoking. And a film that you do like may still have elements
that don't quite work.
· If
you’re not sure how to open the review, think about using the opening scene of
the film as a way to begin, or find another key scene to describe. (Other standard options are to talk about the
director or the genre or the setting or the lead actor or the historical moment
of the film.)
· Include
a concluding paragraph that summarizes your opinion and, ideally, contains a
memorable formulation. Do not feel compelled
to assign it a rating or a thumbs up/thumbs down. Such devices help sell pictures but do little
to explain and illuminate them.
· Do
not be afraid to use "I," but don’t over‑use. The review is not about you.
· Avoid
the hyperbolic (e.g., "The cast is a dazzling array of the most talented
actors ever to appear on screen!" "Action so incredibly terrifying
that the goosebumps will be dancing the mamba on the slick surface of your
sweat‑bedrenched forearms!")
· When
appropriate (and possible), provide necessary historical, social, or production
context for the film. Readers really
appreciate background information on the filmmaker, the way the film came to
be, the historical facts behind the story (when appropriate). Where do you get that information? Most of the distributors now create websites
for the films that they distribute with this kind of information. (It’s what used to be contained in what was
called a “press kit.”) Do a Google
search on the film’s title, and you’ll most likely find the official site with this
material.
· Whenever
possible, refer to characters by name.
When speaking of their work as actors, use the actors' names. When speaking about cinematography, refer to
the director of photographer by name, etc.
This means paying extra special attention to the credits or using the
Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
· Judge
the film within the perspective of its genre and its intended audience: e.g., if it's a war film, don't criticize the
presence of death and destruction, unless you feel that the use of death and
destruction is purely exploitative; don't blame a foreign film for being
subtitled.
· On
the other hand, if you feel that the film transcends its genre, speaking
to larger issues than the conventional ones handled routinely by previous films
like it, you certainly want to speak to that.
E.g., The Seven Samurai is
more than a "samurai film": it is about the quest for human decency
in a world that has lost its bearings.
· Judge
the film, not the conditions under which the film was seen (i.e., were you
tired? were the theater seats tired?).
· Before
judging the film a masterpiece, try to imagine how you'll feel about it a year
from now.
· Same
thing goes if you're inclined to label it a total dud. This is especially true if the film is by a
proven filmmaker‑‑ give the proven filmmaker the benefit of the
doubt and take another look at the film; then pan it.
· Don't
feel compelled to explain your taste, but know your taste. What, for you, is a truly memorable cinematic
experience? Judge every film against
that standard, but don't fault a film for not achieving it. Not every film will be a masterpiece, but
many films will have memorable things about them.
· Remember,
especially when dealing with a film that was really important to you, that your
goal is to make the film come alive for the reader. That means good descriptive writing, the best
you can do. Take your time¸ and care.
· But
it’s also to make him/her think. Try to
make your review something the reader will want to come back to after
seeing the movie, to help him/her appreciate the film more fully.
--Michael
Dembrow, Spring 2008