Writing Movie Reviews
Writing movie reviews is a great way to express the ranting or raving you’re likely to do about a film anyway. And while there are some reviewers that have mastered the art (see our list here), it’s easy for you to get started, too. Here’s our guide of what every movie review should include:
- A Point of View: You should know when you start writing your movie reviews how you feel about the film. Hopefully, these feelings will be more fleshed out than “loved it” or “hated it.” Two good ways to do this are to either think about another film it reminded you of, or to evaluate whether or not the film lived up to your expectations.
- The Basics: Obviously, you should include the name of the film, as well the names of its stars, director, and writer. A quick visit to the movie’s website or IMDB will give you all of these details, including correct spellings of all the names.
- The Plot: A review should include a brief explanation of what the film is all about. This is an especially important part of writing movie reviews for films whose trailers betray very little of its plotline. But this should be a brief summary and not give away the ending or any crucial plot twists. Nothing turns an audience off faster than a review riddled with spoilers.
- Analysis: Talk about one or two specific elements of the film. Is the plot interesting and original? Is the dialogue silly? Do the actors seem well suited for the roles? Are the costumes realistic? Does the music work with the action? Is the pacing slow or relentless? This is your chance to flesh out and defend your point of view.
- A Sense of Your Audience: This is good to have in mind any time you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be). Whether you are writing movie reviews or a memo to the boss, you should have an understanding of your audience’s interest, vocabulary, and sense of humor. The review you write of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be different depending on whether you are writing for kids, their parents, or other adults.
- Your Personality: This is the flip side of knowing your audience. You should give the people what they want while continuing to be yourself – whether that self is a fanboy (or girl), a sarcastic know-it-all, or a professorial-type stickler. After all, readers of movie reviews tend to develop attachments to particular writers as much for their sparkling personalities as their opinions of the movies.
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This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 11:27 pm and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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