Movie Review: How To (With Examples)

To make a review, you need, first of all, to know the film about which you are going to write, to have knowledge about the topic covered in it, as well as about the work carried out by its director.

After that, it is essential to know the essential features of the review. To complete the review task, the ideal is to practice to improve your writing techniques even more.

Learn how to make a good movie review by following these steps:

1. watch the movie

To write about a movie the first thing you need to do is watch it carefully, or when possible, watch it at least twice.

Ideally, watch it once, reflect on the movie, start drafting the review, and go back to watching to make sure you haven't missed anything important or misplaced some information.

2. Read about the topic covered

Read about the theme of the film and find out what was covered. Reading about the topic is not reading other reviews of the same movie - for some people this can influence the process of written in a negative way, and for these people, the ideal is to consult other reviews only after writing yours. own.

There are people, however, who reading other reviews can even help to develop varied forms of writing and expand their knowledge of reviews.

Also find out who directed it and what other films were made by the same director of this film production. This is useful to see in what context the film arises and what the director's intention is.

3. Choose the type of review

Choosing the type of review you are going to use should serve your purpose.

Reviews can be critical or descriptive.

At critical reviews contain the reviewer's opinion, who makes an assessment of the film's content.

At descriptive reviews contain information about the content of the film, without making judgments.

The existence of two types of review does not mean that a descriptive review cannot have any type of opinion from the reviewer. What will characterize it as a descriptive review is the fact that this type of review gives more prominence to the description of the film, while a critical review, in turn, highlights the reviewer's judgment.

4. compose your text

Follow the "introduction, development and conclusion" structure - and, in each part, distribute the information as follows:

  • Introduction - indication of the topic covered, place, time;
  • Development: indication of the film's content (how the events unfold, but without narrating them), intention and target audience;
  • Conclusion: indication of the difficulties to understand the film, if it is interesting, if it stands out and comparison with other films of the same genre.

5. Make sure your text has the essential characteristics of a review

  • Description: reflects your ability to describe the content of the film, making the reader aware of the topic covered in it;
  • Conciseness: reflects your ability to write a succinct but complete text;
  • Objectivity: reflects your ability to address what is most important in the reviewed film;
  • Argumentation: in the case of the critical review, it reflects the ability you had to present your ideas in an organized way and the chance to convince the reader about them.

Examples of movie reviews

Excerpt from critical review of Black Panther, by Ryan Coogler

Black Panther takes place in Wakanda, the fictional African country isolated from the rest of the world and which is a technological power. With the black superhero T’Challa, it is not by chance that the soundtrack of this cinematographic production, which unites ancestry with modernity, has the power of African drums.

It's a very interesting box office hit to watch and maybe even more to discuss, right now that it raises questions about racial prejudice, the relationship between countries, and even about the refugees.

Excerpt from a descriptive review of A Vida é Bela, by Roberto Benigni

A Vida é Bela is a tragic comedy whose story begins in the 1930s, in Italy. There, Guido, an amusing Jewish waiter, falls in love with a rich young woman, whom he marries and has a son.

During World War II, taken to a concentration camp, Guido tries to protect his son from the horror they experience by making him believe they are in a game. It's a moving story, which helps to understand a little about some aspects of the War.

Is a review the same thing as a movie summary?

Review and summary are not the same thing.

Review is a description made of a film, in which the most important features are highlighted.. It should not be confused with a summary, because the review is shorter and makes only an explanation of its content, being able to include the reviewer's opinion.

Summary contains the synthesized narration of events and the description of their characters, without adding anything new, that is, without any value judgment of its author.

What is a movie review?

The review highlights the topic addressed in a film production and places the reader in time and space of what she tells, without narrating the events of the film - just making an explanation about he.

This type of text has the character of presenting a work, and may contain the reviewer's opinion. Because it briefly describes the content of the film, it is often read by people to guide their choice.

Furthermore, the review indicates to the audience something that may not be noticed even after watching the film, which is why it consists of a small analysis.

For you to understand better:

Review: what it is and why it is NOT a summary

How to make a critical review

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