Evaluative Essay:

If appropriate, make recommendations for improvements.

Defend criteria with compelling evidence

Establish criteria

Discuss the subject in detail

The Movie Review

Hot Tip #1: Show don’t tell

Maybe another 200 cigarettes would have helped; coughing would be better than some of this dialogue.

Pearl Harbor is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on December 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle. Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality. The film has been directed without grace, vision, or originality, and although you may walk out quoting lines of dialog, it will not be because you admire them.

VerbsPositive ConnotationNegative Connotation

AdverbsPositive DescriptionNegative Description

AdjectivesPositive DescriptionNegative Description

Hot Tip #2: Use Comparison/Contrast

Compare to remakes of same film or to other review of same film

VS.

Compare/Contrast: One format to another

VS.

Compare and Contrast: To Other Movies in the Same Genre

Hot Tip#3: Don’t retell the entire story

SPOILER

Hot Tip #4: Use specialized language when necessary

Pan

Tilt

CinematographerDeveloping shot

Blocking

Crosscut

Fade

Jump Cut

Mise-en-scene

Storyboard

In your movie reviews, find examples of descriptions that evoke a positive or negative connotation. Also, notice how plot summary is handled.

Make a list of your two best descriptions from the positive review and your two best from the negative review.

Be ready to explain why you chose the examples that you did.

VerbsPositive ConnotationNegative Connotation

AdverbsPositive DescriptionNegative Description

AdjectivesPositive DescriptionNegative Description

Food Review

Good Lead

Example of positive lead: Inception (PG-13, 148 minutes). An astonishingly original and inventive thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a men who infiltrates the minds of others to steal secrets. Now he's hired to implant one.

Roger Ebert

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments.

http://www.filmsshort.com/short-short-films/

Come up with a compelling good (or bad) lead for this short-short:

Establishing Criteria

Support Your Opinion

BY

Mood

How?

Lighting

CHARACTER

DEVELOPMENT

Scenes

Universal Themes

Past accomplishments

Soundtrack

Plot Development

Past Accomplishments and Credits

Camera Angles

Dialogue

Special effects

PRACTICE REVIEW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao