Anatomy of a review

Unlike news stories, movie reviews are not limited to presenting just the facts. Instead in these short feature-style stories the writer is welcome to give his opinion.

At the Bangkok Post, there are three people who regularly review the English-language movies playing in Thailand. One of them is Bernard Trink. He usually reviews several movies at a time. You can find his reviews in the Outlook section of the newspaper, usually on the same page as the movie listings.

Bruce Karr has a weekly review in Real.Time magazine which comes out with the Bangkok Post every Friday.

And finally there’s Hanuman (which is not his or her real name, of course!) whose reviews, like Bernard Trink’s, also appear in Outlook.

These men are three very different people with very different likes and dislikes so you cannot expect them to share the same opinion about the same movie. What one of them finds interesting or exciting, another may find shallow or boring.

Movie reviews are very short, information-packed feature stories designed to help you decide whether or not you’d like to see a particular movie. They are supposed to give you just enough information to pique your interest without giving the story away. A typical Bangkok Post movie review usually includes the following information:

Let’s take a look at a recent movie review by Mr Trink. As you read it, notice what information he has included and then fill in the blanks in the sentences that follow.

1. The name of the movie is __________.
2. He gave the movie ______ stars which means the movie is (choose one) a. very good b. very bad.
3. The movie can be seen at __________.
4. The basic plot (story line) of the movie is __________.
5. Some of the actors and actresses in the movie are __________.
6. Mr Trink’s description of the movie and his opinion of it are that it is __________ and that the acting is __________.
7. This movie came out in __________.

In the next section we have included two more movie reviews about the same movie, The Jackal, which were written by the two other people we mentioned earlier, Mr Karr and Hanuman. As you read these reviews, notice what information they have included. Have either of them mentioned anything different from what Mr Trink included in his review? Do they all share the same opinion about the movie? What words do they each use to describe the movie and the performances?

As you read the reviews, you saw that they contain much of the same information, i.e., the name of the movie, the main actors and actresses, etc., and an opinion. After reading, you should also have a good idea of whether the writers share the same opinion about the movie or not. In the exercise that follows, decide whether the statements are true or false. Refer back to the movie reviews as often as you need to.

1. According to the star system for rating movies, Hanuman gave the movie the worst rating with three stars.
2. The writer who gives the most information about the plot of the movie is Bruce Karr.
3. Although Hanuman rated the movie with more than two stars, overall he seemed disappointed with the quality of the movie.
4. In his review, Hanuman says that without Gere "The Jackal would have suffered a premature death." This obviously means that although the movie would have not been as good, it still would have been entertaining.
5. The writer who gives the most background information about the real Jackal, Carlos, is Bernard Trink.
6. If something comes nowhere near the quality of something else, it means that it is very bad when compared to something else which is much much better.
7. According to the reviews, some of the movies that Bruce Willis has been in are The Day of the Jackal, Last Man Standing and The Fifth Element.
8. Bruce Karr has put some names in parentheses ( ). These are the names of the people in the movie, not of the actors who play them.
9. The Jackal is an exact copy of the original movie The Day of the Jackal except that it has different actors and actresses in it.
10. In the movie, Richard Gere plays an ex-policeman who is hired by the FBI to try to catch the Jackal.

Teacher’s Note

Movie reviews can make for interesting reading. Unlike news stories, they are not purely factual but are filled with comments and opinion—something you won’t find in a news story. And this is one of the reasons why they are fun to read.

Be sure to point out to your students that they may not agree with a movie review—That happens a lot because not everyone has the same likes and dislikes. What one writer finds interesting someone else may find completely boring.

There are many things you could have your students do with movie reviews. Here are some suggestions.

1. Divide the class into groups of no more than six. Give each group one movie review and have them prepare a very brief summary about it (either written or oral). They should include such information as whether the reviewer liked it or not; who the lead actors and actresses are; a brief description of the plot and where the movie’s playing, for example. The groups can then be regrouped for an information gap activity or one student from each group could present his/her group’s summary in front of the class.
2. Assign groups of students to watch different movies either on TV or in the theatre and have them write their own reviews about the movie they have seen or present their reviews in front of the class. This could also be done as an information gap activity.
3. Divide the class into groups where one student pretends to be a movie critic. This student should have a copy of a movie review from the newspaper or a movie review he/she has written him/herself. The rest of the group will then interview the movie critic about the movie. They should ask appropriate questions about things that are normally included in a review.
4. For less advanced students, you could have them design posters about movies they have seen or reviews they have read. These should include pictures of scenes and/or actors in the movie, names of the actors and actresses, where the movie is playing and words or phrases (in English and in Thai) that describe the movie such as exciting, action-packed, romantic, frightening, etc. These posters could then be hung up in the classroom. The collection could be added to from time to time whenever your students see more movies.