Project 4 English
For my english portion, I decided to synthesize professional film critics styles of writing and make my own movie review. I researched some of the most experienced film critics I could find.
Leonard Maltin: An American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.
Peter Travers: An American film critic, journalist and television presenter, who has written for People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts the film interview show Popcorn with Peter Travers for ABC News.
Pauline Kael: An American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Kael was known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, her opinions often contrary to those of her contemporaries. She was one of the most influential American film critics of her era.
All of these critics gave me inspiration on what to put in my review. I wanted my review to seem as professional and convincing as possible. Before I could start writing it, I had to do a ton of research on what to look for in a film and the elements one would need to know when reviewing one.
Leonard Maltin: An American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.
Peter Travers: An American film critic, journalist and television presenter, who has written for People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts the film interview show Popcorn with Peter Travers for ABC News.
Pauline Kael: An American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Kael was known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, her opinions often contrary to those of her contemporaries. She was one of the most influential American film critics of her era.
All of these critics gave me inspiration on what to put in my review. I wanted my review to seem as professional and convincing as possible. Before I could start writing it, I had to do a ton of research on what to look for in a film and the elements one would need to know when reviewing one.
After many notes and practice runs, I had all that I needed to begin writing my own film review for one of my favorite 2019 films, The Lighthouse.
Here is my final review:
Here is my final review:
Here are the synthesis notes I highlighted in my review based on the inspiration from the film critics:
- Peter Travers is a well known film critic that I wanted to get ideas from when writing my own review. In his reviews I noticed that in all of them, he has a sentence that officially introduces the outcome of the movie. I decided to do the same so I can give the readers a straight to the point opinion to open my review.
- I was inspired by Leonard Maltin's techniques and style of writing in his film reviews. I decided to synthesize his style into my own film review by adding in the way he gives a short but powerful summary of each film he reviews. Taking notice to how he uses plenty of descriptive words to emphasize the idea of the film, I wanted to incorporate my own version of that with my own choice of descriptive words.
- Synthesizing the famous critic Pauline Kael's style of writing to my review made it more "biting" and "sharply-focused" which is one of the most important aspects to have when writing an opinionated review.
- Like Leonard Maltin, I decided to put in some examples of different movies to emphasize the point of showing the contrast of the movie I am reviewing compared to others. This gives the review more outward input and understanding, which is exactly what Leonard Maltin advises to do when writing a film review. Small examples are key.
- Peter Travers is a well known film critic that I wanted to get ideas from when writing my own review. In his reviews I noticed that in all of them, he has a sentence that officially introduces the outcome of the movie. I decided to do the same so I can give the readers a straight to the point opinion to open my review.
- I was inspired by Leonard Maltin's techniques and style of writing in his film reviews. I decided to synthesize his style into my own film review by adding in the way he gives a short but powerful summary of each film he reviews. Taking notice to how he uses plenty of descriptive words to emphasize the idea of the film, I wanted to incorporate my own version of that with my own choice of descriptive words.
- Synthesizing the famous critic Pauline Kael's style of writing to my review made it more "biting" and "sharply-focused" which is one of the most important aspects to have when writing an opinionated review.
- Like Leonard Maltin, I decided to put in some examples of different movies to emphasize the point of showing the contrast of the movie I am reviewing compared to others. This gives the review more outward input and understanding, which is exactly what Leonard Maltin advises to do when writing a film review. Small examples are key.