Film

analysis
Film criticism
…is the analysis and evaluation of films,
individually and collectively. In general, this
can be divided into journalistic criticism
that appears regularly in newspapers, and
other popular, mass-media outlets and
academic criticism by film scholars that is
informed by film theory and published in
journals.
Journalistic
Film critics workingcriticism
for newspapers, magazines,
broadcast media, and online publications, mainly
review new releases. The plot summary and
description of a film that makes up the majority of
any film review can have an important impact on
whether people decide to see a film. Poor reviews
can doom a film to obscurity and financial loss,
therefore when creating my film review article I will
promote the film with positive comments so that the
audience will be persuaded to watch it.
Reviews
Traditionally, film reviews have been seen as a way to
assess the artistic merit and public appeal of a movie.
Filmgoers use reviews to help them decide whether to
purchase a ticket to a particular film. Positive film
reviews have been known to spark interest in little-
known films. For example, independent films with
smaller marketing budgets, such as The Hurt Locker,
are promoted more widely thanks to the positive
reviews they received. There are those who believe
critics are biased towards art-house films and against
commercial blockbusters. However, many critics
analyse a film by its inexhaustibility, or the range of its
impact and appeal on to generations of fans beyond its
original release date.
Reviews
Today, fan-runned film analysis websites like ‘Box Office
Prophets’ and ‘Box Office Guru’ routinely factor in general
public film review opinion with those of more experienced
reviewers in their projections of a film. Other websites, such
as ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, combines all reviews on a specific film
published online and in print to come up with an aggregated
rating known as a "freshness rate." The flaw with this practice
is that it presumes all reviews - therefore, all reviewers - are
of equal weight, which is not true. Some may be fans who
review, others are journalists trained in film study and the
craft of writing.
Online film reviews
Some websites, such as ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ and
‘Metacritic’, seek to improve the usefulness of film
reviews by compiling them and assigning a score
to each in order to gauge the general reception a
film receives. Other sites such as ‘Spill.com’ review
sites with ratings such as "rent it" or "matineé" to
tell the viewer in what setting to watch the film
rather than a numerical score. The Online Film
Critics Society, an international professional
association of Internet-based cinema reviewers,
consists of writers from all over the world.
Online Filmallow
A number of websites Reviews
internet users to submit
movie reviews and scores to allow a broad consensus
review of a movie. Some websites specialize in narrow
aspects of film reviewing. For instance, there are sites
that focus on specific content advisories for parents to
judge a film's suitability for children for example
‘Screen it!’. Others focus on a religious perspective for
example ‘CAP Alert’. Still others highlight more esoteric
subjects such as the depiction of science in fiction
films. One such example is ‘Insultingly Stupid Movie
Physics’ by Intuitor. One website, Everyone's a Critic,
allows anyone to publish film reviews and comment on
them.
Blogging
Blogging has also introduced opportunities for a new wave
of amateur film critics to have their opinions heard. These
review blogs may focus on one genre, director or actor, or
encompass a much wider variety of films. Friends, friends of
friends, or complete strangers are able to visit these sites,
and can often leave their own comments about the movie
and/or the author's review. Although much less frequented
than their professional counterparts, these sites can gather a
following of like-minded people who look to specific
bloggers for reviews as they have found that the critic
consistently exhibits an outlook very similar to their own.