Movie Review Essay

THE MOVIE REVIEW ESSAY

WR 121 Extra Credit Assignment

This is an opportunity and invitation to try your hand as a movie review critic! Since most people like movies and also have (strong) opinions on what they like

or don’t like in cinema—this should be a fun writing activity for extra credit! You

must select a film pertinent to the course theme (Science, Technology, and Society). There should be some form of structure to your review, but there are as

many correct ways of writing a movie review (critique) as there are movie watchers! The documents in the Movie Review Extra Credit assignment folder

will be helpful in proposing different ways of approaching your writing, so you are apt to find one that works for you (or feel free to adapt/design your own!).

There are a variety of sample reviews included, and you are encouraged to visit websites like www.rottentomatoes.com and www.MovieFilmReview.com where

you can read all the movie reviews you like. There is also information about film terms you may wish to include/incorporate into your writing to add a level of

sophistication and detail into your analysis, critique, and overall review essay.

Basic Task Objectives

Students will learn to:

1. Analyze a narrative story structure of one or more feature films.

2. Identify terms and concepts that serve the basis for descriptive, analytical, and “argumentative” (i.e., “opinionated”) movie reviews

3. Synthesize literary/visual concepts into a coherent, interesting, compelling (i.e., persuasive) structured essay that informs the reader

4. Evaluate (and recommend “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”) a single film in-depth/detail looking at various film components such as actors, script

lines, special effects, and the overall meaning of the film 5. Optional essay focus: Do a comparative/contrast review of a couple,

several, or a full set of films, or an analysis of an entire genre of films related to the main theme of this course

6. Have fun writing about something they feel stimulated/engaged about but ARE NOT REQUIRED TO DO as this assignment is completely optional

and will be scored for “extra credit” only: Enjoy!

7. Submit a spellchecked, word-checked, grammar-checked, punctuation- checked, edited, revised, and polished movie critique essay (not a casual,

colloquial review). Note that names of films are italicized in-text such as: Enemy of the State, Nineteen Eighty-Four, etc.

WORD LENGTH REQUIREMENT: The extra credit review essay must be at least 1000+ words minimum.

These are things you need to include in your movie review essay:

1. A title (headline for your review); make it a clever/witty play on words

(pun)

2. The names of the main actors and the names of their characters [the

protagonist(s) and main antagonist(s)]; you should include top 2+ actors/characters minimum

3. A summary of the plot of the story, and its appropriateness to the main course theme (which is quite broad/extensive and inclusive)

4. A possible theme (or moral) of this story

5. Give the “audience demographic” or who would like this movie

6. Your opinion of the movie as a whole (include details you thought were interesting or awful)

7. A score/rating system (e.g., “two thumbs up” or “four tomatoes out of 5,” etc.). Write this review as if you were trying to convince someone

who has not seen the movie to either see it or avoid it.

8. Include a very short biography of yourself at the end (as the “movie critic”)

HOW-TO WRITE A MOVIE REVIEW: Since there are a wide variety of ways to approach and organize your review, any of the suggested examples seen within

this assignment folder (or elsewhere for that matter) are completely acceptable: your only core requirements are that the final draft essay is presented in full

prose/narrative form (not a Q/A or outline format), and meet or exceed the required threshold of 1000+ words. You’ll have just about everything you need

in this folder, but you may also consult outside resources, submit your draft to your group blog for peer review, ask your instructor for feedback, suggestions,

etc.

REQUIRED FORMATTING: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, include either a student “ID Block” or APA title page (i.e., your full name, the name of

this writing task, WR 121, instructor name, date completed, and total word

count) with complete identifying information and be submitted with a full, unique filename and in an acceptable.doc/.docx file.

Total possible score: up to 10 pts. {max}