Let's go to the movies, let's go write a review

Anyone can go to a movie and regurgitate the plot and their opinion about the film quality afterward, but what sets apart an OK movie review from a well-written one is poise and structure of the latter.

Photo by Allison M. Seward

While I might not be THE best movie critic in the world, I have picked up a tip or two from my experience writing for The Mesa Press. Here are the top four pieces of advice that I can give to fledgling movie critics:

1. DO NOT give away the ending.

Even if you don't think that anyone in the world should actually see the film because it was a horrendous waste of your time and money, do not give away the ending. No matter how negative your experience with the film was, giving the ending or major plot twists away can ruin the film for anyone dead set on going to see the movie, regardless of your opinion.

That being said, if you still want to write about the ending, at least have the common decency to print in bold and/or caps locked type "SPOILERS."

2. Include names of actors, directors and screenwriters.

There are many moviegoers who might not know too much about who is working on a certain projects, so including the names of the director, screenwriter and the actors playing the main characters may have a strong bearing on whether or not that want to see the film.

When I write movie reviews, the first time I mention a character I follow it with the actor's name in parentheses. ex: "Oz (played by James Franco).

3. Read book counterparts to films.

If you know that a particular movie is based on a book, and the book has a fan following, then it will be beneficial to read the book before writing your review (maybe even before seeing the film). Many bibliophile moviegoers base their opinion on a film on how true it was to the book, so saying whether or not the film is accurate can be seen as helpful to that crowd.

4. If you don't like a movie, say why.

It is incredibly easy to bash on one of the many craptastic movies that your editor sends you to, but the key to being a critic is to give the reasons why you thought it was craptastic.

One such film that I reviewed was writer Brit Marling and director Zal Batmanglij's "Sound of my Voice." I had high hopes for this film: based on the trailer I looked forward to a film that seemed mysterious, intriguing and even frightening. In reality, it what would have happened if Alfred Hitchcock had been a pretentious hipster and unable to write a proper plot. As bad as it was, I stated in my review that I felt the execution failed in what could have been a great plot.

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