It’s the weekend, and you’re deciding to watch a newly released movie. You have one shot at not tanking your weekend by watching a terrible movie. So what do you do? You read the reviews.
On the flip side, you watch a horrible movie and you’re annoyed that it wasted your precious hours on what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend. Now you want to warn the world. How do you do it? Through a review and I’m here to make that process easy-peasy for you.
1. Watch the movie: This goes without saying that don’t review a movie based on just teasers, trailers and other people’s opinions. Watch it yourself and be judge of the film. Your review will keep becoming better with every watch, so watch it in theatres and watch it when it releases on OTT, but the key is to watch it at least once. Don’t fret about the review, remember to enjoy the experience.
2. Take notes: While watching the movie, list down what you liked and what you didn’t. No opinion is too small or irrelevant. For example, did you think the dialogue in one scene just didn’t make sense? Did you think the clothes were out of place? Did you love when the character drank a certain kind of local brand coffee? Write it all down!
3. Research: While a film is a self-contained story, the actors, directors don’t live in a limbo. It’s good to reflect on their earlier work and compare and contrast with the film you’re reviewing. You can also refer to films made on a similar subject or films released around the same time. It just gives a holistic idea of context of the film.
4. Technical details: Editing, cinematography and the musicality of the film are as important as any other details. Did a scene transition feel jarring? Did that one romantic kiss become elevated because of the music? Did the lighting of the charged scene give a menacing effect? These are elements which make for a cohesive motion picture, so do not neglect them.
5. Structure of the article: Do you have all these details in front of you? It’s time to start penning down the review. Begin with an introduction. My personal favourite is to narrate a short story of my experience watching the film. Remember to make the introduction engaging, this is what the readers will read first (duh!), so it has to hook them in. Then write down some details like actors, directors of the movie and jump straight into the plot, followed by music, cinematography, and so on. End it with a conclusion that summarises your experience, and rate it. A TL;DR in the internet lingo. When you’re done, don’t forget to give it an catchy headline but beware, don’t give away the review in the headline.
6. Edit: It’s time to sleep on the article and approach it with a fresh mind now. Re-read it, add in what you missed and edit it as much as you can. You can use tools like Grammarly and Hemingway to help you out here. Now publish it on your blog, on YKA or any other website you want to send it to.
That’s it! It’s as easy as this. You do not need to be a professional critic to review a film. I love to browse through twitter and reddit when a movie releases to understand the thoughts of the movie-goers like you and me and so do others. After all, they are authentic and raw. Even if your review does not mention the subtext/context of the movie, realness of your thoughts is important. So just word vomit, edit it a little and viola, done!
To make it easier, here’s an example of one of my favourite movie reviews on Jug Jugg Jeeyo. And lastly, here’s my stream of consciousness kinda review on Thor: Love & Thunder. We also have a vibrant culture section on the website which has diverse reviews from our community. Examples help in conceptualising your own thoughts, so have a look!
If you still feel lost and confused, or have any questions about reviewing, drop a comment below and I’ll get back to you ASAP!