Review Review

·         Compare the two film reviews you read this week (the ones on Juno and The Help) and discuss at least 3 criteria (from each review) that each author uses to evaluate their respective films.

In the Juno review the dialogue is discussed more than once, that it is unreal and too good to do be true. This may be true, but that is the writer’s prerogative. It is, after all, for entertainment. Ali includes other people’s perspective, whereas Dana does not.

In the review of The Help, racial inequality is discussed over and over. It is almost as if Dana Stevens wants make us all feel as if we were there in the 60’s causing this injustice, the opposite of what she claims the movie does. I also feel as if Dana Stevens does not go into enough details about what the movie is actually about. Perhaps that is because Ali Heinekamp goes into so much detail.

In the Juno review it is less clear from the beginning how the reviewer felt about the movie. She did eventually bring it together, into what I saw as a recommendation FOR the movie. Not everyone saw it this way, so for that aspect her review was somewhat muddied. Dana Stevens however, held nothing back in her dislike of this movie.

·         Discuss which two of the six criteria you selected hold the most and least weight for YOU personally when you watch a film.

I feel that Ali Heinekamp was also more open about the movie. While she did ultimately, in my opinion, recommend the movie, she did tell us about its faults. I enjoyed Juno, I realize that the dialogue was not true to life, but it was still enjoyable. She had more of a discussion about the movie, than a laundry list of why or why not to see it. I appreciated this.

It seemed to me that Dana Stevens only expounded the negative about The Help. I understand that she was giving the movie a bad review, but I think that she missed the point, and the point is that this is ultimately a movie. It is entertainment, it is supposed to make you feel good. I enjoyed the movie for what it was.

·         Based off the criteria, which review do you believe is the most fair and balanced? And why?

I think that Ali Heinekamp’s review of Juno was the fairer of the two. She was not once sided about it. In her review she told us the good and the bad. She told us so much about the movie; we might not need to see the movie! Dana Stevens made me not want to believe her review because she was too serious about something that was not. A movie is for entertainment. I think that her review would have been better suited to a documentary, where the facts of the events and how we are supposed to feel in relation to them would make more sense. I have seen both movies. I enjoyed both movies. This may have something to do with my dislike or Dana Stevens review of The Help.   

Written for Week 5 Blog Discussion in English 1101-126