Guidance on writing reviews (995 views, 28 replies)

Is it your intention for writers in the community to...
1. Place brief reviews within the comments of each movie?
2. Or create a topic of reviews within the forum to allow for comments and replies?
3. Create playlists (from within our profiles) with lengthy reviews and put a link to that within the comments section?

Or something else?

Would you like video clip links within the body of the review or trailer links or does that draw unwanted attention to the site?

Would you like alternative review links within the body of the review?

Any review is highly subjective based upon one's age, ethnic background, educational level, experiences, artistic training, etc.

Many reviews across the web lack any semblance of grading format. They are written by irritated critics, become opportunities to discuss politics or religion or ethos or philosophy, or are written as puff pieces by fanboys or critics taking pay under the table.

I'm interested in writing serious fair reviews using scoring for the director, main cast, supporting cast, sound design, soundtrack, cinematography, etc. This way the final score is balanced versus a subjective score arrived at in less than five minutes.
...
My reviews would also take into account the history of film and the specific elements within a genre. For example, if judging the merit of the much maligned horror genre, then one must assess if it provided fear, dread, and revulsion. Was it full of genuine horror or did the director resort to jump scares? Did the soundtrack tell the viewer when to be afraid or did the director allow it to unfold naturally? Was it just a gorefest for shock value or create terror? Was it formulaic or an ode to a famous work like Carmilla or Lovecraftian or broke new ground?
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This is something for Doc. I'll let him know you're inquiring.

dosmovies.com/watch_movie/Us_2019#review....

We have a dedicated "tab" for reviews on all movie pages, yes I know it's rather hidden than visible. But we can improve it. Just tell me where to place this "review" section.

Also a lot of users just drop their reviews into comments section, because the reviews tab is not really noticeable.

Because a rating system is sooooo subjective, instead in my reviews, I am going to actually watch films twice, once all the way through with no interruptions, then again to take notes. Then write the following.

Name (Year)
Director
Cast
Budget (Inflation Adjusted Budget) Extra points for staying under budget. Extra points for microbudgets. Minus points for going over budget. Major minus points for crazy budgets.
Plot:
Themes and Tone:
Acting and Characters:
Specialized Acting: Did actors take special training or perform using physicality? Singing/Dancing/Martial Arts/Medical or Legal shadowing? Military training?
Direction:
Soundtrack :
Cinematography:
Production Design:
Special Effects:
Editing:
Sound design:
Pace :
Dialogue :
Final score: Rarely will this exceed 8.5. Just to review the film, the film is good enought that it is at least a 6.0.
6.0 is roughly equivalent to 70.6
6.5 is 76.4 and is a good effort with qualifications especially if a freshman effort.
... 7.0 is 82.4 and is a good film.
7.5 is 88.2 and is a very fine film.
8.0 is 94.1 and is an important film.
8.5 is an exceptional film of lasting artistic merit.
Any old imdb user might recall that most films were never rated higher than 8.5, even the best 500 films or even the top ten. Generally they came from genuine critic lists.

Any film rating higher than 7.5 or above is a significant film and worthy of study.

Relevant films that have a similar basis with links.
Cast members' notable films with links.
Cast members biographical details.
Notable films by the director.
Spoilers

This seems to be the most fair grading system. It should be fairly consistent. I won't review bad films as that is a six hour minimum waste of time and effort plus writing.

The system is greatly designed to input lengthy comments which then gives up to fifty points. However a genuine review is far more difficult, but only worth fifty points. Obviously it's easier to give a very subjective long comment.

The links are intended to encourage the community to watch other related films.
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Regardless if a film has mass appeal(high profit/low art) or is considered praiseworthy artistically (high art/seldom profitable), still...very creative talented technical folks who edit, do sound effects, do ADR, do titling, do special effects, those who do cinematography, stunts,lighting, etc have the very same jobs.
[ADR is the process of redubbing in the sound as during filming, not only are there flubs,but too much background noise,so the dialogue would be indiscernable.]

The actors and directors still have the same jobs. The writers have the same jobs.

The audience is different. At some point, you have to consider why a handful of fussy critics, often disconnected from reality, and prone to abusing propaganda to falsely portray real life, then actually matter.

It's hardly egalitarian,right?

Conversely bad filmmaking dumbs down film productions and seldom gets things right at a regional level.

An exception is Winter's Bone and probably The Burning Plain. In many ways the Justified TV series carefully inserted authentic Appalachia customs and regional dialect too.
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The True Detective serialization on HBO, given that pulp history had a mass appeal and flavor, and is regional each season, then also heroically does both high art and mass appeal.

The first season had BRILLIANT production design that peppered easter egg clues in every minor detail like framed art, little furniture and furnishing details, window treatments, children's art, etc. What that cleverly does ismake the entire production a vastly complex puzzle with red herrings. People endlessly speculated if some production design detail had meaning. That IS high art.

Take even the most basic film studies and it will alter how you watch film, because the characters do little things like laying down a machinegunner's glove in The Pacific and then he loses it during an intense battle,so this is part of retelling the famous story of USMarine John Basilone.

It takes serious technical effort to ensure the script, the actor's "blocking", the props department, the craftsmen/artisans who recreate these, and on and on, then mesh.
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