1. General
a. Depending on the situation or assignment, your professor may or may not want a summary. If you are writing a review for a wider audience, then your audience will want to know if you encourage or discourage viewing. Also, beware of anything that would spoil the movie for your readers. You can see Magill's Cinema Annual for examples.
b. Be sure to use proper writing skills including a coherent structure, grammar, and punctuation as well as any other special items as mentioned by your professor.
c. Put aside personal feelings about the actors and give it an honest review. It is very difficult to review actors whom you may despise. Be sure to state your standards.
2. Specifics
a. Give your opinion supported by explanations, for instance:
i. Genre
ii. Actors (How well did they perform their roles? Are there any similar roles in other movies?)
iii. Camera work, scenery, effective shots
iv. Directors
v. Script (Did the screenwriters develop the characters? Any plot or storyline issues?)
vi. Film structure
vii. Lighting
viii. Music
ix. Special effects and visual design (modern film)
x. Is this a remake? How does this compare with the others?
xi. Fiction or based on actual events? If based on true story, how closely does the plot stay with known facts? If they deviate, when? Is it "inspired by true event?" In many cases, this implies that dramatic effects have taken precedence over facts.
xii. Costuming and editing - Dr. Suter, Distinguised Professor and our former library director, says that "costuming (and sets) can make or break a historical film. Audiences tend to know when something is out of place. Should King Arthur and the knights be in Roman era armor or fifteenth century armor?"
xiii. Editing - According to Dr. Suter, "Editing involves making a film work within the time frame available for a theatrical release. How many films seem incomplete because important information is missing? How much should the audience be forced to supply by implication rather than complete exposition? AVATAR will be released on DVD shortly with about 10 minutes of restored footage. Were those scenes needed in the first release?"
NOTE: Dr. Suter reviews new movies each week in the HCU Faculty/Staff Newsletter.
3. Tenebris at Helium.com has some very
useful suggestions.
"Next, you will want to consider how well the actors performed in their roles;
and in parallel, how well or even realistically the screenwriters developed
those characters. Remember to separate out acting from script, script from
camerawork, and camerawork from editing. The very best movies shine in all of
these areas and more, but most have strengths and weaknesses. Find them: good
and bad alike. Unless you truly enjoyed or hated the whole, try for balanced
objectivity."
"Throughout, you will need to keep in mind how the movie achieves its particular tone. Sometimes tone can be achieved through a particular style of camerawork (The Matrix, The Bourne Identity) or the consistent use of filtres (Gattaca). Satire may reference a wide spectrum of other pop-culture references or parody one specific one (Shrek) - and sometimes you may wish to specify that a particular movie is to be taken as satire rather than at face value. A well-crafted soundtrack can echo and reinforce specific camera frames and movement to reinforce a mood (The Truman Show), or even create an ironic undertone which makes us question all that the characters actually say (Chicago). With many modern documentaries you should mention whether they try to be objective or directly editorialise."
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The suggestions above came from: