How to Write a Movie Review

What's playing this weekend?

Moviegoers are attracted to movie reviews like butter on popcorn! With movie admission tickets hovering around $10 apiece, film buffs depend on advance information and critiques, so they can spend their cinematic dollars wisely.

Which releases are worth a trip to the movie theater, and which are better saved for economical DVD rentals or pay-per-views later? Which should be skipped altogether?

Enter the helpful movie critic! Like the movie theater ushers of old, armed with their trusty flashlights, the movie critic guides film lovers to the best viewing vantages.

Want to become a movie reviewer?

Today, prospective film critics have countless opportunities to publish and present their views. Advertising direct mailings, blogs, cable TV channels, community newspapers, internet publishing communities (like AC), magazines, newsletters, online film sites and theater or video websites are excellent places to start publishing or broadcasting movie reviews.

How do you begin a movie review?

Any movie review must begin with the movie's full and correct title. This may or may not be listed in the review title. Either way, it should be clearly stated in the opening sentence of the first paragraph.

For example, if the film is named The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, then a movie reviewer's first reference to the film should state exactly that, not Pirate Veggie Tales. Of course, the writer may establish a shorthand reference, abbreviation or tagword for follow-up citations and introduce that upon first reference.

This is how it is done:

Vegetables have never been so adventurous as they appear
in The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales
Movie (Pirates).

After this first mention, the reviewer may simply say Pirates to name the movie. (Along the same lines, a movie reviewer may say TMNT for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as long as he has introduced the acronym with the full title at the top of the review.

What information must be included in a movie review?