For a Movie
- What was your reaction when the movie was over? If it was powerfully positive or negative, that may be a good place to begin.
- What is the director trying to accomplish? It’s different for each genre: thrillers, romance, drama, sci fi, etc. Does it work or not, and why? (Sometimes the idea is great but the mechanics are so bad that it has no power - see a list of the mechanics, below.)
- Is the theme so powerful that it makes up for problems in other parts of the movie?
- Are there social, cultural, political, religious issues that the director is drawing your attention to? How does he do it? Is it subtle, heavy handed, clever, compelling, annoying, etc.?
- It could be the narrative - a story so compelling that you’re drawn into the world of the movie and lose all sense of place and time... or it’s so boring that you can hear every squeak in every seat in the movie house.
- The characters may be so powerfully created that what happens to them becomes your primary concern... or they could be so two-dimensional or trite that if one dies, you don’t even notice - or care. Are the characters appropriate for the genre? Do you have people in the year 3203 speaking like we do today with the same slang?
- Which of the actors should you highlight? What about their performances is particularly noteworthy or ragged? Can you tell if it’s bad directing or just a bad actor (or vice versa?)
- How does the writer handle dialogue? Does it flow easily, sounding natural, or is it stale and trite making it impossible to get to know the characters.
- How does the lighting or set enhance or distract from the movie?
- If there are special effects, how well are they done and how well are they integrated into the movie? Or is it just a movie to show really cool special effects?
- All movies have to create some kind of tension leading to a climax and then a resolution. How does the director create or fail to create that tension? Is the ending anti-climactic — telegraphed well in advance? Were you surprised in a good or bad sense.
- Does the storyline hold together or does it feel that the director is using too many coincidences and tricks to hide what is really a flawed plot?
- How does this movie fit in the overall work of the director? Does he or she use common themes throughout or is every book a surprise — an exploration of an entirely new idea?
- How well does this movie either fit its genre or break new ground or rely on tired old clichés? What other movies can you compare the various elements to?
- Does the director’s work remind you of other directors? Is that good or bad?
Article comments
1 - jonas
this article is great help thanks!!