Sunday, January 31, 2010
McCreesh, Erin Review 2
In the movie Leap Year, Amy Adams plays the role of Anna Brady, the girlfriend of a successful businessman who gives off the ‘such a nice guy- that it is extremely creepy vibe.’ While her boyfriend is on a business trip to Ireland, Brady remembers an old Irish tradition that has been in her family for a few generations, where it is considered good luck for the woman to propose to the man on the 29th of February. The weather seems to be the main setback for her in her attempts to reach Dublin. An innkeeper assists her on her journey, and also possibly from doing something she should not. This movie follows the typical timeline of a romantic comedy, but is still entirely too cheesy and manages to lose viewers’ attention midway. The film even goes so far as to include the one thought that happens to linger in Brady’s mind until the end of the story. With every label of a bad romantic comedy included, Leap Year does not grab the viewers’ interest, nor does it allow the watcher to feel like his or her money was well spent. The film does a good job at being the stereotypical romantic comedy, but does a horrible job at pleasing the audience.
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I appreciated that this review was well-directed at an audience of young adult readers, as your opinion about the film was blunt and forthright instead of beating around the bush. If somebody on the fence about wasting their money on seeing this in theaters, this review would have provided them with a straight, honest answer.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I felt that you segued from the description of the plot to your opinion without necessarily stating what it was that lost its viewers’ attention. It was good that you identified it as a “entirely too cheesy,” because that was clearly one of the reasons, but I found myself wondering what about it specifically made it so cheesy, or if you didn’t include that because it would give too much of the ending away.
All in all, though, I liked that in this review that you stuck to your viewpoint and kept the reader engaged to the last sentence with your direct writing style.
Hi Erin,
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a good review overall. You maintained a good balance between opinion and summary throughout and were very concise. I especially liked the last two sentences, you made your opinion very clear here. I also thought you did a good job of writing for a specific audience.
That said I think a few of your sentences were a little too long. If you break them up a little more, it will be easier for the reader to follow. Also, when you say the movie is "entirely too cheezy", perhaps you could elaborate on that and get more specific. I know that is hard though, because you are trying not to reveal too much of the plot.
Finally, I thought the summarizing sentences about the weather and the innkeeper didn't really do much to describe the plot or make a statement, so perhaps you could cut them and add a few sentences that have more relevance to the main plot points or further develop your opinion.
Great first review!
Caitlin
Honest and engaging. I don't really have much to say here. I think a shift of focus from the plot (or lack of it) and an expanded take on the actors or cinematography could help flesh out the review a bit more. I can tell you hated it. But did you hate it because of the stilted plot or because the actors, director, etc. didn't deliver on the script or concept? Well done, and i'm curious to see where this goes
ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDeleteOnce again, great job with the structure of this review. It is very well organized. It would be great though if you possibly added a rating system to the review such a 5-star scale or an A-F scale.
I'm a little confused, however, as to who the audience is. Romantic comedies are widely enjoyed by a large audience, but you label this a "bad romantic comedy." What are the features of a "bad" movie within this genre. If you could explain the definition of "bad" in this sense, and follow it with examples from the movie, it would bring us to a much clearer understanding of why we should avoid this movie.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you establish an opinion of this movie early on in the review. It caught my attention from the beginning because I expected to be entertained by the assumed humor associated with a negative movie review.
While I enjoyed it, I think that you have summarized the movie a little too much. Though I liked how you briefly jumped from significant points in the movie, I recommend trying to find a more cohesive way of doing so. Without knowing anything about the movie, I cannot decipher exactly what the movie is about - proposing, reaching Dublin, or being mischievous.
Despite some minor grammatical mistakes, you have an interesting review about a seemingly uninteresting movie.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI like how you leave your tone a little open ended at the beginning. By the end of the review, you've stuck to your convictions and made the point that Leap Year was a terrible movie. I'm convinced I will never ever see that movie. Partly because you use "romantic-comedy" in your description.
That being said, I know you give a good rundown on the story, but in those moments when you say "stereotypical"/ "typical timeline", you could make allusions or give examples from the movie to help strengthen your point. Overall, this was a good review.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteYour review says a lot without saying much at all. I know exactly what this movie is like, yet I don't know anything about the actual movie. However, your point may be exactly that, this movie doesn't add anything to the genre.
Though I think that if you're making this a critical review, you should set the tone up front to engage the reader rather than having a simple plot outline, and then giving your opinion. I would like to see an attitude come in, so I know off the bat what you thought of the movie. I would also like to see descriptions of some scenes that make it underwhelmingly stereotypical.
It's a good article, but I want to really be convinced that even a rom-com aficionado wouldn't like this movie. That way, I won't consider making the mistake of taking a girl to this. That would be both mental suicide and assisted mental suicide.
Kevin Gillingham
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ReplyDeleteErin,
ReplyDeleteI found your second review to be more informative than your first, saying that it followed the typical romantic comedy theme gave me something to work with. You also do a much better job at incorporating your own voice but some parts need a bit more clarification. In particular is it that the typical romantic comedy is entirely too cheesy or is there something about this movie that is entirely too cheesy.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI thought you struck a good balance between informative and opinionated in this review. You succinctly conveyed the plot and genre in an informative way, while still leaving enough room in this brief review for an opinion. The informative beginning lent a lot of ethos to your opinion.
I had little to complain about in this review but I thought that some of the sentences were awkwardly-phrased, though another look through should point those out pretty easily. Overall, well done.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly no doubt in what you are discussing in your review. Your writing is short and to the point. But is it too short? I really wanted to see more of a balance between the synopsis of the movie and your review of the movie.
I think it is also important to back up your statements with support. For example you say, "[the film] does a horrible job in pleasing the audience" well, how do you know this? The sound of the yawns in the theater? Viewers comments after leaving the theater? Give more details here.
You have a good base to start with, now you just need to build on that base.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the bluntness of this review. You told me what film you were talking about, its genre, its general plot, and your honest opinion. People reading reviews want their information fast, and you succeed in doing this.
Similar to what a lot of other people have said, I wanted to know why it's bad. If you provide specific examples from the movie it will help convey that message. Showing can often times accomplish more than telling. There are a few awkward phrases in there as well, but these should stand out to you when you go back and revise.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteMy first comment is that I think it would be beneficial to your audience to maintain neutral on the topic for a bit longer. This way, if someone who loves the movie reads it, they wont be turned off early on and stop reading your review.
Some organization could also improve the review; maybe explain the genre-type elements early on, with specific plot detail later on in the review. The straightforward aspect of the review is something I believe aids it; your outright opinion of the movie is that it was trash, why beat around the bush?
-Glenn
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI liked that you had a very clear opinion of the movie. I do think however, that you might want to elaborate a bit on what exactly makes it a bad romantic comedy, and what makes it a cheezy film. You might also consider elaborating a bit on the main points of the plot, some of the parts you mentioned seemed to be minor points in the plot. It might be beneficial if you took those sentences out and went a little bit more in depth regarding the more central points of the film.
Overall I really liked that it was concise and very direct. You did a great job of giving your audience your opinion of the movie and I'm sure your readers would appreciate you saving them a trip to the movies and the cost of a ticket!
Erin,
ReplyDeleteAgain, I think you are off to a good start with your review. I would suggest that you focus a little less on the summary of the plot. The long sentences get to be confusing and as a reader, I was a little confused as to what was going on.
On the same token I felt as though you assumed the reader had some prior knowledge as to what the film was about. I don't know if you did this on purpose or unintentionally. Either way, I would be careful not to assume too much of your reader, it can confuse the plot.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteI like how you jump into the movie plot from the start in this review. The description you give of the plot seems a little bland, but you could change this by adding descriptions of negative points in the movie.
The review of this movie doesn't really say why it is so bad. Why is it so bad? Like when you say it is cheesy give an example of why this is the case. I think your opinion is strong in the review, but I would try to give some backup for why that opinion was formed. Once you have specific reasons for your opinion, your opinion will become very strong.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteThis review paints a deeper picture than your other one, and I think you should go even farther. I agree with Ashliegh above in that this review might not make one think of the same kind of movie that the trailer does. Actually, if you think it's a very cheesy and stereotypical film, it seems like referencing the trailer might help (like it's the kind of movie that you can see the trailer and feel as though you've seen the movie, if you feel that way).
Try to articulate the exact snippets of though you were thinking as you watched the movie; sometimes in reviewing a work it's sometimes hard to convey your impression of the film when you get caught up in making a broad judgment. You could address some specifics in the acting, for example, and cite (perhaps) the moment when you thought a performance officially crossed the line into too cheesy.
It's helpful to give the reader your final evaluations, but it's even more helpful to show them how you got there.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a very critical review of this film. It is obvious what your stance is. I think you might want a more exciting introductory sentence, as the one here plunges in pretty quickly to the plot. I would also suggest varying your sentence length. Sometimes long sentences have a tendency to seem like a rant, and varying sentence length will help prevent that. From what you’ve written here, I think the review could be a little longer, perhaps with more descriptions of what actually made the flick cheesy. I am also a little confused about this sentence: “The film even goes so far as to include the one thought that happens to linger in Brady’s mind until the end of the story.”
ReplyDeleteErin:
ReplyDeleteThis review definitely gives me a good sense of what to expect from the movie. While you could have delved a little bit deeper into the plot, that's difficult to do when reviewing movies as you don't want to spoil the ending. I think it's good that you give your honest review of the movie. It's good to see how you took on a critical review. Overall I think you did an excellent job.