Since Fridays usually end up being movie night in our neck of the woods, I thought I’d focus on the pros and cons of writing movie reviews and how–especially if you’ve never written one–they can help your writing.

When you sit down and write any sort of a review–be it a movie, book or even a website review–it helps take you outside of your normal element to just “observe” the good, bad and the ugly in a product. Thinking critically, as every writer knows, is something that doesn’t always come naturally to us. If you write creatively and for businesses, sometimes different brain cells feel like they’re kicking in to give you a shift in perspective. With reviews, you can do a little bit of both.

Writing a movie review is a lot like critiquing an work of art–only the medium that you’re working with is time. All too often, to get a decent movie review out there you’re fighting against the clock; sites like Rotten Tomatoes or local news sites like Madison’s Isthmus| Daily Page get advance tickets because they are in the business of getting there first.

We often get to movies when we can, but when we do we pay a lot of attention to the timeliness of the review. For example, I published a movie review of Batman: Dark Knight this week, focusing on both the cultural phenomena surrounding the film as well as whether or not the film could stand on its own merit. If I would have written this review much earlier, I might have had a different take on it since I wouldn’t have been influenced by other reviewers. Since I was providing a review out-of-step with the initial release, I also chose to dig a little deeper and reflect more on some of the nuts and bolts of the film, to provide value to the readers. Here, the “con” of writing this movie review was the hype surrounding the Dark Knight, and that there were a glut of reviews for the film already out there. The “pro” was that I could use the countless articles, reviews and material out there to link to in the article for the readers, and I had my pick of choosing quality links.

The other film I had reviewed this week was for Hellboy II: and the Golden Army. This was a much, different review to write, because I’m already a fan of the Hellboy series. Because of that, I felt I had to really take a step back and be a little detached from the movie when I watched it, so I could provide a fair and honest review. As I’ve mentioned several times, I always strive to be transparent in order to be up front with readers, so I worked my feelings into the introduction.

As a fan of Big Red, I was eagerly anticipating seeing this sequel to Hellboy after watching the Hellboy and the Golden Army trailer and hearing about Guillermo del Toro’s involvement with the film. Impressed with del Toro’s work on Pan’s Labyrinth and Christopher Golden’s novelization of Hellboy with artist Mike Mignola, I went into the movie with certain expectations. Like other films and content within the Hellboy franchise–you do not need to be familiar with the characters or the setting to watch this film.–Source: www.flamesrising.com

In this case, my love for all things Hellboy worked against me; I felt that I couldn’t really sit back and enjoy the movie for what it was without always looking for something that someone else might not like. The other reviews of the film didn’t help; not a lot of “meat” in the mixed reviews that I had found. The pros of writing this movie review, is that I was already familiar with the creative team on the project. Having seen Guillermo Del Toro’s other work, I was able to establish a point-of-reference for myself as I watched the film. Couple that with my familiarity of Animated Hellboy, and this turned into more of a comparison review for myself than a stand-alone commentary.

However you decide to write movie reviews, I believe that there really isn’t just “one way” to do it because–like any work of art–you might notice something different when you watch a film based on your preferences than someone else might. Additionally, there is a lot of controversy over whether or not you should include spoilers. Some believe you should–some don’t. Whatever you decide to do, remember that there are reasons why reviewing can be really easy, or really difficult, based on what you’re trying to accomplish with the review.

For film reviews, audience is everything so I recommend keeping your target market in the forefront of your mind. The goal of your movie review should not just be to echo your thoughts about the film, but to either justify why someone should go see the film–or why they shouldn’t.

For more on writing movie reviews, I recommend these articles:

• How to Write Great Movie Reviews for your Entertainment Website
• How to Write an Effective Movie Review
• Writing the Movie Review: What do you mean I have to research it?
• Tips for Writing Movie Reviews: the Job of Reviewer is Harder than it Looks
• Film Review (Targeted for College Students but still a good read)