Review Research

In order to do research on reviews I have decided to analyse three different reviews which are all centered around the same film. My theory is that in doing this I will be able to distinctly see the specific ways in which different critics structure their reviews. The film that I have chosen for this analysis is "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)".

"Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" is a 2014 American satirical black comedy-drama film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" received critical acclaim for its performances, direction, screenplay, and cinematography. The film received a rating of 91% from Rotten Tomatoes based on 276 reviews, and an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A thrilling leap forward for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is an ambitious technical showcase powered by a layered story and outstanding performances from Michael Keaton and Edward Norton." Metacritic gave the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". I have chosen this film mainly due to the fact that it is highly critically acclaimed as I thought that this would mean that I would be able to find a wide range of reviews from different critics.

The first site which I found with a review of "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" was www.rogerebert.com. This was the website of the legendary film critic Roger Ebert. Roger Ebert was an American film critic and historian, journalist, screenwriter and author. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. As of 2010, his reviews were syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. Ebert also published more than 20 books and dozens of collected reviews. I chose this review due to the fact that it comes from such a reliable and well-known source.

The review starts with a paragraph which is separate from the rest of the review. This is common in all three of the reviews which I have selected however, this review starts description of the opening scene of the film which is a very uncommon way of writing and structuring a review. Most reviews open with a paragraph summarizing an overview of the film which is present in the other two reviews which I have selected. I think that opening a review in this way has both advantages and disadvantages. I think that an advantage of structuring a review in this way is that avid readers of reviews may find that it is a nice contrast from the usual formulaic structure of reviews. Despite this, I think that the big disadvantage of starting a review in this way is that for the average moviegoer who is only looking to find a quick overview of the film will be unable to do so as they will have to read more of the review to find out what the film is about and  because of this I think that it may discourage them from reading the rest of the review.

After the opening paragraph more description of the film continues however this time it is about a different scene which is in the middle of the film. It is not until the third paragraph that the description stops and instead the reviewer starts to talk about the film in a summaray in order to show the readers what it is like overall. The critic then continues to speak about the directors previous works which can be useful as it informs any potential readers more about what the film might be like.

In the top paragraph in the screenshot pictured above the critic talks about one of the most distinctive aspects of the film which style in which is shot and edited to make it appear as if it has all been shot in  one take. The critic then continues to talk about the style of the cinematographer and comments on his previous Oscar win for "Gravity".

The following paragraph discusses the score, which was written by Antonio Sanchez which consits mostly of heavy drums which can be heard throughout the whole duration of the film. The critic also mentions Michael Keaton's previous work on Tim Burton's "Batman" which relates to the story as in many ways Keaton was the perfect choice to play the protagonist as his own lifestyle has many similarities to the character which he plays in the film. 

In the paragraph in the screenshot pictured above the critic discusses Keaton's performance as the protagonist and of Norton's performance as his co-star. The critic highlights the facts that both of the actors' off-screen personas are shown on screen through the characters which they are playing. In contrast however, the critic says that Zach Galifianakis gave a very good performance which strongly subverts his usual typecast character and his off screen persona. 

 

The last paragraph concludes by telling its readers that "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" is one of the best films that have been made this year and the critic praises the makers of the film for all of thier hard work.

The next review which I have chosen to analyse is "Empire" magazine. "Empire" is a British film magazine which is published monthly. It is the biggest selling film magfazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal.

As "Empire" is one of the most famous and most widely read film magazines, I thought thatit would be one of the best place to find a review which I could analyse.

The review for "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" starts in the way that most film reviews do, with a summaray which gives a quick overview of what happend in the film instead of giving a description of a specific scene as was shown in the review from "www.rogerebert.com". This means that readers who are looking to quickly find out whether they think they will like the film or not can use this and will not need to read the rest of the review if they choose not to. This summaray is closely followed by a 5 star review which immediatley tells the readers of the magazine that the critics deem this film to be of a very high standard as only the best films are able to get a 5 star rating with many films falling just short and settling for a 4 star rating instead.

 

The review then continues to talk more specifically about the different aspects which make "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorrance)" a good film such as its complex narrative, strong visual style, compelling and natural performance and an inspired visonary direction.