Unit9 • Articlesand reviews
98 Reviews
Magazines and newspaperspublisha wide range of reviews,coveringall the arts
as well as other areas. Most r eviews have two functions:description and
informationon theonehand ,judgement, opinionsandrecommendationson the
other.
Reviewsaregenerally based onthefollow ing structu re.
I The subjectofthereviewisdearlyidenti fied,withall the esse ntial i nfo rmation
(\\'hat? \Vho ?Where ?\"hen ?IIowmuchi')T his is donc eithe r in the he ading or
the first linesofthereview,orboth.
2 A detaile ddescriptionand analysis ,including thereviewer'sopinions. Areviewof
a hook or a filmshou ldsummarizethe plot, te lling the sto ryillthepresellttense ,
butsho uld notre vealthe e nding.
3 Aconclusio n inwhichtherevi ew ermakes eithera judgementor a
reconunend ution.1.0 Reviews - punctuating and writing conclusions
CapitallettersCapitalletters areused forthe first letterof every wordin the title
of a film,book, play,opera, record,etc. Theonlywordsthat do nothaveto start
w ith a capitalare smallwordslike a,the, of, to ,whentheycome in the middleof
the title: you can write eitherThe DiscreetCharmOfTheBourge oisieorThe
DiscreetCharmoftheBourgeoisie.
InvertedCommasIn handwriting, it is necessaryto put invertedcommas
around the titl e.
Have youseen 'TheJungleBook'?
Brac ketsWhen tellingthe story of a filmor play, areyou going to usethe names
of the actors /actressesor the names of the characterstheyportray?
Whe nJackSommersbvreturnsto hiswtfeandSOilinruralTennesse eafterfighting
in theCivilWar.heseemsa changedman. The que stionis whe the rSununerxhv
( Richa rdCere ) is or is not the man thatLaurel(jodie Foster) married yea rsa~o.His
transformatio n hasbeen so great that manype oplewonder whe the r Sommershy* is
all imposto r.Lau rel " ,too, isbewilderedhy herredis cove redhusban d.w hoseems
toogood to betrue.
*In a film review ,GereandFostercould be written instead of the names of the
characters. This is not done intheatre reviews.
Practice
These are allconclusions of film reviews.Punctuat ethem.
this is a film fore ve ry ageh rucke tand is highlyrecommended fo rall those who
e njoyed julie andrews earlier film the so undofmusic
2 if you like yourthrille rs moody atmosphericpe ssimi stic andspi nechillin~ly
bloodtlnrstv.thenthis is thefilmforvo. n
3 the pianoisessential\iewing as dive rseandtunefulasthe instrume nt of i ts titl e
4 youll laughy0 1111 cryvoull loveeveryseco ndofsleepl ess ill se attlese ntime ntal
w hocares
5 this is the most tediousofroadmodesandwhen the fugitive lovers finallycome
to the e ndo f the road sho t de adbvcvnicaldetectiveedd ie marsdinte astw ood
thefewpeoplein the cinemastill awake applaudedrecommendedfor insomni acs
onlv
6 overall howe ve rthe filmsfaultsdo notspoil anexcitingandstylishpieceoffilm
making wellse rvedbyan intens escript andfine performance sfrom its cast128 • Task types