movie analysis vs movie review

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While the terms "review" and "criticism" are often used interchangeably, there are differences between them. Note how motion pictures are often referred to as "films" when discussing criticism, and "movies" when discussing reviews.

Film criticism is the study, interpretation, and evaluation of a film and its place in cinema history. Film criticism usually offers interpretation of its meaning, analysis of its structure and style, judgement of its worth by comparison with other films, and an estimation of its likely effect on viewers. Film theory (e.g. feminist, postmodernist, etc.) often informs the critical analysis of a film. Criticism may examine a particular film, or may look at a group of films in the same genre, or a director's or actor's body of work.

Film criticism differs from movie reviews in several ways: it entails both analysis and judgement; it may be published many years after a film is released; it is usually longer and more complex than a movie review. A movie review documents the critical reception of a film at its time of theatrical or dvd release. It is more "consumer-oriented," placing more emphasis on recommendation than analysis.

Reviews of feature films or mainstream films may be found in online databases, newspapers, and general interest magazines (e.g. New York Times , Village Voice , Cineaste ).

In-depth criticism and analyses of some feature films or mainstream films, foreign films, independent films, documentaries, etc. may be found in more scholarly or academic publications (e.g. Film Quarterly , Cinema Journal , Film International ).

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What is a Film Review — Definition, Examples & Top Critics

I n cinema, film reviews hold a significant place, serving as a bridge between the film industry and viewers. They provide an analytical perspective that helps audiences decide what to watch and understand the nuances of a film. In this article, we will delve into the definition of a film review, its critical components, and shed light on some iconic film review writers who have significantly shaped the field.

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What is Film Review in Cinema?

First, let’s define film review.

Film reviews hold a unique place in cinema acting as both promotional tools and critical analysis pieces. With the rise of platforms like Letterboxd and Rotten Tomatoes, they are becoming more relevant in the cinematic landscape.

FILM REVIEW DEFINITION

What is a film review.

A film review is a type of critique that provides an evaluation of a film, encompassing various aspects such as the plot, themes, direction, script, and performances. Originating in the early 20th century with the advent of cinema, film reviews have evolved from mere opinion pieces in newspapers to a significant form of journalistic writing. The primary purpose of a film review is to inform the reader about the film and offer an informed opinion about its various elements. It serves as a guide for viewers, helping them decide whether the film is worth their time and money.

Criteria for Movie Review:

Overview of the film, analysis of the plot and themes, evaluation of the script, direction, and acting, personal opinion and rating, movie review format, components of a good film review.

Film reviews are a blend of various vital components, each contributing to a comprehensive analysis. From evaluating performances and storytelling to dissecting technical aspects, a well-rounded review provides a holistic perspective. By examining these elements of a movie review format we can gain a deeper understanding of the film's impact and appreciate its artistic merit.

This includes a brief synopsis that sets the context without revealing any spoilers . The overview should pique the reader's interest and give them a sense of the film's storyline. Here is one of the greatest film critics, Roger Ebert, on what a film review should do. 

Roger Ebert What A Movie Review Should Do

This involves a deeper look into the narrative and the underlying themes of the film. It should explore the storyline's complexity, originality, and coherence.

This component assesses the technical aspects of the film, such as the screenplay , cinematography , direction, music, and performances. It also includes an assessment of how these elements contribute to the overall impact of the film. 

This is much more popular with the rise of film criticism on YouTube in which film critics can simultaneously play and dissect a scene for an audience. In this video by Nerdwriter1, Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood is dissected visually in a way that would be difficult or at least less effective without a video component.

One Way To Deconstruct There Will Be Blood

This is where the reviewer shares their personal view and overall impression of the film. It often includes a rating system, which can help readers quickly gauge the reviewer's opinion.

A good film review strikes a balance between objective analysis and personal perspective. It is also important that the review uses engaging language and style to hold the reader's attention.

What is Film Review Important For?

Influence of film reviews.

Film reviews have a significant impact on public opinion and can greatly influence the success of a film.  A positive review from a reputable critic can attract more viewers and increase the film's box office revenue. On the other hand, a negative review can dissuade audiences from watching the film.

Attracting Viewers

Positive reviews can generate buzz and attract a larger audience to the theaters. They serve as a powerful tool in building anticipation and interest among moviegoers. Take Rotten Tomatoes for example.

Many film goers opt to check the Rotten Tomatoes reviews of a film before they decide to watch or see it in cinema. 

While this can work well for some movies in attracting viewers, it can negatively impact other films. This is especially true with the way Rotten Tomatoes rating system works. For a great insight on to how the platform works and the possible problems with its ratings, check out the video below. 

The Problem With Rotten Tomatoes

Box office success.

Positive reviews often contribute to a film's box office success. When critics praise a movie, it can lead to increased ticket sales and financial profitability for the filmmakers.

Influence on Perception

Reviews shape how people perceive a film. Positive reviews create a positive perception, making viewers more likely to give the movie a chance. On the other hand, negative reviews can deter potential viewers and impact the film's overall reception.

Critical Acclaim

When a film receives critical acclaim from respected reviewers and publications, it can achieve iconic status. This recognition elevates the film's reputation and can lead to long-lasting popularity and cultural significance.

Parasite’s Historic Oscar Wins in 2020

Film reviews hold considerable sway in the film industry. They not only impact the number of viewers but also shape how a film is perceived and remembered.

Related Posts

• What is Cinematography? →
• Understanding Story Structure →
• How Does Rotten Tomatoes Work? →

Movie Review Example and Writers

Iconic film review writers.

The field of film criticism has been significantly influenced by several notable writers who have left a lasting impact on the industry. These writers, through their insightful analyses and thought-provoking perspectives, have shaped the way we perceive and appreciate films.

Their contributions have not only elevated the art of film criticism but have also enriched our understanding of cinema as a whole. 

Roger Ebert

Known for his acerbic wit and insightful commentaries, Ebert was one of the most influential film critics. His reviews, published in the Chicago Sun-Times for over four decades, were known for their accessible writing style and keen observations.

Pauline Kael

Writing for The New Yorker, Kael was known for her passionate and provocative reviews. She championed many underappreciated films and filmmakers, influencing public opinion and the course of American cinema.

Pauline Kael on Criticism

Andrew sarris.

A leading proponent of the auteur theory in America, Sarris's writings in The Village Voice and The New York Observer have had a profound impact on the way films are analyzed and appreciated.

Leonard Maltin

Renowned for his annual publication, "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide," Maltin's reviews are known for their succinctness and precision. His work has guided generations of moviegoers.

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide

These critics, with their unique perspectives and styles, have made enduring contributions to film criticism, influencing not just audiences but filmmakers as well.

Film reviews, like the movies themselves, are a form of art. They capture the essence of a film, dissect it, and present it to the audience in a refined form. With their insightful analysis, they help us, the viewers, to better understand and appreciate cinema. 

Remember, a review is not meant to replace or reflect your own judgment of a film but to complement and deepen your viewing pleasure. So, read, watch, and form your own judgment — because nothing compares to your own cinematic experience.

How Does Rotten Tomatoes Work?

As we delve deeper into the world of film reviews and their unique influence, let's turn our attention to a specific and influential platform. In the next article, we explore the intricacies of the Rotten Tomatoes ratings system.

Up Next: Rotten Tomatoes Explained →

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Film: Movie Reviews and Film Criticism

• Movie Reviews and Film Criticism
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Finding Movie Reviews and Film Criticism

Film criticism provides evidence for Film & Digital Arts criticism assignments. This research guide distinguishes movie reviews from film criticism and pr ovides resources that will help you find criticism and reviews. See the Articles & Databases and Web Resources sections of this research guide for a list of search tools.

Movie Reviews

The purpose of a movie review is consumer in nature. The reviewer is making a judgment about the quality of the movie with the intention of telling the reader whether or not it is worth the time, effort, and money to watch. The reviewer assumes that the reader has not seen the movie and therefore is careful to reveal no spoilers. Reviews tend to be written when the movie is released into theaters, on video or DVD, or in streaming. The quality of reviews varies greatly, ranging from a simple plot summary with a thumbs up or thumbs down to an in-depth examination informed by expertise from film schools and years of film analysis and reviews. Regardless, the purpose of a review is to make a viewing recom mendation.

Examples of movie reviews of Pulp Fiction include:

• James Berardinelli
• Roger Ebert
• Andrew Wickliffe

Film Criticism

The purpose of film criticism is scholarly in nature. The film scholar is also making a judgment of the quality, but is doing so with the intention of making an argument about the meaning of the film or films by providing reasoned consideration and evidence. The scholar assumes that the reader has seen the film in order to better engage the argument – spoilers are irrelevant.

Film scholars have a distinct lens that they use in interpreting films. Their arguments might be based on filmmaker intent with an auteur lens, a formalist analysis of style and aesthetics or visual narrative, or an examination of the biographical or historical context. Their arguments might disconnect and dismantle the meaning of the film from its author’s intent by making a poststructuralist, semiotic, psychoanalytic, or literary analysis from the perspective of the viewer and of society. Their arguments might be a means to social justice intending to challenge the dominant power structures and the status quo by applying ideological Marxist, feminist, postcolonial, or queer approaches. Regardless, the purpose of criticism is to make a scholarly argument.

Examples of film criticism of Pulp Fiction include (you will need to be on campus or logged in to view):

• Davis, Todd F., and Kenneth Womack. “Shepherding the Weak: The Ethics of Redemption in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction.’” Literature Film Quarterly , vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 1998, p. 60-66. EBSCOhost permalink .
• Jewers, Caroline. “Heroes and Heroin: From ‘True Romance’ to ‘Pulp Fiction.’” Journal of Popular Culture , vol. 33, 2000, pp. 39-61. Link
• Kimball, A.Samuel. “‘Bad-Ass Dudes’ in Pulp Fiction: Homophobia and the Counterphobic Idealization of Women.” Quarterly Review of Film & Video , vol. 16, no. 2, Sept. 1997, pp. 171-192. Link

Criticism as Evidence

As in criticism, the purpose of film assignments tends to be making your own argument about a film or films using reasoned consideration and evidence. The nature of the evidence that will best serve your needs is criticism, not reviews. This research guide shows how to find both criticism and reviews, because the simple fact is that not all films receive critical treatment, but virtually all are reviewed. In those cases where there is no criticism available, you may use reviews as a starting point, especially if they are the more in-depth examinations informed by expertise. However, you will most likely end up making your own reasoned consideration a centerpiece of the study without providing the evidence a film criticism provides.

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50 Film Analysis

Film analysis, what this handout is about.

This handout provides a brief definition of film analysis compared to literary analysis, provides an introduction to common types of film analysis, and offers strategies and resources for approaching assignments.

What is film analysis, and how does it differ from literary analysis?

Film analysis is the process in which film is analyzed in terms of semiotics, narrative structure, cultural context, and mise-en-scene, among other approaches. If these terms are new to you, don’t worry—they’ll be explained in the next section.

Analyzing film, like  analyzing literature (fiction texts, etc.) , is a form of rhetorical analysis—critically analyzing and evaluating discourse, including words, phrases, and images. Having a clear argument and supporting evidence is every bit as critical to film analysis as to other forms of academic writing.

Unlike literature, film incorporates audiovisual elements and therefore introduces a new dimension to analysis. Ultimately, however, analysis of film is not too different. Think of all the things that make up a scene in a film: the actors, the lighting, the angles, the colors. All of these things may be absent in literature, but they are deliberate choices on the part of the director, producer, or screenwriter—as are the words chosen by the author of a work of literature. Furthermore, literature and film incorporate similar elements. They both have plots, characters, dialogue, settings, symbolism, and, just as the elements of literature can be analyzed for their intent and effect, these elements can be analyzed the same way in film.

Different types of film analysis

Listed here are common approaches to film analysis, but this is by no means an exhaustive list, and you may have discussed other approaches in class. As with any other assignment, make sure you understand your professor’s expectations. This guide is best used to understand prompts or, in the case of more open-ended assignments, consider the different ways to analyze film.

Keep in mind that any of the elements of film can be analyzed, oftentimes in tandem. A single film analysis essay may simultaneously include all of the following approaches and more. As Jacques Aumont and Michel Marie propose in Analysis of Film, there is no correct, universal way to write film analysis.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the analysis of meaning behind signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors, analogies, and symbolism.

This doesn’t necessarily need to be something dramatic; think about how you extrapolate information from the smallest signs in your day to day life. For instance, what characteristics can tell you about someone’s personality? Something as simple as someone’s appearance can reveal information about them. Mismatched shoes and bedhead might be a sign of carelessness (or something crazy happened that morning!), while an immaculate dress shirt and tie would suggest that the person is prim and proper. Continuing in that vein:

• What might you be able to infer about characters from small hints?
• How are these hints (signs) used to construct characters? How do they relate to the relative role of those characters, or the relationships between multiple characters?

Symbols denote concepts (liberty, peace, etc.) and feelings (hate, love, etc.) that they often have nothing to do with. They are used liberally in both literature and film, and finding them uses a similar process. Ask yourself:

• In Frozen Elsa’s gloves appear in multiple scenes.
• Her gloves are first given to her by her father to restrain her magic. She continues to wear them throughout the coronation scene, before finally, in the Let It Go sequence, she throws them away.

Again, the method of semiotic analysis in film is similar to that of literature. Think about the deeper meaning behind objects or actions.

• Elsa’s gloves represent fear of her magic and, by extension, herself. Though she attempts to contain her magic by hiding her hands within gloves and denying part of her identity, she eventually abandons the gloves in a quest for self-acceptance.

Narrative structure analysis

Narrative structure analysis is the analysis of the story elements, including plot structure, character motivations, and theme. Like the dramatic structure of literature (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), film has what is known as the Three-Act Structure: “Act One: Setup, Act Two: Confrontation, and Act Three: Resolution.” Narrative structure analysis breaks the story of the film into these three elements and might consider questions like:

• How does the story follow or deviate from typical structures?
• What is the effect of following or deviating from this structure?
• What is the theme of the film, and how is that theme constructed?

Consider again the example of Frozen. You can use symbolism and narrative structure in conjunction by placing the symbolic objects/events in the context of the narrative structure. For instance, the first appearance of the gloves is in Act One, while their abandoning takes place in Act Two; thus, the story progresses in such a way that demonstrates Elsa’s personal growth. By the time of Act Three, the Resolution, her aversion to touch (a product of fearing her own magic) is gone, reflecting a theme of self-acceptance.

Contextual analysis

Contextual analysis is analysis of the film as part of a broader context. Think about the culture, time, and place of the film’s creation. What might the film say about the culture that created it? What were/are the social and political concerns of the time period? Or, like researching the author of a novel, you might consider the director, producer, and other people vital to the making of the film. What is the place of this film in the director’s career? Does it align with his usual style of directing, or does it move in a new direction? Other examples of contextual approaches might be analyzing the film in terms of a civil rights or feminist movement.

For example, Frozen is often linked to the LGBTQ social movement. You might agree or disagree with this interpretation, and, using evidence from the film, support your argument.

Some other questions to consider:

• How does the meaning of the film change when seen outside of its culture?
• What characteristics distinguishes the film as being of its particular culture?

Mise-en-scene analysis

Mise-en-scene analysis is analysis of the arrangement of compositional elements in film—essentially, the analysis of audiovisual elements that most distinctly separate film analysis from literary analysis. Remember that the important part of a mise-en-scene analysis is not just identifying the elements of a scene, but explaining the significance behind them.

• What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
• How does the film attempt to achieve its goal by the way it looks, and does it succeed?

Audiovisual elements that can be analyzed include (but are not limited to): props and costumes, setting, lighting, camera angles, frames, special effects, choreography, music, color values, depth, placement of characters, etc. Mise-en-scene is typically the most foreign part of writing film analysis because the other components discussed are common to literary analysis, while mise-en-scene deals with elements unique to film. Using specific film terminology bolsters credibility, but you should also consider your audience. If your essay is meant to be accessible to non-specialist readers, explain what terms mean. The Resources section of this handout has links to sites that describe mise-en-scene elements in detail.

Rewatching the film and creating screen captures (still images) of certain scenes can help with detailed analysis of colors, positioning of actors, placement of objects, etc. Listening to the soundtrack can also be helpful, especially when placed in the context of particular scenes.

Some example questions:

• How is the lighting used to construct mood? Does the mood shift at any point during the film, and how is that shift in mood created?
• What does the setting say about certain characters? How are props used to reveal aspects of their personality?
• What songs were used, and why were they chosen? Are there any messages in the lyrics that pertain to the theme?

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing film analysis is similar to writing literary analysis or any argumentative essay in other disciplines: Consider the assignment and prompts, formulate a thesis (see the  Brainstorming Handout  and  Thesis Statement Handout  for help crafting a nuanced argument), compile evidence to prove your thesis, and lay out your argument in the essay. Your evidence may be different from what you are used to. Whereas in the English essay you use textual evidence and quotes, in a film analysis essay, you might also include audiovisual elements to bolster your argument.

When describing a sequence in a film, use the present tense, like you would write in the literary present when describing events of a novel, i.e. not “Elsa took off her gloves,” but “Elsa takes off her gloves.” When quoting dialogue from a film, if between multiple characters, use block quotes: Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin. However, conventions are flexible, so ask your professor if you are unsure. It may also help to follow the formatting of the script, if you can find it. For example:

ELSA: But she won’t remember I have powers? KING: It’s for the best.

You do not need to use quotation marks for blocked-off dialogue, but for shorter quotations in the main text, quotation marks should be double quotes (“…”).

Here are some tips for approaching film analysis:

• Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Focus your argument by choosing a specific issue to assess.
• Review your materials. Rewatch the film for nuances that you may have missed in the first viewing. With your thesis in mind, take notes as you watch. Finding a screenplay of the movie may be helpful, but keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
• Develop a thesis and an outline, organizing your evidence so that it supports your argument. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment—make sure that your thesis answers what the prompt asks, and check with your professor if you are unsure.
• Move beyond only describing the audiovisual elements of the film by considering the significance of your evidence. Demonstrate understanding of not just what film elements are, but why and to what effect they are being used. For more help on using your evidence effectively, see ‘Using Evidence In An Argument’ in the  Evidence Handout .

New York Film Academy Glossary Movie Outline Glossary Movie Script Database Citation Practices: Film and Television

Works Consulted

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the  UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. L’analyse Des Films. Paris: Nathan, 1988. Print. Pruter, Robin Franson. “Writing About Film.” Writing About Film. DePaul University, 08 Mar. 2004. Web. 01 May 2016.

Film Analysis Copyright © 2020 by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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FIAF provides coverage to more than 300 academic and popular film and television journals from 1972 to the present. 

Link your search terms using the AND connector. For example: "horror films" and japanese. On the search results screen, use the options on the left toolbar to narrow your search results. To find the fulltext of the article, click on the "Check for Full Text" button and work your way through the screens. Not all articles will be online, some may only be in print, others may not be available at the UW. Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested via Interlibrary loan.

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Film Analysis

What this handout is about.

This handout introduces film analysis and and offers strategies and resources for approaching film analysis assignments.

Writing the film analysis essay

Writing a film analysis requires you to consider the composition of the film—the individual parts and choices made that come together to create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond the analysis of the film as literature to include camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices, editing, etc. in making an argument. The first step to analyzing the film is to watch it with a plan.

Watching the film

First it’s important to watch the film carefully with a critical eye. Consider why you’ve been assigned to watch a film and write an analysis. How does this activity fit into the course? Why have you been assigned this particular film? What are you looking for in connection to the course content? Let’s practice with this clip from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). Here are some tips on how to watch the clip critically, just as you would an entire film:

• Give the clip your undivided attention at least once. Pay close attention to details and make observations that might start leading to bigger questions.
• Watch the clip a second time. For this viewing, you will want to focus specifically on those elements of film analysis that your class has focused on, so review your course notes. For example, from whose perspective is this clip shot? What choices help convey that perspective? What is the overall tone, theme, or effect of this clip?
• Take notes while you watch for the second time. Notes will help you keep track of what you noticed and when, if you include timestamps in your notes. Timestamps are vital for citing scenes from a film!

For more information on watching a film, check out the Learning Center’s handout on watching film analytically . For more resources on researching film, including glossaries of film terms, see UNC Library’s research guide on film & cinema .

Brainstorming ideas

Once you’ve watched the film twice, it’s time to brainstorm some ideas based on your notes. Brainstorming is a major step that helps develop and explore ideas. As you brainstorm, you may want to cluster your ideas around central topics or themes that emerge as you review your notes. Did you ask several questions about color? Were you curious about repeated images? Perhaps these are directions you can pursue.

If you’re writing an argumentative essay, you can use the connections that you develop while brainstorming to draft a thesis statement . Consider the assignment and prompt when formulating a thesis, as well as what kind of evidence you will present to support your claims. Your evidence could be dialogue, sound edits, cinematography decisions, etc. Much of how you make these decisions will depend on the type of film analysis you are conducting, an important decision covered in the next section.

After brainstorming, you can draft an outline of your film analysis using the same strategies that you would for other writing assignments. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind as you prepare for this stage of the assignment:

• Make sure you understand the prompt and what you are being asked to do. Remember that this is ultimately an assignment, so your thesis should answer what the prompt asks. Check with your professor if you are unsure.
• In most cases, the director’s name is used to talk about the film as a whole, for instance, “Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo .” However, some writers may want to include the names of other persons who helped to create the film, including the actors, the cinematographer, and the sound editor, among others.
• When describing a sequence in a film, use the literary present. An example could be, “In Vertigo , Hitchcock employs techniques of observation to dramatize the act of detection.”
• Finding a screenplay/script of the movie may be helpful and save you time when compiling citations. But keep in mind that there may be differences between the screenplay and the actual product (and these differences might be a topic of discussion!).
• Go beyond describing basic film elements by articulating the significance of these elements in support of your particular position. For example, you may have an interpretation of the striking color green in Vertigo , but you would only mention this if it was relevant to your argument. For more help on using evidence effectively, see the section on “using evidence” in our evidence handout .

Also be sure to avoid confusing the terms shot, scene, and sequence. Remember, a shot ends every time the camera cuts; a scene can be composed of several related shots; and a sequence is a set of related scenes.

Different types of film analysis

As you consider your notes, outline, and general thesis about a film, the majority of your assignment will depend on what type of film analysis you are conducting. This section explores some of the different types of film analyses you may have been assigned to write.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is the interpretation of signs and symbols, typically involving metaphors and analogies to both inanimate objects and characters within a film. Because symbols have several meanings, writers often need to determine what a particular symbol means in the film and in a broader cultural or historical context.

For instance, a writer could explore the symbolism of the flowers in Vertigo by connecting the images of them falling apart to the vulnerability of the heroine.

Here are a few other questions to consider for this type of analysis:

• What objects or images are repeated throughout the film?
• How does the director associate a character with small signs, such as certain colors, clothing, food, or language use?
• How does a symbol or object relate to other symbols and objects, that is, what is the relationship between the film’s signs?

Many films are rich with symbolism, and it can be easy to get lost in the details. Remember to bring a semiotic analysis back around to answering the question “So what?” in your thesis.

Narrative analysis

Narrative analysis is an examination of the story elements, including narrative structure, character, and plot. This type of analysis considers the entirety of the film and the story it seeks to tell.

For example, you could take the same object from the previous example—the flowers—which meant one thing in a semiotic analysis, and ask instead about their narrative role. That is, you might analyze how Hitchcock introduces the flowers at the beginning of the film in order to return to them later to draw out the completion of the heroine’s character arc.

To create this type of analysis, you could consider questions like:

• How does the film correspond to the Three-Act Structure: Act One: Setup; Act Two: Confrontation; and Act Three: Resolution?
• What is the plot of the film? How does this plot differ from the narrative, that is, how the story is told? For example, are events presented out of order and to what effect?
• Does the plot revolve around one character? Does the plot revolve around multiple characters? How do these characters develop across the film?

When writing a narrative analysis, take care not to spend too time on summarizing at the expense of your argument. See our handout on summarizing for more tips on making summary serve analysis.

Cultural/historical analysis

One of the most common types of analysis is the examination of a film’s relationship to its broader cultural, historical, or theoretical contexts. Whether films intentionally comment on their context or not, they are always a product of the culture or period in which they were created. By placing the film in a particular context, this type of analysis asks how the film models, challenges, or subverts different types of relations, whether historical, social, or even theoretical.

For example, the clip from Vertigo depicts a man observing a woman without her knowing it. You could examine how this aspect of the film addresses a midcentury social concern about observation, such as the sexual policing of women, or a political one, such as Cold War-era McCarthyism.

A few of the many questions you could ask in this vein include:

• How does the film comment on, reinforce, or even critique social and political issues at the time it was released, including questions of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality?
• How might a biographical understanding of the film’s creators and their historical moment affect the way you view the film?
• How might a specific film theory, such as Queer Theory, Structuralist Theory, or Marxist Film Theory, provide a language or set of terms for articulating the attributes of the film?

Take advantage of class resources to explore possible approaches to cultural/historical film analyses, and find out whether you will be expected to do additional research into the film’s context.

Mise-en-scène analysis

A mise-en-scène analysis attends to how the filmmakers have arranged compositional elements in a film and specifically within a scene or even a single shot. This type of analysis organizes the individual elements of a scene to explore how they come together to produce meaning. You may focus on anything that adds meaning to the formal effect produced by a given scene, including: blocking, lighting, design, color, costume, as well as how these attributes work in conjunction with decisions related to sound, cinematography, and editing. For example, in the clip from Vertigo , a mise-en-scène analysis might ask how numerous elements, from lighting to camera angles, work together to present the viewer with the perspective of Jimmy Stewart’s character.

To conduct this type of analysis, you could ask:

• What effects are created in a scene, and what is their purpose?
• How does this scene represent the theme of the movie?
• How does a scene work to express a broader point to the film’s plot?

This detailed approach to analyzing the formal elements of film can help you come up with concrete evidence for more general film analysis assignments.

Reviewing your draft

Once you have a draft, it’s helpful to get feedback on what you’ve written to see if your analysis holds together and you’ve conveyed your point. You may not necessarily need to find someone who has seen the film! Ask a writing coach, roommate, or family member to read over your draft and share key takeaways from what you have written so far.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Aumont, Jacques, and Michel Marie. 1988. L’analyse Des Films . Paris: Nathan.

Media & Design Center. n.d. “Film and Cinema Research.” UNC University Libraries. Last updated February 10, 2021. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/filmresearch .

Oxford Royale Academy. n.d. “7 Ways to Watch Film.” Oxford Royale Academy. Accessed April 2021. https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/7-ways-watch-films-critically/ .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Reviews vs. Other Articles

A film review is a critique published in a magazine, newspaper, or online at the time the film is released.

Articles analyzing films are written by scholars and are published in scholarly journals after the film comes out. 

Some publications, such as Variety , are devoted to the film industry and contain articles about grosses, studios, etc.

Databases of Articles and Reviews

• FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window These archives index more than 500,000 articles from 340 film journals, dating from 1972 onward. The database also incorporates the International Index to TV Periodicals, Treasures from the Film Archives, which identifies silent film holdings in archives around the world, and the International Directory of Film/TV Documentation Collections. more... less... The full-text version of the index, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Plus, adds searchable full text from many of the most important FIAF journals, including full-text coverage of FIAF index records from key titles such as Sight and Sound and Positif. Both resources provide in-depth, discipline-specific indexing and abstracts, with full searching functionality and citation management support.
• Film and Television Literature Index This link opens in a new window A comprehensive bibliographic database covering the entire spectrum of television and film writing. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
• MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association) This link opens in a new window This bibliography covers literature, languages, linguistics, film and folklore from over 4,000 journals and series published worldwide between 1926 and the present.
• Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window This database includes articles from magazines, major newspapers, and some scholarly journals. An excellent source for reviews.
• Project Muse This link opens in a new window A database of full-text journals in a variety of the humanities and social science disciplines. It covers recent years including current issues and for some journals serves as an update to JSTOR.

Reviews from the Past

• New York Times (Historical:1851-2014) This link opens in a new window Full text image of the newspaper (1851-2014). For current online access see the New York Times entry.
• America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window America's Historical Newspapers contains local and regional newspapers from the United States including including Early American Newspapers Series 1-8, 1690-1922, Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980, African American Newspapers, 1827-1998, and Caribbean Newspapers, Series 1, 1718-1876.
• Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new window An index to popular American periodicals from 1890-1982. Contains comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and reflects the history of late 19th through 20th century America. (1890-1982)
• Media History Digital Library This link opens in a new window Extensive runs of several important trade papers and fan magazines, such as Film Daily and Moving Picture World.
• Times Digital Archive (London), 1785-2019 This link opens in a new window The full text of the Times from 1785-1985
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• FIAF Index to Film Periodicals Plus This link opens in a new window FIAF Plus includes the main database, the "International Index to Film Periodicals," an essential tool for film studies, created by the International Federation of Film Archives, which contains over 500,000 article citations from more than 345 of the world's foremost academic and popular film journals dating from 1972 to the present. The full-text of articles from over 50 journals is also available.
• Film Index International This link opens in a new window Film Index International, produced in collaboration with the British Film Institute, offers detailed film information on over 125,000 films from more than 170 countries from the first silent movies to current. FII also includes a personality database covering over 900,000 profiles along with searchable plot summaries, full cast and crew lists, references in film journals and international film awards and prizes.
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A movie review is an article that is published in a newspaper, magazine, or scholarly work that describes and evaluates a movie. Reviews are typically written by journalists giving their opinion of the movie. Some reviews include score (4 out of 5 stars) or recommendations (thumbs up). Since reviews are printed in many different kinds of publications, you may need to search several sources.

A movie criticism is written by a scholar or expert in film studies to discuss the movie within a historical, social, political, or theoretical context. It differs from the opinion or recommendation that a movie review provides in terms of length, content and focus. Criticisms can be found in cinema studies journals as well as discipline-specific sources, depending on the plot or themes of the movie.

Reviews and criticisms are produced after the release of a movie, whether that is its initial release to theatres, or a release in a home video format. Knowing the initial release date(s) will help refine your search. Also note that nationwide release of movies only started in the 1980s; earlier films were released on different dates in different parts of the country. So a movie reviewed in New York City of Los Angeles may not have been reviewed for months or years later in smaller cities. The Internet Movie Database is an excellent source for release dates. Finally, movies can be remade, so you will want to be sure you are finding reviews or criticisms for the correct film; knowing the director or major stars will help refine your search results.

Many sources will only give a citation for the review or criticism. Use that citation to track down the complete text of the article.

Movie review and critique databases

General interest databases.

Reviews and criticisms can be found in general interest databases. Note the date range covered by each database and select ones that cover the time after the release of your movie. Search the title of the movie (as a phrase when possible) and include the director's last name if more than one film by that title exists.

Print indexes

Since most databases cover only more recent years, finding reviews for older movies may require using a print index. Check the catalog record for each index to see if it covers the dates required. Use the volume corresponding to the year of publication for your book and the year or two after.. (Several of these indexes have been moved to off-campus storage; you'll have to request for them to be brought back to Newman to use them.)

Freely available movie review websites

A large number of websites provide access to movie reviews, either the full text of the review, or at least a citation you can use to track down the full text.

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The following sources will help you locate film reviews and criticism. In order to find a film review, you need to know the film title and film release date. If you do not have this information, consult either Halliwell's Film Guide , the Oxford Companion to Film , the International Directory of Films and Filmmakers (Vol. 1) or the Motion Picture Guide .

What are the differences between film reviews and film criticism?

Film reviews are written for the general public by usually journalists or other non-academics and appear in newspapers, magazines or online around the time the film is released in theatres. Their purpose is to describe the plot, characters, director, etc in order to help determine whether or not a film should be seen.

Film criticism is the study, interpretation and evaluation of a film with regard to issues such as historical context, theory or technical analysis. Film criticism is written by academics and is published in books or scholarly journals. It may sometimes address a specific apsect of a ilm or focus on the work of a particul director or genre. Critical reviews may be published many years after a film is released.

Databases for Finding Reviews & Criticism

Film and Television Literature Index Comprehensive bibliographic database to film and television literature

Additional Review Resources Online

Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE)

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A Film Review is generally an article that is published in an online or print newspaper, magazine, or scholarly work that describes and evaluates a film. A review  often offers an opinion or focuses on making a recommendation.  

Film Criticism is generally written by an expert in film studies or film scholar. The criticism  often presents the film within a specific context (theoretical, social, political or historical) while drawing on a larger dialog and positioning their argument within the field. 

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Film Writing: Essays vs Reviews

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In any sector where publishing one’s writing, there are various types into which one can subvert their writing style. The four most basic are expository, narrative, descriptive and persuasive. When it comes to writing for film and media, though, all four of these sorts can be used. For example, both descriptive and persuasive writing could be used in a review or essay in which the reader’s objective is to convince their audience based on what has been written.

Although film essays and film reviews take the form of a number of writing styles, there are often misconceptions between the two. Reviews often generally talk to the entire audience who have not seen a film and write in the first-person, whereas the film essay targets an academic audience and has a more specific process with a set of rules.

Having briefly outlined the difference between film essays and film reviews, this article will now elaborate on each writing style by answering the following questions – Why do they differ? What are their approaches? How long should they be? Who are the target readers? What is to be included in the main body? What style of language should be used? How do they use exterior sources? What are the results and how should they conclude?

Film Essays

How do essays work.

Although it can often depend on the subject area, writing essays is a fundamental task for any forthcoming assignments during college and higher education studies. It is represented as an assessment tool that exemplifies not only your academic writing skills, but further evaluation on critical thinking within your subject. The essay follows a simple structure – a beginning, middle and end, but how they are delivered is entirely down to the writer and the reader’s critical interpretation.

The essay is required to go into more depth about a certain topic, but how it is written is specific. Regarding film and media, the essay needs to critically analyse relevant elements from a film (or group of them), which serve as examples when arguing the essay’s question. These examples could be chosen based on one’s own ideas, which are simply formulated into an argument. For instance, one might want to write an essay about Quentin Tarantino and his repeated use of violence. The response to writing it would simply be to use scene examples and analyse them to structure that argument.

How could film academics approach essays?

It is firstly important to point out that when writing essays, there is no right or wrong answer. In the medium of film, especially, because we go into the films with different expectations and have various opinions. However, there is a right and wrong answer as to how the academic takes their approach to their work. Unlike reviews, you cannot write about how you feel and what you think in an essay.

Considering this, there are questions that the writer needs to ask themselves when approaching essays – what evidence am I showing? Why is the content relevant? How am I going to support these claims from ideas I’ve gathered? The writer originates their ideas from indications in films, but the execution of the written analysis must be at an academic style. Also, the ideas are usually meant to be timely in connection to why the idea is important now, which is what the second question indicated. You are voicing your interpretation of an idea, but the paper contents are practically like a report and critique of your observations.

For example, one may write an analysis about differences between dreams and reality in Christopher Nolan’s Inception . One would not illustrate their own opinion in an essay, but would look at relevant aspects to further examine the point. These may include analysis of mise-en-scéne, props, figural expressions from characters and how the camera shots are created. Using evidence from the film, and analysing it, the academic writer can then justify their arguments.

How long should the essay be?

Film essays require not only analysis of relevant scenes relating to the essay question or hypothesis, they are also dependent on research and literature relating to the topic. In this sense, the writer needs the required space to fit in both the literature, whether using quotes or paraphrased sentences, and one’s own analysis. This can often be difficult due to a word limit (which can vary from 1000 words or more), but the key to a good film essay is that it is only establishes the most important points, using both the literature and scenes or characters used for analysis.

Who are the essay’s target readers?

The essay is aimed at an academic reader. In particular regards to the academic, the key individuals could either be lecturers within the industry or individuals working in a research faculty. The film essay could also be a useful resource for people, such as students, who are either required to write about a related subject or will use the essay’s research in their work towards an independent project (such as a Master’s or PhD thesis). Of course, anyone can choose to read the essays but their target readers are primarily academics or learning ones.

What is to be included in the essay’s main body?

The idea of a main body in an essay format is for each paragraph to serve as a mini-answer to the question, but not one which finalises it. Each section must be a valid explanation from analysis that contributes to your final answer, which comes in the conclusion. This could either be factual information (which could surprise the reader) or a justifiable example. The purpose of the paragraph must be necessary, too, in order to help support the argument claim.

For example, an essay question may ask – “to what extent does Alfred Hitchc*ck display the auteur theory and male gaze in his films?” In this one, both of these theories must be researched, applied to Hitchc*ck , then textually analysis must be done of the relevant films. Those concerning the male gaze being films such as Rear Window and Vertigo , while sequences from North by Northwest , Psycho and The Birds may be more applicable to the auteur theory. Scenes analysed, therefore, support the essay claim based on the title and justify the arguments. This strategy is to be repeated in the main body before drawing up your summarised conclusion.

What style of language should be used in the essay?

When writing essays in general, there are boundaries concerning style of written language. Although the reader knows that the author is writing in their own voice from their own idea, they are not speaking the voice of opinion. The reader must be on an equal level to the writer. So, how does the essay formulate its written style without it being too opinionated?

The fact that they target academics already suggests a specific tool must be used. In addition to writing expressively in an analytical style, we must use referencing. It is a clear mention to an academic’s former research and a side note to how your work applies, which clearly differs from reviews. From that argument elaborated from somebody else’s work, you then create your own ideas and assumptions. However, first-person terms such as “I think…”, “my” or generally “I” should be avoided. Follow this guideline from Cite This For Me  for help with referencing.

Instead of speaking in first-person, the idea at academic level is to use a sentence structure such as – “According to Laura Mulvey , the male gaze is defined as…” before continuing with a direct or paraphrased quote. An in-text reference is to be included, too, for two reasons – to clarify the quoted source and to avoid plagiarism.

How should we use exterior sources for the essay?

When writing at academic level, there are still rules to follow concerning how authors use other academic sources. Now, whether it is at essay level or mere film review standards, editors and academics still expect to see certain regulations. An essay is heavily reliant on researched literature to support one’s own claims.

Laura Mulvey is a renowned example of a film theorist whose work on the male gaze shaped film and media studies, namely through her essay titled here .

Some of these literature sources can be implemented in an essay and can serve to underpin and support one’s own claims. For instance, some may want to write about Immanuel Kant’s philosophy on morality in relation to a drama film or Charles Darwin/Francis Galton’s theory of evolution and eugenics when discussing early science-fiction cinema. The writer is not to copy the academic’s work, but to instead utilise it in arguing their own original ideas.

What are the results and how should you conclude your essay?

It is particularly important to ensure that your results are the answers to your essay title, whether it is a question or not. The answers are all divided into several sections within the main body, but the summarised response comes at the very end in the conclusion. For example, an essay arguing about 3D cinema being the future or a financial gimmick should be concluded with a finalised summary of your findings. At the same time, there should still be room available either for readers to reflect on or for academics to elaborate further on the research.

Film Reviews

How do reviews work.

As opposed to essays, film reviews are heavily reliant on critical reception. They are written reports about a film and are from the viewpoint of the writer. The majority of reviews are published around the time of the film’s release, sometimes just before the premiere or during its theatrical run in the cinemas.

The film review critiques a film based on its featured elements, which could be acting, production aspects (such as lighting, cinematography or visual effects), narrative structure, screenwriting or directing. Its purpose is to weigh the ups and downs but, like an essay, to draw a conclusion as to whether the film is considered good, average or bad. To make it more interesting and engaging for the readers, reviews often appear in the form of star ratings with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest.

To learn more about critiquing the different elements of film, read this article on film analysis.

How could writers approach reviews?

The review is mainly from a biased, one-sided viewpoint and the idea is that relevant points discussed are meant to persuade the readers. It is not strictly forceful that people must go and see a film or not, but the implication is that expectations may change whether for good or bad. The reviewer’s words are intended to be reliable to other people who have yet to see the film, despite us knowing that all opinions differ. The question remains – if all our opinions differ, why do readers engage with another’s writing? It could be out of curiosity on whether a film they’ve wanted to see is good, or perhaps they hope the film will be bad.

Similar to an essay, it is crucial for the writer to know enough details about the film before writing the review. Apart from that, for reviews, writers gather the specifics from their own thoughts whereas academics base their writing more on factual information. It is fairer to the film for the writer to eventually draw up a reasonable decision about the film after watching it.

What about while actually watching a film? Some writers collect their thoughts afterwards when writing the review, but others may work easier by taking quick notes during the screening. This is entirely down to preference and memory skills, but both do prove to be viable strategies when approaching reviews throughout the film viewing. Taking notes may actually be useful, though, because key elements can easily be missed during a first-time viewing. Watching the film for a second time may be an option if note-taking is not the writer’s approach.

How long should reviews be?

A review is usually expected to be approximately 700-1000 words. It is written at this length because each of the aspects discussed within the review (acting, production, narrative, directing) are more concise, particularly as the points are made clearer for the reader. Also, as reviews are a personal account, it may seem boring to read page after page of a review when the reader’s opinion may differ. The length could distract from the reader’s enjoyment, particularly as it is from only the writer’s opinion. So, whether the writer enjoyed the film or not, keeping the written piece brief and straight to the point is the key to an exceptional film review.

Who are the review’s target readers?

As opposed to the essay, the review’s target audience is everybody . The entire purpose of the review is for its content to be persuasive and reliable enough for an audience to base its decision on. Readers can see published reviews in one of two ways – either in print or online (usually as part of a magazine or one’s personal blog). Both of these are popular mediums of publishing film reviews and as they are easily reachable to people now, the general public can access any of these sources and read reviews from there.

What is to be included in the review’s main body?

Similar to an essay, a review’s main body should include paragraphs featuring mini-responses to the eventual conclusion. A review needs to look for and discuss the following aspects – actors, structure, music, mise-en-scéne and possible connections with the audience (especially if any moral messages are included or the film raised controversy). Each of these characteristics could be summarised in a single paragraph, but as long as it meets a reasonable length and has concise language.

It may also be vital to highlight that the biggest fault of many reviews, especially these days, is their overwhelming use of spoilers. Anything like that should not be in the review at all. From a plot point to a character twist, it unfairly ruins the expectations and often excitement for the reader, but also the regard of the writer. It defeats the purpose, so no spoilers are to be included. Only include information that the reader already knows or should be thinking about during the expectation phase. However, spoilers can be included in the essay as their readers are expected to know all about the film as it centres more on analysis.

Reviewers instead analyse their points about a film and formulate their opinion through a valid argument. Furthermore, the review is a written discussion about a film and should not be written simply as first-person sentences. For example, comments like “ The Dark Knight Rises  was a good film but could have been better”, “I liked The Hangover because it was funny” and “I didn’t like The Exorcist because it was scary” are not enough. Why could The Dark Knight Rises have been better? Why was The Hangover funny? Why was The Exorcist too scary? These points need valid justification. They don’t have to be proof of anything, but could be aspects which may elicit further argument.

What style of language should be used in the review?

To elaborate from the previous point, the written language of a film review should be subject to the writer speaking in their own voice and creating their own interpretation. Reviews are written from a personal point-of-view but in a written form of expression. The writing aims to sell the opinion to persuade the reader but, depending on the publishing site, the reviewer can use first-person terms. Particularly if it is a personal blog that centres only on the opinions and thoughts of that writer, using first-person vocabulary such as “I” and “my” can be used.

However, if the review is going to be among the work of other reviewers as part of a specific business, whether online or print, then first-person can be dismissed. It is meant to be written as personal regardless, but, particularly if for a magazine, the idea is to pen the review professionally within a balanced structure.

How should we use exterior sources for the review?

Using literature as a supportive tool is not so relevant in writing film reviews because, as repeatedly stated, they are more centred on publishing from a personal perspective. They do not need to back up one’s idea or claim as a review is subject to individual opinion. The review does require valid reasoning in its claims, but only the academic essay uses resources to support theirs.

What are the results and how should you conclude your review?

Again like the essay, the results of the review are the findings you have gathered from the main body of your writing. The reviewer condenses their thoughts by drawing up a fair summary of whether a film should be seen or not. It should always conclude with a sense of excitement for the reader or, if a film is disappointing, a sense of dignity.

However, there are rules to consider when writing the conclusion of a review. The most fundamental problem of review conclusions is when the writer addresses the film with a personal attack. Opinions differ, of course, and it is understandable that a writer would want to express theirs but boundaries are crucial. A misstep like this could lead to controversial consequences, reflecting badly on the writer’s career. The review should conclude with the reader regenerating their own expectations based on what they have read. Therefore, the reviewer should be as expressive in writing the review as they should be equally generous to the reader.

So, which of these two film writing formats is easier to use – an essay or a review? It is a simple question that is difficult to answer as it is usually dependent on the writer’s preference. Although reviews are considered easier, as one can begin their writing by voicing their opinion, it is still a style that shouldn’t be compared to writing an essay. There is a similar process to doing them each properly, but the approach and eventual presentations of each are different from one another.

To put it simply, reviews are a journalistic style of writing for a general audience, whereas essays are more academic for scholars and researchers in higher education faculties. I have not declared which is the most useful or most creative format to use in relation to cinema, but instead raised the compare-and-contrasting points between writing film essays and film reviews. Therefore, clarifying for readers that despite being commonly misinterpreted as similar, they are different and there are different writing tools to use.

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Sam is 25 years old from the West Midlands region of the UK, who has a passion for the world of cinema and publishing. He is currently studying a postgraduate degree in Film & Television: Research and Production at the University of Birmingham. He is currently working in theatre and academic support.

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How to write a movie review [Updated 2023]

Writing a movie review is a great way to practice critical analysis skills. In this post, we explore what a movie review is, how to start a film review, and steps for writing and revising it.

What is a movie review?

A movie review is a concise evaluation of a film’s content and formal elements (cinematography, sound, lighting, etc.). Also known as a film review, a movie review considers not just what a film means, but how it means. Essentially, when you write a film review, you are conducting a critical analysis or close reading of a movie.

How to write a movie review

To write a successful review about a movie, you need to evaluate a film’s content, as well as its form. In this section, we break down these two components.

A film’s content includes its plot (what it’s about), characters, and setting. You’ll need to determine the main plot points of the film and how the film’s story works overall.

Are there parts that don’t make sense? Are certain characters more important than others? What is the relationship between the movie’s plot and its setting? A discussion of a film’s content provides good context for an analysis of its form.

Form refers to all of the aesthetic and/or formal elements that make a story into a movie. You can break down form into several categories:

• Cinematography : This element comprises all aspects of the movie that derive from the way a camera moves and works. You’ll need to pay attention to elements like camera angles, distances between the camera and the subject, and types of shots (i.e. close-up, aerial, etc.).
• Lighting : Films use lighting in various ways to communicate certain effects. For instance, noir films tend to utilize chiaroscuro lighting (deep contrasts between light and dark) to express a sense of secrecy or foreboding.
• Sound : The way a film uses sound can vary considerably. Most movies have a soundtrack, sometimes with music composed specifically for the film. Some films play around with ambient sounds or use silence at key points to signify important moments. What is the relation of sound to the image in specific scenes or sequences? Do sounds link images? Does it ever become more important than the image?
• Editing : The movies we watch online or in theaters have been heavily edited in order to achieve a particular flow. When you are preparing to write a movie review, pay close attention to elements like the length of shots, transitions between scenes, or any other items that were finalized after filming.
• Costumes, Props, and Sets : Are the costumes and props believable in relation to the film’s content and setting? Are costumes particularly elaborate or understated?

The important thing to remember when you are analyzing the formal elements of a movie is that every image, sound, movement, and object has meaning and has been planned. Your review needs to take into consideration how these elements work together with the film’s storyline to create a whole experience.

Once you’ve considered both the content and form of the movie that you’re reviewing, you can begin to evaluate the film as a whole. Is it a successful movie? Would you recommend it? Why or why not?

Step-by-step review writing tips

1. watch the movie.

The first time that you watch the movie, look for overarching themes or patterns, and establish what the film is primarily about. Take note of the main characters, as well as the setting.

2. Watch the movie again and take notes

Next, watch the movie again and take notes as you are doing so, keeping in mind the formal aspects discussed above. Write down anything that seems significant.

3. Evaluate the film’s form and content

Using the categories described above, and any handouts or guides provided by your instructor, evaluate the film’s formal elements along with its content. Are there elements of the movie that strike you as unfamiliar or perplexing? Are there elements that are repeated to emphasize a point or perception?

4. Write your review

A good movie review will contain:

• an introductory paragraph that tells the reader what movie you’re reviewing
• a paragraph that summarizes the movie
• several body paragraphs that explore significant formal elements and how they relate to the content
• a concluding paragraph that discusses your overall reaction to the film and whether or not you would recommend it to others

5. Create citations

You’ll need cite the film and any secondary sources that you consulted while writing. Use BibGuru’s citation generator to instantly create accurate citations for movies, as well as articles, books, and websites.

You may also want to consult a guide on how to cite a film in MLA or another major citation style .

6. Revise and proofread

Once you’ve written your review, you should set aside some time to revise and proofread it before you turn it in.

Movie review checklist

You can use this checklist to ensure that you’ve considered all of the formal elements, as well as the content, of the film that you’re reviewing:

🔲 Cinematography (camera moves and types of shots)

🔲 Lighting (natural vs. artificial light, contrasts between light and dark)

🔲 Sound (soundtrack, sound vs. silence, loud vs. soft sounds)

🔲 Editing (length of shots, transitions between scenes)

🔲 Costumes, props, and sets (believable vs. staged)

🔲 Content (plot, characters, setting)

Frequently Asked Questions about how to write a review about a movie

A movie review should contain a brief summary of the film, several paragraphs of analysis that focus on form and content, and a concluding paragraph that sums up your reaction.

Before you write anything, you need to watch the film at least once. Take notes as you’re watching and pay attention to formal elements and patterns. Then, write your review. The final step is to revise your work before you turn it in.

The tone for a movie review should be critical, yet objective. The goal of most reviews is to persuade a reader to either see a film or not.

The best film reviews balance plot summary with critical analysis of significant formal elements. A reader should be able to decide if she wants to see the film after reading the review.

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Sentiment analysis of movie reviews based on NB approaches using TF–IDF and count vectorizer

• Original Article
• Published: 16 April 2024
• Volume 14 , article number  87 , ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Mian Muhammad Danyal 1 , 2   na1 ,
• Sarwar Shah Khan 3 , 4 ,
• Muzammil Khan 3   na1 ,
• Subhan Ullah 2   na1 ,
• Muhammad Bilal Ghaffar 2   na1 &
• Wahab Khan 2   na1  

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Movies have been important in our lives for many years. Movies provide entertainment, inspire, educate, and offer an escape from reality. Movie reviews help us choose better movies, but reading them all can be time-consuming and overwhelming. To make it easier, sentiment analysis can classify movie reviews into positive and negative categories. Opinion mining (OP), called sentiment analysis (SA), uses natural language processing to identify and extract opinions expressed through text. Naive Bayes, a supervised learning algorithm, offers simplicity, efficiency, and strong performance in classification tasks due to its feature independence assumption. This study evaluates the performance of four Naïve Bayes variations using two vectorization techniques, Count Vectorizer and Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency (TF–IDF), on two movie review datasets: IMDb Movie Reviews Dataset and Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews. Bernoulli Naive Bayes achieved the highest accuracy using Count Vectorizer on the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes datasets. Multinomial Naive Bayes, on the other hand, achieved better accuracy on the IMDB dataset with TF–IDF. During preprocessing, we implemented different techniques to enhance the quality of our datasets. These included data cleaning, spelling correction, fixing chat words, lemmatization, and removing stop words. Additionally, we fine-tuned our models through hyperparameter tuning to achieve optimal results. Using TF–IDF, we observed a slight performance improvement compared to using the count vectorizer. The experiment highlights the significant role of sentiment analysis in understanding the attitudes and emotions expressed in movie reviews. By predicting the sentiments of each review and calculating the average sentiment of all reviews, it becomes possible to make an accurate prediction about a movie’s overall performance.

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Sentiment Analysis of IMDb Movie Reviews: A Comparative Analysis of Feature Selection and Feature Extraction Techniques

Sentiment Analysis through Word Vectors: A Study on Movie Reviews from IMDb

Complement Naive Bayes Classifier for Sentiment Analysis of Internet Movie Database

Data availibility statement.

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available through the Open Science Framework at https://github.com/Ankit152/IMDB-sentiment-analysis.git and https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/talha002/rottentomatoes-400k-review

Abbreviations

Aspect-based sentiment analysis

Artificial intelligence

Bag-of-words

Bernoulli Naive Bayes

Complement Naive Bayes

Cross-validation

Deep learning

Gaussian Naive Bayes

Grid search

Internet movie database

K-Nearest Neighbours

Support vector machines

Machine learning

Multinomial Naive Bayes

• Naive Bayes

Natural language processing

Natural language tool kit

Opinion mining

Rotten Tomatoes

True Positive

True Negative

False Positive

False Negative

• Sentiment analysis

Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency

Word to vector

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank everyone who helped us finish this research paper. We are grateful to the participants for their helpful feedback and ideas, which improved our research methods and the quality of our results. We appreciate everyone who gave their time to join our study, as this research wouldn’t have been possible without them. Thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute to this research paper.

This paper is for free publication.

Author information

Mian Muhammad Danyal, Muzammil Khan, Subhan Ullah, Muhammad Bilal Ghaffar, Wahab Khan have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

Center for Excellence in Information Technology, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, 24720, Pakistan

Mian Muhammad Danyal

Department of Computer Science, City University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar, 25000, Pakistan

Mian Muhammad Danyal, Subhan Ullah, Muhammad Bilal Ghaffar & Wahab Khan

Department of Computer and Software Technology, University of Swat, Swat, 19130, Pakistan

Sarwar Shah Khan & Muzammil Khan

Department of Computer Science, Iqra University Swat Campus, Swat, 19130, Pakistan

Sarwar Shah Khan

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Contributions

The author contributions are as follow: “Conceptualization, MMD and SSK; methodology, MBG and MK; software, MMD, SU; validation, SSK and WK; formal analysis, MK, WK, and MBG; investigation, SU; data curation, SU and SSK; writing-original draft preparation, MMD, and MBG; writing-review and editing, SSK; visualization, MBG, and MK.

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Correspondence to Muzammil Khan .

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Danyal, M.M., Khan, S.S., Khan, M. et al. Sentiment analysis of movie reviews based on NB approaches using TF–IDF and count vectorizer. Soc. Netw. Anal. Min. 14 , 87 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-024-01250-9

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Should we trust critics’ movie reviews?

We’ve all watched a movie because it had good reviews, and we’ve all been disappointed by at least one that didn’t live up to the hype. Obviously we know that cinematic tastes and preferences vary from individual to individual, but yet we often rely on the opinions of a small group of professionals to tell us whether we should watch something or not. These movie critics are well-respected and knowledgeable, but should we take their assessments with a pinch of salt?

That’s where Relative Insight comes in. Text analysis is the perfect tool to understand if public response echoes critic opinion. Relative Insight uses comparison methodology to uncover the similarities and differences between two sets of language data (aka anything with words).

In this case, we compiled a document of movie reviews taken from Rotten Tomatoes . After uploading nearly 200,000 words to the platform, we used Relative Insight to pinpoint the topics, words, phrases, grammar and emotion unique to reviews written by critics, and compared those to the reviews left by the movie-going public. Here’s what we found:

Critics avoided straight-forward assessments of films, favouring descriptive reports of the narrative and character portrayals, and we saw a diverse set of descriptive words ranging from grizzled to gargantuan. You won’t see a critic calling a movie ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but you will see them using adjectives to describe the film, its setting, characters, and the critic’s viewing experience. 

Our analysis saw critics exploring and noting the literary devices used throughout the film. They were able to recognize techniques like metaphor , allegory and narrative employed by writers and directors. These literary devices result in deeper meaning and garnered positive responses from critics.

Critics also recognized when films spoke to larger political or social movements . Reviews often mentioned the impact of a narrative on audiences in the context of current events. Films that succeeded in this challenge were favoured by critics. 

We found critics more likely to give directors and actors recognition for their performance or contribution to a film, and we also noticed how they stepped outside the fictional universe of the movie to evaluate the cast and crew by name – where normal audiences were more likely to use character names in their assessments. The selection of movie reviews we analyzed featured names like Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Robert Downey Jr. and Lupita Nyong’o.

Audience film reviews gave shorter, to the point analysis of films often relying on simple adjectives like good or bad, and these public reviewers often had very definite opinions on films. But these opinions from consumers varied greatly. While critics typically agreed on a film’s assessment, public opinion spanned a wide spectrum of judgement. 

Consumers seek excitement and suspense from a film. When a movie kept viewers on the edge of their seats, it was noted in the review. When a film failed to grab the viewer’s attention, it was their largest critique. This element could make or break a movie in the eyes of the viewer.

All’s well that ends well, right? Consumers valued the movie’s ending most over all other cinematic elements, using words like end and  final. If the film’s finale failed to offer a satisfying or shocking resolution, viewers were likely to be disappointed. 

Critics and consumers used different written language and techniques when reviewing movies . While critics provided detail and in-depth analysis, consumers used fewer words and simpler language to relay their opinions. 

This use of text analysis to compare audiences can be applied to a range of industries and demographics. Relative Insight analyzes any data set that contains words, including reviews, social media, forums and so much more.

Our technology works with existing metadata points to break down responses by different demographics including age or location, and these insights can uncover the unique opinions and preferences of a target audience, leading to powerful communications and marketing strategies.

Sign up to attend our upcoming webinar event “Are you passing the vibe check? How to talk to Gen Z” – if you can’t make it, register anyway and we’ll send you the recording.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, ford v ferrari.

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This racing picture is a period piece, set in the early 1960s, and there’s also something retro about the kind of movie storytelling it represents. Directed by James Mangold and given spectacular horsepower by dual male leads Christian Bale and Matt Damon , “Ford v Ferrari” recounts, in a sometimes exhilaratingly streamlined fashion, a tale of Motor City dominance-seeking that compels you to root for good guys who are doing the bidding of rather bad guys.

Damon plays Carroll Shelby, a champion racer whose hypertension forces retirement. His opening voiceover about what it feels like to hit 7,000 RPM with a car sets the tone in the “Why We Race” category. After hanging up his gloves/helmet in Hollywood, Shelby goes into car sales with a sideline in modification and design, and he also manages some racers, including the hotheaded Ken Miles, played with a cheeky, elastic physicality by Bale. Both fellows are at low ebbs when opportunity knocks.

The opportunity originates in Detroit. There, Henry Ford II, played by Tracy Letts as if he’s suffering incurable heartburn, is dissatisfied with things at the company founded by his grandfather. (While the car is never mentioned in the movie, the Edsel had made its disastrous debut four years prior to the action in this film beginning.) He wants new ideas, and he’s not too crazy about the one brought to him by youngish hotshot exec Lee Iacocca ( Jon Bernthal ). The idea is to buy the Italian car giant of the movie’s title. Enzo Ferrari not only refuses the Ford offer, he delivers, via Iacocca’s proxy, some vivid insults to Ford the Second. This hurts Ford’s pride. And makes him determined to best Ferrari’s cars on the race track of Le Mans, home of a 24-hour race that has never been won by an American car.

You don’t need to be a car person to appreciate the conventional but crackling human drama that animates “Ford v Ferrari.” On the one side, there’s Shelby and Miles. Both mavericks, but one with a little more give than the other. Tasked by Ford with creating not just a car but a racing team that can best Enzo’s, they go all out with Ford’s money. On the other side are the often truculent Ford and his second-in-command Leo Beebe ( Josh Lucas playing buttoned-up cocky). Beebe’s not an ambitious bootlicker. He’s something worse. He’s a guy who adheres to corporate principle because he actually believes it’s right. He doesn’t want Miles as the new car’s driver because the volatile “beatnik” (Beebe’s term) doesn’t conform to his or anyone’s idea of a “Ford man.” Beebe gets his way once, and it doesn’t work out for him.

But the thing about a character like this is if you thwart him once, he will just keep coming back. Beebe’s persistent attempts to screw Miles, in this film scripted by Jez Butterworth , John-Henry Butterworth , and Jason Keller , juice up the rooting interest aspect of the movie. As do its support characters: Caitriona Balfe as Miles’ wife, who is not, contrary to the usual practice in such films, a disapproving worrier; Noah Jupe as Miles' son who idolizes his dad unconditionally; Ray McKinnon as Shelby’s most trusted engineering lieutenant.

Damon is superb in the kind of role he excels at: a man of integrity who gets steered off the path and is subsequently righted. Lest all of this sound heavy, I should assure you that “Ford v Ferrari” is exactly as fun, maybe even more fun, than its well-put-together trailer makes it out to be. The dialogue is replete with zingers and the racing sequences are a blast. Mangold sticks to the verities and conveys high speeds and potentially deadly impacts with a lot of gusto; there’s very little that looks tricked-up or obviously animated.

As for the retro part, well it’s kind of sad: 30 or 40 years ago, a movie like “Ford v Ferrari” would be a staple of studio fare. Nowadays, it’s actually considered a risk, despite being, by an older standard, about as mainstream as mainstream gets. “Ford v Ferrari” delivers real cinema meat and potatoes. And its motor show spectacle deserves to be seen in a theater. 

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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‘The Idea of You’ Ending: The Difference Between the Book Vs. Movie

A nne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine’s movie has a different ending compared to that of the book. Find out how the movie ends versus the original story.

Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine successfully delivered one of the year’s most popular romance films. The Idea of You — based on Robinne Lee’s book with the same title — was released on Prime Video on May 2, and the movie’s ending is quite different from the original story. The cast and crew have teased audiences with their love of the book, but many fans haven’t even read it! So, how does the book end compared to the film?

Hollywood Life has broken down the differences between The Idea of You movie versus the book!

How Does ‘The Idea of You’ Movie End?

Nicholas’ character, Hayes Campbell, and Anne’s character, Soléne Marchand, have fallen in love and can’t help but stay together. Against all odds, the 40-year-old single mom and the 24-year-old boy band super star briefly split in the middle of the film because of a misunderstanding. Hayes’ bandmates from August Moon reveal to Soléne that he’s used the “Closer” song on other women before her, and she leaves Europe after telling him she’s “ashamed” of being with him due to their age gap.

After paparazzi pictures and tabloid headlines threaten to humiliate her, Soléne later apologizes to Hayes for what she said, and they quickly reconcile. Nevertheless, they still can’t be together because of one reason: Soléne’s daughter, Izzy, is being harassed and bullied by peers over her mother’s relationship. Soléne and Hayes agree to break up toward the end of the film, and they share one last kiss after exchanging emotional “I love yous.”

However, viewers don’t need to lose hope. Hayes asks Soléne to revisit their relationship in five years after Izzy goes off to college. During the film’s epilogue, Soléne is changing channels on TV one night and comes across an interview with Hayes. Hayes reveals he is now a solo artist and is returning to L.A. to visit someone, but he never reveals who. Shortly thereafter, Soléne and Hayes reunite at her art gallery.

The movie ends with Soléne’s tearful yet happy reaction upon seeing Hayes. Although viewers don’t know whether or not they actually get back together, it’s clear they still harbor strong feelings for one another.

‘The Idea of You’ Book Ending

The Idea of You book has a starkly different conclusion than the movie, and it broke readers’ hearts. Soléne does, in fact, end her romance with Hayes because they are at different phases in their lives. However, Hayes shows up at Soléne’s doorstep weeks later to inform her he has quit August Moon. Nevertheless, Soléne tells him he can’t end his career for her.

The two still hook up, but Soléne lies to Hayes by telling him she never actually loved him — only the idea of him. Hayes returns to his band but still texts her to tell her he loves her. After ignoring him for months, the book ends with Soléne admitting, “And then one day, [the texts] stopped. Long, long before I had stopped loving him.”

Why Does ‘The Idea of You’ Movie Have a Different Ending?

Director Michael Showalter understood that fans watching their movie needed more hope than they got from the book. Speaking with RadioTimes.com, the filmmaker explained why they made a different ending.

“I think, for me, it was more just as the filmmaker, and as a fan of romantic comedy and romantic movies, this felt like the kind of movie where we wanted to give the audience a hopeful ending,” he explained. “We certainly could have ended the movie in a different way. But for this story, we felt like a more uplifting ending was what would be most satisfying for our audience. And, ultimately, the audience is what matters most when making a movie like this.”

Screen Rant

10 details from jerry seinfeld's "true" pop-tarts movie that are shockingly accurate to real life.

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Bill Burr Playing JFK In A Pop-Tart Movie Is Not Something We Predicted, But We're Here For It

I'm very conflicted about jon hamm's return as don draper 9 years after mad men ended, unfrosted leaves out thurl ravenscroft's most iconic voice role after tony the tiger (you hear it every year).

• Kellogg's did find out about Post's breakfast pastry early, but not with spies.
• Kellogg's and Post Foods both started in Battle Creek, Michigan, close to each other.
• The Pop-Tart name was associated with Andy Warhol's pop art, not an accident.

Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is far from a true story, but these 10 details from Jerry Seinfeld's new Netflix movie are shockingly accurate to real life. Although Jerry Seinfeld's in-universe character Bob Cabana presents his tale as the true origin of the Pop-Tart, it is easy to tell that the film's story is nothing like the Pop-Tart's real development story. However, a couple of details in Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story are accurate, including these 10.

Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is finally here, with the highly anticipated Jerry Seinfeld comedy movie now available to watch on Netflix . Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story tells the not-so-true origin of the Pop-Tart, getting rid of most of the real details and replacing them with jokes, celebrity cameos, and food and breakfast cereal mascots . Despite the film's many jokes, some facts from the movie are accurate to real life.

10 Kellogg's Did Find Out About Post's Breakfast Pastry Early

But not with spies.

In Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , Jerry Seinfeld's Bob Cabana spends the film rushing to develop the Pop-Tart for Kellogg's , with them needing to beat Post's Country Squares to the market. In the film, Kellogg's uses spies disguised as janitors to infiltrate Post and discover their secrets, with this being how they found out about the development of Post's breakfast pastry.

Although Kellogg's didn't really use spies disguised as janitors, the company actually did find out about Post's plans to release a breakfast pastry before its release. This is because Post announced their Country Squares well before they hit shelves. Kellogg's knew that they had to respond, with them rushing the development of the product in order to have a competitor ready, leading to the Pop-Tart's creation. So, although the film alters the events, this aspect of the Pop-Tart's origin is true.

Jerry Seinfeld's casting of Bill Burr as President John F. Kennedy in Unfrosted may be surprising, but it makes the Pop-Tart story more exciting.

9 Kellogg's & Post Foods Did Both Start In Battle Creek, Michigan

They were really close.

Kellogg's and Post Foods are rival companies in Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , with one of the most unbelievable aspects being that the two headquarters are right across the street from each other. Kellogg's president Edsel Kellogg III and Post president Marjorie Post are able to spy on each other by using binoculars, showing just how close the two companies are, with them both being based in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Although this aspect of the film may seem unbelievable, it is actually true. Both Kellogg's and Post Foods were founded in Battle Creek, Michigan, with both companies operating side-by-side for decades now. This meant that the two fearsome competitors were incredibly close to each other, and while Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story may have exaggerated this a bit, the Kellogg's and Post locations weren't changed by too much.

8 Marjorie Post Was Obsessed With The USSR

But post didn't meet with khrushchev.

At one point in Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , Jerry Seinfeld's Bob Cabana goes to a sugar manufacturer named El Sucre and buys up all of his sugar, leaving Post empty-handed. In need of a sugar supplier, Marjorie Post uses a connection she has to travel to the Soviet Union and meet with Nikita Khrushchev, where she makes a controversial deal to develop a cereal targeted at Soviet children if the USSR will sell her their sugar.

Although Post Foods never directly had a meeting with Khrushchev , it turns out that Marjorie Post did in fact have a connection to the USSR. Post did live in the Soviet Union for a while, with her also collecting Russian art for most of her life. Although this doesn't mean that her company ever worked alongside the USSR to compete against Kellogg's, this part of the film does have the slightest basis in reality.

7 Tony The Tiger Was Played By A Serious Actor

But he didn't start a riot.

In Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , Hugh Grant plays Thurl Ravenscroft, an actor who portrays Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger in commercials for Kellogg's. Although Ravenscroft does make his living by playing Tony the Tiger, he wants to be taken more seriously in his career, with Kellogg's holding him back from performing in plays like King Lear . Ravenscroft's serious persona clashes with his Tony the Tiger role, but as it turns out, this isn't too far form reality.

As it turns out, Thurt Ravenscroft was actually a real actor, with Hugh Grant portraying the real person in Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story . Although Thurl Ravenscroft was mostly known for his voice acting roles, he did have parts in a lot of serious live-action films, with this part of the Netflix Pop-Tart film being shockingly true.

6 The Same Guy Did Come Up With Pop-Tarts & Rice Krispie Treats

But he went by a different name.

In Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , Jerry Seinfeld's Bob Cabana is mostly credited with coming up with the Pop-Tart , but that isn't all he invented. In fact, while talking to the children in the dumpster, the movie also implies that he would go on to introduce the Rice Krispie Treat to Kellogg's, with the kids suggesting this as a product. While the film doesn't go any further with this storyline, it is an interesting nod to real-life.

Jerry Seinfeld's Bob Cabana is based on William Post , the real-life Kellogg's and Keebler employee. Post (no relation to the company) is the one who invented the Pop-Tart, but that wasn't his only contribution to the world of food. Post also invented the Rice Krispie Treat, with this aspect of Jerry Seinfeld's fictional Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story character actually being true.

5 Harold von Braunhut Did Have Real Ties To White Nationalist Groups

The tragic truth of unfrosted.

Harold von Braunhut is one of the celebrity guests that Kellogg's brings in to help invent the Pop-Tart in Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , with him being the inventor of the sea monkeys, X-ray glasses, and other popular toys. However, a running joke throughout the film has to do with von Braunhut's German heritage, with several jokes implying that he was a Nazi during World War II.

As it turns out, this joke is based on some tragic truth. The real-life Harold von Braunhut was actually associated with white nationalist groups, with him attending Aryan Nations meetings and buying firearms from the Ku Klux Klan. Von Braunhut made no secret of his white nationalism and ties to racist groups throughout his life, with this being the dark side to his chipper persona in Netflix's Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story .

4 Marjorie Post Did Build Mar-a-Lago

The film pointed out that this was true.

Another Marjorie Post detail that is discussed in the Netflix film comes at the end of Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , with the film wrapping up Post's story in the epilogue. The film explains that Marjorie Post used her wealth to build a massive resort as an homage to her life as a woman in business, with this building being the famous Mar-a-Lago resort.

Again, this detail is actually true, with the surprising connection even being pointed out in Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story . The film has text on screen clarifying that Marjorie Post actually did build Mar-a-Lago , which has now become even more famous due to the building's connection to Donald Trump. Marjorie Post regularly used Mar-a-Lago as a winter residency, with her willing the resort to the United States government for its use upon her death.

3 The Pop-Tart Name Was Associated With Andy Warhol's Pop Art

But it wasn't an accident.

In Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story , the name of Pop-Tarts was originally Trat-Pops, with the name only changing when Walter Cronkite accidentally reads a mirrored version of the name on live TV. One character immediately points out that this is a problem, as it could get confused with Andy Warhol's pop art. This is paid off at the end of the film when a jealous Andy Warhol appears on Johnny Carson's show in an attempt to assassinate Bob Cabana.

Although the assassination attempt and Trat-Pops name aren't true, the Andy Warhol connection actually is. Kellogg's intentionally named Pop-Tarts after the pop art movement, with the name meant to be a reference to the art movement popularized by Andy Warhol and other popular artists. So, while the Netflix movie does stretch the truth of this detail, it is rooted in reality.

2 Pop-Tarts Did Sell Out When They Were Released

Although not quite as fast.

In the film, Pop-Tarts are a massive success upon their release , with them flying off of shelves. The head of Kellogg's even points out that Pop-Tarts sold out within 60 seconds nationwide, showing off just how successful the product was.

While Pop-Tarts didn't sell out quite as fast as Jim Gaffigan's Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story implies, the product was a massive success off the bat in real-life. Pop-Tarts did have a problem of selling out incredibly quickly, leading to Kellogg's not having enough supply to fill demand. Because of this, Kellogg's had to issue apologies, with them quickly attempting to produce more Pop-Tarts. So, while Unfrosted: The Pop-Tarts Story may be exaggerating how big the product was, it does have some semblance of truth, proving just how big the Pop-Tarts were when Kellogg's released them.

Jon Hamm's iconic Mad Men character has finally returned in 2024, but the character comeback may be a little disappointing for Mad Men fans.

1 The Country Squares Name Did Contribute To The Failure Of Post's Pastry

It was changed soon after.

While Kellogg's Pop-Tarts were a success, Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story also follows up on Post's product, which ended up being named Country Squares. In the film's final scenes, it is shown that Country Squares went almost untouched on store shelves, with it being explained that the name didn't appeal to kids. According to the film, kids didn't want to be associated with being country or being a square, with the trendy Pop-Tart name being much more appealing.

While it isn't known how true the film's explanation of the problems with the name is, the Country Squares branding did seem to be a problem for Post's pastry product . In response to the low sales numbers, Post moved away from the Country Squares name only a few years after the product was initially launched. This shows that Post wasn't confident in the original branding, with this shred of truth making its way into Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story .

• Unfrosted (2024)

*Availability in US

Not available

Unfrosted is a 2024 biographical comedy directed, written, and starring Jerry Seinfeld. The film takes place in 1963 Battle Creek, Michigan, where Kellogg's and Post are fighting to create a new world-changing breakfast pastry.

Stephen King Breaks Down Baby Reindeer's Misery Comparison, Shares In-Depth Review of Netflix Hit

Stephen King has doubled down on his praise for the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer, while also addressing the similarities and differences to Misery.

• King compares "Baby Reindeer" to "Misery," noting physical differences between victims.
• King praises Baby Reindeer's concise and impactful episodes, calling them short stabs of brilliance.
• Baby Reindeer garners success and critical acclaim without major marketing, becoming an awards contender.

Stephen King has followed up his brief initial reaction to the Netflix series Baby Reindeer with a much lengthier review, and addressed the comparisons between the series and his own classic stalker thriller, Misery. After grabbing headlines, and a chart-topping position on Netflix, Baby Reindeer continues to be the topic of conversation on social media, including for King.

When it comes to knowing a thing or two about stalkers, King has himself been on the receiving end of some over-zealous fans over the decades, but his best known brush with the subject is in his novel, Misery . The story of Paul Sheldon and his self-professed “No. 1 fan”, Annie Wilkes, is not only one of King’s greatest novels, but was also adapted into one of the best movies based on his work in 1990. Noting the similarities between the two stories, King joked that he was just pleased that his novel came out first, or he would have been accused of copying the series.

"My first thought was to thank God my novel came first, or people would assume I’d stolen it from Richard Gadd, who wrote and produced the seven-episode limited series."

Baby Reindeer (2024)

A seemingly innocent interaction with a customer turns into a chaotic journey as the life of aspiring comedian Donny spirals out of control and brings up the past. 

However, King did go on to address the way Baby Reindeer manages to “equal” Misery in one way, but also has a much different angle when it comes to how its central victim is caught up in the sights of his admirer. King wrote in The Times :

“Then comes Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning), who appears one day in the pub where Donny works. It’s a showstopper of an entrance, hands down the equal of our introduction (“I’m your No 1 fan”) to Misery ’s Annie Wilkes. The difference between Paul Sheldon ( Misery ) and Donny Dunn is to some extent physical, because Sheldon has been badly hurt in a car accident. He doesn’t give Annie a cup of tea — in fact would probably only give her a passing glance if she turned up in an autograph line. Donny, on the other hand, invites the devil in, however unknowingly.”

Stephen King Shares His Detailed Analysis of Baby Reindeer

Although Baby Reindeer managed to render one of the world’s most prolific writers almost speechless for a while, King shared a much more in depth review for The Times . You can see his thoughts below.

“Unlike most streaming series’ episodes, which can feel bloated at 50 minutes — or even longer — the episodes of Baby Reindeer , each about 30 minutes, are like short, swift stabs administered by a very sharp knife. Here, less than two minutes into the first episode, we can see what sets Baby Reindeer apart from so many dramas, dramedies and psychodramas that populate the occasional richness (and more common mediocrity) of streaming TV. We’ve been given the essential nature of two pivotal characters in less than two minutes. They are both psychologically needy, but it’s Martha who is mentally unstable and manipulative. Yet Donny — in spite of googly, hopeful eyes that continually say don’t hurt me — has the unusual and rather heroic ability to see into himself. The great gift (I will not call it a trick) of Baby Reindeer is that we come to understand why it has taken so long for Donny to report his abuse. It’s not because the abuser is a woman, and it’s not because she’s extremely overweight (although my God, she can move fast when she’s angry). It’s because, in his heart, Donny believes he deserves it. We feel empathy for him rather than impatience, and we come to feel empathy for Martha as well.”

The Wild True Story Behind Netflix's Baby Reindeer and Martha Scott

It is clear that Baby Reindeer has managed to become one of those rare shows that becomes a success on its own merits rather than relying on a huge marketing campaign or the backing of a popular franchise. The seven-episode series landed on Netflix without fanfare, and quickly established itself as an awards contender and a force to be reckoned with as word-of-mouth did its job and pushed the show to the top of the charts, where it has remained since ousting sci-fi series 3 Body Problem .

Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix. Misery is currently available to stream on Apple TV+.