The purpose of a Magazine Film Review

The purpose of a magazine film review is so the audience can get a professional opinion and view on a film. A magazine film review also provides information on the film to the reader eg the main stars and the synopsis. The reader can get a third party professional view of the film helping them decide if its worth watching and why. It gives the reader an informal decision if they will enjoy the film or not and why this is. Unlike posters which advertise a film, a magazine film review is unbiased and is very truthful not making the film look better or worse than it is. A film review plays a very important role in the film industry as people will not go and watch a film after reading a very negative review on it making it very important that the film has good reviews in order for it to do well and make alot of money.

Film reviews can however also encourage people to

go and watch a film especially if the critic enjoys the film and thinks very highly of it then they are more likely to write a very positive and good review on the film as they are very passionate that the film is good and worth watching. Different magazines have different types of film reviews depending on the target market of the magazine and the academic levels the target market has. An example is the Guardianwould go into great detail and the style of writing would be very intellectual and academic whereas OK! magazine would write a very simple and easy to read film review as the readers don't tend to read all of the articles in full as they tend to just skim read a magazine. A review like the Guardian would look at a film like a piece of art and analyze it in very deep detail whereas a magazine like OK! would use very basic english and would look at the film as a pleasure not looking deeply into it like a piece of art.

If a film is starring very big, popular stars then it encourages fans to read an article on the film they are starring in to find out if they are impressing the critic or performing porly in their upcoming feature film as fans of actors tend to enjoy reading what other people think about the actor they likes work and this could also lead to them being put off watching them perform or changing their mind about the actor they like.

A film review can be good publicity for a film or can also kill a film and rip it to pieces which is very risky for film and how well it is publicized. If it is a good review then this could act as free advertisement and publicity for the film however if the review is bad then this could lead to a loss in profit and a bad reputation for the actors and director. The critics aren't paid by the producers of the film to make the review good meaning that the critics have no influences or meaning to lie to the readers encouraging them to tell the truth on their opinion even more as its only the films well-being thats at risk and not the critics.

An example of a very negative article by Wesley Morris on http://articles.boston.com shows how a critic can really influence an audience to watch the film or not. 'Drew on the other hand, remaind frustratingly inert. Bloom may be formidable actor, but in movie after movie, he looks misplaces. Crowe leaves Drew in a funk for so long that by the time the fog lifts we've stopped believing. The character lacks a philosophy. He's also missing a soul' This review of the actors is very negative and analyses the main stars work in a very poor and down tone putting people off watching their work.

Many magazines are made in order to promote films for example cinema magazines eg Vue. They are made to write about a film in the most positive way possible and encourage people to go and watch the film. These magazines are only available in places where they can watch the film straight away eg the cinema. On the front of these types of magazines will be a large image of the main type of film they want to promote and the biggest film that is out at the moment for example the image on the right of the Odeon magazine has a large image of Robert Pattison and Kristin Stuart as they are the main stars of the newest film out at the time Twilight. This magazine will only represent and discus the films in a very positive way with no negative context of the film.