What is the purpose of a magazine film review?

The purpose a magazine film review is to give the audience an unbiased opinion of a film, which you would not get from a film poster.  Magazine reviews are written from the account of an unbiased source which means the audience will be getting an honest overview of the film plus a star rating.  Star ratings are the most common type of rating within magazine reviews and will give the film a rating out of 5.  Many films chose to include this within their poster should they get a star rating of 4 or above in order to entice the audience and demonstrate the good reviews they have received.  They may also include a positive line from the review to make the film look better, as seen on the right.  Magazine reviews will also often give a description of the actors' performance within the film which you would also not get from a film poster.  Upon reading a magazine review audience's will be able to pick up on things mentioned within the review, eg. they will take more notice of an actors performance if he is given a wide range of applause in different reviews.  A great example of this is Heath Ledger's performance in 'Dark Knight' which was given a wide range of great reviews.  Although Ledger died during the production of this film he is widely acclaimed as the best 'Joker' there has been and he has been regarded as a great actor in many people's opinions due to the acclaim he received for his performance.  After reading the reviews I was encouraged to go and watch the film, which i would not have done had i not have read the review, which shows the influence magazine reviews have on audiences and the popularity of films.  

Just as magazine reviews can boost the ratings of a film, it can also greatly affect and damage the ratings of a film as well as the reputation of an actor, as seen with the 2004 film 'Catwoman' starring Halle Berry.  The cinematic Catwoman has superpowers, unlike in the comics, and leaps from rooftop to rooftop in stiletto heels. The character's signature lycra catsuit was replaced with slashed leather trousers and matching bra, and a mask that also acts as a hat. As the movie character differs so widely from her comic book source, the character, as portrayed in this film, has been cited as "Catwoman In Name Only" The film was the result of various rewrites by a total of 28 different screenwriters, though only four were credited after arbitration with the WGA. It has a 10% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and was declared "arguably the worst superhero film ever made" by the Orlando Sentinel. Jean Lowerison of the San Diego Metropolitan said in her review that Catwoman "Goes on my 'worst' list for the year, and quite possibly for all time." The Village Voice summed up reviews of the film under the title "Me-Ouch."  These negative reviews had a massive effect on the popularity of the film and demonstrates the negative effect film reviews can have on films.  Film reviews are important in a film's marketing campaign as it acts a free publicity and promotion however film reviews can be risky for a film if negative reviews are received.  Furthermore, audiences can be easily influenced by reviews as they trust the critics to give them a good overview of the film as they have professional experience in reviewing many different works.