1) Review from The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
The critic is extremely negative as is evident from the very first sentence of the review. The critic has obviously found the narrative of the film very uninteresting as he is willing to change the title to the "twee and pointless" case of Benjamin Button. Paul Bradshaw highlights problems with the characterisation of Benjamin whose curious state, according to him, is not portrayed with "any great comic or tragic insight". In fact Bradshaw deems the character as quite boring. He does however commend the special effects used to make the actors look old, while the effects that make them look younger do not gain his approval because they apparently give the actors a robotic look. 'The curious case of Benjamin Button' is compared to another film called 'The Notebook' directed by Nick Cassavetes. The aim of the comparison is to show the film as a soppy, "treacly tale".
The review mentions some interesting points about the weaknesses of the narrative which I perhaps would not have noticed if i watched the film. The fact that the review is written by a film critic at The Guardian- a well known broadsheet newspaper- gives it a lot of credability.
2) Review from the Sky Movies website by Rob Daniel
At the beginning, the critic seems much less opiniated than Paul Bradshaw. The review begins by giving a brief history of director David Fincher's previous movies and how he may have brought some of the aspects of his previous work into his latest film. The fact that the review is from the Sky Movies website, who would no doubt want to persuade people to watch this film on their channel- might explain references to the director's previous films in order to attract fans. It could also be a reason why the review over all is positive, contradicting hugely with the review from The Guardian.
Personally I don't find this review as useful as the previous one since it tends to state things about the narrative of the film rather than commenting on them. Instead of coming to definite opinion on the film the reviewer simply says that "you could do worse than see this...film." There is no information provided about the critic or his position which somewhat lowers the credibility of the critique.
3) Review from Heart 106.2 website by anonymous person
The layout of this review immediately makes it different from the two previous ones. The un-named critic gives the film a rating of 10 out of 10, which summarises their view point in the main body of the text. The critic is full of praise for 'The curious case of Benjamin Button' describing it as "an absolute masterpiece" and persuading readers that they "should make every effort to see" it.
Once again i don't like the fact that the reviw simply offers a brief overview of the story line and then extensively tries to communicate that the film is absolutely brilliant, without explicitly mentioning the features that make it so brilliant (e.g. the narrative, the acting, the cinematogaphy etc...). This could pwrhaps be that unlike the first review from The Guardian, this one is nothing written with the expert insight of a film crtitique.
The critic is extremely negative as is evident from the very first sentence of the review. The critic has obviously found the narrative of the film very uninteresting as he is willing to change the title to the "twee and pointless" case of Benjamin Button. Paul Bradshaw highlights problems with the characterisation of Benjamin whose curious state, according to him, is not portrayed with "any great comic or tragic insight". In fact Bradshaw deems the character as quite boring. He does however commend the special effects used to make the actors look old, while the effects that make them look younger do not gain his approval because they apparently give the actors a robotic look. 'The curious case of Benjamin Button' is compared to another film called 'The Notebook' directed by Nick Cassavetes. The aim of the comparison is to show the film as a soppy, "treacly tale".
The review mentions some interesting points about the weaknesses of the narrative which I perhaps would not have noticed if i watched the film. The fact that the review is written by a film critic at The Guardian- a well known broadsheet newspaper- gives it a lot of credability.
2) Review from the Sky Movies website by Rob Daniel
At the beginning, the critic seems much less opiniated than Paul Bradshaw. The review begins by giving a brief history of director David Fincher's previous movies and how he may have brought some of the aspects of his previous work into his latest film. The fact that the review is from the Sky Movies website, who would no doubt want to persuade people to watch this film on their channel- might explain references to the director's previous films in order to attract fans. It could also be a reason why the review over all is positive, contradicting hugely with the review from The Guardian.
Personally I don't find this review as useful as the previous one since it tends to state things about the narrative of the film rather than commenting on them. Instead of coming to definite opinion on the film the reviewer simply says that "you could do worse than see this...film." There is no information provided about the critic or his position which somewhat lowers the credibility of the critique.
3) Review from Heart 106.2 website by anonymous person
The layout of this review immediately makes it different from the two previous ones. The un-named critic gives the film a rating of 10 out of 10, which summarises their view point in the main body of the text. The critic is full of praise for 'The curious case of Benjamin Button' describing it as "an absolute masterpiece" and persuading readers that they "should make every effort to see" it.
Once again i don't like the fact that the reviw simply offers a brief overview of the story line and then extensively tries to communicate that the film is absolutely brilliant, without explicitly mentioning the features that make it so brilliant (e.g. the narrative, the acting, the cinematogaphy etc...). This could pwrhaps be that unlike the first review from The Guardian, this one is nothing written with the expert insight of a film crtitique.
This is a great start Alishba, Your homework is well considered and takes on board the credibility of the reviews. the blog is looking good to. Don't make it too wordy - just summarise what you have found out, or it'll turn into novel! "Well done," says The Poodle.
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