Question Description
I’m working on a sports management writing question and need a sample draft to help me understand better.
Pick ONE out of these films to review:
Rocky IV 1985
The hurricane 1999
Hoosiers 1986
Milton Dollar Baby 2004
Raging Bull 1980
Each film review will be no less than 750 words (roughly 3-5 pages, double spaced) in length. Much like one would see on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes, each review must be accompanied by a reviewer rating, which will be out of 5 stars (half-stars are okay).
An essential feature of a good film review is the reviewer’s ability to write concisely so that a comprehensive evaluation of the movie can be obtained from a brief reading. So, do not write more, write more conciselyfind creative ways to communicate your critical evaluation of the film in a short essay
The point of a well-written film review is not to summarize the content of the movie, but to situate the historical merit of the film and to evaluate critically the filmmakers purpose, use of aesthetics, and methods of storytelling. In order to optimize the assignments grade, students must engage with concepts and key terms presented in the relative course lectures or assigned readings. If you do not incorporate these key ideas to help develop your critique, you will not earn a high grade.
As such, each student should seek to offer a commentary of the films ability to offer an important representation of a specific issue (race, gender, nationalism, etc.) and then compare that with a comparative film in the topical area (listed on the course site). To do this, the author should consider both 1) the context that is being represented within the film (the time period, the politics and social relations of that time, etc.) and 2) the context in which the film was produced (what does the film tell us about the social moment in which the film became popular?).
Hence, the bulk of one’s review essay will be an evaluation of how convincing was the filmmakers representation of his/her subject, and a commentary on the films contribution to a broader understanding of important issues in US/Western society.
Further, the review should offer a comparison of how these are used in this film with how they have been used in similarly-themed films. The review should discuss how this film is similar to, or different from, a similar film (you can use the comparative film list or find others on your own).
Among the features each student will want to include in each review are:
- A discussion of the filmmakers purpose in making the film (what is she/he/they trying to achieve through the film?)
- An explanation of the type of sources the filmmaker utilized (is the film true to the events that transpired?)
- An assessment of the strong points or shortcomings of the film as they relate to key concepts from the course lectures or readings
- How does this film change the way one should think about the subject (or about debated issues in sport in Western society?)
- How does this film’s content relate to the major themes or theories from the class lectures and readings?
- A reference list, in APA format, for the movie and any related sources used in the text (final page).
Finally, each student will want to make references to specific scenes from the film to illustrate the evaluation. The challenge will be to do as much of this as possible and yet not let it interfere with the restricted length of the essay. In other words, find creative ways to give examples from the film in a limited space. Obviously, quotations should be kept to a minimum, and should rarely exceed one sentence.
