Monday, November 3, 2014

Analyzing A Review Exercise. From Mike Lohre

Students,

Please read the following links to reviews to get an idea of how different writers approach the genre.

As you read, think about why we use reviews and the different purposes these reviews take on.

Analyze, and write a response to one of the four reviews in the Comments section of this post.

Consider:

  • What is the conclusion of the review? Do you agree or disagree?  
  • Is this review fair or biased?  How can you tell? 
  • What counts as evidence here?  Research? Comparison/Contrast? Personal experience and taste?  Storytelling? Historical testing? 
  • What values are implied or stated in this review? 


 LINKS


http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/taylor-swift-1989/

or any of these. . .    http://www.collapseboard.com/music-blogs-3/no-one-sent-us-the-new-taylor-swift-album-to-review/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/books/gone-girl-by-gillian-flynn.html?_r=0







http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/23/fury-review-brad-pitt-second-world-war-drama


http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-iphone-6/

20 comments:

  1. I chose to read about the review Fury. I've been wanting to watch this movie, so I thought it was the best choice for me.

    The conclusion in this review is to inform people that war is just not in a video game. War occurs in real life and as Brad Pitt is playing the lead role of a grizzled veteran who is 100% against the Nazis group, their sending their troops into Germany. Also the review states that the movie also has a twist and that is that it only takes one person to kill a group of young men that are serving in the military. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with this article because I have yet to watch the movie, but it is definitely on my movies to watch list.

    I believe this article is fairly written because the author of this review states that he has seen this at the London Film Fest. The author stated that this film was well made. He was being biased in any way, shape, or form.

    The evidence here is person experience because they personally went to watch the movie.

    I believe this author had great composer. The author didn't give away any surprises that were in the film and always the author wasn't trashing talking about the movie. I would think writing a review it's all about how you handle yourself. Do you want to be an author who brings out all the spoiler alerts and talking badly about the movie? Also, some authors are very opinionated about the reviews. Or you could be the type of author that just simply states the facts which is what I believe this author did.

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  2. I decided to watch the iPhone 6 review. I have never been an up-to-date person with Apple products, and I only recently bought my first iPhone, but I thought the review was very informative. Lately I have heard so many different opinions on the latest iPhone and a lack of what is actually new on the iPhone, so this review helped clear the air.

    The overall conclusion of the iPhone is that it is more sleek and more powerful with a few technical enhancements, but that it truly lacks in anything amazingly new like the iPhone 5 did. I thought the review was fair. It was a random guy from CNet, he lacked in any Apple promotion attire or back drop and even stated some of the down falls of the iPhone 6. Even below the video, the gentlemen writes "The Good" and "The Bad" sides with the new iPhone. I also liked how he showed some of the new features on the iPhone; the slow motion effect, the health and fitness app and how pictures have a clearer image and a slightly higher resolution. But then he states how Android does have a few higher resolution phones on the market, so this showed that he wasn't completely biased towards Apple products. I like how the CNet gentlemen respects Apple's new product, but also wants his viewers to realize that there are always other products on the market, so he does a good job at not bashing competing products and just stating facts.

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  3. I read the review for the movie, Fury. The review was positive because the author had actually went to the London Film Festival to watch it. The conclusion seems to be that according to Brad Pitt war is not a video game. Instead war is real life. The author also explains how the film itself seems to be just an old fashioned war movie. This review did seem fair based since the author had seen the movie already. The evidence for this review is more of a personal experience because the author had already watched the film when he wrote the review. The author also put in a little bit of comparing and contrasting with other war movies. Some values stated in the review include just talking about what the movie is about and by comparing it to other war movies the author states that it is like an old fashioned war movie while at the same time take into account Pitt's comment on the fact that war is in real life and not a video game.

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  4. I read the review for the movie Fury. To me, the author doesn't seem to be praising the movie. I got a negative impression from the review mainly because he seems to make fun of the movie by comparing it to video games, and other well known war movies. He doesn't say it's a bad movie either, he did say that the movie is watchable at the beginning of the review. The review doesn't come off as biased to me. He has seen an interview with Brad Pitt about the movie and made the comparisons based off of what Brad said in the interview. Most of the claims the author makes seems to be from the interview he has seen. I think this review is straight to the point and lets the reader know what to expect if he or she decides to see the movie. The review is short, so it doesn't really take much time to read it. It doesn't have any spoilers, so it is a safe read for people wanting to see the movie.

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  5. This is a very positive review of this movie. since i have seen this movie i also agree that the movie was pritty good. I think it is a fair review of the movie because it doesn't show any signs that the reviewer put his own personal life into the review, he just said what he thought. As far as evidence goes for this review i don't think the writer provides a lot of eveidence. he doesn't bring up any details about historical accuracy or how much money it has made so far, he simply says what he thinks. the only thing that seems to come close is when he comapres it to movies like saving privite ryan. But other then that it is just his opinion really. The values that are implied in this reveiw seem to be a value on good characters in the movie. this is seen by the fact that he spends alot of time talking about brad pitts character and the things he liked and didn't like about him.

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  6. I read the review of the iPhone 6. I feel the conclusion of the review is that the 6 isn't revolutionary by any means, but if you're looking for a solid phone, available in 2 sizes, that will surely get the job done and look pretty doing it, it's a good choice. I feel that the review is pretty fair, the author doesn't seam to favor any one side of the smart phone industry. They use facts and don't say anything along the lines of "this is by far the best phone out there." The evidence here is research/personal experience/ and comparison/contrasting. It seams that it's mostly personal experience though because the author references the fact that he has been using the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus multiple times. Though this is true, they also compare and contrast the 6 to the previous model, the 5, and to Android phones. The author doesn't bash other phones, they clearly acknowledge that there are other phones out there that have better features and may appeal to certain audiences more.

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  7. I read the review on the iPhone 6.

    I feel like the conclusion of the review helped give the reader more insight on some of the features the two iPhone's have. In the conclusion the author talks about how the iPhone 6 has a flatter/sleeker design, improved cameras, faster Wi-Fi and LTE, as well as the phones processors. I think that the review was fair. In the beginning of the article he gets straight to the point with a summary about the good, the bad, and the bottom line with the iPhone. The author also compared the iPhone 6 and the 6-plus to the iPhone 5s. They compared the screen size and concluded that the iPhone 6 was an improvement due to the larger screen because it wasn't as limiting like the 5s proved to be. The author does a great job of just stating the facts, he doesn't put his opinions into the piece or tries to bash the product as a whole, not letting the readers see both sides like i have found in some reviews. He also acknowledges other phones such as Androids, so the reader knows what is also on the market.

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  8. I did the review on Fury.
    This is a very positive review of the movie Fury staring Brad Pitt. It praised the director for the "old style" type of war movie feel it gave the audience. By the end if reading it I wanted to see it for myself to see if it was true, which in my opinion makes it a good review because it instills interest in the movie. It seemed like a fairly unbiased review because it addressed criticisms as well as praise. The author compares it to other already famous war movies that have been established as accurate such as Saving Private Ryan, hence helping to give Fury credibility. He also includes and interview with Brad Pitt who stars as the tank commander, the main character of the movie. By the end of the review, Fury seems to be established by the author as a credible and note worthy war movie that is worth seeing.

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  9. I chose to review the movie Fury because I’ve seen commercials for it and it looked good. I believe this review was positive because the guy said its “well-made” and he’s describing how awesome it is and try not to give away anything. The conclusion of the review is that war isn’t a video game. Even though the movie was influenced by a video game Call of Duty and other classic war movies. It was based at the end of WW2. I can’t really say I agree or disagree because I haven’t seen the whole movie but from the trailers I can say I agree. From this review I don’t think the writer is biased. It’s written describing what the movies about and isn’t leading one way or the other so that the reader can make there choose on to see it or not. The author compare it to highly rated war movies like Saving Private Ryan. He also talks about an interview Brad Pitt had about the movie and what Pitt said about it. This author just gives the readers facts from multiple sources and doesn’t give anything away that the trailer haven’t already shown. He lets the reader understand what the movie is about and let you decide from the facts if you want to watch it or not

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  10. I did the movie "Fury" since I had seen it and wanted to see what the movie critics had to say about it. I felt the review for "Fury" was mixed since it had both some praise and some negative points. This feeling comes right off the bat when the author says "it is watchable and well-made, though I can’t share the saucer-eyed excitement". I agree that it's use of older style war movies was very good but I would have to disagree with the statement that "it did not live up to the hype" when I went to the theater it was mostly full and plenty of people that I had talked that saw it said it was great. I think that the review was pretty fair he went to the London film festival himself to see it first hand and thought it was good but there were parts that he did not like so much. I think that it was great that he included a little section that explained the plot to readers so they could see that the movie had a solid plot line and was able to be comparable to that of saving private Ryan. By giving readers both sides of an argument and giving readers the tools to make heads or tails of whether the movie would be good for them to see.

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  11. I chose the review of the movie Fury. The reviewer seemed to conclude that the movie was average in the way it executed the film. I have not personally watched this movie, so I can’t tell you if I agree or disagree, but the reviewer seems to know what he is talking about. He references other movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Inglorious Bastards to justify his claim. These movies help justify his claim for normality because at the end he claims the group is almost destined to meet a grizzly end in an Alamo style standoff. This standoff is almost a convention of war movies. I do not believe he thinks badly of the movie itself, but he recognizes the predictability of the story because of the conventions followed by all war movies. He expresses his satisfaction for the movie, but it seemed it was just satisfactory. It was exactly what he expected and nothing more.

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  12. I chose the review on Taylor Swift’s album 1989. She is not an artist I listen to often or hold any bias to so I figured “hey why not?”
    The conclusion of this review is more like an analysis. The Review goes into depth comparing Swift to another artist that made a huge move to shed a “Saintly” persona. As the review furthers Springsteen is the main comparison to Swift and they both are looked at extremely positively. Swift needs this change up in her career to find herself and express more than her previous persona would let her. With this being said I completely agree and more than support Swift on her career choice. Ultimately Swift has said that she will come back to her acoustic sound that everyone has come to love “But given how well 1989 turned out, maybe she shouldn’t rush back?” (Lambert). Lambert then as I said pulls in evidence of other artists who have experimented and mainly focuses on a comparison with Springsteen and his outcome and success. I think the values of a person finding themselves is more than stated in this review. This review is extremely fair because the writer has hope for Swift but honestly does not care as to whether or not Swift succeeds. The only hint of bias I saw was in the end where she already says 1989 is successful but do to sales and popularity that could easily just be an assumption.

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  13. I chose to watch the review on the iPhone 6 because I am looking to purchase one in the near future so naturally, this topic stood out to me the most.
    The conclusion of this review was that although the iPhone 6 is visually very different from all of the past iPhones, it doesn't have a great amount of new features since the iPhone 5. However, it's new features do hold some great potential. I think the review was fair because the man who did the reviewing explained both the positives and negatives of the new product. He also didn't work for Apple or on of their competitors so the review was unbiased. I trust his review because he showed the viewer exactly what he was talking about by using the new features on the phone as he explained it. Overall, this review is very helpful in making the decision of investing in the latest Apple product.

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  14. I chose to review the movie "Fury". I chose to do this because I want to see the movie personally. In this review i feel as if it is pretty fair. I feel it is pretty fair because it reviews the movie as being watchable and overall a good movie. The evidence here is how the critic compares the movie to "Saving Private Ryan". I have seen and liked the movie "Saving Private Ryan" and I feel as though I would enjoy "Fury" also. Overall I would say "Fury" got a good review and is a reputable movie to see.

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  15. I chose to talk about the "Gone Girl" review. The conclusion of the review states that the book is a "dazzling breakthrough." I think it's is hard to agree or disagree with this statement because I have not read the book. I think it is more of an opinion than a statement. Agreeing with my previous statement, I think the review is biased. The author of the article stated her opinion of the book. There is probably not much research that went into the review, except for reading the book itself. The author of the review is most likely using personal taste when reviewing the book. If the author did not like this type of book, the review could go in a complete different direction. I'm not sure what values are going into the review. It seems to me that the author is just writing a summary of the book and then saying that she likes it. It is definitely not based on fact.

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  16. I did the movie "Fury". I chose to do this because i had seen it and thought it was an amazing movie. I feel like the review was right in the middle. He was saying how it was "watchable and well-made". I disagree with it because i think it was a great movie that depicts war pretty well. i did not think this was a bad movie. The fact that he compares it to "saving private Ryan" is pretty good evidence. They are kind of close as far as depictions of war. overall, i would say this is a pretty good review and i would recommend it to people wanting to see it.

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  17. I chose to review Taylor Swifts new album.

    I guess you could say that I am bias towards her, I have never been a fan of her and this album definitely sealed the deal for my dislike towards her. Anyways, I found it very interesting that most of the people who did reviews for Taylor Swifts new album 1989, were men. Most of the population that listens to Taylor Swift are women but the people who did the reviews are me. Men don't usually share feelings and and that is exactly what Taylor Swift does, she shares her feelings through her songs.

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  18. I hose to review the movie Fury. I have always been a big fan of war movies so I chose to review this option. I found the review to be very interesting, and it encouraged me to want to watch the movie again. I have seen the movie before and I felt as if it drew emotion from the audience as well as gave the audience an anticipation and excitement of what will happen next.

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  19. I chose to review the article about the 1989 album by Taylor Swift.

    Although I'm not a huge Taylor Swift fan, I think that some of the songs on her new album are actually pretty decent. The conclusion of the review is basically saying that although Taylor Swift's now switching the genres of music in this new album, that they're still the same old T Swift lyrics in just a different genre of music. She also says that she will probably be returning to guitar songs at some point. I think this review isn't biased and is fair because it does talk a little about Taylor Swift's music in general and about her in general. I think it did a good job in keeping a non-biased opinion. Like LaCrista mentioned earlier, I also thought it was interesting that even though the majority of people who listen to Swift's music are women, most reviews are done by men. I thought it was kind of ironic also because Taylor Swift is extremely expressive in her music, talking about past relationships, and pretty much every detail that occurred in the relationship, so the fact that men had to listen to the music and album in order to review it was ironic but interesting to me.

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  20. I chose the movie Fury because it had spark my interest when watching the trailers and then i finally went to go see the movie. this helped me connect to the review better because i agree with the conclusion of the reviewer. the movie was entertaining but it lack in the area of suspense and action. The movie was very predictable in the sense that i could tell exactly what was going to happen.

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