A critical review essay considers a work (written, visual, film or otherwise) through a critical lens using summarization, analysis, and evaluation skills. A critical review is as simple as considering a piece of work, formulating an opinion about the work, and then providing a detailed explanation of how you came to that opinion.
Visual Art (paintings, sculptures, installations, etc.)
Historical Significance: Before you can analyze the piece of art, you must first understand the artist that created it and the movement it is associated with. This information can be found through standard research.
Who is your chosen artist?
What is the artist's general history?
What type of art does the artist create?
If several, what is the artist most famous for (paintings, photography, sculptures, etc.)? What specific movement(s) is the artist associated with?
Define the movement.
What is(are) the artist's most famous work(s)?
What is the name of the piece you are studying? When was it created?
Analysis: Analyze the design elements of the piece. Be sure to reference specific aspects of the art to support your analysis. Elements to consider include:
Symbolism: What colors are used within the piece? What do the colors symbolize? What symbolic objects are present within the work? What do they symbolize?
Juxtaposition: What are the things that are placed side by side? What do they help the view understand?
Characterization: How are people portrayed in the images? How is culture portrayed through the characters? Do the characters represent different races, genders or ethnicity? Why or why not?
Design: What do your eyes notice first? Why? How is the building, landscape, setting structured? What is the significance of displaying the image this way?
Interpretation: This portion of the critical review answers so what?. It identifies the theme of the art, what the artist wants the view to understand.
What is the message the creator is trying to send? Are they successful?
How would the message change if the visual was different?
What are the details in the visual that constructs an argument for the viewer?
What argumentative purpose does the visual image convey?
Why was the visual created? What is the creator’s attitude toward the image?
Critique: Finally, this is your opportunity to evaluate the work itself. Remember, it is not appropriate for you to make claims like "this piece is awful" or "horrible skills". Instead, you articulating your personal opinion of the piece utilizing evidence from the work to support your opinion.
What did you like about the piece?
What part of the piece inspired you? Spoke to you? Could you not get out of your mind?
In your opinion, why is the piece memorable?
What aspects of the piece would you change if you were the artist? Why?
What did you find confusing about the piece? Why?
Film (documentary, movie, music video, etc.)
Background Information: Provide your audience with all relevant background information. This should include the title of the work, the writer/director/producer, important actors. Give a brief summary of the storyline within the film. Compare the film or video to another similar film or video. Not all of your reader may have seen your reviewed film, but they may have seen the related film, which will help them better understand your analysis.
Movie:
Consider the literary make-up of both the main character and the character they have a conflict with as well as the actors' performances as these characters. What do you like about the characters? What don’t you like about the characters? Why? Analyze the major actors in the film. Did they create convincing portrayals of the characters? Why or why not?
Consider the plot and the actions that lead to the conflict. What happens in the plot that leads to this conflict? How is the main character involved? How does the conflict help the viewer understand the message of the film? How did the conflict keep you interested in the plot? How did the setting of the film advance the plot and conflict?
Consider the genre of your film and how it helps you understand message of the film. Have you seen films of this genre before? Will you see more from this genre? What do you like about this genre? What don’t you like about this genre?
Consider the theme throughout your review. Explain how the use of literary elements (specifically characterization, plot, conflict) to help the viewer understand the theme. What can you learn as the viewer about life, society, the world, from this theme?
Consider sound and colors. How does the soundtrack intensify the emotions, meaning of the film? What are the colors of the film? What are those colors symbolic of? How do those colors contribute to overall tone, emotional quality of the film?
Consider tone. What was the emotional quality of the film? How was this emotion created?
Consider time continuum. Is the plot linear? Are there flashbacks? Significant spaces in time? How does this impact the view?
Documentary:
What is/are the central message(s) of this documentary? Consider the effectiveness of the film in communicating its message. As a tool of communication, what are its strengths and weaknesses? How do you think the filmmakers wanted the audience to respond?
What is the argument of the documentary? How does the film maker support this argument? What are the different types of evidence used as support (examples: interviews, facts and statistics, legislation, etc.)? How do the different types of evidence impact the viewer?
Discuss the bias in the film (point of view of the filmmakers). What types of bias exist in the documentary? What questions do you have about the topic that were not covered in the documentary?
What makes the documentary persuasive? How does the film make use persuasive appeals: ethos, pathos, logos? What makes these appeals effective in the documentary?
Music Video:
Before you analyze the music video, analyze the song first. What is the song about? What is the audience supposed to learn from this song? How do you know?
Consider the plot and the characters. What happens during the music video? How is the plot developed throughout the video? Who are the characters in the video? How do the characters relate to the viewer?
In what ways does the music video portray the meaning of the song? How does it enhance the meaning? Change the meaning? Provide new meaning?
Consider colors. What are the colors of the music video? What are those colors symbolic of? How do those colors contribute to the overall tone, emotional quality of the music video?
Interpretation: This portion of the critical review answers so what?. It identifies the theme of the film, what the audience supposed to to understand.
What is the message the creator is trying to send? Are they successful?
What are the details in the film that constructs an argument for the viewer?
What argumentative purpose does the film convey?
Why was the film created? What is the creator’s attitude in the film?
Critique: Finally, this is your opportunity to evaluate the work itself. Remember, most of you have selected pieces that were constructed by already established and renowned musicians and producers; thus, it is not appropriate for you to make claims like "this piece is awful" or "horrible skills". Instead, you are considering the continued effectiveness of the choices the they made.
What did you like about the film?
What part of the film inspired you? Spoke to you? Could you not get out of your mind?
In your opinion, why is the film memorable?
What aspects of the film would you change if you were the artist? Why?
What did you find confusing about the film? Why?
Theories or Philosophy Historical Significance:
Who is the theorist or philosopher?
What time period did they live in? How does this time period relate to their work?
What movement are they associated with inside their discipline? (Example: Emerson and Thoreau were transcendentalists, Freud was a psychoanalyst)
Analysis and Interpretation: Analyze the text as you would any other written argument.
What is the argument of the text? What is the theory or philosophy?
How did the writer portray this argument?
What evidence was used to support this argument?
What new insights have developed over time in regards to the argument?
Critique: Finally, this is your opportunity to evaluate the work itself. It is not appropriate for you to make claims like "this piece is awful" or "horrible skills". Instead, you are considering the continued effectiveness of the choices the writer made.
Why is the theory or philosophy still important in modern society?
What can we still learn from the work?
In what ways can you add to the work based on what you know?
Publication Critical Reviews should be published on your blog as a blog post. Title should be relevant to what is found within the review. Labels should also be included, although exact ones are up to you. Finally, it is important that you incorporate the art you are reviewing within your critical review, so that your audience has a visual understanding of what you are analyzing. Remember, not all of your readers may have seen the video or recognize the name of the art piece. This can be done in two ways. 1. Hyperlink to the piece. 2. Embed the piece into your blog post and apply appropriate citation credit.