This document provides an overview of film criticism and reviews. It begins with background on the history of film from the 1890s invention of motion picture cameras. It then defines what a film and film review are. A film review evaluates and assesses a film's quality and determines if it is worth recommending. The document also distinguishes between journalistic film criticism found in magazines and newspapers from academic film criticism, which takes a more theoretical examination of how and why films work from a cultural perspective. Key journalistic and academic film critics are named like James Agee, Vincent Canby, and Andre Bazin.

1. Unit-4,Cinema
• Name: Sonal Baraiya
• Subject: P-15,Mass Communication and
Media Studies
• Topic: Film Review and Film Criticism
• Submitted to: S. B. Gardi, Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji, Bhavnagar
University, Department of English.

2. History of Film
• The history of film
began in the 1890s,
when motion picture
cameras were
invented
• film production
companies started to
be established
• the limits of
technology
• 1927 motion pictures
were produced
without sound

3. What is a film?
• “A story or event
recorded by a camera
as a set of moving
images and shown in a
cinema or on
television by using
animation techniques
or special effects.”

4. • “Films are cultural artifacts created by
specific cultures, which reflect those
cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film
is considered to be an important art
form, a source of popular entertainment
and a powerful method for educating —
or indoctrinating — citizens. The visual
elements of cinema gives motion pictures
a universal power of communication. Some
films have become popular worldwide
attractions by using dubbing or subtitles
that translate the dialogue.”

5. What is a film review?
• The film review is a popular
way for critics to assess a
film’s overall quality and
determine whether or not
they think the film is worth
recommending. Film reviews
differ from scholarly film
articles in that they
encompass personal and
idiosyncratic reactions to and
evaluations of a film, as well
as objective analyses of the
film’s formal techniques and
thematic content.

6. • Condensed plot synopsis
• Background information
• Abbreviated arguments about the
Film
• Evaluation

10. What is a Film Criticism?
• Film criticism is the
study, interpretation,
and evaluation of a film
and its place in cinema
history. Film criticism
usually offers
interpretation of its
meaning, analysis of its
structure and style,
judgment of its worth
by comparison with
other films, and an
estimation of its likely
effect on viewers.

11. Film
Criticism
Journalistic
Criticism
Academic
Criticism

12. Journalistic Critics
• Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films
and the medium.
• Today arts criticism in general does not hold the
same place it once held with the general public.
• James Agee(Time Magazine)
• Vincent Canby(The New York Times)
• Michael Philips(Chicago Tribune)

13. Academic Criticism
• More often known as film theory or film studies,
academic critique explores cinema beyond journalistic film
review.
• These film critics try to examine why film works, how it
works, what it means and what effects it has on people.
• Andre Bazin
• Jean- Luc Godard
• Kristin Thompson
• Devid Bordwell