1. Tone: Introducing a disappointing
attitude to the reader, the writer’s
tone emulates from the outsets and
throughout the film review
consistently by inflicting negative
language such as, “uninspired”, to
which the film is bluntly, “borrows
so many ideas from previous genre
films.” Notifying the reader of these
derivative plot ideas, the examples
of films that resemble the one in
the review such as, “Alien” and
“Pitch Black” are emphasised in
bold, black font to undoubtedly
underline the comparative films
that will catch the attention from
the reader.
Positive Comments/Language Negative Comments/Language
“technically impressive”
“This film has a lot of qualities
that are fearsome.”
“The features are definitely here
for an impressive movie.”
“The cave is a good looking film.”
“Goes to great lengths to tell a
story we’ve seen many times
before.”
“Viewer is left with a too familiar
feeling of been there, done
that.”
“Not least of which are
impressive.”
“Not very original or scary.”
“The cave is a good looking film,
made with some intelligence."
The review page outlines both counter arguments
weighing an imbalanced positive and negative
aspects of the film. This makes for the review to
not be completely biased, however the initial
attitude of the review dominates the article.
“$20”- Very little use
of statistical
figures/quantitative
data are used by
Time Magazine. This
might suggest the
magazine’s house
style focuses less on
the profitable
aspects of the film,
and instead
The critic star rating
notifies the audience,
prior to reading the
columns of review, of
the overall attitude
towards the film from
the critic. This avoids the
reader having to read all
of the film review, and
can quickly capture
whether the film is good
or not. This unique
selling point is
highlighted in numerous
review examples in Time
Out magazine; not only
for Film reviews, but for
Music and TV reviews
suggesting that it is an
effective yet normative
communication device
seen for magazine
reviews.
The subheading/pun, “Going deeper
underground” contrasts dramatically
against the main headline both in size,
font and boldness. The subheading
captures the theme of the film, while
building anticipation and suspense with
the audience by using ellipse.
The film review critic
refrains from
suggesting constructive
criticism for what could
have been made better
in regards to the film.
This makes for an
unsatisfying and
adverse review for
