Monday, November 3, 2014

Analyze and Responsd to 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/

19 comments:

  1. In the review of Fury, Peter Bradshaw gives a mixed review. The main point of the movie he believes is that war is "dehumanizing and ennobling and its what bonds people together". I believe this is true, the trailer is what explains and gives proof to this statement. They also believe they are not clear on their moral standings at points. Such as how Brad Pitt wants to kill prisoners of war but it makes it okay because he really really hates Nazi's. The second clip they use supports all i just said they show them starting a tank bonding all focusing then it pans over taken Nazi medals showing their prize of the kill.

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    Replies
    1. I want to add that they did compare this movie and its ideals and attractions to video games and other movies such as inglorious bastards and how it doesn't matter how much violence there is as long as they really hate them Nazi's.

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  2. Peter Bradshaw's review of Fury seems relatively mixed. He doesn't really push favor nor does he bash the movie. This is why the review seems unbiased also. They use personal experience, comparisons to other movies, and some minor story telling to back their claims. Did not seem to have very many values implied or stated.

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  3. The iPhone 6 review is very human, the CNET reviewers had pictures/charts for each category. This way of reviewing wasn't very effective at helping me decide on the product because they kept putting conditionals everywhere. So this review is for the people who want the details of handling the phone before you get one. Otherwise it is a wishwash of details for the iPhone 6.

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  5. In the review about Taylor Swifts album the writer says Taylor went from the sweet innocent girl to showing her darkside. The writer supports this though because she realizes that every person famous or not has a so called dark side. For musicians however it is often hard to let go of the original image they recieved when they first began singing. This review is fair because it shows the good and the bad and uses comparison to another singer from the 80's which is what Taylor was trying to bring into her new album 1989.

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  6. I chose the review on the movie "Fury", the conclusion of this review is that the movie is very "realistic" and "exciting", I can not agree nor disagree with this review because I have not watched the movie myself. this review seems to be very fair towards the movie, its not putting it down or talking negitvialy about it, the review makes the movie seem very enjoyable to watch and entertaing. the review uses the movie trailer and and a video review with scenes from the movie as evidence for the review its self. based on this review, "Fury" sounds like a movie that i would like to watch and enjoy.

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  7. I choose to respond to the review of Gone Girl. The writer creates a story coming from both of the main characters in the book. Husband and wife that just cannot seem to get it together. I believe that this review is not biased. Also, the evidence in the review is coming from the book itself. The reviewer writes that this is the author greatest book that really shows her true talent. This is based on opinion, but supplies the reader with a great comparasion to the author's other books. Just by reading this review, I would really enjoy reading this book myself.

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  8. I chose the review on Taylor Swift's new album, 1989. The overall conclusion of this review is that Taylor's album has definitely changed from her past albums, going from sweet country girl with her guitar, to a young women showing her dark side to fit in with her age of 24. I think the review is very fair because she gives reasons to support her claim and is not saying that Taylor's new dark side is a bad thing at all, comparing her songs in the album to young Bruce Springsteen and music from the 80's, going with her album title as well as the year she was born. I did not find any specific values in this review, but it goes into detail of what the reviewer thinks Taylor Swift meant for this album to be, stating it in a good un-biased way.

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  9. I looked at the review of Fury, by David Ayer. This comes from the Guardian, so it is credibly, in terms of the fact that completely inaccurate and or unreliable information or reviews would not make it on to The Guardian. The conclusion of the review is that it is a war movie at the high level of intensity and value of most great war movies, and is worth seeing. Overall, the review do not seem biased, because both pros and cons were shared with equal excitement. David compares Fury with other big war movies, and believes they are at that level. A value that he has, that i also like, is his critique about needing a sex scene. I agree with this because, it seems not to add anything to the value of the movie, and, of course, it constricts the viewer audience.

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  10. I read the review for the Iphone 6, it seemed like a fair review. They covered some of the good things as well as the bad things in a pretty savvy way. I agreed about the intimidation factor of the screen size, I dont understand why screen sizes keep getting bigger. To a certain extent it's a good thing, but when it gets to the size of a mini tablet i think its going a bit far. When it came to the comparison chart i was supprised to see that the Iphone 6 is still lagging behind the GS5 which has been out for a while already.

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  11. I chose the review of Fury by David Ayer. In the review, Peter Bradshaw talks about how the movie is a movie about being in the war and the tension and exhilaration that soldiers have in the war. The conclusion of this review was the movie is very realistic and exciting. I cannot agree or disagree with the review about because I did not watch the movie. The review did not seem biased, but I would say it was fair, because Bradshaw did not bash the movie, nor did he try to oversell the movie, but he gives the pros and cons and says that it was an enjoyable movie. Since the review is featured on The Guardian making the review credible. One value that is stated is the necessity of a sexual scene in the movie. He says that there is no need to add a sex scene because it doesn’t add value to the movie and also raises the view discretion for the movie. I agree with this because it seems like every movie now has some kind of sex scene or sexual scene that isn’t necessary or doesn’t connect with the topic of the movie.

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  12. The review that I chose to read was on novel Gone Girl. The conclusion of the review is that the novel, according to Janet Maslin, is “wily, mercurial, subtly layered and populated by characters so well imagined that they’re hard to part with– even if… they [have] already departed”. The review itself does not seem to contain much bias due to the fact that it uses quoted details from the story as supporting evidence, which leads one to believe that the reviewer actually read the novel before reviewing. However, the review may have some bias, as the reviewer seems to be a fan of Gillian Flynn’s previous novels Sharp Objects and Dark Places. Personally, it seems as though the review itself is almost an advertisement supporting the novel Gone Girl rather than an objective review, as it does not mention any constructive criticism, only positive feedback. According to the reviewer, Janet Maslin, the author Gillian Flynn creates within her crime novel a unique twist in where the characters directly address the reader, “Nick in the present tense, and Amy by ways of italics-filled, giddily emotional diary [entries]”, all in attempts to convince the reader of their innocence. The most powerful part of the review, which personally peeked my interest in potentially reading the novel, is the fact that the author is essentially playing mind games with her reader through her main characters Nick and Amy; as stated eloquently by the reviewer, “Both Nick and Amy are extremely adept liars. They lie to each other, and now they will lie to you” (Maslin, Janet).

    Works Cited:
    Maslin, Janet. “The Lies That Buoy, Then Break a Marriage.” Rev. of Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. International New York Times. 30 May, 2012: C1.

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  13. I chose the review for the movie Fury. From what I watched I saw that they concluded that the movie was an exhilarating, realistic and a good representation of what war would be like. Sometimes, the way they discussed the movie, it was sort of a fantasy in a way, even Brad Pitt says, "War is not a video game. But [Fury] is extremely inspired by video games like Call of Duty." First off, the review was very credible since the review was published by The Guardian which is a credible source. I think the review was a little unfair just because the way they discussed their views it consisted more of praise than criticism. I could mention more positive things they said about the movie than the negative views they had. But at the same time I also don't think the review was biased, since the review did point out the cons of the movie and when they did, they took to it critically. The values that were implied I think were that, the movie did not need the sex scene that was implemented since it didn't add on or take away from the movie.

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  14. The conclusion of this review is that the iPhone 6 delivers you a bigger screen with great features and the promise of Apple pay. I agree with this review because it is true, the iPhone 6 is bigger and has many added features that are very useful. This review is not biased and is very fair. I can tell because the writer states both good and bad about the iPhone 6. What counts here as evidence is the writers experience of using the phone and what facts or information he knows about it. Such as battery life, screen size, etc. The values implied or stated here are that the iPhone 6 is worth it and that you should buy it.

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  15. The review that I watched was the CNet iPhone 6 review. There review was very well said and covered many aspects of the iPhone. The way that they did this review was in a non biased format that compared it to the previous iPhone model an alternative android models. There review also extends outside of the video to give us a good, bad and bottom line about the product. Some of the notable things that they talk about are the camera on the iPhone and the battery life of the iPhone to help give comparisons to the previous models. Lastly from to video it is very informative for the average user but doesn't go in-depth for many advanced users of the iPhone.

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  16. The review that I read was about Taylor Swift's new album 1989. Although I've never been a HUGE fan of Taylor Swift, I have always enjoyed her music, especially this new album. In this article the author surprisingly speaks about how the new album has shed light on the negative and vulnerable parts of Taylor Swift. Another idea that the author brings up is how similar Taylor to Lana Del Ray, going for the James Dean and later him making her cry.On the other hand, the events that happen to her is what makes her such a success artist. Her problems and relationship drama creates addicting beats that hits home with many younger listeners. For awhile I have thought that this was her exact strategy, but I find it funny that professional reviews have the same views as me.

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  17. I read the review for the book Gone Girl. The reviewer concluded that this book is "subtly layered and populated with characters so well imagined that they're hard to part with." This review was not biased because throughout it she used many quotes as evidence supporting her conclusion.

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  18. I read the review on the iphone 6. The conclusion of the review was that the iphone 6 is a good phone, definately better than the iphone 5. I do agree with this I have spend a couple hours playing around with my friends iphone 6s and i think they are very good. The review wasnt biased, I could tell this because they compared it to android phones and told in what areas android phones were better than the iphone6. The evidence comes in the form of stats such as screen size, proccesoer, memory storage, etc. He compares and contrasts it to android phones which he has used, and he has an iphone 6 that he has been using for a while, so he knows the ins and outs of it. He did compalin about how apple makes there phones very expensive compared to android, which you can get for a decent amount less.

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