So you’ve just seen a movie and you loved it. Or, more likely, you hated it. Either way it’s hot news and you think other people should know what this movie is like. Well you’ve got an opinion and you feel as though you should share it with people. Your friends, your family, complete strangers on the internet who you don’t know the name of. You’re pretty sure they’re all waiting on the edge of your seat to hear what you have to say about Hollywood’s latest blunder.

Well I guess it’s time to write a movie review! But gee, where do you start? Well if you can string some words coherently together into a sentence and you can string those sentences into connecting groups to make a paragraph then I’m sure you can write a movie review.

This is where people start to make some common mistakes. I’m thinking of three big ones in particular. So before you jump on the bandwagon and start ripping into Ben Affleck, let’s make sure you’re not making one of these mistakes.

Having an Opinion Is Not Enough

The first thing you need to learn to not just see a movie but to watch the movie. You’ve got to look at it critically and when you come out, you’ve got to have something to back up what you’re saying. Don’t just say it’s a bad movie but tell people why it’s a bad movie. Was it the acting? Was it the writing?

One of the worst things you can do is write a review that only makes the point: “This movie sucks because I said so”. That’s not really a review, that’s just an opinion and that’s not enough. Be critical, tell your reader something real and always remember: You’ll do a much better job convincing someone you’re right if you’ve got some kind of “evidence”.

Context, Context, Context

This is a big one which I see all the time. You need to remember what movie you’re reviewing and make sure you judge it appropriately. If you start to make comments about aspects of the movie that aren’t even there then you’ll sound an idiot. So what do I mean, exactly?

Well a good example of this is the movie “300″. This movie received a lot of negative reviews from critics and movie-goers who simply did not look at the movie in context. Many people attacked the movie for its weak story and didn’t seem to realise how irrelevant the story is. “300″ was a movie made for its gore, its stylish look and most importantly for seven foot tall muscle men in hotpants cutting down soldiers by the hundreds.

To look at it another way: Would you ever criticise a “The Mask” starring Jim Carey because of it’s poorly played soul stirring drama? Of course you wouldn’t. Whatever drama there may be is unimportant to the movie because the point of the movie is to be funny.

If you can’t review a movie in the right context, stick to talking about things like acting, writing and soundtrack – the things that are important to every movie.

The objective is objective

By definition an opinion is not neutral and is not objective. That doesn’t mean an opinion is bad thing to have when writing a review and let’s face it: Sometimes it’s the core of a very entertaining review. But remember that if you’re reviewing a movie for people then you want to give them the facts. If those facts support your opinion then all the better but they don’t always and that’s just fine.

A good example is the movie “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. This is a terrible movie, objectively, and when I reviewed it I said exactly that. In my opinion, it’s a fun movie and definitely worth a watch! The evidence suggests this is a bad movie but in my opinion it’s enjoyable. So what did I do? I let the world know that it’s a terrible movie that can be very good. You follow?

Remember that in the end, even the worst movie ever made can go down in history as one of the most popular. Look at “2001: A Space Odyssey” as an excellent example of that. I don’t really see why people love this movie because it’s absolutely awful, both in my opinion and objectively.

What really counts when you’re reviewing a movie is that you are letting people know about the movie and not just your opinion.