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Movie Critic Essay 5


When looking at movies its hard to completely understand the full purpose of the film.
As a viewer of a film, sometimes only getting a few laughs or one suspenseful plot twist can
make someone consider it is a great movie. But when you only have so many genres to choose
from, a lot of the same things happen in some movies, and it takes true creativity to make that
happen and for it to still be a great movie. It takes very selective people to be able to see true
creativity in a film. Which is why we rely on cinema critics, because even if it was slightly
entertaining to watch, they are able to find the true meaning of the movie in the slightest details,
break down characters in the movie, and fully evaluate what happened and the creativity value of
the cinema. Movie critic Rodger Ebert displays an effective review on the movie The Soloist at
rodgerebert.com, in his critique he discusses the movies power to be enthralling and interesting
to watch, but lacking the fundamental elements to being an uplifting drama. He is able to address
all of the faults in the film, without harming the reputation of the actors, in his words

The actors are in place. There is no fault of Jamie Foxx's performance creating a man
who is tense, fearful, paranoid and probably schizophrenic. We can almost smell his terror,
through the carnival clown clothing and hats he hides behind
These are the words of an amazing critique who knows what he is talking about and has
shown his skills not only in this critique but in many others.
In 2005, the only thing hurting Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez more than his face
from a recent bike accident was his pressing need for story ideas. That is when he discovers
Nathaniel Ayers, a mentally ill, homeless street musician who possesses extraordinary talent,

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even through his half-broken instruments. Inspired by his story, Lopez writes an acclaimed series
of articles about Ayers and attempts to do more to help both him and the rest of the underclass of
LA have a better life. However, Lopez's good intentions run headlong in the hard realities of the
strength of Ayers' personal demons and the larger social injustices facing the homeless.
Regardless, Lopez and Ayers must find a way to conquer their deepest anxieties and frustrations
to hope for a brighter future for both of them.
When talking about The Soloist Rodger Ebert seems to be preaching to the readers he
wants to not tell you what to think and believe or rather how you should view the movie, he only
wants to tell you what he believes is the best solution to fully understanding the movie.
When reviewing the movie, he strongly voices his opinions that although most parts of
the movie is there that it lacs a lot to make a very interesting movie. He states that attempting
to explain or show madness is close to impossible and that trying it in this movie was no greater
of a success than any other film. When watching it, he felt that the writers of the film werent
even sure if they knew how to represent madness. When looking at how the homeless man
shows his madness, he seems more of a loose cannon, than someone with schizophrenia. It
becomes apperent of the repetitive nature of his out breaks in the movie and they become
monotone leading Rodger to say There comes a point when Lopez has had enough, and so, in
sympathy, have we. Lopez being the so called savior of the story loosing intrest in his friend
because of the repetitive outbreaks from the disorder, tells us we should do the same. If someone
who actually lived this got tired of it, then it wouldnt be any better for us.

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The actors have done an impeccable job of expressing their characters to the fullest of
their capabilities in the critique Rodger Ebert never blames the actors for any of the unamusing
parts of the movie, he usually bashes on the writer by pointing out his flaws while not bashing on
his ideas and words. In his evaluation Rodger Ebert says things like
That is no fault of Jamie Foxx's performance creating a man who is tense, fearful,
paranoid and probably schizophrenic. We can almost smell his terror, through the carnival
clown clothing and hats he hides behind.
This being the same quote that you read earlier in the paper. Jamie Fox does a fantastic
job of being able to make sure all parts of the character and lines he was given, when talking
about the film director he has other words of expression. Unfortunately, the screenwriter and
director don't set up a structure for Oscar-style elevation, nor do they really want to make a
serious and doleful film about mental illness. In these words, Rodger Ebert puts the screen
writer in his place, by not putting enough effort in his work here , the possibility of this
becoming an Oscar nominee is close to nothing, which is sad considering such a great plot from
a true story could be turned into such an amazing movie.
Rodger Ebert has a very interesting way of looking at the music in the play. Since the
movie is a Drama based on a true story there is no amazing action scenes, or technologically
advance objects, anything that would make a viewer feel flabbergasted by what he is seeing. So
not being able to talk about that Rodger Ebert comes up with an amazing evaluation of the music
selection that was chosen to represent Nathanial Ayers. This was a Revolutionary idea, he
obviously did some research on music or had prior knowledge on it because what he states is
complex and worth the read. In his review Ebert said:

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As for the music, Beethoven of course is always uplifting, but the movie doesn't
employ him as an emotional showstopper, as Debussy's "Clair de Lune" is used in
"Tokyo Sonata." There's no clear idea of what it would mean should Ayers
triumph in a public debut; would it be a life-changing moment or only an anomaly
on his tragic road through life? Can he be salvaged? Does he want to be? Or will
be always be a soloist, playing to his demons in the darkness under a bridge?
(paragraph #)
The music selection that the writers have chosen was confusing, by the end of the movie Rodger
Ebert was not sure what it was supposed to represent in the movie. Since Beethoven often wrote
uplifting music we know it will have to deal somewhat with that emotion. But it never truly
defines what it does for the character Nathanial Ayers. In doing this, it leaves a lot of holes in
what the directors wanted to bring across, bringing the value and interest of the movie.
Some people believe BLAH BLAH BLAH but are wrong BLAH BLAH BLAH
Finally the overall movie is just BLAH BLAH BLAH
Dear -,
You have a good/interesting hook that does a good job of getting the readers attention! You also
have some good ideas here! You dont want your quotes to be in italics, but that should be a
quick fix. I am a bit concerned by two things here. The first is that you seem to spend a lot of time
reviewing the actual movie, but you want to make sure that everything is focused on evaluating
the review, not the actual movie. I think if you get your thesis into the proper format, it will
really help focus your essay. You identify that the review as effective/successful (which is a
good first step!), so now you just need to add the criteria that make the review successful in the
thesis. You have some good material in your paper, but you need to work on making it into a
clear argument. My other big concern is the paragraph structure.
You want each body paragraph to be set up like this:
a. Topic Sentence include criterion and if it makes the review successful
b. Discuss importance of that criterion in movie reviews (in general terms)
c. Discuss how the review meets this criterion

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d. Include specific examples from the review (quotes) to support your evaluation and how
this quote illustrates the successful implementation of the criterion
i. Try to include at least two or three specific references/quotes from the review as
support
e. Connect body paragraph back the thesis/evaluation
Also, be careful with how you are formatting your quotes because it makes the paper a bit hard to follow
(you want to be using MLA formatting). I think you should schedule a conference with me before the final
paper is due so I can make sure that you are on the right track with your revision.
Heres a quick outline of all of the parts that you need, so you can make sure you include everything in
your final draft.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Introduction
BP 1 (pick one criterion)
BP 2 (pick one criterion)
BP 3 (pick one criterion)
Counterargument with specific examples and explanation.
Refutation
Conclusion
Works Cited page

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