How To Write A Film Review 

Firstly, you need to think of an imaginative title. For instance, if I was writing a review of the new Star Wars film, perhaps a good title could be, ‘Love and War amongst the Stars’. This title gives a very brief idea of the nature of the film and provides a starting point for the reader to focus on. The title might also give an indication of whether the rest of your review will be positive or negative (suggesting if you liked it or not).

The second stage (the opening paragraph) is to give a brief synopsis (summary) of the film. You can also state your early opinions here, but don’t give too much away too soon. Your aim is to make the audience want to finish the article.

After the synopsis, go into detail about what you thought of the film. Was it thought provoking? Did it have lasting images and ideas that particularly enthralled you? Did you think that it was a complete turkey? 

Whatever you view is, it is important to stress it in a comprehensible manner. Examine the film more closely, try to go into detail about the many ideas contained within the film.

Don’t forget, what you enjoyed and remembered from the images and ideas in the film are what could be the deciding factor in whether or not the reader actually goes to see the film themselves. If you really enjoyed it or really hated it, make it clear.

It is necessary to break the film down into its separate parts. By this, I mean that you should spend time stating which parts of the film worked for you. Was the setting and atmosphere successful? Did the plot flow all the way through the film or did it become disjointed and messy part of the way through? You must also look carefully into the characterisation.

A close examination of the key roles in the feature will provide your audience with a better idea of how the film is going to be. Never simply say that you loved or hated a certain movie without giving your reasons. Always explain why you feel the way you do and back it up with descriptive examples.

Even though your article should show from the start what your opinions are, at the end of the piece you should give a conclusion that states strongly what you thought.

Following these guidelines should provide you with enough information to start writing your own reviews. When you write a good review you should find it rewarding, especially if it is published!

Structure:

1. Title – catchy, can indicate if review will be positive or negative, you can play with words to make it funny or different

2. Paragraph 1 – Opening paragraph – can start to summarise film and give early suggestions about your general view of it (positive/negative)

3. Paragraph 2 – Start or continue summary of film, don’t give details about the ending or else no one will go and see the film!!

4. Paragraph 3 and 4 – positive things you thought about the film, what did you like? Why? Use descriptive words, think about the story, setting, effects used, music used

5. Paragraph 5 and 6 – negative things you thought about the film, what didn’t you like? Why? Comment on the same type of things that you mentioned in paragraphs 3 and 4

6. Paragraph 7 and 8 – Characterization – talk about the characters, did you like them? Did the actors play them well? What was it about their portrayal that you liked or didn’t like? Other impressions of the characters, will certain audience members be able to relate to certain characters? How? Will certain audience members not like certain characters? Why not?

7. Paragraph 9 – Final comments – general comments that summarize your view of the film, you may want to say something inspiring to get the reader to want to go out and see the film or you might say something that would want them not to go and see it! After the paragraph you would give it a star rating out of 5 to indicate your rating for it.

Common words and phrases used in film reviews that you might want to use in your own reviews;

spectacular visual effects, excessive violence, breathtaking, evocative, mood, atmosphere, poorly, unsuccessful, detail, scenery, irresistible, perfect, moments, plot, this movie has been compared to ____ because, wonderful, hilarious, momentum, unexpected plot twists, unbelievable, phenomenal, hype, suspense, disappointing, confusion/confused, fake, imitation, genre, unoriginal, typical, thrilled, was a very moving portrayal, quality of the film, I was impressed by, credible, cliché, a mixture of, classic, captivating

LINKS BEFORE YOU START WRITING:

- for film reviews click here

- for general information about any film click here

- for film quotes visit this site

(the theoretical part is borrowed from this site.)

TASK: Troubleshooting

You are a journalist in The Times where you are responsible for the Troubleshooter corner. Here are three people who all need help. Read about their problems, choose one and write an article.

Use Reported speech to mention some facts from the letters. (Lonnely Heart wrote that... She asked if... She wanted to know.. etc.)

Use also dome phrases for giving advice.

1. For Friendship or Love?

I'm one of those guys who have "the quite normal" problem: I'm in love with a girl, but I don't know what to do. I have already had a crush on some girls, never with any success, but this is something different. 

My problem is actually that I'm too cowardly to tell her anything. I know that she likes me and we're very, very good friends. We've known each other for about three years, and our friendship has constantly become better. We often get into quarrels, but we always make up. 

Another problem is that we often talk about problems with each other, and so I know she is having problems with her boyfriend (who I think is no good for her). We meet almost every day. We always have very much fun together, but is it really so difficult to love someone who has been a good chum to you until now?

LoonelyHeart, male, 15

2. Please Help me and My Family

My family don't get along. It's like we all hate each other. It's my mom, me, my two brothers and a sister. I am the oldest. 

We all have certain problems: My mom wants to quit smoking so she is really stressed out. I am really selfish (I just can't help it). One of my brothers is too bossy. He thinks he is better than the rest of us and that he is the only one who helps my mom. My other brother is kind of abusive and depressed. He always starts fights and he's really spoiled (my mom doesn't yell at him for doing things wrong and when she does, he laughs at her); My sister (who's 7) makes messes and doesn't clean them up. 

I really want to help because I don't like being upset all of the time and having everyone hate everyone else. Even when we start to get along, someone will say something to upset someone else. Please help me and my family.

Trouble Girl, female, 15

3. Hates School

I hate school. I cannot stand my school so I skip it almost every day. Luckily, I am a smart person and I'm in all of the advanced classes and don't have reputation as a rebel. Only the people who really know me know about my strange feelings. 

My parents don't care - they don't even mention it if I don't go to school. What I end up doing is sleeping all day and then staying up all night talking to my girlfriend. I get behind in my work and when I try to go back to school I get a bunch of crap from my teachers and friends. I just get so depressed when I think about it. I have given up on trying to go back and now am considering dropping out altogether, but I really don't want to do that because I realize it would ruin my life. 

I don't want to go back at all but I also don't want it to ruin my life. I am so confused and I have really tried to go back and just can't take it. What should I do? Please help.

Bad Boy, male, 16

Giving advice

I don't think you should work so hard.

You ought to work less.

You ought not to work so hard.

If I were you/ If I were in your position / If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't work so hard.

You had better work less.

You shouldn't / You should work less.

Whatever you do, don't work so hard.

W. Shakespeare - A Midsummer’s Night´s Dream (by Veronika Kabátová, II.C)

This play was written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 (we don´t know the exact year). I read just a retold version (by Rachel Bladon), but there were also some extracts from original play.

The story is set in Greece in Athens and wood round the city in ancient times. 

The story starts four days before Theseus and Hippolyta´s wedding (Theseus is the Duke). Egeus wants to talk to Theseus, so he comes to the Duke´s palace with his daughter, Hermia and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus is angry of his daughter, because he told Demetrius he could marry Hermia. But Hermia has fallen in love with Lysander. Egeus wants Hermia´s marriage with Demetrius. Theseus tells Hermia that she must marry Demetrius and if not, she must die or become a nun. Lysander tells Egeus and Theseus that Demetrius had been in love with Helena before he met Hermia and Helena still loves him. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away from Athens. Hermia tells Helena about their plan and Helena tells it Demetrius.

Meanwhile, the craftsmen want rehearse a play, which they will perform on a Theseus and Hippolyta´s wedding. They decide to meet in the palace wood next day. They want to meet at night, so nobody will see them.

Next night in the palace wood, Puck, a fairy, is sitting by a tree. Another fairy comes to him and they start talking. Fairy tells him that Titania, Queen of the Fairies will come there with other fairies. Puck tells her that Oberon, the King of the Fairies, is spending the evening there and he wants that fairy makes Titania change her decision. Titania has a little Indian boy and Oberon wants him, but Titania doesn´t want to give him Oberon. Every time when they two meet, they argue about the little boy. Suddenly, Oberon and Titania are coming and when they see each other, they´re starting argue and Titania with her fairies goes away. Oberon´s got an idea - he tells Puck to find a magical flower. He wants to put the juice of the flower on Titania´s eyes while she´s sleeping and when she wakes up, she´ll fall in love with first thing she´ll see.

Into the wood comes Demetrius, followed by Helena (they can´t see fairies and Oberon is hidden). Demetrius is angry, because he can´t see Lysander and Hermia and he thinks that Helena laid him. Demetrius isn´t nice to Helena and he goes away. Helena makes promise to herself that she´ll always follow him and she goes away, too. Oberon isn´t happy with Demetrius and he wants to help Helena. Then Puck comes with the magic flower. Oberon gives some juice to Puck and tells him what to do. He wants Puck to put the juice on Demetrius´ eyes while he´s sleeping. Juice will make him love Helena. Then Oberon goes to Titania and puts a juice on her eyes.

Lysander and Hermia come into a wood and tired fall asleep. Puck is discontented, because he hasn´t found Demetrius and Helena. Suddenly he sees Lysander and Hermia and he makes a big mistake - he thinks they are Demetrius and Helena and he puts the juice on Lysander´s eyes. Then he goes to find Oberon.

Helena is still running after Demetrius, but she is out of breath and she can´t follow him further. She sees Lysander and wakes him up. When he sees Helena, he falls in love with her. Helena isn´t happy about that. Then Hermia wakes up and she sees that Lysander disappeared.

Craftsmen come into a wood, too and they want to rehearse the play on a place where Titania is sleeping (they don´t see her). Puck comes there and decides to have fun - he´ll give one of them, Bottom, a donkey´s head. When other craftsmen see him, they run to Athens. Bottom thinks that they just want to make a fool of him and he starts sing. Titania wakes up.  She falls in love with him and wants of fairies to take care about him.

Puck finds Oberon and tells him, what happened. Suddenly they see Demetrius and Hermia are coming. Hermia wants know where Lysander is, but Demetrius doesn´t know it. Hermia goes away to find Lysander and Demetrius lies down and sleeps. Oberon tells Puck that he put the juice on a wrong person´s eyes and he puts the juice on Demetrius´ eyes again. Puck is running (or flying) to find Helena. He finds her quickly, because Helena is running away from Lysander opposite them and Lysander is following her. Oberon and Puck decide to watch what they´ll do. Demetrius wakes up and when he sees Helena, he falls in love with her. Now, Lysander and Demetrius are both begging for Helena´s love. Helena just thinks that they are making fun of her. Then comes Hermia and she doesn´t understand what is Lysander doing. Helena is angry of Hermia and they´re starting argue. Lysander and Demetrius go away; they want to fight for Helena´s love. Angry Helena is going away and Hermia too, on the other side like Helena.

Oberon is angry on Puck, who admits that he made a mistake. Oberon tells him what to do. He gives Puck another juice for Lysander and Puck is going to find him. Oberon wants to find Tatiana.

Titania is sleeping on her flowery bed with Bottom. Oberon tells Puck that Titania gave him the little boy and now he can break the love spell. Titania wakes up and tells Oberon that she had a strange dream. Oberon tells her that wasn´t a dream. Titania can´t understand how it happened and Puck takes of the donkey´s head of Bottom. Titania and Oberon become friends again and Athenians are still sleeping.

Next morning, Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus and another Athenians are in the wood - they want hunting. Suddenly they see Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius and wake them up. They say why they are there and Demetrius says that he loves Helena, not Hermia. Theseus tells them that they will be married at the temple with him and Hippolyta. They´re all going back to Athens.

Bottom wakes up and he thinks he had a strange dream. He wants to write a song about it and sing it on an n end of their play. When he comes back to Athens, other craftsmen are surprised and very happy that they see him.

Next evening they all meet in the Duke´s palace in Athens. It was a wedding day. Craftsmen perform their play and then all go sleep. Oberon and Titania are blessing that place.

A Midsummer’s Night´s Dream is a very funny story, but little children won´t understand it, so I can recommend it just to students and older people.

Questions

1. Why, according to Puck, are Oberon and Titania fighting (2.1.20-31)?

2. How did you feel when you read Helena’s decision to tell Demetrius about Hermia and Lysander’s plan? Why did you feel this way?

3. Describe Theseus’s character. What sort of leader does he seem to be?

Answers

1. Because Titania has a little Indian boy which she loves and Oberon wants to take him with himself when he travels. But Titania keeps him with her all the time and she doesn´t let Oberon take him.

2. I´m not happy with her decision. If my friend tells me a secret, I won´t tell it anybody and if I have a reason to say it I will be quiet.

3. Theseus seems to be an equitable, good and friendly. He respect laws of his city, but he isn´t strict (we´ve seen that he allowed Hermia to marry Lysander and she mustn´t marry Demetrius, die or become a nun). In my opinion he is an example for a perfect leader.

W. Shakespeare - Hamlet (by Veronika Kabátová, II.C)

The book (or a play) was written by William Shakespeare in 1599. This version (that I read) isn´t an original. It has been retold by Margaret Tarner, but there are also a few parts of original play.

The story is set in Elsinore, King´s castle in Denmark. The time is the same as the time when Shakespeare lived - 16 ^th century.

The story starts when Hamlet´s father, King Hamlet, dies. His brother (Hamlet´s uncle) becomes a King and marries his brother´s wife and Hamlet´s mother, Queen Gertrude. One night, the ghost appears on the battlemants, but doesn´t speak. Horatio, Hamlet´s best friend, decides to tell Hamlet about the ghost, because it seems to be Hamlet´s dead father´s ghost. The ghost speaks to Hamlet and tells him that his death wasn´t natural - his brother, Claudius, murdered him with poison. Hamlet decides to obey the ghost and make revenge.

Hamlet makes him like a mad. King Claudius and other people think that his love to Ophelia made him mad, but it isn´t true. Polonius, Ophelia´s father, talks to Claudius and tells Ophelia to not be with Hamlet alone.

When players (actors, who performed plays) come on Elsinore, Hamlet talks to them and they play a play with a murder. Claudius gets afraid and runs away. Then Hamlet is sere that his uncle killed his father and he really wants revenge. Later he finds Claudius praying, but he can´t kill him - what about if his praying will get true and Claudius will go to heaven?

Claudius knows that Hamlet wants to kill him. He calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and tells them to go with Hamlet to England. He also writes a letter to King of England.

Meanwhile Hamlet is talking to Gertrude, his mother. He reproaches her because of her marriage just two months after his father´s death. Gertrude admits that and she is sorry about it. Hamlet sees somebody behind the tapestry and kills him - he hopes that is Claudius, but it´s Polonius.

Later Hamlet goes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to England, but he doesn´t trust them. One night on ship, he gets up and finds the letter for King. He writes another letter - King should kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Next day, the ship is attacked by pirates. Hamlet jumps on their ship during the fight and gets back to Denmark.

During the time when Hamlet was away, Ophelia has gone mad because of her father´s death. When she was picking flowers, she fell into the water and drowned. Laertes, her brother, wants revenge; because Claudius told him Hamlet had killed his father and had made Ophelia mad.

Hamlet meets Laertes on Ophelia’s funeral and tells him about his love to Ophelia. Laertes starts fight with Hamlet, but he goes away. Claudius talks to Laertes about his plan to kill Hamlet and Laertes agrees. In the friendly fight, Hamlet kills Laertes with poisoned sword, but he is also stabbed with it. Gertrude drinks a wine, but it´s poisoned, too. Hamlet kills Claudius and Horatio wants to kill himself. Then Prince Fortinbras from Norway comes to the castle. Hamlet wants Fortinbras to be a King of Denmark and tells Horatio to tell everybody his story. Then Hamlet dies.

  

In my opinion, it´s a great an interesting story. I enjoyed it very much. There are very complicated characters, so I can´t recommend this book to everybody, just for people who love books where they must think about.

Questions

1. Describe Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and the mother of Hamlet.

2. "To be or not to be" - is this the question?

3. What is Ophelia´s tragedy and how she dies?

Answers

1. Gertrude is a normal person. She loves her son and Ophelia, she loved her husband, but she trusts lies and makes negative decisions (like a marriage with Claudius), too. When you tell her to do something bad, she will do it, but when somebody tells her, why is it bad she will regret it.

2. No, it´s just a simplied version of a much complicated question. Hamlet thinks about living and death. He compares death to sleeping, but when he sleeps, he dreams and dreams can become nightmares. He´s got bigger fear from things after death that from things of living. He´s confused.

3. Ophelia´s sincere love to Hamlet, who wants revenge more than love and her father´s murder have made her mad. One day, she went pick up flowers. She went to the river and wanted to pick up flowers among the tree´s branches. One branch has broken and she fell into the water. Her wet clothes sank her and she drowned.

TASK 4

1. Solve the crosswords.

 

2. Read the Schoolrules of the Moorland Boarding School and Private Day School and compare it with the rules of our school. Name 5 things which are similar and 5 which are different. Which rule should we "borrow" from them?

English History by Petra Nagyová and Linda Ristemiová

Irish Culture by Dominika Salajová and Quyen Ngo Le To (Jackie)

TV Chanel by Adam Trtík (IV.KB)

Irish Sports by Paulina Ricová and Natália Paulenová (IV.KA)

Equestrian activities, particularly show jumping and horse racing, are another key sport. Ireland has the best grass on the planet, and consequently some of the best horse flesh on the globe. Every town has its equestrian centers, and a goodly percentage of farms house a few horses as well as the more mundane cows and sheep.

Betting shops, called bookmakers, are all over the place. Traditional fox hunts are still commonplace and in the depths of winter when the major tracks shut down, a circuit of point-to-point races travels from town to town. Irish horse racing, like British, involves lots of jumps and miles of running. A typical race might last 10 or more minutes. Get out on a freezing January day and watch the horses splash through the slop and you'll know what it feels like to be a real Irish person: wet, cold, fortified with drink and lots of companionable talk, and surprisingly happy. There's a nice commercial site with links to everything concerning Irish horses. 

Golf. There are over 300 golf courses scattered everywhere in Ireland. Each attracts a membership of many hundreds, and visitors are usually welcome to play a few rounds during the warmer months. The standard of greens and fairway maintenance is extremely high and most of the courses earn the coveted "Championship" designation. The major Irish tournament on the international circuit is the Murphy's Irish Open, which attracts thousands of enthusiasts to watch the pros do their thing. There are dozens of individual golf courses on line. Golfing Ireland is a site that covers the whole of the Irish golf scene.

Rugby. Ireland enthusiastically supports amateur rugby, and international play with the other great rugby superpowers - notably South Africa and New Zealand - is followed by large numbers of Irish people. There is again a system of amateur clubs, but these are centered on a few counties such as Kerry and Dublin. For the most part, Rugby is a telly sport, but an exciting and bone crunching one.

Motor rally, hillwalking, and cycling are the other common sports. Every town in Ireland has local clubs involved in these sports. In early July 1998, the Tour De France, the second largest sporting event in the world after the Olympics, began in Ireland. In three dIn sum, there's plenty for the sports minded to enjoy in Ireland. And Satellite TV and the Web make it possible to keep tabs on some favorite overseas team.

Gaelic Football. It would be safe to say that Gaelic Football is the most popular sport in Ireland, with Hurling not far behind. It’s a traditional game in Ireland and could be described as being a cross between soccer and rugby with similarities to Australian Rules. 

Boxing . Irish people are known as the Fighting Irish and many of men became world champion boxers and became a house hold name. Boxing clubs in Ireland have always been popular for many years and still is producing some great talented boxers who go onto compete around the globe. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance and community involvement, and represents 34% of total sports attendances at events in Ireland and abroad, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8%, and Initiative's ViewerTrack study measuring 2005 sports audiences showed the sport's highest-profile match, the All-Ireland Football Final, to be the most watched event of the nation's sporting year. Swimming, golf, aerobics, soccer, cycling, 

Gaelic football and billiards/snooker are the sporting activities with the highest levels of playing participation. 

Many other sports are also played and followed, particularly rugby league, horse racing but also show jumping, greyhound,racing, boxing, baseball, basketball,cricket, fishing, handball, motorsport, tennis, kendo, and hockey. In Ireland many sports, such as boxing, hockey, rowing, cricket, rugby union, Gaelic football and hurling, are organised in an all-island basis, with a single team representing Ireland in international competitions. Other sports, such as Association Football, have separate organising bodies in Northern Ireland and theRepublic of Ireland. At the Olympics, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either Ireland or Britain.

TV Chanel by Samuel Sorad IV.KB

Zombie TV by Tomáš Novák (IV.KB)

Irish language by Gabika Martincová a Hanka Srnková (IV.KA)

Irish (Gaeilge) is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language only by a small minority of the Irish population, and as a second language by a larger minority. However, it is widely considered to be an important part of the island's culture and heritage. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland. It is also an official language of the European Union and an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland.

Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought their Gaelic speech with them to other countries, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man where it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. It has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. However, it began to decline under British rule after the seventeenth century. The nineteenth century saw a dramatic fall in the number of speakers partly due to the Great Famine of 1845–1852 (where Ireland lost half its population either to emigration or death) and partly due to government language policies. Irish speaking areas were especially hit hard. By its end, while the language never died out, it was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers have been a minority except in some areas known as Gaeltachtaí (singular: Gaeltacht), and efforts have been made to preserve and promote the language.

Estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 to 80,000 people. In the republic, there are just over 72,000 people who use Irish as a daily language outside education, as well as a larger minority of the population who are fluent but do not use it on a daily basis. (While census figures indicate 1.66 million people in the republic with some knowledge  a significant percentage of these know only a little Irish). Smaller numbers of Irish speakers exist in Britain, the United States of America and other countries.

TASK 3

Practice

1. Choose the correct relative pronoun.

1. This is the man who/which built our house.
2. There is the bridge who/which we have to cross.
3. The girl who/which lives next door is very nice.
4. The bus who/which takes you to the station should be here any minute.
5. This is the dog who/which barks every night.

2. Complete the sentences with relative clauses. Use who or which.

1. A Dutch is a person (live in the Netherlands) 
2. A giant is someone (be very tall) 
3. An alarm clock is a clock (wake you up in the morning) 
4. A ladybird is a red beetle (have black spots on its back) 
5. A waitress is a woman (serve food and drinks in a restaurant) 

3. Combine the sentences using a relative clauses without a relative pronouns (Contact Clauses).

1. I watched a film last night. The film was interesting.
   The film 
2. Carly helps a man. The man is my teacher.
   The man 
3. We ate chicken at the restaurant. It was delicious.
   The chicken 
4. The boy is very nice. I know him from school.
   The boy 
5. The shoes are too big. My grandma bought them for me.
   The shoes 

Relative Pronouns

relative pronoun	use	example
who	subject or object pronoun for people	I told you about the woman who lives next door.
which	subject or object pronoun for animals and things	Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
which	referring to a whole sentence	He couldn’t read which surprised me.
whose	possession for people animals and things	Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?
whom	object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)	I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.
that	subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)	I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.