I enjoy reading a lot of web reviews for things such as movies and music. You may have even noticed I tend to indulge in a little writing along those lines myself. However, there's one thing that annoys me even more than one sentence l33t speak "reviews" and that's the person who seems to think detailing every aspect of something is a review. Well, it's not.
Recounting the plot of a movie in complete detail is not a review. Describing every song on an album is not a review, even if you say "I give this track a 3 out of 5" at the end of each track you describe. While describing what something is, what it's about or what it sounds like is good, it's only part of a review.
The whole point of a review is for the writer to tell the reader what he thinks about something. Was it good or bad? Did you enjoy it or not? What worked and what didn't?
A review isn't just taking a look at something, it's taking a critical look at something. Without that element of criticism, you have written a synopsis, not a review. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There's certainty a time and place for synopsis. I just wish people would get would get it straight what they're doing.
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1 comment:
My review of Rob's Blog: Pretty good if you like blogs.
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