Sean OLeary Mr.

Matos Writing and Rhetoric 2/28/12

Movie Review Reflection Organizing my thoughts into a well-structured and concisely written movie review has been a challenging and enjoyable experience. One of the most difficult challenges I faced on the onset of the project deciding what movie I was actually going to choose to review. Initially the assignment called for us to review a movie that we loved but was widely disliked or that we despised but that was well received by the public. With this in mind, I was initially going to a negative review about the film Rudy, which is a feel good sports movie, about a walk-on player for Notre Dame. It may come as a shock that as a Notre Dame student I disliked this movie but there are several reasons that contribute to my negative opinion of the film namely several significant plot embellishments that contribute to the glorification of an ordinary occurrence. However, after some careful thought (and a revising of the original assignment), I decided that my feelings regarding Rudy were not strong enough to warrant an enthusiastic review. With this in mind, I decided that I would review Anchorman, one of my favorite comedies. This choice proved to be an effective one for several reasons. First, it was a film that I had already watched countless times so I was very familiar with the story and the characters. Also, the fact it was one of my favorite movies helped me to write a more passionate review in which I argued the reasons behind my opinion of the film. In order to prepare for this, I decided to watch the film again, except this time I took careful notes on interesting aspects of the film that I could incorporate into my review. After revisiting the movie with a critical mindset, I discovered several important aspects to the film I had previously overlooked when I watched the film purely for entertainment. For instance, I realized the importance that the time period of the films setting and how this impacted the relationships between the male and female characters. Another interesting thing I notice was the films absence of a true plot as it jumps from one ridiculous scene to the next. However, due to its comedic nature this actual plays into the films benefit as it allows for hilarious scenes such as the street fight with the rival news teams and a burrito induced motorcycle accident. Both of these scenes also include the cameo appearances of other famous actors such as Jack Black and Ben Stiller. Unlike other movies, Anchorman was written to highlight the comedic tendencies of certain actors rather the usual scenario where actors attempt to take of the characteristics of the characters they portray. Overall, this assignment proved an enjoyable experience because it gave me the opportunity to write about something that I was excited to write about. For this reason, I preferred working on this assignment as opposed the to the group infomercial project. From a

personal standpoint, this assignment proved to be beneficial because it has given me insight into the way movies are created and this will change the way I watch them going forward.