Talk about English - Film 2 pt.2 | Текст песни

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• Talk about English
• Film 2 pt.2

Callum: You're listening to Talk about English, live form London. I'm Callum
Robertson and with me are Jackie Dalton and teacher and filmmaker Gareth
Rees.

Jackie: It's time now to remind you about the competition that we are running at the
moment. We want you to send us a review of a film you have seen.

Callum: The review can be written, audio or video but should not be longer than 400
words. You can send it to us a talkaboutenglish@bbc.co.uk that's
talkaboutenglish@bbc.co.uk

Jackie: You can find full details on the website

Callum: Gareth, do you take much notice of reviews before going to see films?

(Gareth answers)

Callum: In last week's programme we talked to Vincent Dowd who reviews films for
the radio, for the World Service. To get another perspective on the art of the
reviewer this week I spoke on the phone to Peter Bradshaw who writes for one
of Britain's national daily newspapers. I first asked him to describe his job and
if reviews in his paper can effect the box-office of films – the box-office is the
place where you buy tickets but it's also used to talk about the number of
people who go to see a film or the amount of money a film makes. Do his
paper's review make a difference to the box office? Here's Peter Bradshaw.

PETER BRADSHAW
My job is film critic for the Guardian newspaper in the UK and what that means is that every
week, every Friday in the paper I write a complete review column stretching over two pages
which I write about the main film of the week and then a slightly shorter review of the kind of
second film of the week and then a round up selection of shorter capsule style reviews of the
rest of the week's releases
Now the Guardian newspaper is obviously a very well respected publication are you aware
that the things that you write might have an influence on the number of people who go or
don't go to see a movie? Do you think film reviewers and critics have that kind of power and
authority?
I think they have less and less of that kinf of authority to be honest. I think there are more and
more film reviewers in the world and with the explosion of blogging in the internet has kind
of created a new democratised army of citizen journalists, citizen reviewers on the internet. So
I think the actual kind of old-fashioned power of one single reviewer has become diluted.
Having said that I think that realistically, yes, a paper like the Guardian or the Independent of
the London magazine Time Out does have an important role to play in shaping what people
are going to go and see for the more rarified films, movies like foreign movies, arthouse
movies, subtitled movies, they are films which, yes, the Guardian does make a difference at
the box office but for the big Hollywood movies I really don't think it matters what I say in
terms of who actually goes to see it. I don't think it matters what I say for the huge films

Callum: So he thinks that the reviews in his paper don't have an impact on the box-
office of big Hollywood movies, but they do for smaller films

(All discuss those comments – reference to internet – Gareth how internet is useful or
otherwise)

Callum: I next asked Peter how many films he sees in a month.

PETER BRADSHAW
In one month I would see about 30 films perhaps a little less than that, something like that.
And can you actually enjoy the film as a cinema-goer when you're reviewing them as part of
your job?
Yea, everybody asks this but yes, I think I can. I think you have to approach it as a marathon
runner and not as a sprinter, if you see what I mean, but yes, I like to think that I can enjoy a
movie, and I think if it's a good movie you enjoy watching it. Sometimes it's unfortunate if
you see a really good film at the end of a long day, that's why I think films that have press
screenings scheduled at the end of the afternoon sometimes they get kind of a raw deal. But I
think a good movie will always win out and I think a good crirtic will always instinctively
respond to a good movie.
One will you sometimes see more than one film in a day?
Yes, oh, yes. The way in which a national press critic works is usually to work all day on
Monday and Tuesday, seeing three films a day, sometimes four films and then the rest of the
week is given over to writing and various administration tasks. But yes it is very usual to see
three films in one day.
So when you've seen on a Monday and a Tuesday, maybe you've seen 5 or 6 films, when you
come to write your reviews are you able to remember what it was you liked or didn't like
about those films?
Yes, yes, you do remember. It's kind of a learned skill but yes, yes, I do remember. I do
remember very easily. Usually the good things you remember kind of slammed into the back
of your head from the get-go but it's also a learned technical skill, a journalistic skill I would
say in cultivating a memory for the sorts of things you need to write up.

(All comment – most number of films we've seen)

Callum: So 30 films a month, 3 or 4 a day sometimes, I wanted to know if Peter still
went to the movies when he wasn't working. He certainly does, what reason
does he give?

PETER BRADSHAW
Do you ever go to the cinema as an individual, for your own entertainment?
Incredible as it may seem, yes, yes, and the real reason is my partner forces me to. And I don't
need much forcing because usually if it's a film I like I don't at all mind seeing it a second
time. If it's a good film that I like I have no problems with seeing it a second time. And she
would be extremely annoyed with me if my job meant that she never got to go to the movies
any more. Yea, yea we do, we go out to the cinema but perhaps not as much as we used to.

Callum: He still goes to movies in his free time because his partner forces him, but he
his happy to see good movies again – his arm doesn't have to be twisted too
much. Now thinking about our competition, we do have some tips on the
competition page but I asked Peter for advice on what to put into a review.

PETER BRADSHAW
Try to absorb into it an indication of what the plot is, a description of what the movie is about.
I think in ordinary journalism terms the reader has to, you can't assume the reader knows all
that much, you have to give them a flavour of what it's about. You have to give them a
generic sense of what it's about. Then once you've sort of done that then you can move on to
what you think it's about and how well you think it does its job.
What do you think makes a goof review?
A good review is one which is well-written, which is honest and this is going to sound
obvious or even paradoxical but it is a review which is a review. By which I mean a review
which expresses an opinion so I think a good review has to offer a bold opinion, it has to
upset the applecart, sometimes, not all the time, it doesn't have to be a Mr Angry routine, but,
and I think it has to be entertaining and funny because I think critics have to realise that they
are journalists as well as everything else they are in the business of offering an entertaining
read to their customers and to their readers.

(All comment briefly – plot, and opinion but with a bit of style)

Callum: Giving opinion, interesting, you can't sit on the fence – I saw World Trade
Center, thought it was an OK film but in his review in the Guardian he totally
tore it apart – he hated it. It was a very entertaining review to read but I
disagree with some of it – I told Peter this

PETER BRADSHAW
It's one of the great conversations that everybody has about criticism is the idea of subjective
versus objective, you know "I enjoyed it but I don't agree with you" sort of thing. All critics
would accede to the proposition that you know it's just my subjective opinion, there's no right
or wrong, that's true but all critics also have a kind of crazy voice at the back of their heads
saying "That's rubbish! There is right, there is right and wrong and I'm right." A sort of
fanatical kind of "Yes, sure, sure we've all got our opinions but my one is the best one, my
one is right and you're wrong." And I think that's the kind of opinionated lunacy that kind of
triggers the more readable of the critics, the people who really believe in what they are writing.

Callum: So the strong opinions of critics are often what make them readable and
entertaining even if you disagree!

I asked Peter for any other advice for reviewers. What does he say is the most
important thing and how do you achieve that?

PETER BRADSHAW
What counts is good writing, what counts is refining your judgement and learning how to be a
good writer. Reading other people who are good writers, rereading them, understanding what
it is that makes them a good writer. The passion, the wit, the flair, the joie de vivre in their
writing. That's what's important and cultivating your own v

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