Issue 106 of DVD Monthly is on sale now, with 148 packed pages covering everything you need to know about the world of home entertainment! And of course, there’s also the fantastic new HD Monthly mini-magazine, packed full of all the most important info about the wonderful world of Blu-ray.
Cover:
The X-Files
With a new movie and ‘X-Files: Essentials’ coming to DVD, we take a close look at one of the most popular franchises on the planet, tracing everything from its origins to its possible future.
Features Include:
The Movie Guide To Pulling - Learn the art of getting the girl or boy of your dreams, as taught to you by the movies.
Girls On Film - We take an in-depth look at the state of sexual equality in Hollywood, and discover that it’s still very much a man’s world.
Batman Forever - He’s the world’s most iconic superhero, so we bow down and take a look at 60 years of Batman, in comics, on TV, and on the silver screen.
Interviews:
Daniel Day Lewis
Amber Heard Matthew Fox
Halle Berry
Andy Serkis
John Boorman
Todd Haynes
Reviews:
10,000 BC
All The Boys Love Mandy Lane Be Kind Rewind
The Bucket List
The Cottage
The Orphanage
There Will Be Bllood
Vantage Point
CSI: NY - Season 4, Part 1
Heroes - Season 2
Pushing Daisies - Series 1
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles AND OVER 100 MORE…
PLUS: In your all new, 32 Page HD Monthly
Blu-ray To Z - You complete guide to the complex world of high definition, from the importance of contrast ratio to whether you should care about Blu-ray profiles Lord Of The Rings HD - First news Bond Blu-rays - First News
Reviews:
Batman: Gotham Knight
Bugs Malone
Men In Black
Blu-ray Rambo Collection
And Loads More…
So make sure you get you copy, either in newsagents or by by purchasing through this link to the Jazz Publishing Magazine Store.
As the editor of DVD Monthly, it’s a question I get asked an awful lot – “Can I write reviews for the magazine?” It seems as if there are millions of closet move reviewers out there. It’s always surprised me that whenever we advertise a job, at least half the CVs are from people with no experience, who might have spent decades driving lorries or working as a receptionist, but who really want write about movies.
So for all you aspiring film critics, I thought I’d write down a few pointers to help you with your movie reviewing.
1. There’s a difference between film reviewing and film criticism Basically a film review is pretty much what you’d think it is – it tells you what the movie is about, whether the reviewer thinks it’s any good or not, and perhaps some of the highlights and low points. Criticism on the other hand takes a wider view. How does a particular movie fit into the world of film? What does it tell us about the state of Hollywood? Are there parallels we can draw from what’s happening in the world at large? If you’ve got the freedom, decent film criticism tends to be more interesting to read, and will allow your reader to go away with more than just whether you thought a particular movie is good or bad.
2. Learn to write This may seem pretty basic, but there is more to being able to write than having an English GCSE. I’m not talking about learning complex flourishes of language, I mean learning basic English. It may sound unfair, but far too many people who approach us have trouble constructing sentences that can be understood by other people (including many with English Literature degrees or who list their job as ‘journalist’).
I remember hearing Terry Pratchett once say that he thought many writers think that, “Punctuation is something that happens to other people”. There is no way round the fact that even if you won’t ever receive the Nobel Prize for grammar (and in this day and age, absolutely perfect English tends to come across as stilted and false), you need to write in a way that ensures others will understand you. This will only come with practice, and a lot of it.
3. Decide what to write before you write it There’s nothing worse than reading something where it appears the person was just jotting down whatever came into their head at the time. Even if that is what you are doing, your writing shouldn’t betray that fact.
Decide beforehand what you’re going to say and also what order you want to mention it in. For example, is it best to start with a synopsis, some interesting info about the movie, your opinion of it, or something else? How will the order you write things in affect how the reader understands what you’ve got to say? Deciding what you’re going to say and in what order you’re going to say it can turn a substandard review into something far more special.
4. Have opinions Again this may seem pretty basic, but it’s surprising how many people pull back from having proper opinions when they’re writing about movies. An opinion is not just stating that you liked or hated something, it explains exactly why.
And beware of qualifiers. A lot of people tend to hedge their bets on their movie opinions with lots of words like ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybe’. While this is sometimes acceptable or even necessary, on most occasions, if you’re so unsure of your own opinion that you feel the need qualify them, you need to think more about those opinions before you write anything down.
5. Remember what type of movie you’re talking about Different films need to be approached in different ways. Obviously, if you’re writing about a dense, symbolist arthouse movie, you’re going to need to write differently about it than you would the latest Hollywood popcorn flick. Different types of film demand different approaches and different frames of reference.
6. Most people like trash When I get CVs, particularly from those who’ve studied film at university, most of the covering letters include a sentence that goes something like, “My love of films includes everything from 1920s Danish movies about gerbils, to the abstract work of a Mongolian director who nobody has never heard of.” I’m not saying you shouldn’t love these movies, but if you’re thinking about writing about movies, particularly as a career, you need to remember that the majority of the time you’re going to be writing about low-budget horror movies, whatever Hollywood’s dished up recently and a lot of trash. And there’s a reason you’ll be writing about that – it’s because that’s what most people want to read about. My advice is don’t shut yourself off from the sheer enjoyment side of film, and don’t forget that there is nothing wrong with a film that’s designed purely to entertain (whether it fails or succeeds at entertaining is another matter).
When we do job interviews at DVD Monthly, we always include a film quiz, normally consisting of 10 questions designed to gauge people’s knowledge of the world of film. It’s always interested me that people without a film studies background tend to do better than those who’ve studied movies academically, largely because film studies students have a tendency to shut themselves off from what’s really happening in Hollywood today. When it comes to writing commercially, that’s a big problem.
As a film reviewer, you may occasionally get the chance to proselytise about a little known flick that you think is a masterpiece, but if can’t imagine spending most of your time writing about Bruce Willis action flicks and brain-dead romantic comedies, it’s time to think of a different career.
8. There’s more to reviewing than writing Again, this applies more to people thinking about movie reviewing as a career rather than just something to do after you’ve watched a film. Many people don’t realise that the actual writing part is a fairly small aspect of the job. As well as watching the films, you also need to know how to research, deal with movie studios and PR companies, as well as plenty of other things that allow the reviews to happen, but which are invisible to the outside world. In many respects the journalism side is the most difficult and can get pretty tedious, so just bear that in mind if you are thinking about trying to become a professional movie reviewer.
9. You aren’t important I don’t mean that in a Fight Club, ‘You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake’ kind of way, I just mean that when you’re writing about a movie, it’s the reader who’s the important one.
Ask yourself – does anyone really care that you personally didn’t like a particular movie? Probably not. So why do people read reviews? There are several reasons and only one of them relates to the writer directly. The first and most important reason people read reviews is to get information. They want to know what the movie is about, who’s in it and, yes, whether it’s any good. However it’s not your personal opinion they’re looking for, it’s how you came to that opinion, so that they can ask themselves whether they might like the film or not.
It’s also true that a lot of the time people will have made up their minds about a film long before they read a review of it, but reviews with similar or differing opinions act to further their ideas about a movie. There is one reason someone might read a review because of the writer, and that’s because they like their style. But even here you need to remember that people aren’t likely to enjoy your style if your writing makes it appear that you’re more interested in yourself than them.
10. A review is a guide not an absolute statement Ultimately you need to think of a film review as a guide to whatever film you’re talking about. Your opinions might help to steer people away from duds and towards underappreciated gems, but there are going to be a lot of movies that you hate, but which others will love. Your job as a reviewer is to give the reader enough information so that even if you completely slate a film, they should be able to make up their own minds about whether they’d like to try it. It’s not about trying to force other people to think like you do, it’s about providing information.
And if you’d like to practice your reviewing skills, go to the Reviews section of the site, where you can write your own thoughts underneath ours. Each month we’ll be picking the best reader review and printing it in the magazine, with the writer winning a prize. So have a go, and who knows, you could be a prize-winning film reviewer before you know it.
It’s one of the most anticipated sequels of the year, with Guilermo Del Toro once again bringing the big red demon to the big screen. With the cinema release only a month or so away, an animated comic has appeared to help us get prepared for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It’s great fun, so take a look below and see what all the fuss is about!
To celebrate the new two Miramax DVDs for £10 special offer (which runs from now until July 6th), a group of actors re-enacted scenes from classic Miramax movies in a London shop recently. Yes, it’s slightly bizarre, but it’s also oddly entertaining! We’ve got the footage of the re-enactments, so if you fancy taking a look to see if these thesps can outdo Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, or if their version of scenes from Chicago, Scream and Clerks outdo the originals, just take a look at the video below!
Fancy getting a prize just for writing about movies? Well you could if you head over to our reviews section (click the link on the top navigation bar or got to www.dvd-monthly.co.uk/reviews). With over 500 of our reviews already online - and more coming very soon - each of them gives you the opportunity to add your own review underneath our one! While that’s good enough to do on its own, we’ll be picking the best review each month and printing it in the magazine. And whoever wrote that review will win a prize! We’ve already chosen the review that will be printed in the issue out July 3rd. They’ll be getting Men In Black, So I Married An Axe Murderer and Anger Management on Blu-ray, so get writing and who knows what you could win next month!
Check out this great clip from the smash hit series, ‘Pushing Daisies’, which recently got massive audiences on ITV. It stars Anna Friel alongside Lee Pace, who plays Ned, a man who has the ability to bring people back from the dead just by touching them. However if he touches them again, they die, which causes particular problem with his childhood sweetheart Chuck (Friel), whom he resurrects, but afterwards he can never touch her again. It’s out on DVD this Monday through Warner Home Video, so if you want to see whether it’s worth buying, watch the clip below!
Fancy winning yourself a copy of Be Kind Rewind on DVD and a fantastic Digital Video Camera to go with it, so you can make your own ’sweded’ films! PLUS, five runners up will win Be Kind Rewind on DVD!
If that sounds good to you, just click the link below, fill in the short survey and you could be in with a chance to win!
Be Kind Rewind is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray on June 30th through Pathe Distribution.
The competition/survey closes on June 30th. Winners will be chosen at random from all entries received (skill question must be answered). As ever, the editor’s decision is final. No cash alternatives can or will be offered.
We’ve got a packed issue, as we go behind the scenes with the cast of Jumper, get up close and personal with Cockney action hero Jason Statham and talk to the director of Cloverfield. Here’s just a few of the things you can look forward to in Issue 105 of DVD Monthly:
Interviews:
Jason Statham
Matt Reeves (Director of Cloverfield)
Hayden Christensen
Samuel L. Jackson
Jamie Bell
Eric Bana
Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman
Ryan Reynolds
Features Include:
RIP NYC - See how the movies have trashed the Big Apple, from Alien invasions to mutant plots!
Heroes Never Die - Rambo, Rocky and John McLane have returned, but are other classic action heroes preparing for a comeback?
Reviews Include:
The Bank Job
Cloverfield
Dan In Real Life
Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition Box Set
Jumper
The King Of Kong
National Treasure 2
Californication - Season 1
CSI: Miami - Season 5, Part 1
Doctor Who - Series 4, Volume 1
Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs
Peep Show - Series 5
Weeds - Season 3
And Over 120 More…
PLUS: Inside your new HD Monthly – 32 pages of all the best in hi-def
Hi-Def Nation - We go to the industry insiders to discover the future of HD TV
Win a complete Blu-ray set-up
Latest HD News
Blu-ray Reviews Include:
I, Robot
Jumper
Juno
Bonnie And Clyde
Sweeney Todd
Walk Hard
AND LOADS MORE!
DVD Monthly Issue 105 - including the 32 page mini-magazine, HD Monthly - is on sale now, priced only £3.99, so make sure you get yourself a copy!
Since the DVD Monthly website relaunched just a few weeks ago, we’ve been adding more and more reviews. There are already over 500 available in the Reviews section of the site, ranging from little known gems such as Mala Noche to full blown blockbusters like I Am Legend. We’ve got music, TV, film, Region 1 and Blu-ray all represented.
And of course, the best thing isn’t that you can read what we had to say about these movies, it’s that you get to give each release a mark out of 10 and if you’re signed up to the site, write your own reviews for everyone to read!
So whether your wondering what to buy next on DVD, or want to let the world know what you think about various releases, hop on over to the Reviews section…
We’ll be adding more and more reviews on an ongoing basis, so make sure you check back often to give your latest scores, and remember, for the very latest reviews, don’t forget to buy your copy of the magazine, either in stores or by clicking here. And if you’d like to save 50% on the shop price of the magazine, click here to take a look at our great subscription offer!
Don’t forget to sign up to the DVD Monthly website to be entered in a great competition.
You’ll be able to post comments, write you own reviews and load more, not least be eligible to enter other great web competitions we’ve got coming your way.
For more info on what you could win when you sign up to DVD Monthly, click HERE
Issue 106 of DVD Monthly is on sale now, with 148 packed pages covering everything you need to know about the world of home entertainment! And of course, there’s also the fantastic new HD Monthly mini-magazine, packed full of all the most important info about the wonderful world of Blu-ray.
so we bow down and take a look at 60 years of Batman, in comics, on TV, and on the silver screen.
Be Kind Rewind
PLUS: In your all new, 32 Page HD Monthly
As the editor of DVD Monthly, it’s a question I get asked an awful lot – “Can I write reviews for the magazine?” It seems as if there are millions of closet move reviewers out there. It’s always surprised me that whenever we advertise a job, at least half the CVs are from people with no experience, who might have spent decades driving lorries or working as a receptionist, but who really want write about movies.
To celebrate the new two Miramax DVDs for £10 special offer (which runs from now until July 6th), a group of actors re-enacted scenes from classic Miramax movies in a London shop recently. Yes, it’s slightly bizarre, but it’s also oddly entertaining! We’ve got the footage of the re-enactments, so if you fancy taking a look to see if these thesps can outdo Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, or if their version of scenes from Chicago, Scream and Clerks outdo the originals, just take a look at the video below!
Fancy getting a prize just for writing about movies? Well you could if you head over to our reviews section (click the link on the top navigation bar or got to 
Check out this great clip from the smash hit series, ‘Pushing Daisies’, which recently got massive audiences on ITV. It stars Anna Friel alongside Lee Pace, who plays Ned, a man who has the ability to bring people back from the dead just by touching them. However if he touches them again, they die, which causes particular problem with his childhood sweetheart Chuck (Friel), whom he resurrects, but afterwards he can never touch her again. It’s out on DVD this Monday through Warner Home Video, so if you want to see whether it’s worth buying, watch the clip below!
