Useful Language for Writing Reviews

Background	General comments
This well-written / informative / fascinating book	It is rather long / confusing / slow / beautifully written
The film / story is set in…	The cast is excellent / weak.
The film / book tells the story of…	The script is dull / clever…
This work is based on…	It has a tragic / surprising end…
Main points of plot	Recommendations:
The plot focuses on	Don’t miss it, it will change the way you see…
The story begins..	It is well worth seeing…
The plot has an unexpected twist…	I wouldn’t recommend it because…

 

MODEL

SHORT REVIEWS

FILMS

Monsters of the Deep

Produced by Anton Wells.

Directed by Stephen Slovanski.

Written by Harvey Foster.

Music composed by Oliver Lawrence.

Monsters of the Deep, which is now being shown at the Odeon, Leicester Square, is one of the most exciting films I’ve ever seen. It was made in Hollywood kast year, but the sharks were filmed on location off the coast of Florida. Steve Newman is brilliant as a shark hunter, bur the real stars are the sharks themselves. It can be seen at cinemas in the provinces from the next week. Don’t miss it!

BOOKS

Atlantic Crossing

Written by Eric Redwood.

Published by Heath Brothers

($12.95)

This book tells the story of Eric Redwood who crossed the Atlantic Ocean alone in a small wooden boat. The boat was made in Ireland, and was designed like the boats which were used by Irish fisherman one thousand years ago. Redwood thinks America was first discovered many years ago. America was first discovered many years before Columbus was born. The designs for the boats were taken from old books which had been found in an Irish monastery. The book is beautifully illustrated with many colour photographs and maps. The photos were taken by Redwood himself during the voyage.

RECORDS

Songs of the City

By Lisa Francis (XYZ Records)

Produced by Martin Duncan.

They were written by Lisa Francis recorded live during her recent concert tour. She is accompanied by several well-known musicians, Elton Cash, Ken Thompson and Tony Lloyd. There is a great variety of music on the album – gentle romantic ballads, soul music, and exciting rock songs, The words to all the songs are printed on the back of the cover.

TELEVISION

Last of the Eagles?

Directed by Barbara Anfield.

(BBC-TV)

This documentary was first shown on BBC last year and will be repeated next week. The golden eagle is now found in only a few remote places in Scotland. In recent years nests have been robbed and eggs have been stolen. Eagles are protected by law, but they are threatened with extinction. Barbara Anfield spent a year making this programme. The everyday habits of the eagles have been recorded for future generations.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

PART 1

1. Activate words and collocations from your student’s book:

 

acting	local news	superb
adverts	lyrics	threaten
be fascinated	media	travel news
be confused	national news	violence
be frustrated	review	waste of sth.
cartoons	sit com	phone-ins
characters	soap operas	political corruption
crime mysteries	special effects	“reality” shows
documentaries	sports coverage	to read novels
estimate	storyline	game shows and quizzes

II. Memorize extra vocabulary: idioms / proverbs

 

Beneath criticism	Devour the book
Out of the common	A pirated book / film
Capture sb’s imagination	Man cannot live by bread alone
Read between the lines	Bad news travels fast.
You can’t judge a book by its cover.
The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper

Words of wisdom:

 

A community needs news for the same reason that a man needs eyes. It has to see where it is going.

D West (British author)

TV is chewing gum for the eyes.

F.Wright (US architect)

The public is like a piano. You just have to know what keys to poke.

Al Capp (US cartoonist)

 

III. Make up as many sentences as you can using words and phrases suggested above.