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Ralph Fiennes' new thriller lands 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Stanley Tucci also stars.

Ralph Fiennes ' new thriller has debuted with a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating .

Conclave - starring the Harry Potter actor and Inside Man 's Stanley Tucci - held it's world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this week where it proved to be a hit with critics, with first reviews leading to a perfect score on the movie review aggregator site.

Set in the Vatican City, the thriller sees Fiennes play Cardinal Lawrence, a leading figure in the Catholic Church who is tasked with selecting a new Pope following the unexpected death of the previous one.

Related: Rotten Tomatoes has made a big change to its ratings system

As the prestigious process gets underway, some of the Church's most powerful leaders gather from all parts of the globe and are locked together in the Vatican halls where startling secrets and a growing conspiracy come to light.

Conclave is based on the book of the same name by Robert Harris and comes from BAFTA-winning director Edward Berger , of All Quiet On The Western Front fame. The supporting cast includes Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati and Isabella Rossellini.

Here's a round-up of what reviewers have been saying:

"To put it succinctly in literary terms, this one is a real page-turner. In pure cinematic terms it is a barn-burning thriller. A superbly crafted - in every respect - stunning dramatic achievement."

"Conclave is one of those rare films that respects the audience’s attention, even as it sneaks a few tricks behind their backs."

The Hollywood Reporter

" Conclave demonstrates Berger’s versatility and also offers one of the best roles of his career to Ralph Fiennes, who is supported by an expert ensemble."

Related: Best movie box sets to buy

"Fiennes and Tucci are so good at threading the needle between biblical sanctimony and Christmas ham that it’s a treat to watch, even if it fails to reward whatever faith you place in it."

Entertainment Weekly

"Conclave is packed with unexpected twists and its final reveal is one viewers will never see coming, an increasingly rare occurrence in modern movie-making and the mark of an impeccably crafted thriller."

Conclave will be released in the US on November 1 and on November 29 in the UK.

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Emily is an experienced entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV , film , soaps and showbiz . An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow . She joined Digital Spy as Acting Deputy News Editor in May 2023, and became Deputy News Editor the following year. A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She's interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB 's Kate Garraway (who "loved" her trousers). Emily counts Sharon Horgan and Julia Davis as her TV heroes, and is a loyal Wes Anderson fan. LinkedIn

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Daniel Craig Gets Explicit (and Romantic) in Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Queer’

At the Venice Film Festival, the star said he embraced the scenes with sexual encounters: ‘If I wasn’t in the movie and saw this movie, I’d want to be in it.’

• Share full article

By Kyle Buchanan

Reporting from Venice

If you know Daniel Craig only as James Bond, “Queer” is liable to throw you for a loop. In this new film from Luca Guadagnino, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, Craig, 56, plays a drug addict whose sexual escapades and heroin use are filmed with matter-of-fact candor.

But if you knew Craig even before he was pressed into Her Majesty’s Secret Service — when he was still an up-and-coming young actor who appeared in risky, sexually explicit films like “Love Is the Devil” and “The Mother” — then you might guess that “Queer” is much more in line with his sensibilities than some of the big studio fare he’s made recently are. At the film’s Venice news conference, he all but confirmed that hunch.

“If I wasn’t in the movie and saw this movie, I’d want to be in it,” Craig told reporters. “It’s the kind of film I want to see, I want to make, I want to be out there. They’re challenging but hopefully incredibly accessible.”

Adapted from the novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs , “Queer” follows Lee (Craig), an American expat wasting away in Mexico City. Most of Lee’s waking hours are spent pursuing some sort of high, whether that means drinking to excess in dive bars, cruising any handsome man to cross his path, or shooting up heroin while all alone in his apartment.

In his linen suits, Lee lurches through life like a well-attired zombie until he meets Allerton (Drew Starkey), a beguiling young drifter whose sexuality seems up for grabs. Does he like Lee or does he just like being liked? Allerton says awfully little, which only beguiles Lee even more. As the older man’s romantic obsession grows, he entices Allerton to help him search for a drug that can supposedly induce a type of telepathy; if it can be scored, maybe he’ll learn what the object of his affection is really thinking.

Written in the early 1950s but not published until 1985, the Burroughs novel is slight and scuzzy. Guadagnino takes a much different approach to the source material, building lavish sets (this Mexico City was erected at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios) and imbuing the story with a sweeping romanticism.

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A movie review is an article that is published in a newspaper, magazine, or scholarly work that describes and evaluates a movie. Reviews are typically written by journalists giving their opinion of the movie. Some reviews include score (4 out of 5 stars) or recommendations (thumbs up). Since reviews are printed in many different kinds of publications, you may need to search several sources.

A movie criticism is written by a scholar or expert in film studies to discuss the movie within a historical, social, political, or theoretical context. It differs from the opinion or recommendation that a movie review provides in terms of length, content and focus. Criticisms can be found in cinema studies journals as well as discipline-specific sources, depending on the plot or themes of the movie.

Reviews and criticisms are produced after the release of a movie, whether that is its initial release to theatres, or a release in a home video format. Knowing the initial release date(s) will help refine your search. Also note that nationwide release of movies only started in the 1980s; earlier films were released on different dates in different parts of the country. So a movie reviewed in New York City of Los Angeles may not have been reviewed for months or years later in smaller cities. The Internet Movie Database is an excellent source for release dates. Finally, movies can be remade, so you will want to be sure you are finding reviews or criticisms for the correct film; knowing the director or major stars will help refine your search results.

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Reviews and criticisms can be found in general interest databases. Note the date range covered by each database and select ones that cover the time after the release of your movie. Search the title of the movie (as a phrase when possible) and include the director's last name if more than one film by that title exists.

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Since most databases cover only more recent years, finding reviews for older movies may require using a print index. Check the catalog record for each index to see if it covers the dates required. Use the volume corresponding to the year of publication for your book and the year or two after.. (Several of these indexes have been moved to off-campus storage; you'll have to request for them to be brought back to Newman to use them.)

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How to Write a Movie Review

Last Updated: August 11, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Marissa Levis . Marissa Levis is an English Teacher in the Morris County Vocational School District. She previously worked as an English director at a tutoring center that caters to students in elementary and middle school. She is an expert in creating a curriculum that helps students advance their skills in secondary-level English, focusing on MLA formatting, reading comprehension, writing skills, editing and proofreading, literary analysis, standardized test preparation, and journalism topics. Marissa received her Master of Arts in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 5,657,786 times.

Whether a movie is a rotten tomato or a brilliant work of art, if people are watching it, it's worth critiquing. A decent movie review should entertain, persuade and inform, providing an original opinion without giving away too much of the plot. A great movie review can be a work of art in its own right. Read on to learn how to analyze a movie like a professional film critic, come up with an interesting thesis, and write a review as entertaining as your source material.

Sample Movie Reviews

Writing an Intro for a Movie Review

• Comparison to Relevant Event or Movie: "Every day, our leaders, politicians, and pundits call for "revenge"– against terrorist groups, against international rivals, against other political parties. But few of them understand the cold, destructive, and ultimately hollow thrill of revenge as well as the characters of Blue Ruin. "
• Review in a nutshell: "Despite a compelling lead performance by Tom Hanks and a great soundtrack, Forrest Gump never gets out of the shadow of its weak plot and questionable premise."
• Context or Background Information: " Boyhood might be the first movie made where knowing how it was produced–slowly, over 12 years, with the same actors–is just as crucial as the movie itself."

• Using stars, a score out of 10 or 100, or the simple thumbs-up and thumbs-down is a quick way to give your thoughts. You then write about why you chose that rating.
• Great Movie: ABC is the rare movie that succeeds on almost every level, where each character, scene, costume, and joke firing on all cylinders to make a film worth repeated viewings."
• Bad Movie: "It doesn't matter how much you enjoy kung-fu and karate films: with 47 Ronin, you're better off saving your money, your popcorn, and time."
• Okay Movie: "I loved the wildly uneven Interstellar far more than I should have, but that doesn't mean it is perfect. Ultimately, the utter awe and spectacle of space swept me through the admittedly heavy-handed plotting and dialogue."

• Great: "Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer's chemistry would carry Fruitvale Station even if the script wasn't as good. The mid-movie prison scene in particular, where the camera never leaves their faces, shows how much they can convey with nothing but their eyelids, the flashing tension of neck muscles, and a barely cracking voice."
• Bad: " Jurassic World's biggest flaw, a complete lack of relatable female characters, is only further underscored by a laughably unrealistic shot of our heroine running away from a dinosaur – in heels."
• Okay: "At the end of the day, Snowpiercer can't decide what kind of movie it wants to be. The attention to detail in fight scenes, where every weapon, lightbulb, and slick patch of ground is accounted for, doesn't translate to an ending that seems powerful but ultimately says little of substance."

• Does the film reflect on a current event or contemporary issue? It could be the director's way of engaging in a bigger conversation. Look for ways to relate the content of the film to the "real" world.
• Does the film seem to have a message, or does it attempt to elicit a specific response or emotion from the audience? You could discuss whether or not it achieves its own goals.
• Does the film connect with you on a personal level? You could write a review stemming from your own feelings and weave in some personal stories to make it interesting for your readers.

Composing Your Review

• When you name characters in your plot summary, list the actors' names directly afterward in parenthesis.
• Find a place to mention the director's name and the full movie title.
• If you feel you must discuss information that might "spoil" things for readers, warn them first.

• Cinematography: " Her is a world drenched in color, using bright, soft reds and oranges alongside calming whites and grays that both build, and slowly strip away, the feelings of love between the protagonists. Every frame feels like a painting worth sitting in."
• Tone: "Despite the insane loneliness and high stakes of being stuck alone on Mars, The Martian's witty script keeps humor and excitement alive in every scene. Space may be dangerous and scary, but the joy of scientific discovery is intoxicating."
• Music and Sound: " No Country For Old Men's bold decision to skip music entirely pays off in spades. The eerie silence of the desert, punctuated by the brief spells of violent, up-close-and-personal sound effects of hunter and hunted, keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat."
• Acting: "While he's fantastic whenever he's on the move, using his cool stoicism to counteract the rampaging bus, Keanu Reeves can't quite match his costar in the quiet moments of Speed, which falter under his expressionless gaze."

• Keep your writing clear and easy to understand. Don't use too much technical filmmaking jargon, and make your language crisp and accessible.
• Present both the facts and your opinion. For example, you might state something such as, "The Baroque background music was a jarring contrast to the 20th century setting." This is a lot more informative then simply saying, "The music was a strange choice for the movie."

• Great: "In the end, even the characters of Blue Ruin know how pointless their feud is. But revenge, much like every taut minute of this thriller, is far too addictive to give up until the bitter end.""
• Bad: "Much like the oft-mentioned "box of chocolates", Forest Gump has a couple of good little morsels. But most of the scenes, too sweet by half, should have been in the trash long before this movie was put out."
• Okay: "Without the novel, even revolutionary concept, Boyhood may not be a great movie. It might not even be "good.” But the power the film finds in the beauty of passing time and little, inconsequential moments – moments that could only be captured over 12 years of shooting – make Linklater's latest an essential film for anyone interested in the art of film."

Polishing Your Piece

• Ask yourself whether your review stayed true to your thesis. Did your conclusion tie back in with the initial ideas you proposed?
• Decide whether your review contains enough details about the movie. You may need to go back and add more description here and there to give readers a better sense of what the movie's about.
• Decide whether your review is interesting enough as a stand-alone piece of writing. Did you contribute something original to this discussion? What will readers gain from reading your review that they couldn't from simply watching the movie?

Studying Your Source Material

• The title of the film, and the year it came out.
• The director's name.
• The names of the lead actors.

• Make a note every time something sticks out to you, whether it's good or bad. This could be costuming, makeup, set design, music, etc. Think about how this detail relates to the rest of the movie and what it means in the context of your review.
• Take note of patterns you begin to notice as the movie unfolds.
• Use the pause button frequently so you make sure not to miss anything, and rewind as necessary.

• Direction: Consider the director and how he or she choose to portray/explain the events in the story. If the movie was slow, or didn't include things you thought were necessary, you can attribute this to the director. If you've seen other movies directed by the same person, compare them and determine which you like the most.
• Cinematography: What techniques were used to film the movie? What setting and background elements helped to create a certain tone?
• Writing: Evaluate the script, including dialogue and characterization. Did you feel like the plot was inventive and unpredictable or boring and weak? Did the characters' words seem credible to you?
• Editing: Was the movie choppy or did it flow smoothly from scene to scene? Did they incorporate a montage to help build the story? And was this obstructive to the narrative or did it help it? Did they use long cuts to help accentuate an actor's acting ability or many reaction shots to show a group's reaction to an event or dialogue? If visual effects were used were the plates well-chosen and were the composited effects part of a seamless experience? (Whether the effects looked realistic or not is not the jurisdiction of an editor, however, they do choose the footage to be sent off to the compositors, so this could still affect the film.)
• Costume design: Did the clothing choices fit the style of the movie? Did they contribute to the overall tone, rather than digressing from it?
• Set design: Consider how the setting of the film influenced its other elements. Did it add or subtract from the experience for you? If the movie was filmed in a real place, was this location well-chosen?
• Score or soundtrack: Did it work with the scenes? Was it over/under-used? Was it suspenseful? Amusing? Irritating? A soundtrack can make or break a movie, especially if the songs have a particular message or meaning to them.

Expert Q&A

• If you don't like the movie, don't be abusive and mean. If possible, avoid watching the movies that you would surely hate. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Understand that just because the movie isn't to your taste, that doesn't mean you should give it a bad review. A good reviewer helps people find movie's they will like. Since you don't have the same taste in movies as everyone else, you need to be able to tell people if they will enjoy the movie, even if you didn't. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Structure is very important; try categorizing the different parts of the film and commenting on each of those individually. Deciding how good each thing is will help you come to a more accurate conclusion. For example, things like acting, special effects, cinematography, think about how good each of those are. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about writing, check out our in-depth interview with Marissa Levis .

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_film/terminology_and_starting_prompts.html
• ↑ https://www.spiritofbaraka.com/how-write-a-movie-review
• ↑ https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/9-tips-for-writing-a-film-review/
• ↑ https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/writing-help/top-tips-for-writing-a-review
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/summary-using-it-wisely/
• ↑ https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/film-review-1.original.pdf
• ↑ https://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-tips-for-writing-a-film-review/
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_film/film_writing_sample_analysis.html
• ↑ https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/onnyx.bei/dual-credit/movie-review-writing-guide
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/conclusions/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-movie-review/
• ↑ https://gustavus.edu/writingcenter/handoutdocs/editing_proofreading.php
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://edusson.com/blog/how-to-write-movie-review

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To write a movie review, start with a compelling fact or opinion to hook your readers, like "Despite a great performance by Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump never overcomes its weak plot." Then, elaborate on your opinion of the movie right off the bat so readers know where you stand. Once your opinion is clear, provide examples from the movie that prove your point, like specific scenes, dialogue, songs, or camera shots. To learn how to study a film closely before you write a review, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Oct 17, 2018

Mar 31, 2021

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Aesthetics for Birds

Aesthetics and philosophy of art for everyone.

Throwback Movie Review: Variety (1983) by Bette Gordon

January 6, 2020 by Aesthetics for Birds | 2 Comments

Today, we’re starting a new series. During the first week of each month, Francey Russell (Barnard/Columbia) will offer a philosophical reflection on film: a single film, a director, a technique, a genre, an author, etc. Plots will be discussed, hence spoilers.

By way of introduction, Francey works primarily on moral psychology and is writing a book on the topic of self-opacity. She is also working a project on genre and representations of human agency, focusing especially on the erotic thriller.

VARIETY (1983), DIRECTED BY BETTE GORDON

Variety begins with two women in a locker room talking about work, about not finding any and about getting sexually harassed at job interviews. The scene is shot in the reflection of a mirror, with Christine (Sandy McLeod) and Nan (Nan Goldin) stepping in and out of the its frames, its vertical lines dividing the women and slicing up the screen. Nan, with reluctance, tells beautiful, blond Christine that a porno theater in Times Square called Variety is looking for a ticket taker, and Christine affirms that she is interested.

The film, directed by Bette Gordon and co-written by Kathy Acker, was released in 1983 to mixed reviews, though it is now revered. The film includes early performances by Luis Guzmán, Will Patton, Coco Fusco, and Nan Goldin (who also did the production stills), with cinematography by Tom de Cillo, and music by John Lurie. The year before the film was released, Gordon, along with Kaja Silverman, presented on a panel called “Pornography and the Construction of the Female Subject” at the now famous/infamous 1982 Barnard Conference on Sexuality.

This is a film about watching, and the ways in which gender articulates the worlds of vision and action. Christine is never bashful about her new position, yet Gordon frequently confines her body within the narrow window of the ticket booth, requiring that she hunch in order to make eye contact with the customers. When she steps out for a cigarette, Christine lingers in Variety’s foyer listening to sounds of movies she cannot see. At a diner counter, after Christine tells her journalist boyfriend about her new job, he puts down his fork and reels before leaving lunch early; Christine keeps eating. Throughout, the film shows little interest in Christine’s inner life or psychology. There is no backstory, and McLeod’s performance is wonderfully flat. Gordon is more concerned with how deep questions about agency, gender, and vision can be explored through surfaces: lines and spaces, movement and stillness.

Back at Variety, an obviously wealthy and older customer named Louie buys Christine a Coke and takes her on a date to a Yankees game. In the middle of it he leaves her—with his apologies—called away by another man who whispers discreetly in his ear (about his work? about his wife?). The film shifts gears. Having previously been enclosed in frames and hallways and rich men’s limousines, Christine begins to move. She follows Louie out of the ballgame, into motels and underhanded union dealings at the Fulton Fish Market; she browses magazines at porno shops as the patrons stare her down or hide their faces; she steps into the movie theaters at Variety to finally see what the men have been watching. Gordon’s camera becomes mobile and the shots open up; the vertical lines start to disappear. The film itself adjusts around its subject’s new agency, which is not intentional or intellectual, but corporeal and exploratory (though not tentative): what would it be like if I did not stay still ? what would what would happen if I looked back?

Variety is sometimes described as a story of a woman’s sexual awakening. But rather than psychologize the film and speculate about what is going on inside “Christine’s mind,” why not stay with what is there on the screen? If we do this, we find a film that is not about a woman realizing what she authentically desires, but about a woman testing where she can go and what she can do.

Gordon is also interested in testing what narrative film can do.

About three-quarters of the way through, something happens to the film itself: For a few moments, the narrative suspends, while the film’s form—its organizing aesthetic structure—dislocates twice. In the first sequence, Christine lies flat on a bed against a window lit up with neon light through noirish horizontal blinds, as a hypnotic and unidentified male voice intones instructions to relax ( relax your arms, relax your wrists… ). Her body runs the length of the frame, as though weighted down by the glaring color and heavy voice. While this scene could, of course, be interpreted narratively—”Christine listens to a meditation tape”—the incongruent formal qualities situate the scene in a different aesthetic register, signaling a transformation that runs deeper than plot.

The second sequence: a series of short clips of men shaking each other’s hands as the instructions to relax drones on, all men’s hands, often filmed in anonymous close up, they are any man’s hands, every man’s hands. The sequence runs longer than expected, as though this action, or transaction, could be (has been) iterated forever, as though everything in Christine’s world were maintained by men shaking hands, confirming each other, confirming this world. From the perspective of the film’s narrative, the sequence is deeply and productively unsettling. From the perspective of narrative, something has gone badly wrong, as though the film got stuck on a beat and lost the plot.

More thrilling than a plot twist, an unexpected shift at the level of the film’s form is maybe the most exciting that can happen in a movie. Movies take time, and they use that time to establish and elaborate not only a narrative world but a fundamental governing form that organizes the film and orients the viewer. It is striking how quickly a film establishes its aesthetic orientation, and how quickly viewers gear into it, learning how to go on with it, as Wittgenstein would say. In learning how to go on with a film, we learn not what will come next but how it will come.

A familiar and domesticated example of a shift at the level of the form is the dream sequence. This is a domesticated move because dream sequences announce and stabilize the distinction between a character’s dream and her reality, hence the formal shift is marked and bracketed. But something much more radical happens when a film inserts a sequence that is formally divergent yet not narratively contained. In this case, the part dislocates the whole. The film does not go on as before. This is not a change within the film world (not a plot twist or a character development); rather it is a brief formal eruption that convulses the film as a whole. These momentary shifts transform, retrospectively, everything that came before, and in so doing the sequence transforms our own relationship to and experience of the film. If a film can go on like this , then one no longer knows quite how to go on with it. (One of the most celebrated instances of such a brief formal dislocation is the final sequence of Claire Denis’ Beau Travail. See Erika Balsom’s analysis .)

Variety’s narrative eventually resumes, but even back inside the plot, the film is not the same. Christine continues into stranger modes of activity, activities that are seemingly emptied of ordinary motivation and increasingly arch and performative (non-natural acting style can also function as a formal disruption). On a phone call, Louie wants to know, what does she want from him ? Louie is, in this way, still operating within the expectations of a standard narrative, he still expects the why question to apply. Christine laughs in response. She says she doesn’t know why, yet.

Variety ends moments later in a dark parking lot, ominous, serene, and inconclusive. It is not clear what Christine wants or why she acts, but the film’s formal shifts and opaque final shot suggest something previously unimaginable is now becoming possible, even while unknown. Christine does not yet fully inhabit her new agency with purpose and understanding; it seems that agential interiority will come only belatedly (if it does), and only after a shift in form. This is a film about how not to go on as before.

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This is an excellent analysis.

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