Joey B Film Studies Blog: January 2014

Positive review
The review made by James Plath was made a few days before the baseball season started and which led him to watch the movie The Sandlot. He wrote his review in multiple little paragraphs and summarized everything that happened in the order the way movie did it. His tone that he had writing this review would be rather laid-back and he was not raving about the film necessarily, but he was just simple about what made the movie a classic. When he brought up his little introduction on the Sandlot, he used the words a coming-of-age family comedy and also light and magical and an endorsement of the game. I feel he was using these words to describe that this film was going to be known as one of those classic films that would be remembered as a big hit during the 90's, and the word magical may give a signal that this movie could be something special for everyone to see. When he used the word endorsement towards the game of baseball, it basically means that this movie probably inspired those young and wanting to play sports, to look at baseball to play since it is America's past time, and a lot of kids get involved in it in real life and its popularity should increase.

The focus that Plath had on the film were the plot, characters, and conflict. He was summarizing the story on how a fifth grade kid names Scotty Smalls, was new to the neighborhood and was having a hard time making new friends, up until he went to an open lot made of sand where a group of kids his age were playing baseball. The kids Plath brought up in his review were the Star player of the group, Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez and the catcher Hamilton "Ham" Porter, who Plath considers as the big mouth and the master at put downs. Plath said that the film reminded him of another film that has a similar type of narration, called "Stand by Me." The Sandlot was considered more of a "kid friendly" version of "Stand by Me."

http://moviemet.com/review/sandlot-20th-anniversary-edition-blu-ray#.Uufn6v7nZbQ

Negative review
Emma Cochrane wrote her review in 4 short paragraphs and most of the time talking about how the movie was a disgrace and it is one of those "Field of Dreams" wannabes. She puts in that this film has the same usual type of characters that you would see any other sport movie involving kids. She said there is the overreacting bespectacled dorky kid(Squints), the guzzling fat kid(Hamilton), the useless-at- baseball wimpy kid (Smalls), and the super-cool gang- leader kid(Benny). The tone she uses definitely shows a lot of disgust and disappointment towards the film. She used the word incomprehensible to describe the kind of movie the Sandlot was, and to her, she seemed to have not understand what the movie was about and what the message was that the movie was trying to portray. The focus she had was on the plot that develops when the signed Babe Ruth baseball was hit over the fence into a neighboring backyard of Mr.Murtle, and the nine kids' journey to get that ball back because of the "Beast", which is a monster that eats every kid that attempts to retrieve the baseball they hit over the fence, but in the end they never return nor the ball. She made a reference only to the Field of Dreams saying the Sandlot was a copycat/wannabe of the Field of Dreams.

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=14506

2.Plath: "A scene with the ghost of Babe Ruth and the ending are a little cheesy, and some of the attempts to fetch the ball seem to go on a little long. But the situation the boys find themselves in and the snappy dialogue make it easy to spend time with this group."
I do not necessarily agree with the first sentence but the second one I definitely agree with. The situation with the ball being over the fence and helping finding ways to get the ball back make me want to be a part of this group. These guys are all funny and it seems I would fit in because they are sport-minded and they all screw around with each other having fun being kids.
Cochrane:" The adult characters barely get a look in with Dennis Leary and Karen Allen underused as the Small's parents, and James Earl Jones only popping up at the end for one of those trademark cameos that have become his specialty."
I can agree that these actors should have been in a few more scenes just because of the talent of acting they have, and involving them more could have given the movie a boost in the ratings.

3.I would be convinced by Plath because he has pretty simple taste about the movie and knows that this was a classic. He describes all of the characters in the review better than Cochrane. Plus he had more to say about the film so I felt his arguments would be better to follow through with. I feel if the critic writes a lot about key parts in the movie and why they are so important to understand, then the movie ratings by the critics would get my attention.

4. I would write a review starting off with the score out of 5 that I would give it, then partially summarize what the movie is about, not giving any key parts that wrap up what it is all about, but write something that would get the attention for those who want to see the movie. I would include some of the key characters and what their roles are. I would connect the movie to another film that is similar in genre and plot. I would leave out what happens at the end and also involve some vocab terms to describe some of the characters and the movie as well. I would also include who are the star actors in the movie and describe how their performances were.

Joey B Film Studies Blog

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

"Review of the Reviews"

Friday, January 24, 2014

Film Intro Survey