Blog Post 1

Blog Post 1 – In Time Review by Melissa Anderson (Village Voice)

Review 
Trailer

Rhetorical Analysis:

The title and headline Melissa Anderson chose for her review of In Time was exceedingly catchy and contemporary. By mentioning the "99 percent" in the headline you can tell she assumes her audience is well informed with current political news and events. The outside cultural and political connections made in the very first sentence paint a good picture of the genre and theme of the movie.  By comparing the film to Bonnie and Clyde you get an excellent idea of the genre and by saying that they both owe as much to The Marx-Engels Reader, you know it’s about a social, political, and economic theme. She then goes on to summarize the basics of the plot and mentions past work by the director. I think she effectively makes a real world connection with the lob-sided economic system in the film and our very own social economic inequalities. Overall this review is informative, simple and concise.

The description of the synopsis is pretty basic and provides a good picture of the structure of the plot without giving too much away. Although she makes it clear that the fictional aspects of the film (like not aging after 25) may seem a little crazy, and sometimes silly, it may just not be the case so much in Hollywood; where being eternally young is a priceless fantasy. She introduces the characters smoothly within the plot summary and goes into some detail about the dialogue that further illustrates the conditions of their futuristic world. For example, she gives a quote from one of the characters:  “These are confusing times: Is she my daughter, my sister, my mother, or my wife?” 

Although a positive review thus far, the criticism is left for the final paragraph. She again highlights on the silliness of the unrealistic plot holes. It is also insinuated that the movie may have too many subplots and how some details are unexpectedly incredulous.  She continues to use the political comparison about the theme of the movie to current left-wing politics and socialism. 

Past projects from the main actors are mentioned but they aren’t praised. The cleverness continued when she jokingly claims that the director used the Marx principle of “from each according to his ability” to choose his cast because they performed well compared to their previous projects. You are left with a clear sense of what type of movie this will be but also lowers the expectations greatly. It leaves the audience with the hope that although it isn’t an excellent movie by far; it’s still not agonizing to sit through.

Organization:

Title: Uses a clever and original title converging the title of the movie with the main actors’ name.
Headline: Makes an instant political connection to describe the theme of the movie
P#1: Compares it to a classic movie of the same genre
P#2: Briefly describes the plot and introduces director, mentions previous work and continues to describe the conditions in the setting of the film
P#3: Goes into more details about the plot synopsis and introduces main characters and their struggle/conflict
P#4: Continues the political connection made in the intro using humor and exaggeration. Also points out the flaws of the movie while giving some praise to this latest performance by the main actors in comparison to their previous works. 

Things that stand out/effective:

1.      The title and headline are really original

2.      The political comparisons illustrate the theme very well

3.      It is concise and only gives only the details needed to get a good idea of the plot without giving too much away

4.      Narrows it down to where it gives the reader a good contrast for them to easily decide if it’s something they would enjoy or not