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Here's a method for writing your book or movie reviews at B2 level. Click. Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

Reviews at B2 https://quizlet.com/20231673/ flashcards Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

Test Your Reviewing Writing here

Complete the gaps in this review. Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

to write a review. Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

Here's some stuff on reviews. Mark Kermode is our review man, and here are a couple of bits of his stuff for you.The "task" really is to enjoy and see how enthusiastic he gets - and see if you can think of things you can be so energised about! First, Quantum of Solace : Now, for contrast, here's some Mamma Mia ; And finally, a personal favourite, The Da Vinci Code, in audio only: Follow us on

Advice from Level 8 to get you a good score Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

A TV review Follow us on

You can adapt this list to any review! A good review will have: Has a title   Sums up the story/product in a sentence or two. Includes positive and negative comment Says if the writer thinks it’s a successful product and why Uses some suitable vocabulary – plot, soundtrack, twist, director, advertisement, advent, get ready, Has Some opinion language “If you ask me”. “For me” Some linking between the similar things (“in addition”) and some contrast – “on the other hand”, “however” It's all in the same formality Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

There's loads of material on the VER about writing reviews for CAE and FCE - use the Reviews label.  For your use, here's a  link  to PDF of C2 level review - aim for this standard and you won't go too far wrong. Tweet Follow @bclasrozas

Here's our review of the a James Bond film.  Might give you some ideas for your own work! Better than 007 out of 10?   Skyfall A jolly good Bond film scoring 8/10 with ease for me. Easily my favourite since Goldeneye, maybe The Living Daylights. Many years ago I read a Bond review in a magazine, where the writer said he'd love to see something different from Bond - like have him carry out an investigation in London, for instance, but there's no way it'd ever happen, what with the need forrproduct placement and so on. That author has pretty much got his wish and it worked very well.  It feels like Bond, looks like Bond and sounds like Bond to me. About 1 second into the film there's something that tells you exactly what the tone of the movie is, puts a big smile on your face, and from there on it's almost all great stuff, doing something interesting and different, yet also familiar. Absolutely loved the tiny little touches ("For her eyes only")...

A Music Review Written a year ago, this might give you something to play with in terms of register and style. Around FCE length, but written for a native speaker reader. Alison Krauss & Union Station: Paper Airplane Bluegrass is like...Ronaldo. It makes you so mad you want to throw things at it or makes you tick. AKUS (not a lot of words allowed on Fb) are top of the line. You get three sorts of song. Ali going wistful and emotional. Because, as a beautiful, willowly blonde with an angelic voice, she 's naturally sad, lonely and desperate for company. Hmmm, not entirely plausible, but we'll let her run with it. The there's the hardcore stuff. Really. Proper rustic vocals, dustbowls, obscure American towns and tales of loss and love. It's like Irish folk with cowboy hats. Finally there's the odd instrumental, with Ali going like the clappers on the violin, Jerry Douglas picking on the steel guitar like his life depended on it, and the ...

Student Sample Read the homework. Can you use your experience to imagine how many marks of out 10 this review of two movies might get? >>  ?? <<    Produced with fifteen years of difference [m1]   , Source Code and The Rock are both remarkable movies. Source Code is an intriguing ü action film, which is still in some cinemas, and is suitable for a general audience. This thriller ü is centered on a soldier, Jake Gyllenhaal , who wakes up in a train, in the body of an unknown man. After some minutes, he discovers he is part of a mission to find a terrorist who is in that train. The plot is captivating ü ; with some unexpected twist that makes this film very thought-provoking ü . As a curiosity, I would like to mention that it is a low-budget film. It has cost ^32 million while the normal budget for American films is about ^100 million. I strongly recommend ü watching it, as it is one of the best films I have seen this year.   Going b...

Powerpoint Presentation for C1 level: Advice on: Formality and grading it Planning Writing Checking Writing Link:  http://www.slideshow.com/users/bcteacher/politeness-and-writing--572162773 Follow us on

Also published on our Facebook page, here's our review of  The King's Speech . Written roughly to CAE length and more or less to exam principles for FCE and CAE candidates to take advantage of. A Royal Announcement: This is a must-see movie.  More people are frightened of speaking in public than dying. That’s the statistic I heard on the radio last week. How would you feel if, that was you, but you lived with a stammer. But you  had  to speak not only in public, but to a whole nation, who were relying on you to do it? That’s the dramatic finale of  The King’s Speech  after an unwilling Prince Albert of England has had no choice but to become King George VI after his elder brother abdicates to marry. Although the film is about overcoming fear and, to an extent, disability, it works on many other levels too. It’s about the formation of friendship between two very different men (the King and his speech therapist) despite - but in so...

Some practical material this week. Take a look at Dark Horizons . You'll find lots of film review material which you might find useful. Be on the look out for adjectives, comments and, as always at CAE, the special vocabulary that makes an impact on the reader. Here are (just) five that we noticed in the Angels and Demons review: follow-up polished pad out uses of Had and Yet

Here's an First-level review that reaches a pass level - perhaps you can learn something from it.

A sample writing for you to take a look at and learn from the mistakes!

Some general advice from Las Rozas teachers about writing a review: Remember the usual elements - - answer the exact question - think about the style, format and presentation - decide carefully on your number of paragraphs You'll also need some more specialist language too - specifically: - some language for opinions - descriptive words (for example suitable adjectives and adverb+adjective combinations) - specialised vocabulary for films, books or whatever For example, do you know which words here are for which media? Soundtrack, chapter, script, screenplay, plot, titles, set, location, scenery, star., co-star.. To help a little, there's nothing wrong with taking ideas from the net, so here are a couple of places to look for reviews that are not too colloquial (which many magazines and websites are). http://www-amazon.co.uk/ - just look for comments on almost anything - from cds and movies to hairdryers and food mixers! http://www.dark...