Movie Reviews
Dear Gary: I enjoy the [DVD] reviews, but why not add a short subjective review of the film at the same time. I know you would say that your focus is on picture and sound quality (only) but it would be a service to have a simple evaluation on whether the film is actually worth watching! This would simply require a sentence or two beyond what is currently written and a score. What about an email “alert” for key DVD release news for subscribers...and more coverage on DTS audio CDs would be appreciated.
Mark Smith
Story & Special Features Review Editor Laurie Sevano Comments:
First, thanks for your interest in what the movie is about! A lot of our readers really focus on the picture and sound quality, and I know that's important, but, me; I watch a movie to experience the story—everyone's different, I know! When I write the story on a movie (the first paragraph in each movie review section), I am very limited by space, so I try to express my enthusiasm—or lack of—for the movie in the description of the story. Believe me, it’s difficult to sound excited about a movie that didn’t impress me very much. In addition, many of the movies have extended reviews on our Web site that often more decidedly reflect my opinion of a movie’s content We do offer the Critic’s Composite score, located at the top of each review, that is an average of film review scores from several different sources. You’ll find the individual scores and their sources in the last columns of the Discography as well as on our Web site’s DVD Movie Guide database. Often, the scores for the more obscure movies are difficult to find, and with classic films, they don’t exist—that's why you see NA as a score on many of them. Recently, we’ve been working on ideas to make up for those NA scores with a WSR rating. In response to your other question about email alerts for key DVD release news, you might want to regularly check the DVD Release News (formerly Studio News) section on our Web site (primarily managed by our Research Editor Michael Coate). It is updated daily. Also, while DTS CDs aren’t covered in the magazine, we will soon have a DVD music site (www.SurroundMusic.net) that will give you just what you are looking for. I hope this answers your questions, and thank you for taking the time to writes.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ mailto:editorgary@widescreenreview.com