Movie Review Rubric created by Nancy Freeman, nancy_freeman@clayton.k12.mo.us
Exemplary Performance At or Above Average At or Below Average Low Performance Points
Objectives 10-11 points 8-9 points 6-7 points 5 points or less Earned
Effective and Lead is original and gets Lead is appropriate to film Lead is adequate but not ex- Lead is neither original nor
Appropriate lead the readers’ attention; ap- and fairly effective at get- tremely catchy or original; catchy; is boring overused
propriate to the film being ting attention; shows some evaluation of the writer is trite, or inappropriate to
reviewed; evaluation of the signs of originality; evalu- unclear film; evaluation is unclear
writer is clear from first ation may not be as clearly
paragraph evident
Summary of Writer gives a brief sum- Summary is either a little Summary is either much Little or no significant
movie and mary of film without too long or not long enough too short or much too long; summary; no details
details sup- disclosing ending; includes but does not give away may be vague or tell too from the movie and little
port reviewer’s enough info to satisfy; ending; not quite as compel- much; few details from the evidence from summary to
opinion details from the movie and ling; fewer details from movie and little evidence support reviewer’s opinion
evidence from summary the movie and evidence from summary to support
strongly support reviewer’s from summary to support reviewer’s opinion
opinion reviewer’s opinion
Evaluation of Contains sufficient and Contains some evaluation Contains insufficient evalua- Contains no significant
various aspects knowledgeable evaluation of many aspects of film to tion of many aspects of film evaluation of many aspects
of film support of many aspects of film to support reviewer’s opinion, to support reviewer’s opin- of film to support review-
opinion support reviewer’s opinion, including directing, acting ion, including directing, act- er’s opinion
including directing, acting cinematography, editing, ing cinematography, editing,
cinematography, editing, scenery, special effects and scenery, special effects and
scenery, special effects and soundtrack; references may soundtrack; no references
soundtrack; references are be made to other works of made to other works of key
made to other works of key key players (actors, direc- players (actors, director) or
players (actors, director) tor) or other films in genre other films in genre
or other films in genre as as appropriate
appropriate
Effective Or- Review is strongly orga- Review is organized and Review lacks strong or- Review is choppy or
ganization and nized with clear transitions most transitions and con- ganization ; jumps around incohesive; organization
Flow (deals with and logical connections nections are clear, but either too much or lacks effective is unclear; few effective
structure) that create a sense of being organization is somewhat transitions; not in logical transitions; may be unclear
tightly woven together; lacking or the sense of flow order; may not offer a clear on evaluation
review offers a clear evalu- is somewhat abrupt; review evaluation
ation of movie gives clear evaluation
Clear Focus and Focus of review is clear; Focus is fairly clear but one Story lacks strong sense No clear focus; review is
Unity (deals with nothing detracts from or two things on the story of unity and focus; several rambling and awkward
content) primary focus; everything detract from the primary things seem to detract from
contributes to overall theme focus focus
Interesting and Writing is strong and ef- Writing is adequate but not Writing is rather bland; has Writing lacks a clear voice
Effective Writing fective with a clear voice extremely compelling or no clear voice and or sense and original style
Style and a variety of sentence original; may be wordy or of originality; is wordy or
structures; piece is tightly voice may be unclear; dic- redundant; or diction &/or
written; strong and effective tion may not be as vivid; s/s sentence structure may be
word choice may not be as varied repetitive
Correct Use of NO errors in journalism Has few (one or two in most Has several errors in jour- Has many errors in journal-
Journalism Style style (quotes, dates, scores, stories) errors in journalism nalism style or non-journal- ism style and/or non-jour-
numbers, money, percents, style; or may have non-jour- istic paragraph structure nalistic paragraph structure
time, commas, etc.); Short nalistic paragraph structure
paragraphs
Grammar and Story is well edited and Story is spell-checked and Story is spell-checked and Names are misspelled or
Spelling spell-checked; NO errors, all names are correct; has a all names are correct; has spell-check was not run;
including the proper spell- few grammatical errors several grammatical errors or has many grammatical
ing of all names errors
Story is properly No tabs at the beginning of Missed one of the four Missed two of the four Missed at least three of the
formatted and graphs (just a return at the criteria criteria four criteria
saved end of preceding graph);
One space after periods;
Placed in the proper month
of the proper editor’s
folder; Hard copy placed in
the adviser’s mailbox
Comments: TOTAL