A little lesson in the art of reviewing pop culture

A few months ago, I had a little tiff with my boyfriend. He had read a review for a movie… A few months ago, I had a little tiff with my boyfriend. He had read a review for a movie and didn’t like what the author had said about it. He griped that people reviewing movies should stick to telling readers what the movie is about and keep their opinions out of it. Oh, Mark.

I quickly explained to him that the purpose of reviews – film, music, literary and others – is to help people to decide whether said product is worth their time and money. And, in order to do that, such reviews frequently must present an opinion.

Of course, this column isn’t dedicated to everyone reading it. There are people out there who know why reviews are written – people who may disagree, but who know the writer is just doing his job. And now, I’ll fill you in on the art and purpose of reviews.

This column was further inspired by feedback posted online in response to a Rooney CD review published this summer. I enjoyed the piece, but it seems that some die-hard Rooney fans were upset. Some went so far as to criticize the author’s writing. One person posted, “Even if you don’t like Rooney, whoever wrote this could have been a little bit more open minded before they labeled the lead singer as just some actor kid with no talent.”

No, no, no.

You see, as people who write Arts ‘ Entertainment stories, we have to be in the upper echelon of the population, when it comes to open-mindedness. We listen to bands we have never heard of, we attend off-the-wall gallery openings, we watch films with subtitles, we attend theatrical productions when theatre isn’t our thing.In a review, some description of the product is vital. A book review will contain a bit of synopsis, as will a film or theatre review. A music review will give you a basic idea of the sound you will hear, and an art review will paint a picture of some pieces in the collection. But after that, we are free to rant or rave. Oh yes, we are free to let our personal hang-ups get in the way. If something leaves a bad taste in our mouths’ because it reminded us of the night we awkwardly lost our virginity to a high school dropout, we are free to let you know.

Woven in among the basic summaries of music, film, theatre and book reviews are descriptions of aspects about the sound, cinematography, performance and writing. Those descriptions are our opinions, which is what we get paid to write about.

We must reflect on the product and psychoanalyze it. And we do.

Just because you don’t agree with a person’s review doesn’t make it wrong. When it comes to reviewing, there is no right or wrong. As we learned in elementary school, there is a difference between fact and opinion. Here, I’ll refresh your memories. Fact: Rooney released an album. Opinion: it sucked.

My bible, Rolling Stone, gave Rooney’s self-titled release two out of five stars while Spin thought it a little better, giving it a B-. People Magazine absolutely loved it. Why the diversity? Because of differences of opinion.Rolling Stone gave “American Wedding” only one star. I laughed my ass off when I saw it. Do I want to find Peter Travers’ house and stone him? Nah, he’s entitled to his opinion.

Those of you who think you can do a better job than the current staff – apply. Wow me with your reviews.