WHO:
To begin with, the prospective critic must ask himself why he hopes to write. If he has illusions of grandeur, he'd better think again. He must posses a dedication to the craft, a love of movies and the ability to fail but still be persistent.

But as Hollywood author Lisa Maliga said, "Whether you watch movies as soon as they arrive at your local theatre or wait for the video, your No. 1 reason for being a critic must be your love of movies."1

So the bottom line is anyone with the desire and the patience can write critical movie reviews, and learn to write them well.

WHAT:
Movie criticism has been around since about 1895, when the first moving pictures hit the screen and the first guy watching either "loved" or "hated" the flick. It basically consists of analyzing certain universal elements and conventions while watching the movie and then incorporating the analysis into the writing process.

Most agree that the key elements to study while critiquing consist of the writing, acting, cinematography, design, music, editing and directing.2 Critiquing can be as simple as listing reactions to each element in a long laundry list-type of document, to as intensive as developing and devoting an entire Web site to one movie and analyzing every minute aspect of it.

The reviewer should also ask himself a series of focusing questions:3