tv and movie reviewer jobs

9 Legit Ways to Get Paid to Review Movies in 2023

Online social media jobs that pay $30/hour, no experience necessary, availability to start this week, no experience required, make $25-$35 testing new apps, just need access to phone/tablet, completely remote, 5+ hours per week available.

If you watch a lot of TV, you’re not alone.

According to the latest Nielsen Total Audience survey, the average American spends a little over four hours each day glued to the television.

And while watching movies and shows is undoubtedly a great way to unwind after a hard day at work, wouldn’t it be nice if you could get paid for it?

Well, if you also enjoy writing, you can. All you need to do is share your thoughts with the world.

Here are the top ways to get paid to review movies.

If you consider yourself a good writer, you can become a paid contributor at a movie review or entertainment website.

Generally speaking, you’ll need to have excellent grammar, writing samples, and the ability to develop article ideas, to land one of these roles. Since these are freelance positions, you can apply to as many of these jobs as you’d like, depending on your availability and income goals.

Here are a few places to check out.

Ways To Get Paid To Review Movies

1. Animation Arena 2. Taste of Cinema 3. ScreenRant 4. Bustle 5. Cineaste 6. Cracked 7. Hubpages 8. Medium

1. Animation Arena

Animation Arena, a website dedicated to animation of all sorts, hires writers to create movies, video games, and comic book reviews.

Each review needs to be about 550 words long. The pay is $15 per review, and as one of their writers, you can write up to 10 reviews per month.

You don’t need to be a professional writer for this gig, but you need good grammar and must submit two writing samples with your query.

You can learn more about becoming an animated movie reviewer with Animation Arena here.

2. Taste of Cinema

Taste of Cinema brings in millions of page views per month by specializing in “list” articles. They are currently looking for contributors to write movie reviews and classic move lists.

For reference, some of their most popular move lists include topics like:

• The 30 Best Movies of 2018
• The 10 Most Overrated Actors Working Today
• The 18 Best Philosophical Movies of All Time

As a contributor for Taste of Cinema, you’ll need to come up with your own movie-related article ideas. Then, once you write your article, you can pitch it to their editor.  If accepted, you’ll be paid depending on the number of views or clicks your article receives.

 (This means there’s no guaranteed pay. Still, if you’re a new movie reviewer, having an article published can help you build your portfolio.)

If accepted as a contributor, you can write as much or as little as you like.

If you want to get paid to review movies, you can see the full application instructions here.

3. ScreenRant

ScreenRant was started in 2003 and is now one of today’s top entertainment news websites. They focus on movie and TV news, reviews, interviews, and more.

Right now, ScreenRant is hiring contributors to write for one or more of their top categories. If you land a contributor spot, you’ll be paid for your articles and receive a byline.

While ScreenRant doesn’t list writer pay on their website, a Reddit user reports that pay is a combination of a flat fee + incentives for how well the content performs.

You can fill out the application here if you want to get paid to review movies . To do so, you’ll need to submit three writing samples and describe your previous experience.

Bustle is a popular website geared toward women. Some of their top subjects are entertainment, wellness, style, and life.

From time to time, Bustle hires new contributors. If you want to find a writing position in their entertainment category, you can check for job openings here.

For this position, you should be prepared to provide previous writing samples with your application.

5. Cineaste

Cineaste is a quarterly publication founded in 1967. Their subtitle is  “America’s leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema.”

Cineaste accepts pitches for feature articles, interviews, film reviews, DVD reviews, and book reviews. To increase the chance of an editor accepting your pitch, you’ll need to stick to the recommended word count and style guide listed on the Cineaste website.

The pay is dependent upon the type of article. If your article is accepted, payment will be:

• Short take reviews: $18
• Book & DVD reviews: $36
• Film reviews: $45
• Feature articles: $90

Cracked is a comedy-based website that has articles on all kinds of subjects, including movies.

Anyone can sign up to be a contributor with Cracked . However, that doesn’t automatically mean they’ll publish your articles. 

Cracked has high standards, so it may take a pitch or two before you’re published. If you are published, though, they’ll pay you $100. Then, after you have four articles accepted, they’ll bump you up to $200 per article.

To give you an idea of what kind of movie content they’re looking for, some of their recent posts include titles such as:

• 5 Ways Movies Screw Up Exciting and Emotional Scenes
• Sorry, But ‘Ted Lasso’s’ Theme Song Sucks
• How Costume Designers Hack Our Brains

Start Your Own Movie Review Blog or YouTube Channel

If you want to control the content you produce, you can start a movie review blog or YouTube channel.

In complete transparency, it will take a lot of time and effort before either of these become profitable. However, if you stick with it, you can create a movie review empire that could eventually become a full-time gig.

The beauty of starting your own content channel is that you can choose how you’d like to niche down. For example, you could review only horror movies, lifetime movies, Netflix movies, etc.

You can learn more about starting and monetizing a blog here.

Write for Revenue Share Websites

If you don’t like the idea of starting your own blog but are still looking for complete control over the content you produce, you can write for revenue-share websites.

These websites work by allowing you (or anyone) to sign up to become a writer. Then, as a writer, when your content becomes popular, it generates revenue through ad networks, product sales, or affiliate links. 

That revenue gets split between you and the site you’re writing for.

Here are some of the most popular revenue-sharing websites to sign up with.

7. Hubpages

Hubpages is one of the oldest revenue-sharing sites on the internet.

To get started with Hubpages, simply sign up and create your profile. You’ll then be able to join the ad program or Amazon program to monetize your articles.

Once you complete those steps, you can begin writing.

After writing, your next step is to publish the article. Once you do, HubPages will put it through a quality assessment check. If it passes, your movie review will become searchable on popular search engines and may land on the featured page.

This will help improve the odds of you receiving traffic and, therefore, making money from your review.

The more articles you write, the higher your chances of making money.

Medium is where authors and storytellers come to share their knowledge and experiences. It’s an open-source content platform where anyone can write.

However, to make money writing movie reviews on Medium, you’ll need to be approved for the partner program.

To become eligible to apply, you must have at least one story published and over 100 followers.

Once accepted, you can begin writing.

There are two ways to earn. 

The first is dependent on how long Medium members spend reading your articles. The more time spent, the more you make. The second happens when a reader upgrades to a paid membership after reading one of your stories. If they do so,  you’ll receive half the membership cost they paid.

How Much Do Movie Reviewers Get Paid?

Film critics work as freelance writers or journalists, getting paid to publish opinions in the form of articles. Since pay varies by publication and a yearly salary is dependent on how many hours a film critic chooses to work, it’s hard to pin down an exact pay range.

However, for reference, the average journalist’s salary is $42,062 per year, according to Payscale.

If you’re a new movie reviewer and are interested in writing reviews in your spare time, you’ll typically earn between $15-$200 depending on the length of the review and the publication.

Other Side Hustle Ideas Worth Checking Out

Here are a few more  side hustles  you can check out:

• Get paid to type
• Make money watching videos online
• Get paid to listen to music

Ways to Get Paid to Review Movies – Final Thoughts

If you love watching movies and have strong opinions about what you watch, you can make a decent side hustle income reviewing movies.

To find success, you’ll need solid grammar skills and the willingness to learn how to format and perfect articles. If you have those skills, you can get started by sending in applications or article pitches to the sites listed above.

Alternatively, you can start building out a blog or YouTube channel with your movie reviews if you prefer complete editorial control.

Looking for more ways to earn money?

Check out the video below to learn how I went from $0 to $3,000,000:

Affiliate Disclaimer: I may (and probably do) receive affiliate commissions from any products I recommend or links I put on this page. My opinions are my own but they are truthful and I do my best to recommend products that I have vetted and/or purchased myself.

Spencer Mecham

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Get Paid To Write Reviews: 14 Top Sites

Get paid to write reviews by reading our guide with all the top sites for you to check out. Earn money and home and increase your skills today!

Before you purchase products or download apps, do you read the reviews? Most consumers do. A study published by Qualtrics showed that 93 percent of customers read online reviews before buying a product. Product reviews are important to people’s purchasing decisions, and review sites are everywhere.

Companies know that they will make more money if their products have positive reviews, so they’re willing to pay people to write product reviews for money. If you are wondering how to get paid to write reviews and blog articles, try applying to these sites for review writing jobs .

1. Writers Work

2. get paid to write reviews for amazon, 3. get reviewed, 4. crowdtap, 6. listverse, 7. capterra, 8. usertesting, 9. gartner peer insights, 10. harris poll online, 11. g2 crowd, 12. review stream, 13. inboxdollars, 14. swagbucks, final word on where to get paid to write reviews, is it illegal to write fake reviews, where can i write music reviews, how do you make money by giving reviews.

Writers Work connects writers with companies looking for freelancers. With thousands of jobs available, it’s an ideal place for new and experienced freelancer writers to find work. The site has built great relationships with many established companies requiring writing , from general content to blogging to copywriting and reviews; endless opportunities exist. The average earnings on the freelance site are anything from $20 – $65 per hour, making it a lucrative option for writers to get involved in.

Writers Work contains freelance writing opportunities for writers who want to start their career

Many freelancers earn commissions from Amazon by writing product reviews. Amazon pays reviewers who successfully try a product and refer it to new customers. This process is a type of influencer work called affiliate marketing, which can be used through the Amazon Associates program. Whenever a customer uses your affiliate link, you’ll receive a small commission on the sale.

For example, if you were to try a product and then post about it on your blog or social media with an affiliate link, your viewers might then buy the Amazon product, which means you earn a commission. There are many different niches for bloggers to choose from, like food, fashion, beauty, tech, and entertainment.

If you want to write product reviews for money, one of the best places to look is Get Reviewed . The website will pay you cash for sponsored reviews and blog posts. If you want to participate in this program, you need to have a self-hosted website with a strong domain authority of at least 20 or above. To elevate your domain authority, focus on a specific niche.

Then, convince others to provide links that point back to your website. This will position your site as an authority in the field.

If you want to get paid to write a review on this site, submit your blog for consideration. After your blog is accepted, you will display your blog on the marketplace. Then, advertisers can view your blog and order a product review from you. If someone places an order for a review from your website, you will receive an email notification.

Based on the email request, you can either accept or reject their review request. You also negotiate the price of your review with the client. Once you and the client agree on a deadline and rate for the job, you’ll write the review and get paid! Typically, you get paid 14 days after the article has been completed. The site pays a paid reviewer by PayPal.

If you want a fun way to review products from your phone, check out CrowdTap . You can access the program through your smartphone. Then, you can look at their “daily missions,” which products they would like you to review that day. If you review their products, you will be rewarded for leaving a high-quality review.

You get paid in a variety of ways. For example, some companies will reward you with product samples. Other companies will reward you with gift cards. You may also be given merchandise rewards you can redeem at certain brands and establishments.

This is one of the top review apps out there. There are other ways you can earn points as well. For example, you can complete daily polls, fill out surveys, and share your reviews on social media channels. You can get additional points if you share your reviews on your blog.

Another review site you may want to check out is called Ciao . This is a review site based in the UK, but it is open to the international community, including non-English speakers. They have various products listed on the website, some of which are Amazon products.

The website also has a rotating category of focus or high-authority products. These are products that they need reviews for, so they’re willing to pay extra money for writers. The payment for each review varies, but it is directly tied to the amount of traffic that a specific review generates.

You don’t have to make much money to request a payout. As long as you have a balance of five pounds or more, or about $6, you can request to be paid. It might be challenging to generate a lot of traffic with your first review, but you can make significant money online once you get a lot of practice.

If you are more of a long-form paid reviewer, check out ListVerse . This website will pay you money to make a “top 10” list. Often called “listicles,” this is an opportunity to get creative. You have a lot of control over the products you decide to review, and you can make several recommendations in a single article.

You may want to write a paragraph or two on each item before moving forward. After your list has been published, you get paid through PayPal.

Next, you may want to check out Capterra as well. If you have looked for reviews of specific products, including software programs, you have probably come across Capterra. You can also get paid to write reviews for them. Typically, you need to use the product before you write the review, which may require additional work; however, you can also get paid more for each review.

On Capterra, you get paid approximately $10 for each review that is accepted. Because they are one of the largest players in the industry, they vet all of their reviews closely to ensure they meet their requirements. You need to verify your identity using LinkedIn, and you might get asked to send screenshots of the software or product you want to review before they let you write the review. For this reason, they pay more money for each review.

If you are someone who enjoys testing websites and applications, you may want to take a look at a website called UserTesting . During the review process, you need to make a 20-minute video. Then, you’ll be paid $10 for each review you give. Try this website if you would rather talk about a product or service instead of writing about it.

If the platform can download the necessary recording software, you can record it using any device you want. This could include a desktop computer, a laptop, a smartphone, or a tablet. You will also need to record yourself testing the app or website in real-time. Companies will pay a lot for people who record themselves using their products or services.

Therefore, this could be one of the most lucrative ways for you to make money through product reviews.

Another website that will pay you a lot of money for each review is called Gartner. Gartner is a leading technology and software review company. The goal is to help users make educated decisions on the products they use. Even though you can only write ten reviews annually, the company pays you approximately $25 for each successful review.

Caveat: Gartner closely vets every review before it is published to ensure it provides customers with real insights into the product. The more details you can give about your experience, the greater the chance your review gets accepted. You need to know a lot before you write your first review on this platform. So, check out Gartner’s FAQ page to figure out how to take advantage of this opportunity.

You might also want to consider Harris Poll Online . They are one of the oldest research firms in the industry, and they have a sterling reputation. Most of the surveys and reviews you complete for Harris will focus on their current marketing campaigns.

For example, you might be asked to watch a series of marketing videos a company produces. Then, you’ll be asked to share your opinion. You might also be asked to recommend improving their marketing videos to better speak to someone like yourself.

Every time you complete a survey for this company, you’ll be given points to redeem for gift cards. You might also be given a bonus award if you win the raffle. You get an entry into the raffle with every survey or review you complete.

G2 Crowd is a crowdsourcing platform for reviews. The amount of money you can make on this platform can vary widely depending on what you review. The average review pays between $5 and $15, but you could earn up to $25 per review if you review specific types of software. The website has hundreds of thousands of reviews, so it is one of the most popular review websites on the internet.

Similar to other software review websites, there are strict requirements you need to follow to make sure your review is accepted. You’ll also have to verify your identity by tying your LinkedIn account to your review.

Review Stream will allow you to make money by reviewing just about every product. Furthermore, if a user likes your review, you could get paid a bonus. If you get a vote of confidence from a user, this indicates that the person found your review useful.

Even though you can write a review on just about anything, you can look at what is currently trending on social media. Generally, ReviewStream will pay more money for products and services that have become popular. Furthermore, if you write a review that matches the publishing guidelines of the platform, they might pay you more money. These reviews are also more likely to be deemed useful by users.

InboxDollars has an excellent reputation for paying users to take surveys, shop online, and read email newsletters to assess them for clarity and effectiveness. You can get paid to write product reviews and collect rewards easily on this platform.

InboxDollars partners with top research organizations that are looking for feedback and input from the public. All you need to do is sign up and give your opinions on surveys, and you’ll be paid cash when you’ve completed your task.

Swagbucks is one of the most popular loyalty and consumer rewards platforms online. It’s free to join, and members receive gift cards or cash for the everyday activities they complete online. Tasks include web searching, playing games, watching videos, and shopping online. You can also scan your receipts for cash back, making it easy to earn extra cash without completing hundreds of surveys.

If you’re interested in answering surveys and giving reviews for cash, Swagbucks also pays users to take surveys on topics like personal finance, favorite foods, vacations, and more. Swagbucks has already paid its members over 5 million dollars, solidifying it as one of the most reliable online paid review platforms.

These are some useful review sites to apply to if you want to write product reviews, book reviews, and more. Writing legit reviews is also a great way to get free products, as lots of companies will send you new products and samples to write about on a review website. You can also combine writing reviews with other proven methods that will help you get paid to write .

These sites are a good side-hustle choice before applying to the best affiliate marketing programs and publishing review content on your website.

FAQs About How to Get Paid To Write Reviews

Section 5 of the FTC Act 15 U.S. Code 45 makes fake testimonials illegal in the United States. It can also dent your customer’s trust in your business. It should be noted that a man was jailed after posting fake reviews on TripAdvisor.

Many music writers start their careers by launching their blogs. However, several magazines and websites accept freelance reviews. Two Story Melody gives a list of sites that accept music reviews.

There are several ways to make money by giving reviews, depending on the platform or industry you are involved in. Here are a few methods: 1. Sponsored reviews 2. Affiliate marketing 3. Paid survey sites 4. Blogging or YouTube channels 5. Paid review websites

Meet Rachael, the editor at Become a Writer Today. With years of experience in the field, she is passionate about language and dedicated to producing high-quality content that engages and informs readers. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors, finding inspiration for her next project.

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This Holiday Movie Lover’s Dream Job Will Pay You $1,000 To Watch Hallmark Movies

Holiday fantasies do come true. CenturyLinkQuote is looking for a movie reviewer who will get paid to watch 24 Hallmark holiday movies in 12 days. If it sounds like your dream-turned-reality, here's how to apply for the Hallmark Holiday Movie Reviewer job from CenturyLinkQuote, so you can get a chance to get $1,000 for watching your fave holiday movies on Hallmark.

CenturyLinkQuote is seeking applicants who really, really love holiday movies. The job posting is open for anyone to apply, but you do need to meet certain requirements to score this seasonal dream job. The company is asking you to "put on your best pair of fuzzy socks, crank up the fire, and [marathon]... Hallmark's cheesiest Christmas movies." The TV network that is famous for producing countless romantic holiday movies, no matter how cheesy they are, is the subject of this reviewer job. CenturyLinkQuote is hoping to find someone who relishes the holidays, loves rom-coms, and can see themselves sitting down to watch a couple Hallmark movies a day for just under two weeks. Although some can marathon like the best of them, the job posting will require you to watch about two movies per day, so this will take some time and endurance.

If you want to apply, you'll have to see if you fit the bill for the company's "perfect candidate." There are three rules:

• You have to absolutely love Christmas.
• Your age needs to be 18 or older and you must be a resident of the United States.
• You have to be a social media guru. As in, you know how to use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and be willing to post about your Hallmark movie marathon journey.

The other caveat is, you have to want to share opinions that aren't just fluff. Like, "Yeah, this movie is great," is not going to be enough. CenturyLinkQuote wants you to "be as honest as possible in your review," even if it means admitting that you hate something about the flick or you find a character outright annoying or unbelievable.

A more detailed breakdown of posting requirements asks the reviewer to use Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook for each movie, include #CountdowntoChristmas and #HallmarkDreamJob in each post, and make sure you finish watching all 24 movies by Dec. 25.

If you think you have what it takes, you can apply for this Hallmark Holiday Movie Reviewer job from CenturyLinkQuote by filling out the online application, explaining why you're the perf person to do the job, and by creating a short two to three-minute video that demonstrates your holiday spirit.

Now let's talk compensation. The company will reward its loyal movie-marathoner by paying them in a sweet package, in addition to the $1,000 paycheck. Included in the package is a subscription to a streaming service, a packet of hot cocoa, a box of Christmas cookies, a mini Christmas tree, a string of festive lights, and " more Hallmark swag than you could ever need ." TBH, I would sign up just for the Hallmark Channel Monopoly .

Sounds like the best holiday side hustle one could ever snap up. $1,000 and Hallmark swag just to watch holiday movies? Get ready to sip that hot chocolate and apply via the CenturyLinkQuote page before your dream job is gone.

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• Home: Explore careers

Film critic

Alternative titles for this job include film reviewer, movie critic, film writer.

Film critics analyse films and produce reviews and articles for newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, social media channels and websites.

Average salary (a year)

Typical hours (a week).

Variable variable

You could work

freelance / self-employed flexibly

How to become

How to become a film critic.

You can get into this job through:

• a university course
• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• short training courses

You can do a foundation degree, degree or postgraduate qualification in:

• film studies
• creative writing
• film and television

Courses like these will help you to develop the analysis and writing skills you'll need as a film critic.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
• a degree in any subject for a postgraduate course

More Information

• equivalent entry requirements
• student finance for fees and living costs
• university courses and entry requirements

You could do a college course, which would teach you some of the skills and knowledge you'll need for this job. Relevant courses include:

• A level Film Studies
• Level 3 Diploma in Journalism

You'll need:

• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), including English
• funding advice
• search for courses

Apprenticeship

You can work towards this role by starting with a higher apprenticeship like a junior journalist or a senior journalist, before specialising in film reviewing and criticism.

• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
• guide to apprenticeships

Volunteering

Competition for jobs is strong, and you'll need to show you've got writing experience. You'll find it useful to keep examples of your published work in a portfolio.

To develop your experience and reputation you can:

• write for student and local newspapers
• create your own blog and build an online presence on social media
• submit articles to online film review channels and websites
• post video reviews online and produce podcasts

Other Routes

You may be able to do short courses, which could help you to develop your critical writing skills, as well as expand your knowledge of film and different genres.

Short courses are offered by some colleges, adult education centres, university film departments. and film organisations online. Courses include:

• film criticism
• history of cinema
• journalism skills
• cinema from other countries

It’s important to develop your own critical writing style and build up a good reputation to establish yourself as a film critic.

Career tips

You’re likely to be self-employed or work freelance as a film critic, especially when starting out, and be paid per review. Some critics write about other media, for example TV, plays and books, to supplement their income.

Further information

You can find out more about creative industry careers from Discover Creative Careers and ScreenSkills .

You can find more general information about working and training in journalism from the National Union of Journalists and National Council for the Training of Journalists .

What it takes

Skills and knowledge.

You'll need:

• knowledge of English language
• the ability to critically analyse information
• knowledge of media production and communication
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
• excellent written communication skills
• excellent verbal communication skills
• ambition and a desire to succeed
• to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently

What you’ll do

What you'll do, day-to-day tasks.

In this role you could:

• watch films of all genres, often several times
• make notes about scripts, music, storylines and influences
• look at technical details like camera angles, lighting and editing
• submit reviews by strict deadlines
• build up contacts with film-makers, agents and distributors
• attend film festivals, talks, previews and press conferences
• interview film-makers, actors and production staff
• research archival information about films and film-makers
• keep up to date with critical theories

Working environment

You could work at events, at a venue, from home or in an office.

Career path and progression

As an established film critic, you could combine your job with writing books on film, editing, or teaching criticism on film courses. You could also work in film archives.

Current opportunities

Apprenticeships in england, financial times newsroom apprentice.

• Wage: £23,933.00 Annually
• Location: 1 Friday Street,, London

Courses In England

Film studies.

• Provider: COOMBE BOYS' SCHOOL
• Start date: 01 September 2024
• Location: New Malden
• Provider: WEALD SCHOOL, THE
• Location: Billingshurst

Jobs In the United Kingdom

The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.

Not what you're looking for?

Search further careers, related careers.

• Newspaper or magazine journalist
• Broadcast journalist

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Critic’s Pick

‘Civil War’ Review: We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us. Again.

In Alex Garland’s tough new movie, a group of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst, as a photographer, travels a United States at war with itself.

• Share full article

‘Civil War’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The writer and director alex garland narrates a sequence from his film..

“My name is Alex Garland and I’m the writer director of ‘Civil War’. So this particular clip is roughly around the halfway point of the movie and it’s these four journalists and they’re trying to get, in a very circuitous route, from New York to DC, and encountering various obstacles on the way. And this is one of those obstacles. What they find themselves stuck in is a battle between two snipers. And they are close to one of the snipers and the other sniper is somewhere unseen, but presumably in a large house that sits over a field and a hill. It’s a surrealist exchange and it’s surrounded by some very surrealist imagery, which is they’re, in broad daylight in broad sunshine, there’s no indication that we’re anywhere near winter in the filming. In fact, you can kind of tell it’s summer. But they’re surrounded by Christmas decorations. And in some ways, the Christmas decorations speak of a country, which is in disrepair, however silly it sounds. If you haven’t put away your Christmas decorations, clearly something isn’t going right.” “What’s going on?” “Someone in that house, they’re stuck. We’re stuck.” “And there’s a bit of imagery. It felt like it hit the right note. But the interesting thing about that imagery was that it was not production designed. We didn’t create it. We actually literally found it. We were driving along and we saw all of these Christmas decorations, basically exactly as they are in the film. They were about 100 yards away, just piled up by the side of the road. And it turned out, it was a guy who’d put on a winter wonderland festival. People had not dug his winter wonderland festival, and he’d gone bankrupt. And he had decided just to leave everything just strewn around on a farmer’s field, who was then absolutely furious. So in a way, there’s a loose parallel, which is the same implication that exists within the film exists within real life.” “You don’t understand a word I say. Yo. What’s over there in that house?” “Someone shooting.” “It’s to do with the fact that when things get extreme, the reasons why things got extreme no longer become relevant and the knife edge of the problem is all that really remains relevant. So it doesn’t actually matter, as it were, in this context, what side they’re fighting for or what the other person’s fighting for. It’s just reduced to a survival.”

By Manohla Dargis

A blunt, gut-twisting work of speculative fiction, “Civil War” opens with the United States at war with itself — literally, not just rhetorically. In Washington, D.C., the president is holed up in the White House; in a spookily depopulated New York, desperate people wait for water rations. It’s the near-future, and rooftop snipers, suicide bombers and wild-eyed randos are in the fight while an opposition faction with a two-star flag called the Western Forces, comprising Texas and California — as I said, this is speculative fiction — is leading the charge against what remains of the federal government. If you’re feeling triggered, you aren’t alone.

It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right. It’s one thing when a movie taps into childish fears with monsters under the bed; you’re eager to see what happens because you know how it will end (until the sequel). Adult fears are another matter.

In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker Alex Garland explores the unbearable if not the unthinkable, something he likes to do. A pop cultural savant, he made a splashy zeitgeist-ready debut with his 1996 best seller “The Beach,” a novel about a paradise that proves deadly, an evergreen metaphor for life and the basis for a silly film . That things in the world are not what they seem, and are often far worse, is a theme that Garland has continued pursuing in other dark fantasies, first as a screenwriter (“ 28 Days Later ”), and then as a writer-director (“ Ex Machina ”). His résumé is populated with zombies, clones and aliens, though reliably it is his outwardly ordinary characters you need to keep a closer watch on.

By the time “Civil War” opens, the fight has been raging for an undisclosed period yet long enough to have hollowed out cities and people’s faces alike. It’s unclear as to why the war started or who fired the first shot. Garland does scatter some hints; in one ugly scene, a militia type played by a jolting, scarily effective Jesse Plemons asks captives “what kind of American” they are. Yet whatever divisions preceded the conflict are left to your imagination, at least partly because Garland assumes you’ve been paying attention to recent events. Instead, he presents an outwardly and largely post-ideological landscape in which debates over policies, politics and American exceptionalism have been rendered moot by war.

‘Civil War’ Is Designed to Disturb You

One thing that remains familiar amid these ruins is the movie’s old-fashioned faith in journalism. Dunst, who’s sensational, plays Lee, a war photographer who works for Reuters alongside her friend, a reporter, Joel (the charismatic Wagner Moura). They’re in New York when you meet them, milling through a crowd anxiously waiting for water rations next to a protected tanker. It’s a fraught scene; the restless crowd is edging into mob panic, and Lee, camera in hand, is on high alert. As Garland’s own camera and Joel skitter about, Lee carves a path through the chaos, as if she knows exactly where she needs to be — and then a bomb goes off. By the time it does, an aspiring photojournalist, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), is also in the mix.

The streamlined, insistently intimate story takes shape once Lee, Joel, Jessie and a veteran reporter, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), pile into a van and head to Washington. Joel and Lee are hoping to interview the president (Nick Offerman), and Sammy and Jessie are riding along largely so that Garland can make the trip more interesting. Sammy serves as a stabilizing force (Henderson fills the van with humanizing warmth), while Jessie plays the eager upstart Lee takes under her resentful wing. It’s a tidily balanced sampling that the actors, with Garland’s banter and via some cozy downtime, turn into flesh-and-blood personalities, people whose vulnerability feeds the escalating tension with each mile.

As the miles and hours pass, Garland adds diversions and hurdles, including a pair of playful colleagues, Tony and Bohai (Nelson Lee and Evan Lai), and some spooky dudes guarding a gas station. Garland shrewdly exploits the tense emptiness of the land, turning strangers into potential threats and pretty country roads into ominously ambiguous byways. Smartly, he also recurrently focuses on Lee’s face, a heartbreakingly hard mask that Dunst lets slip brilliantly. As the journey continues, Garland further sketches in the bigger picture — the dollar is near-worthless, the F.B.I. is gone — but for the most part, he focuses on his travelers and the engulfing violence, the smoke and the tracer fire that they often don’t notice until they do.

Despite some much-needed lulls (for you, for the narrative rhythm), “Civil War” is unremittingly brutal or at least it feels that way. Many contemporary thrillers are far more overtly gruesome than this one, partly because violence is one way unimaginative directors can put a distinctive spin on otherwise interchangeable material: Cue the artful fountains of arterial spray. Part of what makes the carnage here feel incessant and palpably realistic is that Garland, whose visual approach is generally unfussy, doesn’t embellish the violence, turning it into an ornament of his virtuosity. Instead, the violence is direct, at times shockingly casual and unsettling, so much so that its unpleasantness almost comes as a surprise.

If the violence feels more intense than in a typical genre shoot ’em up, it’s also because, I think, with “Civil War,” Garland has made the movie that’s long been workshopped in American political discourse and in mass culture, and which entered wider circulation on Jan. 6. The raw power of Garland’s vision unquestionably owes much to the vivid scenes that beamed across the world that day when rioters, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “ MAGA civil war ,” swarmed the Capitol. Even so, watching this movie, I also flashed on other times in which Americans have relitigated the Civil War directly and not, on the screen and in the streets.

Movies have played a role in that relitigation for more than a century, at times grotesquely. Two of the most famous films in history — D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist epic “The Birth of a Nation” (which became a Ku Klux Klan recruitment tool) and the romantic 1939 melodrama “Gone With the Wind” — are monuments to white supremacy and the myth of the Southern Lost Cause. Both were critical and popular hits. In the decades since, filmmakers have returned to the Civil War era to tell other stories in films like “Glory,” “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained” that in addressing the American past inevitably engage with its present.

There are no lofty or reassuring speeches in “Civil War,” and the movie doesn’t speak to the better angels of our nature the way so many films try to. Hollywood’s longstanding, deeply American imperative for happy endings maintains an iron grip on movies, even in ostensibly independent productions. There’s no such possibility for that in “Civil War.” The very premise of Garland’s movie means that — no matter what happens when or if Lee and the rest reach Washington — a happy ending is impossible, which makes this very tough going. Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor’s face that, like Dunst’s, expressed a nation’s soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray.

Civil War Rated R for war violence and mass death. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review misidentified an organization in the Civil War in the movie. It is the Western Forces, not the Western Front.

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Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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Netflix’s ‘Baby Reindeer’ Is a Brilliant and Jarring Account of Stalking, Victimization and Emotional Turmoil: TV Review

By Aramide Tinubu

Aramide Tinubu

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In his seven-part Netflix miniseries, “ Baby Reindeer ,” adapted from his one-man show, Scottish writer and comedian Richard Gadd recounts the true story of being harassed and stalked for years. Compelling and unsettling, Gadd, who portrays Donny Dunn, the fictionalized version of himself, transports the audience to one of the most painful periods of his life. The series untangles the nuances of his emotions, his stalker’s temperament and past incidents that fortified his frame of mind at the time. Shocking, hilarious, painful and devastating, “Baby Reindeer” is a rare gem on television, reminding us of what is possible in the medium. 

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Still, Martha’s brash personality and shocking laugh don’t stop Donny from indulging her. Soon, she’s coming to the bar daily, sitting through his shifts and bestowing him with the nickname “Baby Reindeer.” When Donny finally tries to let Martha down gently, she’s unwilling to let go of the illusion she’s conjured up about what they mean to one another. Instead, she begins infiltrating every segment of Donny’s existence, including his standup shows and his personal life, which involve Teri (Nava Mau), a therapist he’s recently begun dating. 

Like Michaela Coel’s HBO series, “I May Destroy You,” Gadd’s “Baby Reindeer” is a vulnerable and candid account of varied abuses, and how they can echo through every chamber of someone’s life. In seven episodes, Gadd illustrates how Martha’s obsession with Donny becomes both a nuisance and a morbid fascination for him. Moreover, the series also tackles gender biases, since the male/female roles in this harassment story are flipped. 

Dark and brilliant, “Baby Reindeer” carefully unpacks the frailties of human emotion and mental illness. Raw and sometimes humorous, the audience learns more about Donny and the complexities and events that have shaped his humanity. As the series closes, we are forced to confront the lies we tell ourselves and others and how all of those things affect the ways in which we show up in the world — and what we deem acceptable. 

All episodes of “Baby Reindeer” are streaming on Netflix .

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'Downtown Owl': '80s period piece doesn't know what it wants to be

Co-director lily rabe stars as small-town newcomer in disjointed adaptation of chuck klosterman novel..

Naomi (Vanessa Hudgens, left) invites newcomer Julia (Lily Rabe) out to the bar in “Downtown Owl.”

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Let’s talk about the high school football team in the disjointed and tonally uncertain Americana period piece “Downtown Owl,” an adaptation of the 2008 debut novel by the cool and acclaimed pop culture essayist and author Chuck Klosterman.

By my count, we see a maximum of eight players in a practice sequence, even fewer in a locker room scene. Granted, we’re not talking about “Friday Night Lights” or “Rudy” here — this isn’t a football movie — but even for a low-budget, indie-style film, it’s not that much of a financial strain to at least put enough extras in uniforms to reasonably approximate an actual team. The same goes for the high school classroom and hallway scenes here; it appears there are only a handful of students, only a couple of teachers.

All right, let’s say co-directors (and real-life partners) Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater are going for something approximating a filmed stage play, with dialogue ranging from gritty and grounded to self-consciously stylized. Still, whether it’s the depictions of high school life that are so unrealistic they take us out of the movie, or the inconsistent and frequently off-putting actions by Rabe’s Julia in the lead role, “Downtown Owl” never quite seems fully confident of its identity and purpose. It’s an occasionally interesting, well-acted mess.

The story kicks off with Julia arriving in the cloistered town of Owl, North Dakota, in 1983, where she has taken a temporary teaching job while her husband finishes his graduate thesis. Julia is immediately befriended by the boisterous and obnoxious Naomi (an overacting Vanessa Hudgens, affecting an accent that makes it sound like she watched “Fargo” one too many times), who has little trouble cajoling Julia into getting hammered nearly every night. (They’re usually the only women at the bar, which is populated by dull men with nicknames such as Dog Lover, Bull Calf, The Flaw Brothers and Brother Killer.)

Nearly every character in “Downtown Owl” is more of a type or a symbol. Old-timey townie Horace (the great Ed Harris) is the moral conscience of the town, who lives a life of overwhelming sadness while caring for his comatose wife. Bison rancher Vance (Henry Golding), a rather dim and uninteresting fellow, is still treated like a hero due to one unlikely play he made as a backup quarterback years ago. Sensitive football player Mitch (August Blanco Rosenstein), who doesn’t even like football, probably knows he’ll be going through a Vince state and then the Horace stage of his life in this nowhere town. We get it.

The filmmakers also fumble an absolutely cringe-y subplot about the football coach (Finn Wittrock) impregnating a student (Arden Michalec). Through all of this, Rabe plays it to the rafters, turning Julia into a mostly unlikable and at times pathetically misguided trainwreck who keeps making bad decisions. When Julia tries to offer guidance to a troubled student, the reply comes: “No offense, but if I needed to talk to an adult, why would I talk to you?”

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Success of Fallout proves video game adaptations have gone mainstream

As the show becomes a global hit and is renewed for a second season, experts say game adaptations are the new superhero movies

I n the first few days of its release, Fallout – the Prime Video adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game franchise – has become a hit with global audiences, shooting to the top of the UK chart and ranking among Prime’s top three most-watched titles ever.

On Friday, just a week after the show debuted in more than 240 countries and territories, Amazon announced it had renewed it for a second season. “The bar was high for lovers of this iconic video game and so far we seem to have exceeded their expectations, while bringing in millions of new fans to the franchise,” the streamer said.

The success of the show, which is set 200 years after a nuclear armageddon and stars Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan and Aaron Moten, demonstrates the extent to which video game adaptations have improved in recent years and finally pierced the mainstream.

A slew of commercial and critical hits, including last year’s HBO series The Last of Us – which won eight Emmys – and The Super Mario Bros Movie – which made $1.36bn (£1.094bn) in the global box office – has led to market experts comparing them to Marvel adaptations, which have long been big moneymakers for studios.

“Game adaptations are the new superhero movies,” said Rhys Elliott, a games industry analyst at MiDiA Research. “Recent box office numbers, online sentiment and reviews for superhero movies signpost that consumers and critics alike are feeling superhero fatigue.

“But game adaptations offer an oasis for movie and TV studios. The huge box office numbers for last year’s Mario movie and high critic scores for shows like Fallout and The Last of Us are extremely telling. The games industry always understood the power of its IP, and now Hollywood and TV are finally beginning to understand.”

According to Elliot, the Super Mario Bros Movie was the biggest turning point for studios realising the potential of games. Not only was it the biggest game adaptation ever by revenues, but it was also the second-biggest animated movie, outperforming juggernauts such as Frozen and Despicable Me. On the TV front, shows such as The Witcher and Cyberpunk as well as The Last of Us and Fallout have shown that video game storylines can be part of the cultural zeitgeist outside of gaming.

The adaptation of Minecraft will be on screens next year, while a live-action film based on the Legend of Zelda franchise is in development and Margot Robbie is reportedly working on a The Sims movie.

“This is symbolic of the shift towards games IP, and the shift will only continue with each new success story. If studios weren’t paying attention to games before, they certainly are now,” Elliot said.

Video game fans have expressed relief that the so-called curse of the adaptation has been lifted. They attribute this to two things: modern adaptations sticking more closely to the tone of the games while expanding on the story, and studios spending money to secure some of the biggest actors and producers in film and TV.

Fallout, for instance, was able to speak to longtime fans of the games and newcomers by setting the story after the events of the game. Its producer and director, Jonathan Nolan, was given the reins to do this because he was previously obsessed with the game. “He had clearly played a lot,” said Todd Howard, the developer of the modern Fallout video games . “He could speak to it with authenticity and had a view of what made it tick.”

The Guardian’s video games editor, Keza MacDonald, wrote that Hollywood had abandoned its previous reservations. “In a single year, the Curse of the Terrible Video Game Adaptation has been so comprehensively broken that movie production companies now appear to be flinging themselves into something of a gold rush,” she said.

Rob Mitchell, the director of theatrical insights at Gower Street Analytics, said video game adaptations had been a regular part of Hollywood’s focus for several decades, dating back to at least the early 90s adaptations of Super Mario Bros and Street Fighter starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Others have cited a litany of poor attempts (think Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil or Max Payne).

But, Mitchell said, individual successes bolster confidence. “In that way you might liken the current positivity to the early 2000s, pre-MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] days of comic-book adaptations where the successes of films like X-Men and Spider-Man brought greater confidence in comic-books adaptations.

“However, where the MCU developed a singular, unified vision under the guidance of Kevin Feige [president of Marvel Studios], there is no apparent equivalent of that yet emerging behind video game properties.”

According to Mitchell, one of the key reasons producers were keen to tap into video games was their global recognition. For instance, 52.9% of the $291.5m box office revenue for last year’s hit horror film Five Nights at Freddy’s came from outside the US. This figure rose to 63.5% (of $407m) for Uncharted, starring Tom Holland, and 91.4% (of $312m) for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. “Appealing to a global audience is the cornerstone of any successful franchise,” he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Tim Richards, the chief executive of Vue cinemas, who said the key to adaptations’ success was their familiarity to a broad range of audiences.

“With video game adaptations, as with books adaptations and other material where there may be public recognition, it’s easier to launch because there’s already a recognisable name,” he said. “Look at Barbie, which has recognisable characters people grew up with and know and love. It’s about familiarity. I think we’re going to see more of that.”

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