VOCATIONAL schools or community colleges are created and subsidized by the local government in the area to produce qualified graduates who will work for the industries situated in the locality. Obviously, vocational schools in California offer varied three-year courses leading to associate degrees in such areas as cinematography, production design, costume design, makeup, visual effects and musical scoring. But what I’m focusing right now as my topic is how to become a movie reviewer.

There are two kinds of film reviewers, the academe-based whose works are dissected by professional film students and popular film reviewers such as Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and Peter Travers. Academe-based film reviewers do make a lot of sense as far as technicalities concerning making movies are concerned but the people who make the bulk of moviegoers cannot relate with them. They make a separate world among themselves. That’s where popular film reviewers come in to interpret these works. And if you want to be as popular as Roger Ebert, there are courses such as that offered by vocational schools in California.

To review a movie of course means you must at least have a background of the production behind a certain movie. It’s not just spoon feeding. Movies up for best picture come February 15 are the following: Juno, Atonement, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton. But are you sure they are the crème de la crème for this year? I have other choices actually. If I were to choose which movies I’ll give the honors to, it’s none of the above. My choices would be The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Kite Runner and 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days – in that order. If you would like to be a great movie reviewer, you must not be influenced by such personalities as James Berardinelli. You must defend what you are blabbering because I can certainly defend for sure why my choices are those that I have mentioned.

For example, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the true story of Elle editor Jean Dominique Bauby who suffered from Locked-In Syndrome which means only his eyes were not paralyzed. He successfully wrote a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly of course by dictating to his assistant through blinking his eyes. Did Mathieu Almaric receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jean Dominique Bauby? Nope! But to my heart, he is my best actor.

The next movie that I perceive as the best for this year is The Kite Runner. It tells the story of two Afghan boys who were punished by the then ruling Taliban regime just for playing kites. And 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days is the story of one pregnant teen from Romania who keeps on struggling with her own demons not to give in to abortion. Now that what makes for a great movie reviewer. If I can do this stuff, then so can you. Have a good one enrolling in a California vocational school.