Bullet Reviews is a new way of sharing opinions on the books, films and games we love (or otherwise).  We’re all about brevity; that’s why every review comes with a few bullet points, so you don’t have to interrupt your day.  Of course, if you want to, you can stick around and read the full review.

We started back in February 2010, with just Jonathan and Luke, writing film reviews while studying for MAs in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Since then we’ve expanded, through the likes of Aaron, to include book reviews and, with Josh joining, game reviews.

We’ve done all kinds of things in between (even board game reviews) and are proud of our two staff writers, ESPF and Tim.  We’ve come a long way in a few years but there’s no intention of stopping any time soon.

Jonathan’s Vision

Somewhere over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean between Philadelphia, USA and London, England, I got the idea to write film reviews in the most basic manner available: using bullet points. This occurred to me as being a very good idea, as recent studies have shown that people who read things on the Internet want their information now. (And according to these studies, I’ve already become too long-winded for about 65% of all Internet users.) Seeing as my opinion on film is what I want to get people to read, and seeing as lists are much faster to take in than long discourses on mise-en-scene and other matters of film theory the average person won’t even begin to understand, it behooves me to be as brief as possible.

Thus, I developed a system to write quick reviews that will ensure people not only read my critiques, but fully understand my opinion, while simultaneously formulating opinions of their own. Each review is divided into two sub-sections, three to five ‘Things You Might Like’ about a film, and three to five ‘Things You Might Not Like’, which is then concluded with a single sentence review and a five-point rating.

I call them Bullet Reviews.

It is my hope and dream that people will make use of these. I could spend all the years of my life fighting people’s willingness to read less, and draft an extensive manifesto on the so-called ‘Google Generation’ that many people will probably not read, or I could join the fun.

In other words — Please read our reviews. They’re short, and to the point. Enjoy!

Jonathan David Lim