A review is a form of essay - meaning that its primary job is to communicate and prove a thesis. The reviewer may give information about the movie, that's one of the roles that a review serves, because it presumes that the reader hasn't seen the movie yet. However, the reviewer has an opinion about the movie and seeks to persuade the reader to share it and then do what the reviewer thinks that they should (see it or avoid it, depending on the opinion).
Because movies are usually a mix of good and bad, the thesis of the review can be very difficult to figure out. However, the writer communicates a thesis in a good movie review, just as surely as in a standard persuasive essay. We read the review to listen to the argument about the movie, consider the supporting facts, and then decide if the author has convinced us to see (or avoid) the film.
So, if you read many movie reviews (I like reading movie reviews even if I have no intention of seeing the movie), you will want to take note of who is reviewing the movie. If you like their taste, then you know that you can take their recommendations more readily.
This is a movie review for Steven Spielberg's upcoming "Lincoln," written by A.O. Scott, a movie reviewer with whom I know I often agree. The other reviewer for this newspaper, Manohla Dargis, is someone whose taste I don't match up with as well, although I like that she's really opinionated and writes well, so I read the reviews anyway (here's her review of the new Bond movie, Skyfall).
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