User:BethFarr/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Walk the Line

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I am a fan of Johnny Cash as an artist, and of Joaquin Phoenix as an actor, and have seen this film numerous times. My first impressions are that it includes a sufficient amount of information regarding the content of the film itself, but also about the creation and reception of the film.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section:

The introductory sentence provides a clear, basic understanding of the article's subject. Within the first sentence, the reader understands that the article is about a musical biopic from 2005. However, it isn't until the end of the second sentence of the lead that the reader will learn that the film is about Johnny Cash. The lead includes brief summaries about the content of the film, the cast, and its reception, all major sections of the article. Everything mentioned in the lead is featured somewhere in the article. The lead is concise.

Content:

Everything in the article is relevant to either the film itself, or the production and outcome surrounding the film. The content is all up to date. There does not seem to be information missing, and there is no content that is irrelevant to the article subject. The article does not address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics.

Tone and Balance:

The article is very neutral. Particularly in its 'Reception' section, the article includes both positive and negative critiques of both Phoenix and Witherspoon's performances, without showing personal bias to either opinion. The positive critiques do outweigh the negative, but both are present in the article. The 'Accolades' section lists all the award nominations and does not include any bias over whether or not Phoenix, Witherspoon, or the film itself should have/should not have won. Nothing is over or under represented.

Sources and References:

Almost all facts are backed up by references in this article; however, there are what feels like some sources missing for the 'Home Media' and 'Soundtrack' sections. There are no sources to back up the differences between the American disc release of the film, with the European releases. Additionally, there is no reference to back up the soundtrack winning a Grammy. All the sources were current at the time of the film's production and release. All sources that were checked still exist and are relevant to the article.

Organization and Writing Quality:

The article is fairly concise and clear to read. There do not appear to be spelling or grammatical errors in the article. The article is organized in a way that flows naturally: from the content of the film to pre-production, all the way to final receptions and awards.

Images and Media:

There are three images in this article: one image of the film's theatrical release poster, one of Joaquin Phoenix, and one of Reese Witherspoon. They are all adequately captioned; however, the images of Phoenix and Witherspoon include information about their experience as co-stars and Witherspoon's Academy Award, which do not seem relevant to the images selected. They are used well to help readers put faces to the names they are reading about.

Talk Page Discussion:

The Talk Page discussion has conversations ranging from 2005-2012. There are multiple conversations happening regarding an image of a Walk the Line collector DVD cover which has been removed from the article at least twice due to copyright violations. There is a big conversation about the idea of the separation from religion that is portrayed in the film. The discussion includes both ideas that the film shows Cash's separation from God, while others claim the film purposefully ignores religious elements from Cash's life. There is also discussion that is not useful to the article itself. For example, someone added, "Walk The Line is one of the best movies of all time! And that is a fact!" which is obviously a biased statement that could not be included in the final article, as well as "I would like to know what this music is and if I can purchase the sheet music for my son who plays. It is just the guitar being played. I think I may not be the only one to have this question. Thanks." which is more likely to be a question for an online forum.

Overall Impressions:

The article's overall status is B-scale in the film portal, but C-scale in the United States portal for quality reasons. The strengths come in being neutral in the 'Reception' section by including both positive and negative critiques; however, the article could be improved by using more sources and by being more concise in 'Plot' and 'Reception'. I wouldn't say the article is poorly developed as it includes coherent information; however, it is not perfect and could be improved by polishing up areas that are wordy.