Can You Write a 140-Character Movie Review?

The website Movie Tweeviews is conducting a competition for tweet-able movie reviews of classic films for inclusion in a possible book.  Ira Deutchman will post the title of one classic film each day and invite all who want to enter to submit via twitter a review in 140 characters or less.  Here is what Deutschman says about the rules:

Contributors are invited based on their standing in the industry, or based on the quality of their tweets. They can be critics, curators, distributors, filmmakers or articulate fans.

The ground rules are simple…

Reviews should be honest.

They should not be self-promotion.

Distributors should not include anything about films they are distributing.

Producers, writers and directors should only review films that they have nothing to do with.

Do not use the #MTRV tag on anything that isn’t a review.

If you re-tweet other #MTRV tweets, remove the hashtag so that those reviews do not end up in the feed twice.

Do not include links to longer reviews.

Don’t use the word “awesome” more than once per year.

Try to be clever.

I reserve the right to remove people from the feed if they break the ground rules, but professional critics can do as they please.

If you would like become a contributor, just start tweeting with the hastag #MTRV for anything you would consider a review. Just be mindful of the rules above. If your tweets seem like they would fit in, I’ll add you to the official feed, and your tweets will magically appear (even the one’s you’ve already tweeted).

I’m anxious to see whether this turns into something useful.

He will pick one winner each day.  Here are some of the entries so far:

DAY 7 (June 10) #WestSideStory

• @carynjames: #WestSideStory Prettiest gang fight ever. Romeo/Juliet update. Nat. Wood lipsynchs;glorious Bernstein music makes up 4 Hollywd glitz #mtrvc
• @nyindieguy: #WestSideStory: Gloriously cinematic choreography, brilliant score & can’t miss R&J adaptation…1 of the great musicals of all time. #mtrvc
• @SatriVision: #WestSideStory Bernstein/Sondheim/Robbins/Wise do beautiful NY Shakespeare. Marni Nixon makes Natalie Wood feel pretty, witty & gay. #mtrvc

DAY 6 (June 9): #Alien

• @nyindieguy: #Alien: Successful cross between sci-fi & horror marked the first credible female action hero along w/ pulse quickening scares. #mtrvc
• @SatriVision: #Alien – Claustrophobic, feminist sci-fi nightmare. If a phallic monster pops out of a guy’s chest, get your cat off that spaceship! #mtrvc
• @TheCinemaGirl: #Alien redefines space as intimate sphere where wisdom is as vital as bravery in creating a hero. No wonder a woman like Ripley rules. #mtrvc

DAY 5 (June 8): #ItHappenedOneNight

• @tobinaddington: Between trumpets, curtains, and a bit of leg on the highway, the sexes battle it old school. Snappy Capra. #ItHappenedOneNight #mtrvc
• @TheCinemaGirl: Template for sophisticated romantic comedies, #ItHappenedOneNight makes journalist & heiress smart, funny & sweet – no small feat. #mtrvc
• @nyindieguy: #ItHappenedOneNight: Capra hits all the right notes in classic screwball comedy…slyly suggestive for its time, and still hilarious. #mtrvc

DAY 4 (June 7): #MyOwnPrivateIdaho

•  @carynjames: #MyOwnPrivateIdaho Gritty dreamlike VanSant breakthru, druggy River Phoenix char., feels creepier over the yrs.Not so private anymore #mtrvc
• @TheCinemaGirl: Shakespeare’s brash Hal is a gay hustler, but My Own Private Idaho belongs to tender narcoleptic River Phoenix & vast Western skies. #mtrvc

DAY 3 (June 6): #HoopDreams

• @TariqRButt: The stakes are high, the drama intense in this pioneering indie doc. #HoopDreams plays with all the intensity of a championship game. #mtrvc
• WINNER OF THE DAY
  @DavidJaeilKim (Facebook): Portrait of moms, dads, sons; our hood, frnds & dreams defrrd. Not just bout ball: #HoopDreams is n American prophecy that gets finer w/age #mtrvc