Can You Write a 140-Character Movie Review?

Posted on June 13, 2012 at 3:58 pm

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

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Coming Soon: American Girls’ “McKenna: Shoots for the Stars”

Posted on June 11, 2012 at 3:59 pm

Here’s an early sneak peek at a wonderful new DVD, based on the American Girls series about McKenna, the young gymnast, and the American Girls “Girl of the Year.”

Contest: 10th Anniversary “Princess Diaries” Original and Sequel

Posted on June 10, 2012 at 3:55 pm

Has it really been ten years since Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews starred in The Princess Diaries? It is a delightful movie about an awkward teenager who discovers that she is the heir to the throne of a small but charming and delightful country, based on the books by books by Meg Cabot. Disney has released Princess Diaries: Two-Movie Collection , including the original and the sequel, with DVD, Blu-Ray, and extras that include “regal bloopers,” deleted scenes, music videos, and features about tea parties and makeovers. You can even “find your inner princess” with a quiz.

I have one copy to give away. Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “princess” in the subject line and tell me your favorite princess in movies, books, or real life. Don’t forget your address! (US adresses only.) I’ll pick a winner a week from today. Good luck!

Trailer: “The Church on Dauphine Street”

Posted on June 9, 2012 at 8:00 am

A church, a priest, two kindred spirits, and the kindness of strangers. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when nearly all hope was drowned in the flood, one church in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans did not give up. This is a story about Father Joseph Benson, a Northern Irishman, and Arthine Vicks, an ex-Marine fluent in American Sign Language: two unlikely allies working to reunite one of New Orleans’ most unusual, most independent congregations. It is a powerful story of inspiration, hope, and home. You can view the entire movie on Hulu.

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Documentary Spiritual films

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

Posted on June 7, 2012 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor
Profanity:	Some schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic, cartoon-style peril and violence with chase scenes and tranquilizer darts
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters and species
Date Released to Theaters:	June 8, 2012
Date Released to DVD:	October 15, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B005LAIHW2

“Madagascar 3” is the best of the series, bright, fresh, fun, and funny, with a terrific script from co-director and Eric Darnell, a series regular, and, a bit improbably, “The Squid and the Whale’s” Noah Baumbach.

In the first Madagascar, four pampered animals from the Central Park Zoo leave home and find themselves on the title island off the coast of Africa. Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinckett Smith), a bunch of penguins, and a lemur (Sasha Baron Cohen) try to get back to New York, but only get as far as the mainland. The second installment was Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, where “home” took on new meaning as Alex was reunited with the parents he had not seen since he was captured as a cub. He was also reconnected with his inner animal as he learned about his heritage. As the third in the series opens, the animals are still trying to get back to the zoo. The penguins (minor characters in the first who were so popular they got their own spin-off) and chimps left for Monte Carlo at the end of the second movie and have not come back, as they promised, with the plane to take the zoo animals to New York. So Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria go after them. The chimps (dressed in absurd French finery) have been cleaning up at the gambling tables. But it is not easy for zoo animals to remain unnoticed in a casino, and soon the most lethal and relentless animal control officer in Europe, Captaine Chantel Dubois (Frances McDormand) is on the case.

There’s only one place zoo animals can hide out and be on the move at the same time. With Dubois after them, the zoo animals tell the circus animals that they are from a American circus to persuade them to let them on the train. They are on their way to Rome and then London where a scout will decide whether he wants to bring them to New York. Alex et al have to do more than hide out — they have to make the circus a success.

The storyline avoids the poor choices the first two stumbled over, which includes one character wanting to eat another and a tribal rite that involved sacrifice. This time, the circus setting is colorful and engaging, the action scenes are cleverly choreographed and briskly paced, and there is plenty for both children and their parents to laugh at. The characters seem like old friends for us and for each other, comfortable with each other and sweetly supportive. At first, they appear really old as Alex has a nightmare that they are all creaky and wrinkled. But it turns out it is just his birthday and his friends have honored the occasion by re-creating New York City out of mud. When an animated movie for children finds time to comment on the recently renovated Times Square’s “corporate lack of character,” you can be sure that the movie has some confidence and personality, not be the usual bland bore. They even find time for a meta-joke about jokes, a Marie Antoinette license plate, and a reference to the French economy, a fabulous rendition (under a spotlight) by Dubois of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” and a very touching lesson about home. Bien sur, je ne regrette cette film, and it even has me looking forward to part four.
Parents should know that this film has cartoon-style peril, action, and violence, fire, animal tracker uses tranquilizer darts and other weapons, brief potty humor

Family discussion: What changed the animals’ minds about going home? Who should be the leader? What did Alex and the circus animals teach each other?

If you like this, try: the first two “Madagascar” movies