Slam! Movie Reviews (my Year Four thread)

[SLAM!]

Sorry to keep everyone waiting; time for me to continue!

 

3.

Spoiler

Spark: Beyond the Sky @Spagspiria (w/ @cookie and @YourMother the Edgelord)

 

On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night, I kept myself glued to the phone screen, reading the Spark series back to back. And I'm really happy to say that, in my opinion, Spark is an embodiment of what can be possible in CAYOM. It's a young-adult story that quickly proves to be something with much more of an emotional basis; it's like Jupiter Ascending, but with much better storytelling and much better characterization. Seriously; it takes creativity from a young author to not only write convincing teenage characters such as Alex, Kozar, Venchell, etc, but also write complex adult characters alongside those teenagers, like Ezen and Katherine and Tarek. As a writer who's spent quite a bit of time on Wattpad, I believe that is one of the things that separates most of the gifted writers from the ones writing the cliche love triangle schlock-fests, and, of course, you can see complex adult characters involved in some of the bigger YA films such as Hunger Games and Harry Potter. So believe me when I say, you're definitely doing the right thing by imbuing visual storytelling of such caliber into a story like this. I'm looking forward to Spark 4 whenever it comes, and I hope it's a CAYOM box office hit!

 

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Slambros

[Xillix]

1 hour ago, Slambros said:

 

I should tell you there's a detail that threw me through a loop during the second act: when the priest goes to visit Stephan James' possessed construction worker, the demon inside of him tells the priest that two people of faith who had died in the first story had lost their faith and gone to hell; that is theologically inaccurate for all branches of the Christian faith, because those who accept Jesus never lose Him, those who are found never revert back to being lost. But even in spite of that, the demon telling the priest that they went to hell makes a ton of sense to me, as demons are said to be liars, and the demon very likely aimed to dishearten the priest.

Actually, as Father Chiraldi points out later,

Spoiler

the demon wasn't possessing the construction worker or "inside" him exactly; he was possessing Jay Stern the whole time. The demon had come to the worker in his dreams and given him these visions; the victim was just repeating to the priest what the demon had told him in his sleep. So yeah, definitely said whatever it took to shake the guy. Not being a man of the cloth himself he likely didn't know any better.

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Xillix

[Ezen Baklattan]

Thank you so much for the great review, @Slambros!

 

Really hoping that IV can end the saga on a high note.

[SLAM!]

This is the moment of truth mainly because I trust that people can sort of piece together what wins first place based on what wins second place. But nevertheless, I must reveal what's in second place. So here goes nothing!

 

2.

Spoiler

The Odyssey: Homecoming @Rorschach

 

This is actually the first time that I had ever been acquainted with the plot of The Odyssey before. I have both The Iliad and The Odyssey on my shelf, and truth be told, reading through this set of three queries really makes me want to read those books! It's definitely a big achievement to write all these plot summaries back to back like this; they're all pretty long, yet they're all really meaningful from beginning to end! Plus, everyone in the cast is perfect for their respective roles! And the most important thing for me: you are able to concisely and imaginatively convey what the film would look like visually! It was so good that the colorization of all the scenes, when they played through my mind, carried over from query to query! I could go on and on about how skillful this was! Thank you for taking on such an ambitious project!

 

[Rorschach]

@Slambros thank you! It's always been a passion project of mine from the very beginning and I'm glad that people embraced it the way they did.

[Xillix]

Also if the quality of writing in your review blurbs is any indication, definitely excited to see some of your movie treatments.

[SLAM!]

It might be a surprise to some people, but my number one is, indeed...

 

1.

Spoiler

Fortnight @4815162342

 

I simply couldn't resist placing this in first! This is a well-researched triumph from beginning to end! It really feels like a film Steven Spielberg would dedicate himself to. With modern technology, a film about such a pivotal moment in the American Revolution would absolutely be a visual marvel, and you take full advantage of that fact! The events of the film are very well paced, making room for historical figures on both sides of the war (all of which had great care taken to their characterizations), and implementing a slow burn that reminded me of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk! And I love how it ended ambiguously and elaborately, at a specific moment in the war, where the American troops had maintained their chance at victory! This was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my personal favorite query out of all of them!

 

[SLAM!]

Here is my full list:

 

1 Fortnight

2 The Odyssey: Homecoming

3 Spark: Beyond the Sky

4 By The Balls

5 Silent Hill: Restless Dreams

6 Can You Imagine?

7 The Square Mile

8 Starlit Highway

9 Resonance

10 Mass Effect

11 The Amityville Nightmare Part II

12 Amulet II: The Last Council

13 The Dogs of Babel

14 A Month at Belmond Lane

15 Pokemon: Rise of the Rockets

16 American Dragon: Darkness Rising

17 Pillars of Eternity: The Hollow Vale

18 Guys and Dolls

19 Citizen Welles

20 Sir Thymes Time

21 Blue & Gold

22 Tulpa

23 Kingdom of the Sun

24 The Guardian of the West

25 The Female Man

 

These queries all had great traits in them! Thank you for making my job of ranking them really hard! If there's any great way to introduce me to CAYOM, it's through the queries that come out of it! In the meantime, I'll be working on my college papers pretty intently. Peace!

[Blankments]

thanks so much for #20, #18, #13, and especially #4! I wasn't expecting By the Balls to even make your list honestly

 

altho... I must ask. what did you think of JJ(YP)MM(NP)TL(NP)OYM(HHH):TM?

[SLAM!]

8 minutes ago, Blankments said:

thanks so much for #20, #18, #13, and especially #4! I wasn't expecting By the Balls to even make your list honestly

 

altho... I must ask. what did you think of JJ(YP)MM(NP)TL(NP)OYM(HHH):TM?

 

I must say, JJ(YO)MM(NP)TL(NP)OYM(HHH):TM was one of the strangest things I've ever read... when you think you've seen it all, here comes something like that... the things people get caught up in.

[Alpha]

Thanks for #9, #12 & #19. Lowkey wasn't expecting Citizen Welles to be on like any lists this year