CAYOM Festival - Year 7 - Three-Month Funeral triumphs

[Blankments]

To be honest, one of the main reasons I wrote Innocense was since ric said in a PM to me that he hates happy endings, and I had never wrote a movie with a tragic ending before.

[The Dark Alfred]

72% is a healthy score. I'm not writing long reviews because I knew that Ricz and Numbers would and I wanted a different approach, a RT type scoreline, where a clear order is shaping up.

[riczhang]

To be honest, one of the main reasons I wrote Innocense was since ric said in a PM to me that he hates happy endings, and I had never wrote a movie with a tragic ending before.

 

lol, I'm kinda happy ending allergic. Most of my Original movies end with downer endings. 

[Hiccup]

Interested to see Sawyer's reviews 

[riczhang]

Interested to see Sawyer's reviews 

 

They should be coming soon. 

[Blankments]

I'm interested in Sawyer as well. A Hooper-directed Tom Sawyer movie could either be fantastic or an absolute trainwreck.

[Hiccup]

I'm interested in Sawyer as well. A Hooper-directed Tom Sawyer movie could either be fantastic or an absolute trainwreck.

 

I am feeling the latter sadly. Alpha is releasing a ton of major films which if history is correct when a person tends to release a bunch of major films they typically aren't that great. 

 

Tom Sawyer is one of may favorite books. So if it is crap I will have....

 

[4815162342]

They should be coming soon. 

 

Yeah all Day 2 reviews are now in. I'm going to go off and eat dinner and use my 360 for a bit, so ric or Alfred can post the Sawyer reviews in an hour or so or whenever they want.

[riczhang]

Yeah all Day 2 reviews are now in. I'm going to go off and eat dinner and use my 360 for a bit, so ric or Alfred can post the Sawyer reviews in an hour or so or whenever they want.

 

So we're not reviewing our own films then? 

[Alpha]

I'm interested in Sawyer as well. A Hooper-directed Tom Sawyer movie could either be fantastic or an absolute trainwreck.

Well, I did send a PM to Spaghetti, and he said it was an overall good film, didnt really add nor take away from the book.

[riczhang]

There's something I really want to comment about right now, but I'll refrain from doing so. You'll see in my review in 30 minutes or so.  

[Alpha]

There's something I really want to comment about right now, but I'll refrain from doing so. You'll see in my review in 30 minutes or so.

Bad or good?

[riczhang]

We have been informed that the screening of Tom Sawyer has ended, and that a Q&A with Director Tom Hooper take place in the reception room of the Festival Hall where the screening took place. Stay tuned for reviews. 

[Alpha]

We have been informed that the screening of Tom Sawyer has ended, and that a Q&A with Director Tom Hooper take place in the reception room of the Festival Hall where the screening took place. Stay tuned for reviews. 

 

[4815162342]

So we're not reviewing our own films then? 

 

You mean Alfred reviewing Curious Incident, me reviewing Blank, etc? It never occurred to me since obviously we have an inherent bias to trump up our own films.

[Alpha]

You mean Alfred reviewing Curious Incident, me reviewing Blank, etc? It never occurred to me since obviously we have an inherent bias to trump up our own films.

 

Well just try to be honest.

 

I am the worst reviewer ever because I raise my films' to a higher position then they should be.

[riczhang]

You mean Alfred reviewing Curious Incident, me reviewing Blank, etc? It never occurred to me since obviously we have an inherent bias to trump up our own films.

 

I was planning on just writing for my film that Haneke's my favourite director of all time and that anything he does to me is pure gold, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. 

 

Not really much of a review anyways lol. 

[riczhang]

And so after a lot of questions, the crowd has been let out to continue on with their day whether it be going to our screening tonight of The Curious Incident, or retiring to their hotel rooms. Let's take a moment to hear what our panel think:

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

 

A Riczhang Review

 

The Book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is an American classic; it’s well written and well-conceived. It’d be an atrocity if anyone took the source material and messed it up, but fortunately, this was not the case here. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a decent film adaptation which at the very least doesn’t tarnish the greatness from which it was born.

With a budget of a mere $65 million, the production team has managed to create a surprisingly beautiful movie. The sets, costumes, make-up, and etc. all seem quite authentic and really help the film emanate a 19th century America vibe. The acting also contributes to the air of the film, and the chemistry and interactions between Austin Williams (Tom Sawyer) and Joel Courtney (Huck Finn) are very real and authentic feeling. It’s something you don’t see very often in child actors and is a very welcome surprise as it really helps in pulling the film together. There’s a really funny line in here where Tom blurts out, “David and Goliath” which had the entire theatre laughing. The way Austin delivered the line was so genuine that you had to remind yourself that it wasn’t really Tom and simply just an actor. But then again, it’s Tom Hooper directing and he’s a genius with actors. He can draw out the most magnificent performances out of everyone. The ending is also particularly touching and poignant; it promises further adventures in a time and place so real that you almost miss it when you step out of the theatre.

However, even though one enjoys the environment and the feel of the movie, one can’t help but feel bored by it in some places. The movie adopts a very strict and faithful adaptation policy which does it no favours. It is very hard to transfer a book completely intact to the screen and still give it the same impact and depth. It’s very often that one feels a movie is too long and has too little plot for too much runtime, but with Tom Sawyer it’s vice versa. It’s a movie that has too much to squeeze into too short (or maybe it’s too long) of a runtime. By adapting everything and squeezing it into the movie, it feels rushed, uneven, and too flat; the emotional and tense moments don’t get enough build-up and oomph before we are rushed onto the next set of events. This also contributes to a very stagey and cramped feel to the movie. While some movies intentionally do this for effect, style, and statement, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is supposed to be a movie with a large size and scope which is sadly lost amongst the hubbub. The hiring of Tom Hooper obviously didn’t help this claustrophobic sensation. Hiring Tom Hooper is always a risk. He can churn out masterpieces like Les Miserables, The King’s Speech, John Adams, and Elizabeth I; however, one can’t help but feel that everything will come tumbling down and become a hot mess if just the slightest bit more of the Dutch Angle, or the slightest bit less of editing is utilised. This is not to say that The Adventures of Tom sawyer is a hot mess, but it certainly didn’t benefit, like Les Miserables did, from his close-ups, and hand-held cameras. Les Miserables’ entire goal was to convey the raw emotion which made the close-ups work, but with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer it just made it even more stagey than the screenplay did. 

It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s not a bad movie. It’s a perfectly all-right movie with an enjoyable and important story to be told. Its Thanksgiving release date is just pure gold for it as it is an embodiment of America in a season where America is celebrated. Plus, if your kids don’t like great American literature, or just don’t read at all, taking them to see The Adventure of Tom Sawyer might finally get them interested.

 

6/10

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

 

An Alfred Review

 

Concept/Idea: 10/3

 

Plot/Story/Characterisation: 10/4

Casting: 10/7

Opening: 5/1

Ending: 5/2

Location: 5/2

X Factor Bonus: 5/1

 

Overall: 40%

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

 

A Numbers Review

 

Less an Adventure, More of a Bog Trek

 

 

Coming next in our festival is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a family period adventure film that for some strange reason has a very staggered platform release schedule. I can say right now that such a staggered platform is a major mistake since it goes wide December 15th and nationwide the following weekend, two of the most packed, dangerous weekends of the year. If the film hasn't attracted good buzz by then, it will die off fast. So, will it get good buzz? From families, it'll do decent in reception, critically a little less so.

 

Directed by Tom Hooper, Tom Sawyer adapts the famous Mark Twain novel very religiously, following every nook and cranny of the novel. The problem is that this approach stuffs loads of events and occurrences, most of them incidental or irrelevant, just things going on without much connection. While this approach works in short comedy shows like Seinfeld or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it doesn't handle well in a 2-hour+ movie. The actual main story doesn't kick in until almost halfway through but then the film continuously meanders and sidetracks itself from going somewhere. The idea that a film's story is as ADHD as Tom himself is interesting, but it just doesn't quite work in a story of this length. The film would have been greatly improved if it shook off most of the excess incidences once the main plot kicks in and not let itself sidetrack itself.

 

Now the cast and acting itself is well-performing. Austin and Joel have charisma and spunk as Tom and Huck Finn and they make their scenes as lively and energetic as possible, but they can't right the ship on their own. I think Hooper was just a bit too in love with the source and didn't want to mess with it for the adaptation. While the appreciation is admirable, it would be better for the film if Hooper had done some consolidation and some focusing instead.

 

B-

Edited March 19, 2013 by riczhang

[The Dark Alfred]

I won't be reviewing my film. I place them into my top 25 respectfully, but I'm not going to measure them up against other films as I will be obviously biased, either love or hate my work. Therefore I won't be voting for my film to be submitted to the Jury either.

 

We're surprisingly agree on pretty much all the films so far, surely it will change very soon.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Alfred Beyond The Pines

[Alpha]

Very mixed reviews. Hmph.