P3D Mark Twain's America 3D

[Bill Burns <billb@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From Publishers Weekly:

Not Just Comets on the Big Screen, But (Literary) Stars

Every year in Hannibal, Mo., children gather to recreate the
legendary fence-painting scene from the opening chapter of Tom
Sawyer. A scene from the contest is one of the nice touches
featured in the new 3D film Mark Twain's America (Sony Pictures
Classics), set to open this week in New York. It opened last week
in Chicago, California and Osaka, Japan, and at least one more
opening--in Galveston, Tex.-- is planned for the near future.

Unfortunately, like so many 3D films, the subject in this film
serves as a  vehicle for the images (admittedly impressive ones)
instead of the other way around. There are protracted scenes
showing a father and son operate a steam boat on the modern-day
Mississippi. That Twain was arguably America's greatest novelist
goes largely unmentioned. Even when it is, the spectacularly vivid
shots obscure it. After explaining how Twain's coverage of a
frog-jumping contest begat The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County and launched his authorial career, the film
cuts to an extreme close-up of an unusually fat frog (a former
champion now reduced to hanging out on kitchen countertops)
that seems more suited to a Budweiser commerical. It's shots like
these, and not Twain's achievements, that leave the strongest
impression on the viewer. Though Twain's narration is read
with a deserved sense of import, Sony opted for grandiose
earnestness in its quotes--the film, curiously, spends much time
trumpeting the diversity of Twain's hometown--over the author's
dry wit.

Films in 3D tend to stick around a lot longer than ordinary ones,
so there's ample time to promote Mark Twain titles, especially
given the recent success of Everest. A spokesperson for Sony
said Mark Twain's America should run at least two or three
months.

-- 
Bill Burns
Long Island   NY   USA
mailto:billb@xxxxxxxxx


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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 2837
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