Cloverfield

[Krug]

You really thought The Host was a masterpiece? I went to see it because of the amazing reviews it was getting everywhere, and I thought it was really bad - not just a lot worse than I expected given the critical reaction, but simply wretched.

It wasn't scary at all, it was almost never funny, the pacing and timing were way off (the attempts at humor repeatedly made what little tension there was fizzle out - even if they had been funny, they'd still have been completely out of place) and the (God help us) satire was actually offensive - not because of its target (though admittedly, I don't find mindless anti-Americanism particularly entertaining) but because it was about as subtle and intelligent as a two-by-four with a nail in it, and I felt the movie was insulting my intelligence.

And yes, I did see the subtitled version, not the dubbed one.

Anyway, I guess I'll wait for some more reviews of Cloverfield, since our tastes in movies clearly couldn't be less of a match.

Yeap I still think The Host is great. Admittedly it was Jaws with a familial twist, but it didn't make a gimmick of 'hide the monster until the end' like so many movies now like to do. I didn't think the Anti-Americanism was that big a deal, and it didn't exactly exonerate the Koreans of all blame.

I guess I had higher hopes for Cloverfield, though they weren't really that high to begin with. But it wasn't scary by any means, relying on tropes and ideas we've seen from so many other monster/disaster flicks (

Spoiler

crawling spider-like aliens? check. bridges destroyed to trap escapess? check. helicopter destroyed in mid-flight? check.

) It was just a cross of Blair Witch Project crossed with King Kong and Aliens, with an utterly unconvincing romance thrown in.

 

[Darkwolf71]

It was just a cross of Blair Witch Project crossed with King Kong and Aliens, with an utterly convincing romance thrown in.

I assume you meant unconvincing. Other than that... sounds good. Exactly something I would like to see.

 

[JorrJorr]

There was a preview here in the Twin Cities on Monday night that I attended. I will not spoil anything, but I will say I had mixed feelings about the movie when it was over. First, yes it's all POV from the user's handheld camera. Once the action gets going, there are moments that are very _bad_. Worse at points than Blair Witch Project. In fact, at one person at our showing didn't make it to the bathroom before hurling in the hallway.

The good about the movie:
Definately had creepy/scary moments, especially with the decent sound system we had. You could feel the theater vibrate as the monster moved about. It was kind of a neat sensation and really got you in the mood

The weak about the movie:
Strictly shown as a video journal of someone in Manhatten as the attack occurs. This will cause mixed feelings with a lot of people, including me. I was hoping for something more to frame the context of the handheld footage, rather than show the video with no context.

Characters started out intelligent, but towards the end a number of things occurred that I found really hard to swallow if this type of event was really happening. It felt more like someone's home movie of a really bad Hollywood Blockbuster (with bad dialog and such) with the types of character actions that were occurring.

Fairly predictable when something _big_ was going to happen. The foreshadowing of _big_ events were very telegraphed. This may have been on purpose to highten the horror, but some events worked and others didn't.

Summary:
Basically the movie is meant to be a sensory experience much like BWP. You're meant to empathize with the characters as they go their trials on screen and the camera POV enhances it. But ultimately it's just like a rollercoaster ride once the thrill of the unknown wears off, you can only watch it so many times before you ask yourself "Ok, now what?"

So the movie is fun early Summer fair _if_ you can handle the the shakiness. If you had problems with BWP, then you might want to sit this one out. I found sitting towards the back of the theater helps me for these types of movies. It's definately worth experiencing if you like that sort of thing. I'd recommend a matinee showing though at a theater with good sound.

I liked it, but it's flawed I feel. So, marginal thumbs up.

 

[Arnwyn]

First, yes it's all POV from the user's handheld camera. Once the action gets going, there are moments that are very _bad_. Worse at points than Blair Witch Project.

Ohhh... FAIL.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Dragonbait]

I have not seen it, but I obsessed over what the monster looks like. This site claims to have drawings made by people who saw the movie: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/cloverfield-update-fans-draw-the-cloverfield-monster.php

It's all spoilers, folks.

For those that saw the movie: Can you verify any of thse images?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Once the action gets going, there are moments that are very _bad_. Worse at points than Blair Witch Project.

Huh.

Now I'm not sure what to think.

Not because I have a big problem with it...but because I've seen other people saying the exact opposite, that's the camera work is BETTER than Blair Witch, and not nearly as bad.

 

[Krug]

I have not seen it, but I obsessed over what the monster looks like. This site claims to have drawings made by people who saw the movie: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/cloverfield-update-fans-draw-the-cloverfield-monster.php

It's all spoilers, folks.

For those that saw the movie: Can you verify any of thse images?

Sorta close, though none seem to hit it exactly and possibly because we view it from different angles. It looked like a cross between a

Spoiler

giant spider crossed with Pumpkinhead

, just giant sized.

Not because I have a big problem with it...but because I've seen other people saying the exact opposite, that's the camera work is BETTER than Blair Witch, and not nearly as bad.

I thought the camerawork was way better, and the camera resolution was very good as well except for night shots. There were moments where I had to look away from the screen due to the shakiness of it all, but for the most part I found it much better than BWP.

 

[JorrJorr]

I guess I should clarify "bad". I meant bad as in there are moments where it's just a blur really and very disorenting. The movie is technically well done, including the filming. It's just that if you had problems with the style of camera work in Blair Witch, as far as motion sickness, it'll probably be worse at some points with this movie. Also there's a number of disorenting angles because of the way the shooter was holding it as he navigated the city and rubble. Obviously the angles were purposely used to make the audience feel "off" with the scene. As I mentioned, one member of our audience got sick and I don't know how it affected the rest.

As far as the pictures linked. The monster is kind of body of the first and the head of the third. That would be what I recall of the creature.

If you can tolerate the shaky cam, it's probably worth seeing once as it is a fairly visceral experience and was fun in a roller coaster kind of way.

 

[Captain Tagon]

I totally loved it.

 

[WayneLigon]

Just got back from a midnight showing of it. I liked it quite a lot. There are some very nice bits of black comedy in the film, mainly from Hud's (the cameraman drafted into this, who then decides someone should document what's happening) comments.

I'll echo what the above posters say: it's very vertigo-inducing at times. It's not as bad as some things I've seen, but it's close. I'm not a big shakey-cam hater - I think it works very well for this film.

You do see the monster; you see it several times, in fact.

There is... something at the end of the credits, a short bit of staticy voice-over but the sound of people talking in the theater was too loud for me to make it out.

Spoiler

I looked at the ocean in this scene, wondering if there was significance to it, but missed this. I'll try to see if I pick it up when I see it again. This is from Movie Spoiler.

I think that it is very important to note the final few seconds of the film, particularly as the camera is fixed out to the ocean at Coney Island...If you look at the ocean, out in the distant on the right hand side, you can see “something” crash into the water at a very steep angle.