CLOVERFIELD...MY 2 CENTS:
This was by far one of my most anticipated movies for the general public to see. I have texted, blogged and followed the viral ad campaigns that made this movie machine breathe. All it took was for a 90 second trailer on a very disappointing summer blockbuster to trap me. It seems that Das Wunderkid, J.J. Abrams, may have struck a brick of gold.
Cloverfield opens as a story of Rob, his acceptance of a big job in Tokyo and the filming of his going away party. We see bits and parts of his lazy day off months earlier with Beth, a woman he loves from afar. We then see people at his going away party wishing him luck. Soon we find out that there was an indiscretion and awkwardness between Beth and Rob. Soon, before there is a love drama, Beth leaves and the everything goes wrong. Soon, New Yorkers are becoming survivors as they start to flee from the city as it is being destroyed by some kind of monster.
Monster/Survival is exactly what this film is and what it is all about. What director Matt Reeves, writer Drew Goodard and producer J.J.Abrams do is give us about 90 minutes of off your seat excitement. From about 15 or 20 minutes into the film till about 1 minute after the credits roll, you are entrenched with the rag tag group that follow Rob to freedom and survival. The creative force in this film create a surreal atmosphere and because you and everyone else in the theatre witness this film from the perspective of Hud, Robs friend and the cameraman for most of the film.
Matt Reeves does in fact create a almost Blair Witch-esque experience. However, it is all too easy to compare the two, if only because they are similar and for the most part so far apart. Blair Witch, which is still a fav among myself, is very slowed paced. It creates more tension by anticipation and really does not give you the real chill until the final 3 or 5 minutes of the movie. This movie however, just amps up the terror and aggression minute after minute. You are given time to breathe and collect your thoughts, but that time is fleeting. The dialogue is short, sweet and fast. The character development is small and casual. You become attached to them not because you want them to live. You become attached because you are being attacked, and if they die, guess what? You do to.
The monster is in this film. It is always around the corner. It is stalking, destroying and rampaging. You see parts of the monster, teases at what it's size and ferocity really is. When you do see the monster, it is exactly as what it should be. Big. Evil. Ugly. The smaller monster, the ones that detach and go to all the small places the big monster cannot reach are just as bewildering. Whatever they are, they are ugly, mean and as dangerous as the big guy they spawned from.
In all, J.J.Abrams and folks do not re-invent the genre. The do however give it a deep, living breath. There are a lot of good things about this film. The camera is jerky, and if you have vertigo or motion sickness, then do not go. Throwing up in the aisles will ruin the experience for the rest. The monster is different. Neither different good nor different bad, just plain different. The one thing I really did not like was the lack of background story of the monster. Matt Reeves said that there is an easter egg that gives you some past of the monster. This however I think adds to the mystique and general terror of this beast. My only real problem was the cloud of debris that swallowed the character as they were running for safety. Even the line " Is this another terrorist attack?" made it a tad bit too hard to chew. Was it necessary? Maybe.
I was stressed from the time New York was attacked til the lights came up and we left the theatre. In fact, I was even stressed till a few hours after. It is an experience. Will it make my top ten list of all time greats. Probably not. Will it make my top ten of this type of genre film. Probably at first. What I will say is it is a film that takes chances. It is those chances that make it worth while. Go see it.
4.5/5
This was by far one of my most anticipated movies for the general public to see. I have texted, blogged and followed the viral ad campaigns that made this movie machine breathe. All it took was for a 90 second trailer on a very disappointing summer blockbuster to trap me. It seems that Das Wunderkid, J.J. Abrams, may have struck a brick of gold.
Cloverfield opens as a story of Rob, his acceptance of a big job in Tokyo and the filming of his going away party. We see bits and parts of his lazy day off months earlier with Beth, a woman he loves from afar. We then see people at his going away party wishing him luck. Soon we find out that there was an indiscretion and awkwardness between Beth and Rob. Soon, before there is a love drama, Beth leaves and the everything goes wrong. Soon, New Yorkers are becoming survivors as they start to flee from the city as it is being destroyed by some kind of monster.
Monster/Survival is exactly what this film is and what it is all about. What director Matt Reeves, writer Drew Goodard and producer J.J.Abrams do is give us about 90 minutes of off your seat excitement. From about 15 or 20 minutes into the film till about 1 minute after the credits roll, you are entrenched with the rag tag group that follow Rob to freedom and survival. The creative force in this film create a surreal atmosphere and because you and everyone else in the theatre witness this film from the perspective of Hud, Robs friend and the cameraman for most of the film.
Matt Reeves does in fact create a almost Blair Witch-esque experience. However, it is all too easy to compare the two, if only because they are similar and for the most part so far apart. Blair Witch, which is still a fav among myself, is very slowed paced. It creates more tension by anticipation and really does not give you the real chill until the final 3 or 5 minutes of the movie. This movie however, just amps up the terror and aggression minute after minute. You are given time to breathe and collect your thoughts, but that time is fleeting. The dialogue is short, sweet and fast. The character development is small and casual. You become attached to them not because you want them to live. You become attached because you are being attacked, and if they die, guess what? You do to.
The monster is in this film. It is always around the corner. It is stalking, destroying and rampaging. You see parts of the monster, teases at what it's size and ferocity really is. When you do see the monster, it is exactly as what it should be. Big. Evil. Ugly. The smaller monster, the ones that detach and go to all the small places the big monster cannot reach are just as bewildering. Whatever they are, they are ugly, mean and as dangerous as the big guy they spawned from.
In all, J.J.Abrams and folks do not re-invent the genre. The do however give it a deep, living breath. There are a lot of good things about this film. The camera is jerky, and if you have vertigo or motion sickness, then do not go. Throwing up in the aisles will ruin the experience for the rest. The monster is different. Neither different good nor different bad, just plain different. The one thing I really did not like was the lack of background story of the monster. Matt Reeves said that there is an easter egg that gives you some past of the monster. This however I think adds to the mystique and general terror of this beast. My only real problem was the cloud of debris that swallowed the character as they were running for safety. Even the line " Is this another terrorist attack?" made it a tad bit too hard to chew. Was it necessary? Maybe.
I was stressed from the time New York was attacked til the lights came up and we left the theatre. In fact, I was even stressed till a few hours after. It is an experience. Will it make my top ten list of all time greats. Probably not. Will it make my top ten of this type of genre film. Probably at first. What I will say is it is a film that takes chances. It is those chances that make it worth while. Go see it.
4.5/5
Now, after the coroners office has failed to find out exactly what killed him, it maybe weeks or months before we know anything pertaining to the truth of his death and demise. In the mean time, news outlets will say it was his role as the Joker in the upcoming Nolan film The Dark Knight that killed him, those who may or may of not known him will spread rumours and misconceptions that he was or had a dark side. We as the rubberneckers on the highway of life will gawk and glare and come up with our own resolution from sound bites and such that he was a smack fiend, a troubled individual that killed himself rather than face anything bad in life.
I will remember him as an actor, who maybe was more a poster child for cute guy film that studios could bank a good draw in theatres and DVD sales. I will remember the large risk he took as an actor to play against his typecast as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain. I will remeber him for probably and hopefully the most accurate portrayal of the Joker.
Cloverfield comes out April 22nd just so ya know! read more
on It's Alive....and it wants to eat New York!!