1-18-08 (Project Cloverfield)

[zap610]

Heh Cloverfield, typical "Lost" style since they involve the same people.

[Planky]

zuh?


I just saw it. Great movie - the end was abrupt, so much so most of the theatre sat silently thinking what next, until the credits started going. It had me rather nervous throughout the entire thing, something I've rarely experienced. It took me a while to get used to the shaky handycam, but it did pull you in as a result.


Edit: And why on earth did they released it on the 17th in Australia and New Zealand? Why not wait till the 18th (or the 19th to be correct due to timezones)?

[spank]

Lüt said:

Ahaha, you have flash installed??

Serves you right.

wtf lüt welcome to 2008

[deathbringer]

Unfortunatley one (the only) webcomic i read relies on flash for navigation to it's forums and sister sites. If it wasnt for that i'd uninstall it, beleive me.

...Unless every page with a flash on popped up a huge "INSTALL ME!" window with the flash logo on, then i'd probably re-add it from annoyance...

[Sharessa]

Alternately, you can get Firefox + AdBlock Plus. Viola! No ads!

[EllipsusD]

I'm going to have to go ahead and second that it was a good movie. It leaves a lot unanswered, though, but then again I suppose when you think of the focus of the movie in a different light, it says all it needs to say.

[Steeveeo]

Just saw it last night, and wouldnt you know it? I appear to be the only one here who didnt like it.

<There may be spoilers below, be careful those of you who havent seen it>

The first 20 minutes or so sucked, nothing was happening, no buildup or anything, I almost fell asleep a couple times. But when the action did pick up it became quite a bit more interesting.

I find it funny, that with all the gore, the only thing that made me sick to my stomach in this movie was the 2 hours of shaky camera movement...oh, and the fact that someone puked not 5 seats down from me.

I also find it funny that the camera was nearly indestructable. It pretty much survived everything from the shockwave from a tank firing about 10 feet away (without flickering) to being picked up and chomped on by the main monster (the camera man was eaten, camera survived), and all the way to surviving the nearby explosion of something big (possibly a nuke) and then being crushed under a couple thousand pounds of rubble. Now I want one of those cameras! The last one I had I accidentaly dropped from about 3 feet up and it basically shattered.

The ending seemed like it needed more, a lot more, at least some kind of debriefing or something. It started with a title "Department of Defence, multiple sightings of "Project Cloverfield" around the area formerly known as Central Park", but it ended with what we were led to believe was possibly a nuke (no direct view from the camera), and just left it at that, no conclusion, nobody filmed picking up the pieces, nothing.

Now that may have been good if you were trying to setup for a sequel, but I see no possibilities of a good sequel here.

Also, although this really did not effect my opinion, it was rated PG-13, although if this movie was released about 3-5 years ago, it would've gained the rating of R or even NC-17 (seriously, a chick exploded).

Overall, I'd say save your money, wait till it comes out on DVD and/or Blu-ray and rent it.

(BTW, that picture posted earlier was pretty close for an early leak, it was basically that mixed with King Kong and Clifford the Big Red Dog, other than that, the concept was correct).

Go ahead, bash this opinion, for it is just that, an opinion.

[Snarboo]

Frankly, I'm just waiting for someone to post images of the monster so I don't have to see the movie. :p

[Planky]

Steeveeo said:

I also find it funny that the camera was nearly indestructible. It pretty much survived everything from the shockwave from a tank firing about 10 feet away (without flickering) to being picked up and chomped on by the main monster (the camera man was eaten, camera survived), and all the way to surviving the nearby explosion of something big (possibly a nuke) and then being crushed under a couple thousand pounds of rubble. Now I want one of those cameras!

Yes, it did come across as a bit unlikely that it would survive after the beating it took.

The ending seemed like it needed more, a lot more, at least some kind of debriefing or something. It started with a title "Department of Defence, multiple sightings of "Project Cloverfield" around the area formerly known as Central Park", but it ended with what we were led to believe was possibly a nuke (no direct view from the camera), and just left it at that, no conclusion, nobody filmed picking up the pieces, nothing.

True, the film itself ends with plenty of questions left unanswered. Anyone who has watched Lost will know this is one of Abrams trademarks.

Now that may have been good if you were trying to setup for a sequel, but I see no possibilities of a good sequel here.

If you had stayed after the credits, there was a short audio clip saying 'It's still alive'. That and we only see the point of view of the four main characters, leaves it pretty open for a decent sequel.

Go ahead, bash this opinion, for it is just that, an opinion.

K. It seems that you went into the movie with the intent not to enjoy it or at least let yourself get into it. I find if I go to any horror/thriller flic I tend to disassociate myself from it so I don't get scared nervous, so I pick out flaws, trash the story line or any number of things.

I think that 'concept' art that was posted was nothing like the actual monster, with the exception of it's size/length.

[/Quotefest].

[40oz]

I'm surprised this movie has so much hype. This cant seriously be the first movie to make you think "wtf is this about!?"

[Steeveeo]

Planky said:

If you had stayed after the credits, there was a short audio clip saying 'It's still alive'. That and we only see the point of view of the four main characters, leaves it pretty open for a decent sequel.

Sorry, I guess I couldnt stand the smell of vomit any longer, so I guess I missed it. :P

As to the sequel, I still dont see any real sequel value to it, other than seeing the same devastation in a different area. And also, this movie was mainly about "Holy crap! What next?!" But if you've seen the first movie, the second wouldnt be any good because you KNOW whats going to happen next.

[EllipsusD]

Steeveeo said:
The first 20 minutes or so sucked, nothing was happening, no buildup or anything, I almost fell asleep a couple times. But when the action did pick up it became quite a bit more interesting.

Think about it in the sense that there are two stories going on. One is the giant monster that is for some reason attacking New York, and the other is, in some way, the relationship between the main character and the girl that he likes (couldn't bother to remember the names), which actually does have some sort of resolution. Yeah, the indestructible camera was kind of unbelievable, as was any "oh something that wants to kill me is chasing me right now, maybe I'll run away while holding up the camera and filming instead of lowering it for a second and hauling ass" moment, but in the end there's only so much they can do to make a functional movie while still trying to film it from that perspective.

[MikeyScoots]

I've theorizied that the conclusion to the movie is that it hasn't ended yet. http://www.1-18-08.com/ evidences this as there's pictures added periodically and the latest picture shows what appears to be some creatures on a beach.

[ragnew]

Steeveeo said:

Now that may have been good if you were trying to setup for a sequel, but I see no possibilities of a good sequel here.

There's TONS of room for a sequel. We missed about 75% of "Clover's" actual rampage. The movie was more focused on reuniting Rob and Beth, while adding the monster and/or parasites as an added obstacle.

If there is a sequel, I for one, am hoping that it'll be focusing more on the monster and the damage that it has caused from it's appearance.

Kick ass movie in all aspects. Easily one of the best Giant Monster movies.

[Ouch]

I liked the movie but really only because there is a giant monster destroying everything. Thats really all I look for in such a movie. I normally expect all the characters to be poorly written and Cloverfield was no exception.

[Bucket]

*spoilers*

Nothing really special about it, but well-done at any rate. Hollywood doesn't make enough "everybody dies" movies.

[The Lag]

"I normally expect all the characters to be poorly written and Cloverfield was no exception."

maybe you should check out the pages of backstory that each character has readily available on the internet.

there is about a novel's length of material about this world floating around on the net (i know because i help chronicle all of it on a blog.)
there is a manga that just saw the release of its first issue that details the main player in the backstory, tagruato.
there is also a sequel already in production...

[Butts]

does the monster ever fully appear out in the open or does the movie be ridiculous and not show it, or only parts of it? if its one of those movies that doesnt reveal anything then thats stupid because i hate not getting all the stuff straight up.

kind of like the movie "fight club" how you have to figure out what the hell is going on.

[Jello]

All this hype has finally convinced me that I might rent it when it comes out on DVD. Sounds like it might be interesting enough, since I do like senseless horror films, although I err more towards the zombie movies. Does anyone know if a half way decent Cthulhu movie has ever been made? I know there's the Necronomicon, and Beyond the Walls of Sleep, the former is okay but not great, the latter... I wish I hadn't watched 40 minutes of it. I've heard that there was a "Call of Cthulhu" movie made in 95, silent film in black and white, but I've never seen it. Cthulhu is just begging for a giant budget, good script... pretty much ripped from Lovecraft, and unknown actors. With a terrible ending where all humanity ends up under his sway. I think it could do really well.

[Bucket]

The Lag said:

"I normally expect all the characters to be poorly written and Cloverfield was no exception."

maybe you should check out the pages of backstory that each character has readily available on the internet.

I don't know, I think I got enough development as it is. I'm watching a monster movie, not a period drama. If anything, monster movies need MORE senseless killing and LESS boy-meets-girl.

[Snarboo]

You shouldn't have to read a seperate website just to learn more about the plot, anyway. That's bad writing, IMO. If you can't convey who the characters are well enough in the chosen medium, don't bother.

[Sharessa]

The Lag said:

maybe you should check out the pages of backstory that each character has readily available on the internet.

Oh great, the whole Donnie Darko defence. "Lol, you just didn't like the movie because you didn't read this 10-page essay on BS about the space-time continuum the screenwriter made up."

Still want to see Cloverfield though.

[Coopersville]

I think I just saw the most overhyped movie of my life.

[ragnew]

The Lag said:

there is also a sequel already in production...

Where did you get that info? Links to it being confirmed? I think there could be a sequel sometime, but I think it's more likely that we'll be getting extra story and such when the film hits DVD. Last I'd heard Goddard and Reeves said there were no plans for a sequel at the moment, but it could easily happen if they decided to do it.

[zap610]

The Lag said:

maybe you should check out the pages of backstory that each character has readily available on the internet.

They are seriously doing this? What's the point of making a movie if they can't write character development properly?

[Butts]

to get everyone to be hyped up and so they can make more money.

[Ouch]

A clever plan. Its too bad that it might actually work.

[Kid Airbag]

Cloverfield was fucking awesome.

Yeah, so the characters were shallow and vapid. Yeah, so it's extremely unrealistic that one guy would care more about filming the event than running for his life. Yeah, so the camera would not have survived the ordeal/batteries would not have lasted that long.

Who gives a shit. The entire essence of a monster movie is that shit gets fucked up by batshit insane freaky-looking creatures. As a monster movie, Cloverfield was immensely successful. Anyone who tries to glean more from such an endeavor is pretty much actively looking for reasons to not like it.

[Ichor]

heh

[Sharessa]

Lole. Man, I wish they had made a third Ghostbusters movie.