Now we just have to wait 2 years for the Cloverfield:2
jupiterone
It was awesome.
tubularbills
ok, so i just saw it tonight.
and i'm kind of 50/50 on it....
***spoilers***
first off....is there THAT big of a military presence near downtown manhattan? that in a span of less than 1 hour, tanks could be driving down it, shooting rockets and ? it takes a lot to move that much of a military presence....especially in such a high-dense commerical area.
second...i thought it was kinda dumb that he went after that girl. i mean, he just lost his brother (awesome scene, btw), wouldn't he cut his losses and say, "welp, lets gtfo plz" i dunno. and the whole thing with her surviving for so long with the rod through her boob...yeah, no. and it was "oh so convienent" that her building was right there next to the stable one...
third....they should have died in the helicopter crash. /end.
things i liked:
i liked Hud. (aka cameraman). the opening scenes w/ him interviewing everyone were good. awesome way to set up character. and i liked his corny remarks here and there. and how he got the Milinda (?) chick to laugh (lol, before her head blew up).
best scene? the subway. hands down, that sound those ing arachnoids made was HAUNTING. i can still hear it. definitely something that stuck in my head. the whole scene from the seconds before they go down (where you see the monster's head full force for the very first time) all the way until they come back up. awesome sequence.
speaking of arachnoids, they were a nice touch. monster overall was badass like denys said. not a ing whale - but more of almost something you'd see in like Doom or Unreal or something like those computer games. and yes, i think there is more than one....because there's one shot where it's clearly walking on all fours...and there's another shot where it's standing upright like a t-rex.... (maybe an editing issue , but they looked totally different).
i liked the camera view. i liked the shakiness. it wasn't nauseating (some other people i went with said so, but i thought it was all right). and i realize that it was the only way to show the movie from that point of view....but there were definitely times where i woulda said, " this thing" and dropped it and ran. speaking of running, lol @ the chick running w/ heels on throughout almost the whole movie.
the girl's head exploding? awesome scene....they led up to it really good.
other things...
i didn't notice it, but a buddy of mine did (like mebot said), there's something in the top right hand side at the end that splashes into the water.
lily (? - jason's girlfriend) survived at the end. or at least, further than rob and beth do. she gets in the helicopter and that's the last you see of her. hud gets eaten (lol, neat scene....but i kinda wanted him to survive :( ) , and the other two die under the bridge (assuming it collapsed on them).
ending? meh. i kept wondering how they were going to end it...and i thought the helicopter was going to do it. but no. it kept going when it shouldn't have. and they drag rob out of the copter and he's screaming like his legs are broken....then he's up and running? come on. and the little "goodbye" they did at the end? kinda lame. i liked the ending scene w/ them at coney island. that was good. but under the bridge? meh.
i really hated the whole thing with beth. she should have been dead....ugh. aggrevating.
their dialog sometimes. it seemed....so....blah-say. like, "yeah, we're getting killed, so uhm, what's for lunch tomorrow?" kind of feeling. there's a scene where after the chick's head explodes, and lily (i think that's her name) is talking to hud, and her hand is on her hip....and it's not shaking. WTF they've been running for hours, and is hitting the fan, and she's not nervous? she's not scared?!?!?!? if i was in any of their shoes, i would have been really, and i mean, REALLY shakey. ESPECIALLY after the subway scene. Hud's dialog is good. and i like his a lot. but the others sometimes, it just wasn't really all there. and a lot of the military talking too - it was just....meh.
so yeah, i tihnk i'm giving this one a 6/10. awesome idea. badass monster(s?), and great usage of camera work. (showing the TV cameras occasionally on the screens was good too...especially when the fell of the monster(s?) ) . but the constant running and "trying to save the girl" was lame (although the scene where they ripped her off the pole? that was good.....you didn't see it, but her screams let you know how it was painful....which, later on makes me wonder how the she could run after that ?).
did it live up to the hype? meh, i guess so . awesome special affects (especially w/ the little arachnoids....they didn't look fake). and the mosnter, really (again) badass. and i liked seeing it move around the city. so +1 on the monster. -1 on the acting and logic. (for the most part).
jupiterone
Yes, at the end it falls from the sky and splashes into the water. Wicked awesome, I loved the whole mysterious aspect of the film. I hear they're working on a sequel?
SuspicionVandit
I think the military was already on High Alert. The pictures at 1-18-08.com seem to indicate the military already had an encounter with it.
How would the sequel work? A second camera angle? A "conventional" film (such as the Blair Witch sequel)?
Maybe there is more than one, but Abrams said the monster was only in its infant stage and quickly mutating, so I don't know.
did anyone see the new Star Trek preview? The audience went nuts
Mebot
quote:
Originally posted by tubularbills
i liked Hud. (aka cameraman). the opening scenes w/ him interviewing everyone were good. awesome way to set up character. and i liked his corny remarks here and there. and how he got the Milinda (?) chick to laugh (lol, before her head blew up).
Agreed. I think it's hard to develop a movie such as this without characterization and without traditional media formats. If this movie was released the way it was (as a handheld, digital video recorder) and no insight to the characters at all, then that would've lost a lot of audience.
Like critics have said before, it's a typical monster film. You have all the elements of a movie and you gotta have a story line. Ergo, you introduce the characters at the beginning of the movie, at the party, and you develop them as best you can throughout the film.
The one drawback to Cloverfield is (IMO) you don't get a full grasp of the characters. Like I wanted to know more about Rob and his relationship with Beth but all I get is innuendos, fodder and past decelopments on his camcorder.
But this movie was made, I believe, more for the monster and the tense uncertainess and enviroment situatuin, then it was for the characters. In which, that case, I think the movie succeeded.
Mebot
quote:
Originally posted by SuspicionVandit
did anyone see the new Star Trek preview? The audience went nuts
You had gay audiences.
CONNERMAN2000
quote:
Originally posted by jupiterone
Yes, at the end it falls from the sky and splashes into the water. Wicked awesome, I loved the whole mysterious aspect of the film. I hear they're working on a sequel?
quote:
Originally posted by Mebot
At the very end (and I'm not sure if I saw it or not) but when the footage goes back to Rob and Beth at Coney Island I thought I saw something (UFO?) land in the water behind them. Did you or anyone else who saw this film see this?
So its not a UFO or a Japanese satellite but the monster itself? I remember specifically catching this and wondering what the hell it was.
Saw this last night, loved it. Yeah, it has its parts where it gets a little ridiculous. I dunno if when a person is literally jumping from a leaning skyscraper bound to collapse onto another while avoiding death via a giant monster you would be cracking jokes, but whatever.
And onto that theory about multiple monsters...I believe it. One of the friends I saw it with brought up the end scene where Hud is staring directly at the monster before he gets eaten. If you look closely, the monster looks quite a bit smaller than earlier (albeit still huge). One suggestion is that it was one of those little, smaller bugs fully mutated, because I think it was mentioned that these kinds of monsters can evolve extremely fast, like overnight fast. BTW, those smaller bugs freaked the outta me. The subway scene was predictable, but it was STILL scary as just because those things were so damn wild.
I just think the movie was very well done. It had a fast pace to it. so you're never bored. Things develop quickly and, for the most part, realistically. I kinda feel that if a monster were to attack NYC while I was there, this would be very much like what it would be. Someone earlier mentioned how the US military could mobilize such a presence in densely populated Manhattan within 1 hour, which is another possible ridiculous factor this movie has going for it, but again, just play along, it makes the movie better for you.
highly recommended, and yes, the camera work is a little crazy at times, especially at the beginning, but with the action scenes these camera shots are intense as all hell.
tubularbills
quote:
Originally posted by CONNERMAN2000
So its not a UFO or a Japanese satellite but the monster itself? I remember specifically catching this and wondering what the hell it was.
most likely it was the monster attacking the oil rig out there? that happened just the day prior, right? (i.e. the day they were at coney island?)
inconspicuous
SPOILERS.
First off, I'd just like to say that my guess that it was the GIANT ENEMY CRAB was more accurate than anything anybody else said.
Saw it last night. REALLY short. I guess that was mainly because I kept expecting a different camera to come on, and it never did.
The good:
The party. I know it seemed really annoying and dragged for what seemed like forever, but as was mentioned earlier, it definitely added to the rest of the movie. It wasn't so much that you cared about the characters as it was that you felt like it really was a normal night. I still had a hard time keeping track of which of the girls was which, later on in the movie, but because of the 20+ minutes at the beginning, it definitely felt more like an unexpected interruption to a day than a "hey, here are these people. You want them to survive. Now watch this giant monster destroy " type of thing.
The initial crash. It was VERY eerie, and, of course, instantly reminded me of 9/11. The lighting on the street when they first run out was done perfectly, and that giant cloud of debris was like something straight out of those video clips (the famous one with the reporters all running from the dust cloud). Came across this, though. Seem familiar?
Anyway, I really thought that did a great job of setting the tone, because it really was disturbing, but not so much so to put you off to the rest of the film, though I certainly could see how it would for somebody closer to that ordeal.
Getting back, though, Hud was fun at times. His pestering of Marlena would have been better if she didn't act like she was out of it for the entire movie, but "I just can't stop thinking about how freaky it would be if a flaming homeless guy just came out of nowhere" was one of the funniest lines I've heard in a while, given the moment. Nevertheless, DROP THE ING CAMERA. Unless that was a ing helmetcam, I'd have tossed it far earlier.
The fact that the monster was revealed in such small bits definitely added a lot, because I didn't just wanna watch some 'explosions, dismemberment, WOOO!!!' nonsense. In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that no one did, in fact, get ripped in half (I thought Beth was going to, or Rob at the end).
Rob's reaction after his brother died was awesome, imo. I can't imagine that anyone would react any differently than the way he did, just standing there in total shock, and he did a great job of it.
NO POLITICS! Thank ing GOD. I had actually decided not to pay to see any movies any more after I saw Shoot 'em up, 'cuz I decided that Holywood was literally incapable of leaving their moronic & predictable propaganda out of movies, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one.
I don't care if people thought it was cheesy, but I probably would have gone back, too. :o
Now, the bad:
Marlena. Terrible.
Hud definitely seemed to chipper at times.
So damn short.
It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to enjoy at times.
And now for the general comments:
How are these drunk people performing at the peak of their athletic abilities? It explains Hud's failure to realize the gravity of the situation, but not his improved stamina.
You'd have to be a ing moran to leave that little room with the vending machine.
There are definitely two monsters. One (the first one shown, when the statue of liberty's head goes rolling) probably was that giant whale. The other was more like the beetle from starship troopers meets a rancor meets alien.
There will be a sequel. I just hope they don't copy the 28 weeks later formula verbatim, and actually stick to manhattan. I don't want a new, giant-scale story about the state of the world.
lol @ looters. oh lawd. speaking of black people, everyone in the theater laughed when they showed the stereotypical "I'm an intelligent & sophisticated black male, so that's why I have an afro and a scarf & pea coat" guy, 'cuz you just knew he was getting killed.
They handed out barf bags before it started. I didn't think it was bad at all.
Oh MAN did they try hard to set-up a bestselling soundtrack. I've never seen/heard such indie whoring.
You're telling me that none of those missiles hit those two fleshy brain sacks on the monster's head? To quote Gob, "oh, COME ON!"
The battery isn't the issue. There are medium-sized camcorder batteries that get 6-7 hours of recording time, and sony makes a 16-hour one. The issue is storage. There are great camcorders out there that use SD cards, but no SD card can hold that much video, and you can't just 'accidentally tape over' video on an SD card. Also, I know it would have ruined the movie if they actually did this, but those rockets & gunfire at the beginning in the street would have blown a camcorder mic to hell. It wouldn't have been in crystal-clear dts for that & the remainder of the movie.
I didn't see the thing dropping into the water, but I'm sure there are a lot of other little hints all over the film. I didn't want to go watch it again, but I feel like I might now, just to go see what I can find.
Also, was the screen all shaky at every theater (including during the credits...kinda skipping)? I've gotten used to watching incredible projectors now, and this one looked like to me. I don't know if it was the actual equipment or built into the reel, but it pissed me off. Luckily, the whole movie was so shaky that it didn't matter then. Oh well.
The movie, itself: 6.5/10
The whole event/project: 8.5/10
