Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Cloverfield!

So for some reason people seem to not like Cloverfield. From limited conversations the only reasons I've come across are "Its not like a traditional monster movie" (aka It wasn't what I expected and therefore sucked) and "The camera made me feel sick" which is understandable since its shot purely from a hand-held camera but its no reason to say a movie is bad in my opinion. I would describe the movie as a monster movie in which you follow simply a group of people who have the destruction and chaos mostly happening around them rather than directly too them, but, of course, it still does intersect with them. So, do you see the monster? Yeah. Do you see the military fighting the monster? Yeah. Does the movie ever entirely focus on either of these? No, unlike every other monster movie. Also it doesn't have a source of the monster (Though some are proposed) or a cure for the monster (No extra-nerdy scientist saying "Silly military, you fight monsters with science." either). This is a very experimental type movie, as such some people are going to recoil from it and say "Bleh, this doesn't taste like what I expected!" Now I'm not saying this is the most amazing movie ever produced, but it is exciting, it is intense, it might even make you cry because its about people in a disaster and so people do die. So, as long as you don't get motion sick, I do recommend a theater viewing as the sound and visuals are pretty sweet.

Also, three very good previews: Hell Boy 2, which I really felt so-so about the original but this one looks awesome; Iron Man, with Iron Man playing through the preview, which made it more awesome; and a teaser trailer for the next Star Trek movie which is being done by the same guy who made Cloverfield and thus will probably be about 4 Ensigns who are new on the ship and there will be a battle with the Borg and.... Actually it isn't at all, its a return to the roots and starts with a younger Kirk and Spock and I don't think the Enterprise is even finished yet. So yeah, very different, kinda like Batman Begins for Star Trek.

Finally I just want to say I really like Rachel Yamagata, she's got some good songs for getting you through melancholic times.

1 comment:

devinoni said...

I can't wait to see Cloverfield. You already know that I have no problem with "non-traditional" horror and sf stuff. (Well, I hated Blair Witch, but that wasn't because of the filmmaking technique - it just barely scared me at all! I found it tiresome.)
I am worried about getting sick during Cloverfield though. I am prone to motion sickness...but Blair Witch didn't make me sick. What do you think? Should I try it? Or wait for DVD? Some people think it might be worse on a TV screen, but I tend to think the opposite.