Cloverfield: Movie Review - Part One

Behold, the long belated Cloverfield full movie review is upon you. Sorta. The review, turns out, is running rather long given the length of my discussion prior to even talking about the movie proper. As such, I'm posting this which is essentially a pre-review article. Or think of it as the Cloverfield Movie Review - Part One.

For those of you living under a rock, Cloverfield was the event movie of 2008. Ever since the trailer premiered in front of Transformers the summer before, the internet was abuzz about this untitled project due out on 1-18-08. Rumors ran rampant that the next American Godzilla movie was coming, while others swore that Voltron was finally getting the modern treatment it deserved. Still others thought that a character in the trailer had exclaimed "It's a lion!" and appropriate giant animal theories were abound. My personal hope was that a Cthulu movie was finally upon us.

Turns out everyone was wrong.

Clover was what we got. And just what is Clover? Outside of the best damn original monster design to come along in fifteen years, damned if I know. It's not a mutated fish or a giant bird. It's not a dinosaur and its certainly not some overgrown iguana (looking at you, GINO). Clover is simply amazing.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. What about Cloverfield, the film? Most of you are probably aware of the film in some way or another, even if you have no interest in the kaiju genre. If nothing else, you're probably aware that the film was recorded on home video cameras and is presented in a first person perspective. This is a technique that can be quite divisive, usually you either love it or you hate it. If you are especially prone to motion sickness, this movie might not be best viewed on a full stomach. I myself have no objections to the use of the perspective, although it does lead to a few logic errors I'll discuss more later on.

For this review I'm going to do my best to separate out Cloverfield the movie from Cloverfield the experience. You have to understand that Cloverfield was no doubt an event picture. The lead up to the movie had astronomical levels of hype attached to it. Amazing in the modern internet age, the monster design was kept a secret all the way up to opening weekend screenings. I myself was sucked into the hype machine, attended opening weekend, and was blown away by the roller coaster ride that followed. Now, four months later, I'm curious to see if my extreme positive reaction was a result of viewing a phenomenal movie or if I was just buying into the hype.

Stay tuned for Cloverfield: Movie Review- Part 2!

Cloverfield on DVD!

Just a heads up that today is April 22, which is NEW DVD TUESDAY! This isn't any old regular New DVD Tuesday either, because today is the day that Cloverfield hits the shelves. If you didn't get the chance to see this one in the theaters, now is your chance. I imagine the camera work will be a little less nausea inducing on the small screen, so don't let that hold you back!



Cloverfield was definitely an 'experience movie,' so if you missed out on it before you may not see the big deal now. You really needed to see it with an audience to fully appreciate the roller coaster. Regardless of that, I think Cloverfield will hold its own as simply an enjoyable film. Yes, you need to have the ability to suspend disbelief as the characters do some pretty unbelievable things, but you'll be well rewarded. There hasn't been a more enjoyable monster mash in theaters since... well, I'm not sure I can even come up with the last one. Jurassic Park? Maybe? (The Host doesn't count as it didn't play within 100 miles of me.)

Anyway, go out and buy/rent Cloverfield now! Hardcore monster fans will either love it or hate it, but you owe it to yourself to at least watch it once. My full review will be coming within a few days, I suspect.


Credit to IGN.Com for the DVD Box Art

Cloverfield

Cloverfield. Go see it.

This movie was simply fantastic. Make sure the theater you see it in has a good sound system. I know that I'll probably be in the minority here, but I wanted nothing more from this film. It lived up to the hype.

When the credits started to roll and the lights came up, the biggest surprise for me was the amount of people in the theater saying "That sucked" or "I want my money back." I'll admit, monster movies aren't for everyone and the shaky camera shit gets old real quick. But, for my dollar, Cloverfield's the best movie I've seen in the theater in several years.

I think the real problem people had with the flick was the complete lack of explanation about numerous things. For months people have been saying "What is Cloverfeild? Where did it come from?" The movie doesn't answer a lot of these questions, but the amount of explanation given was true to the story that was being told. I appreciated that.

I'll have a full review up of Cloverfield in about six month, after the DVD comes out. I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. If you have any interest in this movie, I urge you to avoid all spoilers and go see it quick.

Just bring the Dramamine if you're prone to that sort of thing.

SPOILER - Cloverfield Monster Identity/Face Revealed in Theatrical Poster!!

SPOILERS AHEAD.


IF YOU KEEP READING YOU WILL SEE AN IMAGE WITH A STRONG RESEMBLANCE TO THE FACE OF THE CLOVERFIELD MONSTER.


You've officially been warned.


So, I know I said I wasn't going to spoil anything about this movie, especially considering how much I liked it. When you have a certain respect for a film, you hate to give away any of the big reveals for those who haven't seen it. However, I saw something on another site that led me to do my own investigation.

The other site wasn't in english, but I found the image through google search. It was pretty clear from the image what the site was trying to convey, but I wasn't convinced that the image wasn't a simple Photoshop. To that end, I got a copy of the original film poster and replicated the image myself.

'Lo and behold, the image does not lie.

The face of the monster, or rather, half the face of the monster is included in the periphery of the original theatrical poster. If you take the poster, duplicate and flip the image, and place it next to the original you get the face of the Cloverfield monster hovering over the New York skyline.


Is this a coincidence? Is this just a random shape in the clouds? Maybe. I'm not going to say this is intentional, but having seen the movie I will say that the face that results is quite similar. Again, it could be I'm reading into the image having already seen the movie, but either way I figure this is cool enough to share. If this was intentional, congrats to the movie poster designer. This is one of the coolest easter eggs I've seen in awhile. If not, well, it's still pretty cool looking anyway. Enjoy!

Cloverfield Monster's Identity Revealed!

So the big deal on the internet with Cloverfield right now revolves around figuring out what the hell the monster is going to look like. A noble endeavor that I myself admit to pursuing. I’ve scoured the web for countless hours trying to find any faint hint or clue related to the monster’s identity. The most I could find was this screen capture which appears to be some sort of early special effects test. Minor spoilers ahead!

Okay, so I haven't found anything yet. Well, neither have you, so stop crying about it. We must eagerly await some sort of official reveal together. To help pass the time, I thought it might be cool to talk about what we all hope Cloverfield is.

Now, I don't mean it in the literal sense of what the monster looks like. We'll find that out in due time regardless. As I mentioned in an earlier post that I want Cloverfield to be the next, great giant monster flick, I wasn't, however, especially clear on what that statement meant. Let's face it, in this day and age movies with scenes of mass destruction are common place. Exploding buildings and sinking ships can all be digitally inserted for pennies on the dollar. Simply creating the visuals of a giant monster tearing apart NYC isn't much of a challenge.

But making that scenario frightening is.

The best monster movies are those that tap into society's psyche, finds the pressing issues, and exploits the hell out of them. The best example of this is the original Godzilla film, Gojira. When released in Japan, the movie hit a nerve with audience members. Godzilla wasn't just about some guy in a rubber suit, it was a metaphor for nuclear energy and the atomic bomb. The scenes of destruction in the film brought to mind images of Hiroshima, still fresh in people's minds. The scenes involving make-shift hospitals where women and children were being treated for radiation burns were terrifying because it was real. These things really happened in Japan, and not all that long before the movie was made.

America needs this kind of monster movie. Hollywood too often settles for throwing eye candy up on the screen at the expense of real, raw emotions. Cloverfield has a chance to take the best of both worlds and combine them. I hope J.J. Abrams sees this opportunity and seizes it. The Cloverfield monster could be anything, a lion, a chimera, a griffon, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Just give the movie meaning. Let it hit a chord in this media over-saturated world where war is waged and good people die every day. Take a chance and hit a little too close to home. Make us feel uncomfortable.

Below is a list of ideas I’ve had about how the creature’s origins that tap into some real, modern day concerns:

• The monster is created by runaway science, a creature born from the genetic manipulations of common life forms. We live in a world where science is beginning to blur the lines between that which is natural and synthetic. It’s only a matter of time before we’re able to create life from nothing, if it hasn’t been done already.

• A mutation, or a familiar creature somehow changed by pollution. The green movement is huge these days. Everyone seems to be worried about Global Warming, Greenhouse gases, Carbon dioxide in the air and mercury in the water. Not to sound like an alarmist, but a lot of people out there worry about the irreversible changes we’ve made to the planet.

• A natural creature, undiscovered until now. Maybe we’ve invaded its natural habitat or disturbed it in some other way. Maybe it’s an ancient animal that’s been hibernating for eons. The basic theme here is we’ve raped Mother Nature for so long that it’s time she had some revenge.

The problem I see with all of the above is they’re all been done a hundred times before. People may be scared of these ideas in real life, but in the movies they’re just bad clichés. Perhaps story alone isn’t sufficient to scare us anymore. If so, use imagery to scare us. Use the CGI with purpose. Just like the radiation poisoning in Gojira reminded audiences of Hiroshima, show us a devastated NYC and remind us of 9/11. Let the trappings of the monster movie genre disguise it, but tap into those powerful, raw emotions. Bring us back to that day and make us feel what we felt then. It isn’t inappropriate, it’s cathartic.

Mr. Abrams, I challenge you to make a movie that people will talk about 50 years from now, not because of what the movie is, but because of what the movie represents.

After all, that’s why we watch these types of movies.

Isn’t it?

Anticipating Cloverfield: 1-18-08

I realized something recently: I write a whole lot about movies I haven't seen or have no intention of seeing. To remedy this situation, I'd like to take a moment to talk about a movie I will be seeing, opening night, come hell or high water. And that film is J.J. Abram's Cloverfield.

Let me preface this by saying I don't watch Lost and I have no intention of ever starting. Frankly, it looks dull. I only mention this because some people seem to think that this J.J. Abrams person is fairly infallible at this stage of his career. I don't know much of anything about that, but I know he's not turning poop into gold with some sick-fetish version of the Midas Touch. Regardless, Cloverfield has made me giddy in ways that no man ever should be.

Let me put it another way.

Giant monster. In New York City. Destroying the Statue of Liberty.

Not GINO.

What more could a giant monster aficionado turned internet geek wish for? Oh, I've got it. How about a really cool and elaborate viral marketing campaign, complete with a maddening lack of detail. Check. How about making it to exactly one month before the movie's wide release (being today), without having your monster design leaked all over the internet yet. Big check.

Much like the rest of the world, I don't know much of what the movie is actually about, but really, it doesn't matter. I've been waiting for a great monster movie for years. The Host was close. Real close. I'm hoping Cloverfield will be the one.

As excited as I am for this movie, I know of at least one person who isn't too thrilled about it.


I can only hope that the Big G will forgive me this indiscretion. Perhaps He may take some comfort in knowing that for many months the rumorville thought Cloverfield might in fact be a new American version of Godzilla. There were other monster identity theories as well, including Voltron (Lame. Sorry.), a Griffon, a Lion/Sphinx, and even Cthulhu. For the record, my vote was on Cthulhu. And even though it's looking doubtful at this point, that's still a movie I'd pay money to see. Are you listening, Hollywood? Giant, pissed, squid-mouthed, elder god with wings. Bring it.