Monday, January 21, 2008
Cloverfield
The most anticipated January release ever has now become the largest opening January weekend ever and probably the best film ever released in January. But is that saying much? Not that Cloverfield is bad film, it’s not, but not a particularly memorable film. I mostly enjoyed my time in the theater but had a tough time thinking about the film afterwards.
The genre of character filmed movies is severely limited. Much like the Dogma films, they can be interesting experiments but rarely rise above the genre. Cloverfield is probably about as good as you can get with this gimmick.
The film does a number of things well. The look and special effects is top notch I also enjoy that the film is completely seen from the p.o.v. of four people. We only know what they see from passing television report and pedestrians. There are no long drawn out scenes of scientists discussing the what, where, & why of this creature. There are a number of very good scenes by themselves: the Brooklyn Bridge, walking the subway, and Columbus Circle. And with only 73 minutes of actual action the film moves fast.
However my mind fixated on the negatives while the film was rolling. Of those 73 minutes the first 20 involve a party for the main character as he’s moving to Japan. I became very bored, very quickly as this played like a home movie. A very bad one at that. This sequence does set up the relationships up the characters but ultimately I didn’t care as I was just waiting for them to die and felt no empathy when they went, except a moment’s loss when the cute girl exploded.
My other problem is the “quest for the one-night stand” sub-plot. This really didn’t interest me in the least. If it had been 100% save ourselves I probably would have enjoyed it more. Hence my love of the Brooklyn Bridge scene, the best in the movie. But as our four head off for this girl it makes them look like idiots, and they seem to have good jobs and apartments so they can’t be that dumb. As there is no character development you have to just accept that they will follow Rob in search of the girl, even cute girl who has no connection to any of them. And the only reason I know Rob’s name is from the worst scene in the film. Much like “where’s the fucking map” from Blair Witch, camera dude spends 3 to 4 minutes screaming Rob’s name to get him to come to his senses and escape Manhattan. Thankfully Rob didn't have to scream anything to get them to join him.
Hot Chicks Born Today
Charlotte Ross, 40, the only performer to do a full frontal nude scene on NYPD Blue, albeit with strategically placed hands
Emma Bunton, 32, a toss up with Ginger for best looking Spice Girl
Genna Davis, 52, was extremely hot when she did The Fly now she's just annoying
The genre of character filmed movies is severely limited. Much like the Dogma films, they can be interesting experiments but rarely rise above the genre. Cloverfield is probably about as good as you can get with this gimmick.
The film does a number of things well. The look and special effects is top notch I also enjoy that the film is completely seen from the p.o.v. of four people. We only know what they see from passing television report and pedestrians. There are no long drawn out scenes of scientists discussing the what, where, & why of this creature. There are a number of very good scenes by themselves: the Brooklyn Bridge, walking the subway, and Columbus Circle. And with only 73 minutes of actual action the film moves fast.
However my mind fixated on the negatives while the film was rolling. Of those 73 minutes the first 20 involve a party for the main character as he’s moving to Japan. I became very bored, very quickly as this played like a home movie. A very bad one at that. This sequence does set up the relationships up the characters but ultimately I didn’t care as I was just waiting for them to die and felt no empathy when they went, except a moment’s loss when the cute girl exploded.
My other problem is the “quest for the one-night stand” sub-plot. This really didn’t interest me in the least. If it had been 100% save ourselves I probably would have enjoyed it more. Hence my love of the Brooklyn Bridge scene, the best in the movie. But as our four head off for this girl it makes them look like idiots, and they seem to have good jobs and apartments so they can’t be that dumb. As there is no character development you have to just accept that they will follow Rob in search of the girl, even cute girl who has no connection to any of them. And the only reason I know Rob’s name is from the worst scene in the film. Much like “where’s the fucking map” from Blair Witch, camera dude spends 3 to 4 minutes screaming Rob’s name to get him to come to his senses and escape Manhattan. Thankfully Rob didn't have to scream anything to get them to join him.
Hot Chicks Born Today
Charlotte Ross, 40, the only performer to do a full frontal nude scene on NYPD Blue, albeit with strategically placed hands
Emma Bunton, 32, a toss up with Ginger for best looking Spice Girl
Genna Davis, 52, was extremely hot when she did The Fly now she's just annoying
Labels: FilmReview
# posted by ChrisR @ 10:34 PM 
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I'm totally with you on the boredom of the party sequence. I was waiting for the monster to come and kill these people.
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