Cloverfield -- anyone seen it?

[billybreen]

Now that the flick is out (ed. note: I guess it's not out, but it's been screened a bit), spoilers are all over the interwebs showing hand drawn pictures of the monster. I won't link any here, but I'm curious if anyone has seen it and can confirm whether it's as dumb as it looks.

It's just a monster reveal with concocted suspense, much like Abrams' previous works, Lost and Felicity. Why all the fuss?

[cato]

It's just a monster reveal with concocted suspense, much like Abrams' previous works, Lost and Felicity. Why all the fuss?

That is the least accurate description of Lost that I could think of.

[billybreen]

That is the least accurate description of Lost that I could think of.

But I was right on with Felicity, right? ;)

Ok, so I only watched the first season of Lost, but I remember most of the early suspense being about a monster.

[BlueDevilBaby]

You have a lot of Lost catching up to do. ;)

[billybreen]

The early reviews are not terribly promising (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cloverfield/), with RT averaging something like 50%. Early reviews tend to be slightly higher than the final, so we may be looking at an average in the 40s.

My favorite panning:


A combination of unpleasantness and stupidity that would be difficult to match, unless you were stuck in bed with the shingles while being forced to watch "The Ghost Whisperer."

[Olympic Fan]

The review I liked suggested that Cloverfield was a essentially "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Godzilla".

I can't comment on the accuracy of the description, but it seems to fit the advertising trailers I've seen.

Think I'll wait until it hits cable.

[billybreen]

The RT ranking has climbed above 70%, and according to this site there are 10 reasons it lives up to they hype (http://www.alwayswatching.org/2008/01/10-reasons-why-cloverfield-lives-up-to.html). Now I'm curious :)

[sbpollo]

My kids, 26 and 20, went last night at midnight. Said it was awesome. I guess the most telling report was the lady that ran out of the theater, only to throw up in the aisle, on the way out! ? motion sickness from the camera or too much tension? I expected their comments to be good given their age group.:)

[accfanfrom1970]

Probably a bit of both....it's an interesting concept. Definately driven at the younger age group, since they are all the main characters. Don't want to give anything away....but it's worth seeing if the hand held camera/motion sickness thing doesn't bother you. Several very tense, edge of the seat sections. Some good special effects. Fast paced and not too long (85 minutes).

[DukeDevil]

I really really enjoyed the movie, and the more I check out about it online the more I realize there was a lot of things that were included that I missed. The whole viral marketing campaign really created a lot of theories for the backstory to the monster. It really depends on your own tastes I suppose. I have a feeling there will be a follow up to this which presents the whole event from another perspective, answering some of the questions and creating new ones.

[MrBisonDevil]

I loved Cloverfield. I was a little dizzy early in the movie, but I got use to the camera point of view. (see Blair Witch Project)

I was amazed to learn the lore on the web about this movie. A lot of the lore surrounds stuff that was very understated or not even mentioned in the movie. Here are three viral websites that are rumored to be sponsored by the movie makers (no spoilers):
http://slusho.jp
http://www.tagruato.jp/profile.php
http://1-18-08.com

I have a ton of questions, just like LOST. I doubt I'll ever get all the answers. It's going to be fun watching this story evolve.

[billybreen]

I have a ton of questions, just like LOST. I doubt I'll ever get all the answers.

That's what frustrates me so much about Abrams. It seems like this is his one go to trick -- rather than think up a convincing context, explanation, story, etc, create an open ended mystery and virally seed a bunch of possible theories. It's like Web 2.0 for film making, and it's somewhat cute, but at a certain point it just feels like compensation for lack of a fully realized vision.