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Gemini Cricket · 01-20-2008, 12:44 AM

I liked Cloverfield as well. The name Cloverfield was used in the text at the beginning of the film. I think it was a military code name for the tape.

After the first 20 minutes, I got used to the shaky Hud-cam.

I liked how the introduction of the monster with a big thud rocked everyone's world, including the audience's. Very effective.

I often have gripes about the performances of actors in these kinds of disaster flicks. Often it seems that the stakes aren't high enough in their brains and give sort of hokey, dramatic performances that lack realism. I didn't worry about that in this film. It was very realistic, imho.

One gripe that is GC once again beating a dead horse: ad placements. Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew, Nokia, Nokia, Nokia and Sephora, Sephora, Sephora... BLEH!

When I was working at Paramount this summer, I got to see the New York sets trashed for this film. It was neat walking through it. Cars and buildings covered in dust and huge holes in the ground and green screens everywhere. Seeing it also answers my question that I hadn't seen any camera setups anywhere. One thing that did give away some of the monster for me was a huge footprint that was in the middle of the street. At first, I thought they were trying to revive Godzilla once again... Also, last summer, the words "Slusho" was everywhere. One of the characters was wearing a Slusho shirt. It was also the codename for the film on the lot.

I'm glad they used a relatively unknown cast. It added to the documentary feel of the whole flick.

I noticed a couple of could-be nods to old Japanese monster flicks. One, the main character going to Tokyo... and I believe in Rodan, the army was fighting what they thought was the big monster but was only fighting a bug that lived on Rodan...

I was impressed with the special effects. Loved them. And, like in Spielberg's War of the Worlds, the filmmakers realized that a special effect doesn't need to be in-focus and dead center in a shot at all times. It can be out-of-focus and partially seen.

I don't know if this is a sad revelation about me, but I love disaster films. I like post-apocalyptic films, monsters destroy city films and aliens attacking Earth films. Chaos is ichiban in my book.

I'd buy this one. If just to pause and rewind certain areas.

I wasn't too keen on the monster's design. A sort of Humanoid from the Deep crossed with a snake crossed with a spider and a snake... Meh. But I don't think any design would have lived up to my expectation of what it was going to be.

I was also thinking about how extremely long their trip to Coney Island was if there was still Coney Island footage at the end of the tape. And just how long was this piece of tape, anyway? Not to mention that the batteries lasted a long time... And cellphones usually don't work in subway stations, at least in my attempts at making calls in NY and Boston stations.

And I'm also wondering if Central Park was completely obliterated, how did the tape survive?

Cloverfield is the best B-movie in A-movie clothing I have ever seen. As iSm said, it was fun.

01-20-2008, 12:44 AM	#64
Gemini Cricket ... Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 13,244	I liked Cloverfield as well. The name Cloverfield was used in the text at the beginning of the film. I think it was a military code name for the tape. After the first 20 minutes, I got used to the shaky Hud-cam. I liked how the introduction of the monster with a big thud rocked everyone's world, including the audience's. Very effective. I often have gripes about the performances of actors in these kinds of disaster flicks. Often it seems that the stakes aren't high enough in their brains and give sort of hokey, dramatic performances that lack realism. I didn't worry about that in this film. It was very realistic, imho. One gripe that is GC once again beating a dead horse: ad placements. Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew, Nokia, Nokia, Nokia and Sephora, Sephora, Sephora... BLEH! When I was working at Paramount this summer, I got to see the New York sets trashed for this film. It was neat walking through it. Cars and buildings covered in dust and huge holes in the ground and green screens everywhere. Seeing it also answers my question that I hadn't seen any camera setups anywhere. One thing that did give away some of the monster for me was a huge footprint that was in the middle of the street. At first, I thought they were trying to revive Godzilla once again... Also, last summer, the words "Slusho" was everywhere. One of the characters was wearing a Slusho shirt. It was also the codename for the film on the lot. I'm glad they used a relatively unknown cast. It added to the documentary feel of the whole flick. I noticed a couple of could-be nods to old Japanese monster flicks. One, the main character going to Tokyo... and I believe in Rodan, the army was fighting what they thought was the big monster but was only fighting a bug that lived on Rodan... I was impressed with the special effects. Loved them. And, like in Spielberg's War of the Worlds, the filmmakers realized that a special effect doesn't need to be in-focus and dead center in a shot at all times. It can be out-of-focus and partially seen. I don't know if this is a sad revelation about me, but I love disaster films. I like post-apocalyptic films, monsters destroy city films and aliens attacking Earth films. Chaos is ichiban in my book. I'd buy this one. If just to pause and rewind certain areas. I wasn't too keen on the monster's design. A sort of Humanoid from the Deep crossed with a snake crossed with a spider and a snake... Meh. But I don't think any design would have lived up to my expectation of what it was going to be. I was also thinking about how extremely long their trip to Coney Island was if there was still Coney Island footage at the end of the tape. And just how long was this piece of tape, anyway? Not to mention that the batteries lasted a long time... And cellphones usually don't work in subway stations, at least in my attempts at making calls in NY and Boston stations. And I'm also wondering if Central Park was completely obliterated, how did the tape survive? Cloverfield is the best B-movie in A-movie clothing I have ever seen. As iSm said, it was fun.
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