C L O V E R F I E L D

[the mongoose]

Does anyone else think that it's insane that NO ONE has leaked any pics of the monster or a detailed plot synopsis? They have done an outstanding job of keeping a tight lock on it all. Bravo Paramount.;)

Can't wait to check this out finally....:cool:

[Sean]

Does anyone else think that it's insane that NO ONE has leaked any pics of the monster or a detailed plot synopsis? They have done an outstanding job of keeping a tight lock on it all. Bravo Paramount.;)

Can't wait to check this out finally....:cool:It is pretty damn impressive considering how many people had to have worked on it.

[mmm skyscraper]

of course they might never show the monster in the movie

[b.miller]

...or if instead of a monster it's a plague...


...and Will Smith is in it...

[third.toughest]

Will Smith is a plague!!!!!:D :p :D

[grady]

I remember reading on a blog last summer about the design of the monster being as such that the entire film could be shot without having a final design, specifically to keep it under wraps, but also because producer JJ Abrams had yet to decide on a final visage for the beastie. But then we also might never see the thing in a shot, just glimpses scattered here and there as it wrecks havoc and CG mayhem all about Manhattan.

[the mongoose]

Harry Knowles of AICN saw it last night and said that the monster is a grayish, yellowish off white four legged beast with eyes that look like the dead horse in Animal House. Said he had a hard time describing it b/c it doesn't look like any other movie creature.:cool:

[GforGroove]

i want to see it so much.

[gillenium]

Why would anybody want to know what it looks like? Isn't the surprise part of the fun of a movie?

All this pre-movie buzz is killing movies for me nowadays.

[King of Snake]

the trailers i've seen for this look pretty hot.

[Stephen]

I think this looks good. Looks like it might actually be scary even if it is in a 'perillous' way.

[Jafs]

Show-not show is the Abrams speciallity.

So, not particularly surprised about the monster. However, I'm really awaiting this movie !

[holden]

There are some conjectural spoilers of the monster on YouTube. Still, the less you see, sometimes, the better/scarier.
E.g. the first "Alien" and even "Signs" freaked me out for this reason.

The effort to make up a back story and the viral marketing strikes me as this millenium's "Blair Witch Project". Of course, once that movie came out and totally blew, the magic was gone.
Still, i'm excited for Cloverfield to come out!

[Bargo]

Saw it today, holy shiiiiiit. This movie may not have much of a point, but it doesn't need one, it's just one hell of a ride. I left the cinema with nerves trembling. The whole thing was nothing short of exhilerating. I really don't know what other review cliches I can say, it was just really, really, really good.

Plot-wise there are numerous moments where some of the actions and decisions of the main characters would leave me thinking "oh come ON that is bullshit", but then it would be followed by some phenomenal piece of action and that made it all better. :o

One to definitely see in the cinemas, don't let your first experience of it be on DVD.

[Winston]

counting the days....

[GforGroove]

argh.. it was sold out EVERYWHERE in this freakign city!!.
anyway i ended up watching "There will be blood"
(so good)
il try to catch it tomorrow.

[gillenium]

It was an amazing movie! Although it is more of a thrill ride than an actual film.

A bunch of people in my audience boo'd the ending. I think they might be stupid, because I thought the ending was perfect... What are people expecting from this flick, exactly?

SCARY!

[Scott Warner]

Well I'm not stupid enough to boo but I am dumb enough not to have had a good time. :) I found this movie pretty annoying overall.

[EuroZeroZero]

I dont wanna go through the thread in case of spoilers. but can anyone tell me exactly how bad the shakycam is? bourne made me sick.

[gillenium]

It bothers some people more than others. It didn't bother me at all, but some kids were complaining about it on the way out. I thought it added to the movie a lot. By the way, I hated the Bourne super-shake cam, too.

[Ally]

"Signs"


Absolutely! At the bit when you see a grainy glimpse of one walking past the window during the kid's party I actually leapt up and gave it "waaahh!" :D

Hadn't even heard of Cloverfield until I got turned into a wreck by the trailer when I went to see Aliens vs Predator last night, looks great.

[Scott Warner]

but can anyone tell me exactly how bad the shakycam is?
It's part of the point of the movie so it's pretty shakey the whole way through.

[Sarcasmo]

It's part of the point of the movie so it's pretty shakey the whole way through.

Saw this last night, and I'm still on the fence on it. I left kinda shaky, but that was because the camera work gave me motion sickness. Any scene where these kids were running made me want to close my eyes.

Another thing, the cameraman's voice got really really annoying in a hurry. I understand that this is supposed to feel like amateur video during an actual disaster, but hearing his voice scream the same thing over and over into the tinny mic made me want to punch my eardrums with a sharpened pencil.

I gotta give the movie props on a few things though. One: The no-name actors actually did very well. Two: The pacing was excellent. Three: The movie's budget was around 30 million dollars, which is incredibly impressive considering it's scope. This movie is going to turn a huge profit, and it's going to show that hollywood can make a quality film without a bloated budget and stacked cast.

[the mongoose]

*******FULL ON SPOILER MODE BEWARE********

Not digging the monster, a stupid fish/frog/lizard thing.....he/she/it is just not scary or interesting in any way. I was shocked at how bad the effects were (with the exception of the Subway attack) and how little screen time the monster had (4 minutes).
The whole movie is only an hour and 10 minutes long and even that felt like an eternity with these unlikeable Tommy Hillfiger fucks holding the camera and saying dumb shit. Glad they all died!:D
B movie marketed like an A movie.:(

I did enjoy some parts of it though:
the subway attack and the results of that bite
the military going up the street scene
the "trailer sequence"
the nod to Godzilla with the tank vs. monster foot
some of the 3rd wall camera trickery stuff.

[cacophony]

I left kinda shaky, but that was because the camera work gave me motion sickness. Any scene where these kids were running made me want to close my eyes.

oh man, me too. i haven't had motion sickness from a movie since dancer in the dark but this was like 10 times as bad. i actually had to leave the theater at one point because i thought i was going to barf. then when i came back i ended up watching the rest with my hand blocking the screen and fixated on a stable point on the floor so my stomach wouldn't empty its contents.

i told my husband on the way out, "that was the best movie i didn't see."

i enjoyed the movie itself, what i heard and the snippets i was able to watch. i just think i would be happier watching it in my living room with enough stable environment in my peripheral vision to keep my stomach calm.

[the mongoose]

This is the actual look of the monster in the film (but the concept art here looks ten times cooler than the random glimpses you see in the film):

Click (spoiler pic beware) (http://i2.tinypic.com/6y3w9zp.jpg)

[joethelion]

so basically....


all this is - is just what you'd get if you crossed "The Blair Witch Project" with "Godzilla" then... right?

the more I see previews for the film, the less I'm inclined to see it
...as I thought Blair Witch was possibly the most pointless movie I've ever seen

...oh no wait... the sequel to that movie was the most pointless - but you still catch my drift

[holden]

Before the release date, with the details of the "plot" and monster still hidden, i did a little surfing of the viral websites attached to the film, e.g. "Slusho" frozen drinks, Tagruato exploration, TidoWave environmental activists, JamieAndTeddy.com
(you can find links and read more here:
http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/ )

In this respect, building the backstory on the internet is interesting and enjoyable to be able to make some sense out of the movie, which doesn't give you a lot of explanation. Too bad they didn't work more of this back story in...maybe they're waiting for the sequel!

[the mongoose]

all this is - is just what you'd get if you crossed "The Blair Witch Project" with "Godzilla" then... right?


Right. A seventy minute Blair Witch with 4 minutes of monster that makes Godzilla seem scary again.:(

Some parts are wicked and really well done, but other than a few moments, it's a boring tour around New York with some yuppie scumbags who do dumb stuff like run into collapsing buildings....:rolleyes:

[stimpee]

How to make your dirty spoiler tags (http://www.darktrain.org/dirty/forums/showthread.php?t=4298)

[IsiliRunite]

It's not like Godzilla as much as it is the Jurassic Park theme park ride.

[cured]

I really enjoyed the movie. With all the warnings of the shaky cam, we sat in the very back of the theater and it wasn't too bad. Loved it. Gave a very drawn-in feel to the movie and you knew just enough about the characters to understand the motivations for doing what they did. The monster was pretty nice, too.

[GforGroove]

worst movie i've seen in a while.
the background is sort of itneresting but is totally blown away not by the monster.. but by the stupidity of the characters.

" MOM. is jason is dead" hahaah.... I spend the whole movie laughing crazy... is so stupid you cant get excited...

i still can't believe how bad it is....

[potatobroth]

i liked it a lot. did you expect a literary masterpiece adapted for film? fuck no, you expect to see a big monster eat a city as seen through the POV of a video camera. its not a top-10 movie for me, but it was certainly fun and worth the admission price.

[Stephen]

Just seen this and I thought it was great.

[Scott Warner]

did you expect a literary masterpiece adapted for film? I see this opinion a lot in defense of this film: "What did you expect?"

Have you ever seen 'Alien'? That's what I expect. There's the bar. To paraphrase Ridley Scott, a low budget but well crafted b-movie.

Or more specifically, I care when every single character in 'Alien' dies because all of them are likable in their own ways. In 'Cloverfield' I could care less because none of the characters are likable at all. It is story development 101: I HAVE TO CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS IN ORDER TO CARE ABOUT THEIR PROBLEMS.

[GforGroove]

did you expect a literary masterpiece adapted for film? fuck no, you expect to see a big monster eat a city as seen through the POV of a video camera.
No, but at least give me a good POV camera view. You can play video games if you want to see things blow, mosters eating cities and just a robot with no brains running.. and it makes way more sense. This movie does not make sense at all. I think this "videogamish" format is kind of interesting in film though..videogame to screenplay. but im not sure if its that entertaining.. 11.50 for admission for a cheap comedy has never been cool with me.
cloverfield super sucks.

[potatobroth]

I see this opinion a lot in defense of this film: "What did you expect?"

Have you ever seen 'Alien'? That's what I expect. There's the bar. To paraphrase Ridley Scott, a low budget but well crafted b-movie.

Or more specifically, I care when every single character in 'Alien' dies because all of them are likable in their own ways. In 'Cloverfield' I could care less because none of the characters are likable at all. It is story development 101: I HAVE TO CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS IN ORDER TO CARE ABOUT THEIR PROBLEMS.
Yeah, it was a cheesey defense, but I wasn't really defending the movie. I know a lot of people that hated it and their reasons are spot on. Its not a great movie, but it was still really enjoyable for me. Its the same reason I love horribly stupid horror movies or disaster movies, sometimes its just fun to watch things that could never happen.

I didn't feel bad about the characters because this is a 1.25 hour blurry destruction movie. Its not like Magnolia where I cry for each character's dilemas. It's not like Alien where I hold my breath worrying about the feelings of the crew as their friend dies from an alien bursting out their stomach. And although the only time I felt bad in CLOVERFIELD was when Marlena died, I still enjoyed the movie a lot.

Enjoyable doesn't always have to equal good. There are plenty of movies that I enjoy watching but when broken down, are just not good movies.

This movie wouldn't have worked for me if it was shot traditionally. I've thought about this and came to that conclusion. What makes it fun for me is the dizzying glimpses and losing-battle aspect.

@Gof
What doesn't make sense? Rather, I thought a large part of this movie was that you didn't know where it came from, why its there, and what it's doing outside of when the 5 kids interact with it. Making sense doesn't factor in when you aren't being told details. That was a nice touch I thought. Rather than having some mega-scientist giving a 10 minute diatribe on where it came from and how to defeat it, it added to a faux realism for the video camera. Again, its not a GOOD movie, but its a FUN movie and one I would recommend for that reason alone.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Spirits In the Material World

[Ally]

I thought it was wicked - the most thoroughly entertained I've been in the cinema in a long time. I did well to avoid all exposure to it in the week from when I first saw the trailer cme out at me from left field to going to see the midnight showing. As such everything was a surprise to me, I nearly lost my shit when you saw the things falling off it... Five stars.

[Scott Warner]

Its not like Magnolia where I cry for each character's dilemas. You mean you didn't want them to include Marlena's sexually abusive father in there, who tries to kill himself but fails to do so because the monster slaps the gun out of his hand? :)

I think we often think of good writing as something that is confined to serious movies but it's not - it's the reason movies like 'Old School', 'Back to the Future' and 'Knocked Up' are awesome too. If you don't have a quality script you often have an empty exercise that has to have other things to distract people from that deficit (e.g. big froggy monster, Jessica Simpson's boobs, "From the Producer Of something much better", etc.)

[GforGroove]

@Gof
What doesn't make sense? Rather, I thought a large part of this movie was that you didn't know where it came from, why its there, and what it's doing outside of when the 5 kids interact with it. Making sense doesn't factor in when you aren't being told details. That was a nice touch I thought. Rather than having some mega-scientist giving a 10 minute diatribe on where it came from and how to defeat it, it added to a faux realism for the video camera. Again, its not a GOOD movie, but its a FUN movie and one I would recommend for that reason alone.
Yup. When we got out of the threatre we were talkign about how good might be if there were no characters in the front or they were just running around and escaping from the monster without trying to give any emotional reaction to this activity ha. Just the activity of run from the moster would be awesome.. but no, they prefered to make them feel moved about surviving and give hints about the power of love haha..
The kids dont interact with anything... they dont make sense. The only true thing is that this is the kind of people that lives in Manhattan :D

the camera is far from realistic!!!! that pissed me off too. Staged naturality is so tasteless.

sorry potato.. no way i understand why they did this. Pointless and expensive. and i love disaster movies and exlosions in manhattan.. but this was ridiculous!.

off from cloverfield thread.

[potatobroth]

You mean you didn't want them to include Marlena's sexually abusive father in there, who tries to kill himself but fails to do so because the monster slaps the gun out of his hand? :)

I think we often think of good writing as something that is confined to serious movies but it's not - it's the reason movies like 'Old School', 'Back to the Future' and 'Knocked Up' are awesome too. If you don't have a quality script you often have an empty exercise that has to have other things to distract people from that deficit (e.g. big froggy monster, Jessica Simpson's boobs, "From the Producer Of something much better", etc.)
Right, and I've never said otherwise. Superbad is one of my favorite movie in recent years because of how well it was written and how fresh and non-formulaic the jokes were.

But a movie can still be good enough regardless. It wasn't on as low a level of Meet the Spartans and clearly wasn't in the same league as Magnolia or Back to the Future. But it was good enough that I was immersed in the idiotic story mainly because the camera was immersed as well. Like I said, had this been done traditionally it would have been more like The Day After Tomorrow, which I thought was boring and contrived. Cloverfield was good enough in its acting and good enough in its framing that it made me want to find out how it would conclude. And while I wasn't holding back tears for Jason or Marlena or Hud, I wasn't laughing either. I just said, ok, so that's how it went down.

[Lx_Nen]

Does anyone else think that it's insane that NO ONE has leaked any pics of the monster or a detailed plot synopsis? They have done an outstanding job of keeping a tight lock on it all. Bravo Paramount.;)

Can't wait to check this out finally....:cool:

Well, having seen it, it's painfully obvious why nobody leaked the plot.

[potatobroth]

i just watched this again at home and I actually liked it more. I know I'm a hypocrit for typically panning movies that aren't all there, but this for some reason, I really like watching this flick.

[gillenium]

Well, it's more of a ride than a movie. It's hard to critisize a rollercoaster for being thin on plot.

[Professor]

no one has answered the question... where DID this thing come from? in the special features of the dvd, they mention that it's an infant, and it's just rambling around the city scared. also, wtf happened to marlena? did the parasites put parasites in her by that bite? did they shoot her? did her chest explode like alien? why is the monster there in the first place? why is it called cloverfield?

there were moments of good tension. the tunnel scenes were intense. large scale panic on an island is kinda scary. the love story was stupid. the hand held camera was annoying, but I was ready for that.

[BeautifulBurnout]

I saw this a coupla weeks back and really enjoyed it, whereas my husband (who is a huge sci-fi fan) was thoroughly bored throughout.

Discussing it afterwards his main complaint was that it was a film that "only had a middle", no beginning or end. But I think that is precisely what I liked about it so much.

We never know where it came from, what it is, what happens to it because that is not what the film is about. That is almost irrelevant, because the film, to me, is about how people - friends and acquaintances - react to an extraordinary world-shattering event. The event could have been anything at all.

[qirex]

no one has answered the question... where DID this thing come from?
I didn't read this thread, but, in the last scene of the movie where it cuts back to them on the ferris wheel you can see, in the distance, the monster falling from the sky into the ocean.

[kagenaki koe]

no one has answered the question... where DID this thing come from? in the special features of the dvd, they mention that it's an infant, and it's just rambling around the city scared. also, wtf happened to marlena? did the parasites put parasites in her by that bite? did they shoot her? did her chest explode like alien? why is the monster there in the first place? why is it called cloverfield?

I smell a sequel.

[negative1]

there was a prequel on the way..

its on hold now..

Judging from the interview, any sequel for the monster movie (http://www.mania.com/cloverfield-2-hold-300-prequel-coming_article_58808.html#) is definitely on hold until they (Reeves and producer J.J Abrams) come up with an idea that is fresh and unique in their eyes. A reporter even asked in the video interview whether they a prequel or a sequel shot by steady cam would work but he wouldn't budge on the issue.

http://www.mania.com/cloverfield-2-hold-300-prequel-coming_article_58808.html

later
-1

[Sean]

I didn't read this thread, but, in the last scene of the movie where it cuts back to them on the ferris wheel you can see, in the distance, the monster falling from the sky into the ocean.Seriously? The wife and I rented it, and I was hoping to see something, ANYthing like that, but totally missed it. Next time I see the movie, I'll watch for that.

[potatobroth]

Seriously? The wife and I rented it, and I was hoping to see something, ANYthing like that, but totally missed it. Next time I see the movie, I'll watch for that.

yup, its there alright. I didn't see it in the theaters, but on the DVD/onDemand its clear as day. something takes a massive fall right into the ocean. its while they are on the ferris wheel saying, "it was a good day."