Saturday, January 19, 2008

Cloverfield

So I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this movie forever. And when I say forever I mean, since I heard about it, which seems like forever ago. One of the few highlights/perks about living in LA has got to be the Mann's Chinese Theater. Not only did we get to see a sold out show with hundreds of other die hards, but there were celebs in attendance! Edgar Wright (director of SHAUN OF THE DEAD), Eli Roth (director of CABIN FEVER) and Diablo Cody (Writer of JUNO) were seen hanging out and saving seats. Also, just two rows behind us - that guy who played Tom Jeter from STUDIO 60! So beat that crappy AMC somewhere in the middle of Illinois! Ahem, but the real stars of the night were sitting in the seats next and behind us - the Bad Robot crew themselves! Shawna and I were invited by my friend (also the Associate Producer - ooh la la!) to join a bunch of them to see the film together. So what was already panning out to be the best evening ever was enhanced by our geek estrogen in love with all of these guys. I can't tell you the little hints and secrets here and there that we were privy to, but needless to say, all of these guys are cool and uber talented.

So the movie. Oh first - we got to see the STAR TREK trailer which rocked - a very origin story feeling with shots of the Enterprise at the futuristic Midas getting it's brake pads repaired. But again, I digress. The movie. Although some may get overly dizzy from motion sickness (ahem, my boyfriend), some of us were unfazed by the shaky cam and too enthralled with the death and destruction to be bothered. However, I was disturbed by one glaring problem with the film - The monster has feelings too people!

I mean, he gets shot down by a meteorite (watch for it in the end) not only onto a strange new planet, but in downtown Manhattan - of course he was scared! Are we supposed to judge his erratic behaviour as anything more than what Britney Spears gets away with on any given afternoon on the Los Angeles freeways? The monster was simply trying to get back to the apartment building of the girl of his dreams. He just got a bit lost in between all the similar looking architecture and skyscrapers! This is really a story of two men on the search for love - one man, one monster, one woman. At the end, when finally almost back to Central Park, the stupid human man gets to the girl first when we all know the monster could have easily pulled her out of the toppling building with much more efficiency and safety. And then there's the military - back off ok? I'm pretty sure you guys were just making it worse. A slew of projectile missiles went veering into the buildings no where near the GIANT monster - where did you guys learn to aim? And besides, you're just ticking him off, literally! All those little tick like monsters that fell off - they were not happy either I'm sure. So when we all sit and cheer for the demise of a poor little monster stuck in the middle of a congested city, I think we all need to stop and reanalyze our priorities.

But in all seriousness this movie is a great fun super ride that is short and sweet and full of scares! It even features great homages (intentional?) to GHOSTBUSTERS when the small group walk 30 some odd flights of stairs to reach one of their would be girlfriend's apartments. There were 22 flights to be exact in GHOSTBUSTERS, but the exhaustion was no doubt similar. The monster was destroying New York willy nilly in the same vein of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man, only lacked the grin and a sailor boy hat - actually he was pretty grumpy and accessory free.

All in all, a great Monster movie from the fleeing hoard perspective. Take a Dramamine, get some popcorn, and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I just figured out what Cloverfield actually means. It's the name of the technology that allows for a consumer grade video camera to withstand both nuclear bombs and squid monster saliva.