Topic: Warrning: Cloverfeild is NOT a "Real" Monster movie!

[capamerica]

Just want to let everyone know that Cloverfeild was NOT a monster movie like so many people are going into it thinking.

I went into the movie expecting nothing, I stayed away from all interviews and reviews. The only media I saw for it were the trailers. I went in thinking it was going to be a monster movie (in the spirit of Godzilla) I was GRAVELY disappointed.

Might be a little tiny some what of a spoiler here:

Its more like a disaster movie with out the hero ending.
The filming style was cool, but if you get motion sick I recommend waiting for the video release.

The director did accomplish what he set out to do, he created a “monster” disaster movie from the perspective of the civilians. But the film had not closure or “happy” ending.
It was like 9/11 the movie from the view point of one of the people who died in the Twin Towers. You might think that is over exaggerating it, but its not. The movie was about a tragedy that hits New York, It just happen to be a monster attack.

If you are going to go see it, do not, I repeat DO NOT go into it thinking you are going to see a monster movie, what you are walking into is a disaster movie. Just like Armageddon, Dante's Peak, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Inferno, and Volcano. Minus the happy ending where the hero wins against the event.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I really want to see the movie, I wasn't expecting a monster movie either. From what I saw it looks like it is from the perspective of the people, and what it would be like if a monster was smashing the city from a person's point of view. Is that a fair perspective of it?

[NWR_pap64]

What I find weird is...if the movie is more about people surviving a disaster than it is about seeing a monster destroying everything in sight why have a monster create it?

I think they wanted to convey a more realistic disaster, like the end of the world, a terrorist attack or a war but felt the world is still hurting from 9/11 so they turned it into a monster movie.

[capamerica]

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Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix
I really want to see the movie, I wasn't expecting a monster movie either. From what I saw it looks like it is from the perspective of the people, and what it would be like if a monster was smashing the city from a person's point of view. Is that a fair perspective of it?

Ya thats kind of like it. But your really don't see alot of the monster, more of the aftermath.

My biggest problem with the movie was their was no ending, no hero, and no survivors.

[MaryJane]

I really didn't have any interest in the movie prior to reading what you said about it. I love the no happy ending The Mist wasn't too great a movie but everyone dies in the end, and when I saw the previews the first thing I said was the only way I'd enjoy that movie is if everyone dies, if a group of civilians are facing an interdimensional creature they've never encountered before they better damn well die because what the hell, they're civilians armed with a pistol (even if it was 2, 3 a shotgun whatever they're still "normal" people) *Do not read if you have not and plan to see The Mist* one dude actually killed everyone else so that they wouldn't be eaten by the monsters, and then he didn't have a bullet to kill himself and the military came with tanks and planes and sh*t and killed everything but I still liked the ending

Now I'm going to watch it on my laptop connected to t.v cuz I still doubt it's worth my $11 plus cost of Wendy's dollar menu items b4 movie in the near future.

[capamerica]

You'll like the movie.

This topic was more of a "just to let you know what your going to get your self into" topic on Cloverfeild.
I know there are people who are going to eat this movie up and love it. The thing is, I don't think this movie was correctly marketed to thouse people. When I saw the adds I thought I was going to see a modern version of the classic monsterr movies, but insted I got somthing totaly differnt.

[DAaaMan64]

I'd give this movie like a  C. It was totally formula.  The only almost a twist was the ending.  I mean you could have replaced the monster with any other unknown and done the same story.  Aliens/Zombies/Disease and gotten same story line we've heard a million times.  I mean there was even one of those scenes where the monster's offspring bit the smaller less willing to save the girl character, the military found out she got bitten and took her away and killed her violently and horrifically. You'd be lying if you hadn't seen a scene like that.  

Another thing I want to point out, black people are only 10% of the population, and Hollywood must thing all 10% of that is in the military.  Cause there was another one of those stereo typical yelling black guys.  lol

 
Anyway, my point basically is it is a completely formula disaster movie.  

[Svevan]

I'm with DAaaMan64 more than I am with CapAmerica; I really liked this movie's suspenseful, home video approach. However, it was TOO MUCH like a monster movie, in that there was TOO MUCH monster. Like, if a monster attacks New York, and you're running around New York for hours, how many times are you going to run into this thing and have it scream right in your face? THREE TIMES? Whatever. The best moments in this movie were when we saw the destruction of the city and the terror of the people. I guess that makes it more "disaster" than "monster" but I don't think these are disparate genres, and if they are, Lord of the Rings is the only recent "monster" movie I can think of. If you wanted this to be like the American Godzilla remake, then peeuw I'm glad it wasn't anything like that. This movie, in its best moments, reminded me of War of the Worlds in its best moments. (They also reminded me of the best bits of Children of Men, which had similar urban-terror sequences that were probably more powerful to the British than Americans.) The first hour of War of the Worlds has some aliens getting jiggy with humanity and big buildings, sure, but most of the film is from the perspective of people who have to deal with the destruction of their society. This means Darwinian struggles for survival, terror, mass evacuation, anarchy. People drew correlations to the holocaust, and I did too; Cloverfield's references to 9/11 were its best parts. The worst parts were when the monster showed up, just so the audience could get its CGI fix.

So to summarize, monster = masturbatory, shaky-cam violent psuedo-documentary about New York City post monster-attack = quality kinetic cinema.

Also the romantic subplot was too much of the story. In fact, I wanted this to be more like a home video and less like a movie that hits all the romantic/heroic plot points.

BTW, why does the hero have to win to make a movie good? Whatever, man.

I hope we see more of these Cloverfield movies from more perspectives; other stories told about the same event with a whole other cast of characters.

[EasyCure]

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Originally posted by: DAaaMan64


Another thing I want to point out, black people are only 10% of the population, and Hollywood must thing all 10% of that is in the military.  Cause there was another one of those stereo typical yelling black guys.  lol

For a movie based in NYC they sure didnt have that many black people... 1 was the military guy you mentioned and he was towards the end. The first one you see in the entire movie is seen looting a store. He runs right past the camera with a flat screen tv while all the other looters have only smaller objects. thats what i call f*cked up.

It pisses me off when movies do that, seriously. Ok so the main character lives in manhattan somewhere near central park. he throws a party and theres like not a single black person to be seen.. in manhattan!?? yet the second they use the bronx as a setting or generalize NYC's high crime areas, every Black extra you see is supposed to play some sorta thug as if thats ALL they are.

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I hope we see more of these Cloverfield movies from more perspectives; other stories told about the same event with a whole other cast of characters.

i read somewhere that the director would do just that if he chose to do a sequel. the same events but from other peoples perspectives

[that Baby guy]

Well, I liked it.  To me, it was really a movie experience unlike one I had seen before.  Maybe it was similar to the Blair-Witch Project, I never saw that.

The hand-camera really added something I didn't expect.  It really had me feeling like I was almost there, in a way I've never felt with movies before.  I jumped back when I saw something snap at someone, not because I didn't see it coming, just about any time there was I surprise, I expected it, but rather, because I felt like it was attacking me or my friends.  No movie before has made me think that way.

Then I got to thinking--If Disaster: Day of Crisis can replicate that feeling in any way, it'll be amazing.

Beyond that, I think we feel it's cliche because there are games out there that do similar things to this movie.  Bioshock, Halo, Resident Evil, and more create these types of scenarios, though usually not as grand.  However, for me, there was a difference:  In a game, I can do something to save my character.  In this movie, no one was armed for long lengths of time, they were helpless and vulnerable.  One little monster could ruin it, unlike where you can easily dispose of tons of enemies in the games that would be like this.

[MaryJane]

Dont read my post if you don't want spoilers I'm not sober atm and am far too lazy to do to spoiler tags.

I liked this movie a lot I watched it last night and passed out immediately after the screen went black which is saying something. It kept me awake. I only had two problems with the movie 1. The camera, I know some of you liked this tactic but I prefer it to just be shot "normally" I just find it to be so restricting, one character is never seen you get blurred out shots, missing action, I just want to see the movie, and my second problem with it 2. is the love story which also detracted from the main plot and in some cases broke into it and took you away from the main action, again, I just want to see the movie, I dont want all that extra crap, pull me in with the plot, acting, and action (in that order cuz not all movies have action of course) not cheap tricks.

I didn't think the amount of times they caught up with monster was overdone, the monster went where the people were, when they initially ran away the monster chased them, then they hid and it caught up with them, they ran back to where they came from and met it again. It seemed plausible to me.

Oh I just remembered, I also didn't like that they all survived the helicopter crash and could walk afterwards, no missing limbs, broken bones, nope they all get up and walk away. I did like the ending though, I just wish they had like gotten tangled up in dead power lines and slowed down and possible fall into the river or mud patch close by, something to more to explain why they survived the crash, unless I missed it, I was fighting sleep pretty hard at this point.

Oh and I've mentioned before that I am black and you know what? Maybe I'm just numb but it really doesn't bother me anymore, I used to live in the Bronx, and I've still been to parties where I was the only black guy there. Idk, for me I just take a movie how it's presented and not worry about things like that, because in the end what's it going to do for me? I enjoyed the movie and the lack of good representation of black people wasn't an issue to me it really didn't have anything to do with the story, there where white people looting too, I'm glad the black guy had the t.v it means he was stronger and smarter no but really I think it's a non-issue.

[EasyCure]

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane
Dont read my post if you don't want spoilers I'm not sober atm and am far too lazy to do to spoiler tags.



I liked this movie a lot I watched it last night and passed out immediately after the screen went black which is saying something. It kept me awake. I only had two problems with the movie 1. The camera, I know some of you liked this tactic but I prefer it to just be shot "normally" I just find it to be so restricting, one character is never seen you get blurred out shots, missing action, I just want to see the movie, and my second problem with it 2. is the love story which also detracted from the main plot and in some cases broke into it and took you away from the main action, again, I just want to see the movie, I dont want all that extra crap, pull me in with the plot, acting, and action (in that order cuz not all movies have action of course) not cheap tricks.



I didn't think the amount of times they caught up with monster was overdone, the monster went where the people were, when they initially ran away the monster chased them, then they hid and it caught up with them, they ran back to where they came from and met it again. It seemed plausible to me.



Oh I just remembered, I also didn't like that they all survived the helicopter crash and could walk afterwards, no missing limbs, broken bones, nope they all get up and walk away. I did like the ending though, I just wish they had like gotten tangled up in dead power lines and slowed down and possible fall into the river or mud patch close by, something to more to explain why they survived the crash, unless I missed it, I was fighting sleep pretty hard at this point.



Oh and I've mentioned before that I am black and you know what? Maybe I'm just numb but it really doesn't bother me anymore, I used to live in the Bronx, and I've still been to parties where I was the only black guy there. Idk, for me I just take a movie how it's presented and not worry about things like that, because in the end what's it going to do for me? I enjoyed the movie and the lack of good representation of black people wasn't an issue to me it really didn't have anything to do with the story, there where white people looting too, I'm glad the black guy had the t.v it means he was stronger and smarter no but really I think it's a non-issue.

most coherent drunk post evar

[Tanookisuit]

I loved it.

[MaryJane]

Umm, alcohol isn't really my drug of choice... hence the name.

[EasyCure]

i didnt even think of that. when i think of sober i think of "opposite of drunk" it didnt even come to mind that you were on something else.. mainly cuz i didnt see it was you who posted.

(i dont pay that much attention to who writes what lol)