Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman

Directed by: Matt Reeves

Paramount Pictures

The Official Site of Cloverfield

Discuss Cloverfield on the boards!

It doesn’t seem so long since J.J. Abram’s shaking name in that unnamed teaser rolled the Statue of Liberty’s battered head into our lives. Such a terrifyingly perfect way to introduce a movie to the masses. That trailer was so good that there were more people talking about the movie with no name then the movie they actually went to see that night. And that was a movie about. cars turning into robots and shooting each other.

We had no idea what to make of this mystery teaser featuring a going away party rudely interrupted by a roars and explosions in the distance, and a collective onslaught of nerds everywhere scoured the Internet looking for answers, clues, a title, ANYTHING! With only pictures and a release date to be found most of us had to give up the search and be content with months and months of speculation.

So it’s not Godzilla but it might be this thing or something else… That’s basically how the end of the summer went in regards to Cloverfield. Besides the reveal of the poster at Comic Con all we had to hang on to is our own expectations. The perfect thing to ruin the movie when it would eventually come out.

Thankfully what showed up this weekend was a shaky camera, some good looking, believable characters, and yes – a pretty good look at the monster. After months of waiting we were given a few answers and told a pretty entertaining tale about survival and friendship.

Normally in a proper monster movie you could take or leave the victims. Those disposable life forms running for their lives are the least interesting part of the story, and why not? They’re being attacked by a giant abomination of nature! In Cloverfield the characters are pushed to the foreground and we’re forced to follow them until we inevitably become more interested in their quest to save a fallen friend then the armies quest to stop the thing that knocked the building on top of that friend in the first place.

And their story is well told. Scary at times, hopeful at times, completely (exploding blood packs) shocking at times… but that’s what makes for a great movie, monster or no monster. The fact that there is an ever-present threat all around them threatening to eat/squish them only adds to excitement.

In a movie like this the camera becomes a character of its own. Perhaps the most important character since we only see what the man behind it decides we should see. And in a cast of unknowns I was shocked that I actually recognized this guy in one of the few moments he points the camera at himself. His name is T.J. Miller and his character Hud, embraces the same innocence and lovability as the character he plays on ABC’s Carpoolers, Marmaduke. It was great to see him in a huge Hollywood movie and after his performance I know what I’m getting him for Christmas! …A tripod. It’s true that the shaky camera is constantly a factor but you know what? You kind of get used to it. Wisely, the filmmakers make sure that the frame focuses on the things you need to pay attention to when you need to pay attention to them. There were more than a couple of times though that I just wish I could have pushed the lens three inches to the right.

A lot more is being made of the cameras battery lasting throughout the night, but as I’m sure someone on the whatever message board you complain about this stuff on has already pointed out to you, Hud wasn’t filming the whole night. The movie itself was only 84 minutes long, so it stands to reason that the camera was constantly being turned on and off during the adventure. Still, Rob’s phone dies like twice…

Even if it’s told from another perspective, Cloverfield is still a monster movie and they are good enough to share a few glancing images of him from time to time throughout the night. But how much do they show? You definitely get one or two good looks. One or two moments where the camera rests on Cloverfield and as soon as it does your eyes will dart back and forth trying to take it all in. It’s not Godzilla, it’s not… whatever that whale/slug hybrid thing is… It’s Cloverfield. Abrams, screenwriter Drew Goddard and director Matt Reeves have given life to their own original creation, and as a result of a brilliant marketing campaign and following through with a quality product, America may have its own Godzilla now. No more sloppy seconds in being stepped on.

As much as they show of Cloverfield in the movie there were times, even as the beast was staring me in the eye, that I still had trouble making out what was what. There are some conceptual drawing online now that shed some light on Cloverfield’s complete form but seriously – don’t look at them if you don’t want that first moment you see him to be ruined. That’s half the fun!

Speaking of knowing too much about the movie… the ending of the film has already become controversial and I won’t answer any questions other than to say that the movie doesn’t answer that many either. A lot of what happens is left up to your imagination, something that, my audience at least, did not respond to well at all. As rumblings of “That was it!?� and “I want my money back!� grew within the theater I couldn’t help but think of No Country for Old Men which suffered a similar response. And I couldn’t help but think it deserved the same reaction. “That’s the point of the movie.�

While I understand the ending and the concept of a movie told form this perspective, part of me can’t help but want to know more. People inherently want answers, and after 6 months of speculations, I can’t lie – it would have been awesome to get some closure with so many of the questions that sprung up. I’m certain that in the long run I’ll appreciate Cloverfield’s brave approach, embracing the characters and their reaction to a disaster like this. But right now, I feel like I was watching the wrong end of a really good monster movie. And honestly, I think THAT’S the point. It’s not a movie about a monster attack. It’s a movie about the people trying to survive one.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 - Ultimately we didn’t get answers to all the questions we were able to think up in the 6 months since the trailer first hit, but Cloverfield proved to be a thrilling experience none the less. This unique telling is a must for the big screen, so quit slacking and get to it!

I’m totally on the fence right now. If I bought it today I’d be buying it for answers. For a better understanding of where this monster came from actually and creatively. Even at the cost of ruining the movie – I just kinda want to know. Or better yet, I want more clues.

The commentary is more likely to point out what we missed in the films. Clues to help getting the answers instead of just feeding us the answers straight out. In the long run that’s better. But is the movie worth it for the movie alone? I had a blast going on the adventure with this group of people but I couldn’t say for sure if it would be just as exciting or entertaining the second time around. I don’t know… Ask me again in 2 months and you’ll probably get a more sound answer.

There’s a lot of Cloverfield footage online worth linking to. From the Slusho web site to the floating pictures at 1-18-08.com to the Manga comic origin story for the monster (Follow the link and click the blue box marked open, unless you can’t read Japanese. Then be prepared to be confused.) there has been plenty over the last few weeks for us all to sink our teeth into.

But for me the most interesting tease of the bunch has got to be the faux news report of an oil rig disaster in the middle of the ocean. Done up with the same level of visual effects and air of mystery, the clip perfectly sets the stage and raises the level of anticipation. After all nothing says, “something big is coming� like the sudden and violent sinking of a rig off the shore of Connecticut.

If you find any other goodies related to the site please feel free to share them with me and the rest of the Pimp community in this thread on the boards. Thanks!

My wife and I are unapologetic Felicity fans. J.J. Abram’s first big hit on TV (co created by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves) started out as a flighty, overly dramatic, teen soap opera on the very young WB Network. I managed for years to avoid it with no problem until a Yeo insisted on turning on a two-hour block of the show every night just before bed. (Damn you Oxygen Network!)

As hard as I tried to bury myself in my comic books or video games it was inevitable. I was hooked. Felicity is a beautifully written love story that’s engaging and charming in thousands of ways. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Truth be told, Yeo is kind of upset at me for today’s comic because she firmly believes that Felicity should have ended up with Ben (Spoiler alert! – she does) but it didn’t work. I needed the conflict. She seemed pretty content on the cursing though.

I think that was ok because she’s just as upset in real life as she is in the comic. After 6 months of secrecy she became jaded. About a week ago she realized how close we were to the release date of Cloverfield and how we still didn’t really know all that much about what’s supposed to be going on. With that she decided she just didn’t care anymore.

And you know what? I’m sure she’s not alone. Internet buzz and months of waiting can kill the best movies and I hope that Cloverfield can survive the weekend. I’m sure it will. I’m also sure that once Yeo wakes up in the morning she’ll want to know exactly what the hell the monster was and how much of it they showed. Curiosity always trumps bitterness.

Star Trek - The quality sucks but you can check out the Star Trek teaser that came before Cloverfield here. It doesn’t matter so much that the quality is poor because there’s really not that much to see yet. Nor should there be. The movies not slated to hit theatres until Christmas this year so we’ve got a solid 11 and a half months to spoil this movie for ourselves with set pictures, leaked scripts and all the rest.

Still I couldn’t help but want to see something. The crew in uniform, old Spock reminiscing about the good old days… something more than welders working on the bones of the Enterprise. Is that too much to ask for!? Patience, Joe… 11 months. That’s a long time. There’s bound to be something impressive between now and then. Regardless, were the Cloverfield teaser had us speculating with anticipation, talking about the 3 minute clip over the movie it proceeded, the Star Trek teaser isn’t distracting us from anything. Let’s hope that changes.

This review was a tough one for me. After thinking about the movie for a few days and actively discussing it on the boards I’ve become very frustrated with certain aspects of it. I feel like in this review I was barely able to touch on some of the larger reactions and influences and… well, there’s just a lot to say. Anyway, I’m sure we’ll be talking about it at length on tonight’s Triple Feature as well as 27 Dresses and the weekends other big releases. Be sure to stop by tonight at 10pm to here all the juicy tidbits.

Also today, Turtlevsbunny rolls on. Check out a larger version of that sweet monster movie themed Bunny I did for this weekend’s Cloverfield release.

And that’s it for now, but I have a few other comics lined up so be sure to stop by tomorrow for some fresh stuff.