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Film : Cloverfield


Ackey

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Title : Cloverfield

Director : Matt Reeves (Nothing of note)

Producer : JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias)

Stars : No one of note

Budget : $25 million (estimate)

Plot : Something attacks New York city. Entire film is "first person" from the perspective of the video camera carried by a collection of 30 somethings.

 

Review:

I will have to be brief. Simply because words can't describe this film. It will become a classic. A film to be studied, by art students and wannabe directors for decades to come. It's potentially going to change Hollywood. I walked out of the cinema, for the first time I can remember, totally unable to express what I'd seen.

 

I want to tell the world to see this film. It's Marmite, that's for sure, some of you will hate it with a passion, some will be sick, some (those with Epilepsy) will be very, VERY ill because of it.

 

The entire film is shot on handheld camera, which belongs to a collection of 20somethings who all live in New York. The story follows their attempts to escape the carnage and horror which enthrals new york when it's attacked... by something (I wont give the game away).

 

It's fantastic... and I'm rambling because without spoilers it's hard to explain why!!!

 

Rating : 9.5/10

The only fault I have with the film is that it's first 15 minutes, where you are introduced to the characters is a little drawn out and lacking in depth at times. Also, the camera (once the carnage begins) is justifyably shaky. However during these early scenes it looks like Michael J Fox has hold of the damn thing. If someone filmed my party like that I'd go mental at them. Annoying. But you soon forget about it.

 

Phenomenal. Breathtaking. Sickening. Shocking.

 

See this film as soon as you physically can!!!

 

21080.jpg

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Something else about this picture is that it's a snappy 80 minute film - so it races along...

Very true. And once you see it and the way it's shot you will be greatful it's not longer! Or you might get to see your popcorn again! :)

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Now I watch a lot of fims... and evey now and again you get film that genuinely redifines the boundaries of what cinema is all about - The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, Jurrasic park, LOTR - all examples of fims that sit you down, whack your senses about carelessley, then chew you up and spit you out at the end... feeling you have genuinely witnessed something historic in the world of film...

 

Cloverfield for me - is simply THE BEST event film ever made - I have geekily followed the story of this movie for months now, and very rarely when something sounds so new, does a film actually deliver what it promises - and much much more... Cloverfield is absolutely stunning... 80 minutes of perfect terrifying action, that you simply have to see for yourself - as Ack says you really cant tell too much about it or it gets spoiled - you have to go and experience it..

 

The thing that really suprised me was how atmospheric, terrifying, and downright disturbing this fim is - I am not easily scared, however this fim made me genuinely uneasy - I love fims that challenge me.... this is one of the most challenging and disturbing things ever committed to film - magnificent...

 

Thought I would quote Empire's review - as it sums it up perfectly...

 

There will be undoubtedly some that dont enjoy it, and some of them probably decided not to before seeing a frame. Anti popularist party poopers could well pick apart the fact that the chracters are archetypes, and that there is no depth behind the fright. But unmissable cinema does not have to be about melliflous dialogue, intricate framing or enriching the mind and soul. It can legitimately come froma sensory experience like no other, one you can only feel in a dark room and in front of the silver screen. And you have never experienced anything like cloverfield.

 

Oh... and also some of the best traler selections I have ever seen before a film... Hellboy 2, Ironman to name but two.. but both were outstripped by an unexpected traler for JJ's next project, which he is helming himself - which after the magnificence of Cloverfield could be the film event of the year...

 

To Boldly go....

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Boldly to go. To go boldly. To boldly go. It's reassuring that the people of the future will have difficulty with the split infinitive while zapping across the galaxy at warp 9.

Who's to say that the convention won't have changed completely by the time we can reach warp 9?

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Now I watch a lot of fims... and evey now and again you get film that genuinely redifines the boundaries of what cinema is all about - The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, Jurrasic park, LOTR - all examples of fims that sit you down, whack your senses about carelessley, then chew you up and spit you out at the end... feeling you have genuinely witnessed something historic in the world of film...

 

Cloverfield for me - is simply THE BEST event film ever made - I have geekily followed the story of this movie for months now, and very rarely when something sounds so new, does a film actually deliver what it promises - and much much more... Cloverfield is absolutely stunning... 80 minutes of perfect terrifying action, that you simply have to see for yourself - as Ack says you really cant tell too much about it or it gets spoiled - you have to go and experience it..

 

The thing that really suprised me was how atmospheric, terrifying, and downright disturbing this fim is - I am not easily scared, however this fim made me genuinely uneasy - I love fims that challenge me.... this is one of the most challenging and disturbing things ever committed to film - magnificent...

 

Thought I would quote Empire's review - as it sums it up perfectly...

Oh... and also some of the best traler selections I have ever seen before a film... Hellboy 2, Ironman to name but two.. but both were outstripped by an unexpected traler for JJ's next project, which he is helming himself - which after the magnificence of Cloverfield could be the film event of the year...

 

To Boldly go....

BFL, The Matrix? That 'film' is the biggest pile of gash I've ever wasted a couple of hours watching.

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BFL, The Matrix? That 'film' is the biggest pile of gash I've ever wasted a couple of hours watching.

It has Keanu Reeves in it. Nuff said.

 

Neo: "I know - uh - karate..."

 

Neo: "Whoa...." [you can imagine Bill and Teds 'salute' with the guitar riff - diddly,diddly,diddly] "...Déjà vu"

 

Morpheus: "Free your mind" [Morpheus jumps from one building to another a long distance away]

Ted, sorry - Neo: "Whoa!" [diddly, diddly, diddly...]

 

As a trilogy it was disappointing, Matrix as a stand-alone film it was a visual feast - there was nothing like it in 1998...

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BFL, The Matrix? That 'film' is the biggest pile of gash I've ever wasted a couple of hours watching.

 

:grin:

 

Films such as the matrix will always polarise opinion - absolutely not for everyone... it is however one of the few films I will never tire of watching.... It utterly redifined the sci-fi genere at a point in time where it was dying an absolute death... The wyscowski's tool a piece of stop action 360 camerawork that was a technique that had been around for a while and utilised it in a way that had never been seen before - the result - the greatest opening sequence in any Film - The shot of trinity within the first minute is a true jaw dropper - and means The Matrix will always be one of the greatest Sci-fi's around... Yeah the script is inconprehensible jibberish at times... but that is not what it is about, it is a true event movie that redefined a genre - exactly which cloverfield has just done.... too... there aint many films that are truly groundbreaking...

 

The only true problem with the matrix is the fact it started to belive its own hype with the two sequels... and get too obsessed with its own psychobabble... think the first film's brilliance is now lost in the drivel of its sequels... however, the action sequences are still second to none - ie the car chase in the second... and the stunning city attack on the third...

 

If you dont like it - I can understand why... but I strongly suspect your mind was probably decided before you started watching... and that Sci-fi is not your thing... I'm the same with any FBI/Gangster/Bourne type films - I hate them all... because for me the cinema is there to challenge you.. not just give you realism - if I wanted that i'd watch the news...

 

But hey - thats off track - Cloverfield is in a different league to the Matrix - in terms of which will go down as one of the greatest films of all time... Cloverfield will definitely be up there.... but both deserve respect in thier own way...

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Who's to say that the convention won't have changed completely by the time we can reach warp 9?

 

Since the rule is based on a weird transliteration from a dead language, it's difficult to see how it can change. There'll always be people like me, iffing the captain when we hear such howlers on his or her or its log.

Edited by 24hoursfromtulsehill
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