Comments on: Cloverfield http://www.moviesinhouse.com/blog/movie-reviews/cloverfield.html Movie Reviews and DVD Rental Information Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:56:48 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Suhail http://www.moviesinhouse.com/blog/movie-reviews/cloverfield.html/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Suhail Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:33:36 +0000 http://www.moviesinhouse.com/blog/?p=8#comment-6 I went into this film expecting to be very annoyed, even though the premise seemed interesting enough (A group of young hip urbanites have their night ruined by a giant monster that essentially destroys New York City). I was expecting to be annoyed because I had a feeling it was going to have completely unrealistic, smart-ass dialogue and completely over the top CGI. Well it was very CGI heavy and there also was a fair amount of gratuitous product placement (although not as much as I Am Legend) but on the up side the dialogue could have been a lot worse and I thought the actors all did a good job. I really liked the concept of it all being documented on a video camera and it was pretty well executed. Obviously there were lots of unrealistic elements to this film but then again, it’s a monster movie not Schindler’s List. As long as you keep that in mind, I think Cloverfield will keep you entertained, it’s really all about the suspension of disbelief here. In addition to this I think there are some underlying themes happening as well, the first being a comment on the current state of technology and our ability to use it to document life to the nth degree and the second being a response to the September 11th attacks. This second point I feel is the stronger theme being expressed. Cloverfield follows in the tradition of the monster movie genre by reflecting popular culture’s paranoia and fascination with terrorism, much in the same way as films like The Blob and Invasion of the Body Snatchers did. At the end of the day Cloverfield does everything a good creature feature should, you don’t see the monster until the second reel and there’s plenty of gore. This film would have been great in the theatre but was still enjoyable at home. I give Cloverfield three and a half stars. I went into this film expecting to be very annoyed, even though the premise seemed interesting enough (A group of young hip urbanites have their night ruined by a giant monster that essentially destroys New York City). I was expecting to be annoyed because I had a feeling it was going to have completely unrealistic, smart-ass dialogue and completely over the top CGI. Well it was very CGI heavy and there also was a fair amount of gratuitous product placement (although not as much as I Am Legend) but on the up side the dialogue could have been a lot worse and I thought the actors all did a good job. I really liked the concept of it all being documented on a video camera and it was pretty well executed.
Obviously there were lots of unrealistic elements to this film but then again, it’s a monster movie not Schindler’s List. As long as you keep that in mind, I think Cloverfield will keep you entertained, it’s really all about the suspension of disbelief here. In addition to this I think there are some underlying themes happening as well, the first being a comment on the current state of technology and our ability to use it to document life to the nth degree and the second being a response to the September 11th attacks. This second point I feel is the stronger theme being expressed. Cloverfield follows in the tradition of the monster movie genre by reflecting popular culture’s paranoia and fascination with terrorism, much in the same way as films like The Blob and Invasion of the Body Snatchers did. At the end of the day Cloverfield does everything a good creature feature should, you don’t see the monster until the second reel and there’s plenty of gore. This film would have been great in the theatre but was still enjoyable at home. I give Cloverfield three and a half stars.

]]> By: George http://www.moviesinhouse.com/blog/movie-reviews/cloverfield.html/comment-page-1/#comment-3 George Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:25:37 +0000 http://www.moviesinhouse.com/blog/?p=8#comment-3 I was not sure what to expect when I rented Cloverfield. I heard mixed things about it and figured I needed to judge it on my own. I do not really know anything about the movie, that is who directed it or who stars in it… but I do not think that is really important. The movie seems as thought it was pretty high budget, but records the entire movie in something called POV (Point Of View) which is a popular genre in the adult industry… or so I hear :P This makes the actual quality of video, lower than normal quality, but makes up for it with some decent sound, and more or less an entire CG (computer graphics) version of New York getting 0wn3d by a giant creature. I guess the creatures name is Cloverfield? I do not really know. The characters are pretty annoying, do some pretty stupid things…such as document the entire "14 hour attack" on video. I wonder what brand Camcorder they used? Nokia seems to make its way into some high profile product placements, but last I checked they only really made cell phones. I was not too impressed by this movie, BUT it was pretty entertaining, and they did take some risks as far as making it. Honestly, I would have loved to see the POV style movie done with a more recognizable monster such as Godzilla. Extras on the DVD were not they great. They had 2 alternative endings which sucked equally as the one they kept, and a things called "Clover Fun" which was pretty lame as well. I did not love this, but I did not hate it. I give it 3.5 of 5 stars. I would recommend it to those of you who like Godzilla type movies, and want to see something that is kind of different than most other movies that have been made in the last few years. It took me one day to receive this movie from Netflix, and one day for them to receive it. I was not sure what to expect when I rented Cloverfield. I heard mixed things about it and figured I needed to judge it on my own.

I do not really know anything about the movie, that is who directed it or who stars in it… but I do not think that is really important. The movie seems as thought it was pretty high budget, but records the entire movie in something called POV (Point Of View) which is a popular genre in the adult industry… or so I hear :P

This makes the actual quality of video, lower than normal quality, but makes up for it with some decent sound, and more or less an entire CG (computer graphics) version of New York getting 0wn3d by a giant creature. I guess the creatures name is Cloverfield? I do not really know.

The characters are pretty annoying, do some pretty stupid things…such as document the entire “14 hour attack” on video. I wonder what brand Camcorder they used? Nokia seems to make its way into some high profile product placements, but last I checked they only really made cell phones.

I was not too impressed by this movie, BUT it was pretty entertaining, and they did take some risks as far as making it.

Honestly, I would have loved to see the POV style movie done with a more recognizable monster such as Godzilla.

Extras on the DVD were not they great. They had 2 alternative endings which sucked equally as the one they kept, and a things called “Clover Fun” which was pretty lame as well.

I did not love this, but I did not hate it. I give it 3.5 of 5 stars.

I would recommend it to those of you who like Godzilla type movies, and want to see something that is kind of different than most other movies that have been made in the last few years.

It took me one day to receive this movie from Netflix, and one day for them to receive it.

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