Cloverfield

[fangirl_says]

Okay, the first thing I need to tell you is this: I've never had motion sickness. Never been carsick, airsick or seasick. And in all of the gory movies I've seen in all my life (which would be, um...A LOT), I've never considered leaving a theatre because things were just too gross, or too intense, or too ANYTHING.

So when I tell you that I very nearly lost my popcorn in the theater, had to go to the bathroom to splash my face with cold water, and "watched" the last half of the movie with my eyes shut and completely covered, it probably should be a bit surprising.

Look, I liked "Blair Witch Project" well enough. It was creepy and fun, and the shaky, 'live action' camera work was broken up with plenty of steady camera work. I had no problem with it. But the shaky camera is unrelenting in this. That, combined with the flashing lights, had me wishing the concession stand sold Tums and Pepto-Bismol. Erk.

Heinous overuse of shaky camera aside, the film itself was fairly interesting, at least until the end. The graphics (when I could see them amid the blur) seemed excellent. But because JJ Abrams was involved, there was no ending. We can extrapolate that the monster was eventually overcome, since someone found the camera in the rubble and labeled it as coming from the area formerly known as Central Park. But we never get a clue about WHAT the creature is or what the hell it's doing in Manhattan, or for that matter, why it seems to have such a hate-on for New Yorkers.

Abrams needs to take a look at what happened to the X-Files in its last couple of years, when the mythology was spinning completely out of control, and questions had been answered with more questions over and over until no one -- Chris Carter least of all -- knew or really cared anymore what it all meant. This is precisely the reason I stopped watching 'Lost'. Questions are all well and good. I like a mystery as much as the next person, and conjecturing about it can be fun. But pushing that envelope too far will ruin the story. And without the story, there's no point. You might as well be watching "America's Surviving Big Model Top Brother Nation".


On a much more pleasant subject, I got a letter from Eric Kripke today. And by "letter", I mean some assistant fed my name and address into a Word mail merge with a canned 'thanks for writing' letter and Kripke signed it. But it's making me gleeful nonetheless, because he didn't have to go to the trouble of having his assistant feed me into the mail merge and send the response out to me with the pre-printed autographed picture of the boys, but he did. And that's just one more reason that Kripke pwns us all.

Comments

[laerwen.livejournal.com]

Now I'm really glad I've been not the least bit interested in this film. I hated Blair Witch for other reasons, but most of all? It's because of that damned 1st person camera crap. I DON'T GET motion-sick. Except! In 1. first-person shooter video games 2. shaky-camera films. Eff that noise!

JJ Abrams is all hype and no substance. And like you, it is exactly why I stopped watching Lost.

That's really awesome about the letter! I hope your head feels better, hon. *cold cloths your eyes* :( ♥

[raelee.livejournal.com]

Damn it! Ok, I didn't read too far to get spoiled but I needed to know if it was shaky camera all the way through. Crap. I really was hoping it was just a gimmick for the trailers.

[fangirlsays.livejournal.com]

I was hoping the same thing, but it was unrelenting. Ruined the whole thing for me. Maybe it won't be so bad for you, though. My husband didn't get sick, though he was a little light-headed when the movie ended.

[zanne68.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning about the flick. You know, I don't know how Abrams & Co. is going to keep Lost's audience with these huge gaps between short seasons. I was really into the second half of last season, but it's been so long ago I've forgotten stuff and probably won't tune in when the new eps start. Plus, the huge thing that's going to keep me away from Lost is the fact it's now on the same time as Supernatural. I'd much rather watch Sam and Dean.

Yay for the message from The Krip!

[graymary.livejournal.com]

i used to love video games, until they all became huge 3-D messes. i wanted to see this despite being quite easy to shock in the theater, but now i won't, because i would pass out flat. ;-;

also argh jj abrams ARGH. i'm a first season LOST fan too, so. you know. that makes me sadface. (being reminded that x-files had a season past 5 also makes me sadface.)

thank you for the warning!

[aeb.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry the movie made you motion-sick. {sympathetic smile, HUGS, SQUEEZES} Before last weekend, I would have had more trouble understanding the experience. However, last Saturday I discovered that too much swooping on a planetarium (half-globe) screen can even get thru to my stomach. {rueful smile}

I do like you change of subject. That letter sounds really neat! {BIG SMILE}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

[dr-christine.livejournal.com]

I didn't really mind the shaky camera things or the lighting too much. It was going for that realistic thing and succeeded. It didn't bother me too much. This is true for the not having as much information as you want thing, too. I do pretty much fully agree with you, though. I just forgave it easily because I had a good time at the theater.

[cruel-illusion.livejournal.com]

Ugh, and I so wanted to see this! :O Alas, I had to leave the theater about 15 minutes before the end of Blair Witch, and several video games give me the woozies. I think this would give me a raging headache, and that sucks hardcore.

[thenyxie.livejournal.com]

There was a reveal in the last frame. I missed it, but Dom told me. In the background, where the water's stretching out behind them while they're on the train, something falls from the sky and hits the water right near the statue of liberty. Thus we are to assume it came from outer space, I suppose. You know how JJ loves his easter eggs.

[fangirlsays.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhh. See, by that point, I wasn't able to watch at all; I was just hoping the movie would END so I could go get some fresh air and stop feeling like I was going to hurl all over the person in front of me. Apparently, Ron missed that too, 'cause he didn't say anything about it. Thanks for telling me; that makes a lot more sense now.

[ilovemyhobbits.livejournal.com]

Sooo..........it's a pointless film.

Great, and Abrams is going to make millions off of it this weekend. Pssh.

[kimyoo-films.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I like mystery in movies, not knowing everything, so long as they mystery is tight. Such as...what the hell is in that briefcase in Pulp Fiction? When a writer leaves so much unsaid, that's where fan fiction comes in!! :D I won't be reading Cloverfield fiction, or writing it for that matter, but you know what I mean.

Wish I could see it :(

[(Anonymous)]

When I first saw articles/postings about this movie, it piqued my curiosity. Then I saw the giant cardboard ad at the theater and was even more intrigued. I then heard it was based on an H.P. Lovecraft monster and was getting ready to stand in line for tickets. (I've since heard it has nothing to do with H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulu)

Then I saw the trailer and was pissed because I knew there was no way in hell I could go see it. Like others have said, I HATE these 1st person movies. I started feeling queasy just watching the trailer so I know theres no way I could sit through 2 hours of it.

I guess it makes me wonder how good of a movie it really is if they need to resort to the 1st person thing to make it more interesting. I wonder if it would've been as anticipated if it wasn't done like the Blair Witch and wasn't surrounded with such secrecy and of course the purposely "leaked" secrets here and there.

[(Anonymous)]

I should add, I've heard there are several HUGE questions left unanswered. I agree that a little bit of mystery left to the viewer to decide for themselves is good, but when theres large parts left unanswered, that just seems like a cop out to me. It leads me to believe that rather than coming up with a good idea for the story, they just leave it blank and say, oh yeah, thats up for the viewer to decide for themselves.

Stephen King is notorious for this with most of his books written in the last 15 years or so. It got so annoying that I stopped buying his books after reading Cell and From a Buick 8. He clearly just ran out of ideas and had trouble ending several of his stories so he just gave up and left it "for the reader to decide". If I wanted to decide large parts of movies and books for myself, I'd save 20 bucks and stay home and write my own stories.

[berreh.livejournal.com]

Why did they let him have Star Trek *weeps*