Chris_Pandolfi
"The Monster Takes Manhattan"
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I highly recommend watching Cloverfield this year or any other year ...if you are being held at gunpoint. Otherwise, you are free to skip it as I wish I had. Thankfully, a friend bought me the movie ticket & I even felt sorry for the poor chap afterwards having to invest money on this hunk of steaming crap.
+1
I have heard all the rumours on how Cloverfield is the new Blair Witch Project. Just forget it! Blair Witch Project & Cloverfield are one & the same basically. There is nothing exciting happening in either one although I think the dialogue or cheap Wal-Mart camerawork in Blair Witch might be a bit more appealing to me. Hell, even the Blair Witch project sequel is better than the both of these films put together & that's not saying very much...
Cloverfield goes nowhere real fast. After the first 45 minutes of inane dialogue are behind us, we still are hoping that the second half of the film will improve somewhat. I digress. The dialogue goes from bland to actually the height of goofiness. Of course, it's debatable that all of this is intentional& Cloverfield was merely just a cult film in the making. Wrong. No one actually sets out to make a cult film. All I can say is wow....who sits down at nite & writes this stuff? Do they write it by hand on napkins at McDonald's in between eating double cheeseburgers? One has to stop & wonder.
The big Godzilla-like monster that has everyone raving is nothing particularly special either. I've seen scarier sock puppets than this wanna-be creature. Sadly, we had to sit through 89-90 minutes of blah just to see this tube sock creature. Come on!!! Troma makes better films than this. Do we have to subject ourselves to such torture? Was this anyway to start the 2008 year?
If you like the handheld camera films, there are films which are superior to Cloverfield in every sense of the word. Try The Last Broadcast or the one that started them all.....Cannibal Holocaust. If you like monster films, there are plenty of those out there too so don't stop here.
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***1/2 out of **** I've gotten tired of the gimmicky "found-footage" style of filmmaking, especially in horror films. I love the horror genre for many reasons, and these films...they have plagued it with the same old approach. However, "Cloverfield", in spite of its premise, offers something new for movie-goers. Think of is as "Godzilla", but if it had been filmed with a piece-of-shit camcorder. Also, the monster here isn't Japanese. In the end, I think … more
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When one thinks of "Cloverfield" (2008) the awesome "hyped-up" trailer comes to mind. The teaser trailer was very well-marketed and does grab our attention. J.J. Abrams (Mission Impossible, Lost) definitely knows how to arouse the curiosity and attention of moviegoers. Now, the only problem with hyping up a film so much is that it either works or it doesn't. Hype can definitely work in putting people on theater seats but once word gets out that the film is "anything … more
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When reviewing Cloverfield obvious comparisons to movies like Godzilla are easy to make, but this film is so much more then a simple monster bash. Cloverfield is a wild mix of Godzilla like monster fun, blended with The Blair Witch Project camera style and Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition) like suspense all blended together to make one of the most perfect monster/disaster/horror films of the modern day. First off lets give some credit to the incredible job the producers … more
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review by jachism.
February 09, 2009
Just like many of you, when I saw the preview for this film I instantly dubbed it "a must see". What can I say? Something about the head of the Statue of Liberty rolling down the streets of Manhattan had me hooked. More importantly I couldn't wait to find out what exactly was causing this carnage. So it was with great expectations I strapped myself in for what was sure to be an incredible ride. Now I could go on and on here about who the cast is but you would have no idea … more
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Pros: Special effects, pacing Cons: Nothing original, terrible narrator, very shaky camera--not for the motion sick. The Bottom Line: If you've watched half a dozen scary or alien movies, then Cloverfield stole part of it; still there's enough to entertain. Warning if you are prone to motionsickness, skip it. Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot. Cloverfield is the … more
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To give the utmost atmosphere of authenticity, `Cloverfield' films all its monster movie proceedings as though an amateur were using an average video camera. All the starts and stops of footage are effective enough, and the glimpses of the modern equivalent of New York City's Godzilla keep tangible, but not always present. Just like all disaster pictures, the prologue introduces us to all of the characters. We need to know and care about them. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) … more
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The idea behind the film is clever, even if it is a bit obvious -- to the point where it's surprising nobody has done anything quite like it, or at least nothing on a similar scale. Somebody thought, let's make a monster mayhem flick but instead of a blockbuster make it an indie, shot amateur style: Godzilla meets the Blair Witch. That allows them to economize on the special effects, using sparing effects that would work on tv but not on the big screen -- but when shot on a consumer video camera … more
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review by einhverfr.
November 03, 2008
You know a movie is bad when it is set in New York but named after a road in Santa Monica, CA..... This gives you an idea how unimaginative and mindless the movie is. I didn't mind the cinimatography. However there wasn't really a plot to peak of, the characters were pretty lame, and the monster was pretty one-dimensional. In general, I say don't bother with this movie.
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review by SusiDee34.
October 02, 2008
Pros: no pros in this film Cons: darkness overrides production The Bottom Line: "No one knows what I am No one knows why I did it No one knows from where I come I am Clovie!" ~wjmmovieman For once I get to bash a monster flick in the same decade as it was released. Never seeing any trailers for this film, and reading only summary comments from viewers, … more
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review by MzJen_2_review.
September 08, 2008
Now that all the hype has die down I was able to give this film an objective look. I have to admit I was impressed. This movie throws out the music, set-ups, and cheap scares out the window - in a good way. Nothing in this movie tells you you're watching a movie of course. You're completely disorientated from start to finish, completely uncomfortable and on edge. And that is a hell of an achievement in today's de-sensitized movie environment. While I didn't jump once, I did find myself clutching … more
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About the reviewer
Brian (cenobite7)
Ranked #15
Ranked #15
I've spent years trying to make others happy & not really focusing on what's most important in my own life. Having said that, my own health & security are paramount so now I'm more … more
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cenobite7
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About this movie
One of the first things a viewer notices aboutCloverfieldis that it doesn't play by ordinary storytelling rules, making this intriguing horror film as much a novelty as an event. Told from the vertiginous point-of-view of a camcorder-wielding group of friends,Cloverfieldbegins like a primetime television soap opera about young Manhattanites coping with changes in their personal lives. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving New York to take an executive job at a company in Japan. At his goodbye party in a crowded loft, Rob’s brother Jason (Mike Vogel) hands a camcorder to best friend Hud (T.J. Miller), who proceeds to tape the proceedings over old footage of Rob’s ex-girlfriend, Beth (Odette Yustman)--images shot during happy times in that now-defunct relationship. Naturally, Beth shows up at the party with a new beau, bumming Rob out completely. Just before one's eyes glaze over from all this heartbreaking stuff (captured by Hud, who's something of a doofus, in laughably shaky camerawork), the unexpected happens: New York is suddenly under attack from a Godzilla-like monster stomping through midtown and destroying everything and everybody in sight. Rob and company hit the streets, but rather than run with other evacuees, they head toward the center of the storm so that Rob can rescue an injured Beth. There are casualties along the way, but the journey into fear is fascinating and immediate if emotionally remote--a consequence of seeing these proceedings...
Genre:
Sci-Fi,
Fantasy
Release Date:
January 18, 2008
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
DVD Release Date:
April 22, 2008
Runtime:
1hr 25min
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I've never watched Blair Witch Project before, so I wouldn't know how they compared, but I actually found Cloverfield to be somewhat intriguing. Maybe it's because I'm a girl and there was that awkward love story going on throughout the movie :P
And let's see... I can think of a few love stories off the top of my head, the most recent being Slumdog Millionaire and The Notebook, and one of my favorites of all time is the artsy Before Sunrise. Though the Lunch description says it's a comedy, it's not! It's a drama :D
I've got a few more very awkward love stories: The Broken Wings of Elijah Footfalls (not for everyone, looks kind of like a long cologne commercial if you're not into it), Punch-Drunk Love (Adam Sandler in a serious role), Cashback, and Shortbus, which I'm so glad to see that you've already reviewed (I LOVE John Cameron Mitchell)!
I've got some anti-love movies as well: Amores Perros and Revolutionary Road.