Cloverfield Notice ...
... take lots of Dramamine.
So I try to wrangle a friend into seeing Sweeny Todd and it's a no go. Sigh. Why doesn't anyone see the hilarity of making a musical about
a serial killer who butchers the victims so that another person can put them in meat pies that become the favorite of London? It boggles the mind: "Why there's a smashing tale - let's have them sing!" And then to have Time Burton go back and turn it into something dark? Yes. All I can say is yes.
Instead, my friend chose Cloverfield, which I wanted to see somewhat since there hasn't been anything else sf out lately and Buffy-writer Goddard wrote it.
Story wise, it's okay. The dialogue is realistic, and the film does a good job of depicting what an unknown catastrophic event would be like for average people - ie, a lot of running, screaming, chaos, and confusion.
It also works on the level of 9/11 rewritten as a monster movie with normal people caught between the monster/terrorists and a government that doesn't know exactly what to do.
And another point in its favor - there's no big hero killing the bad guy and saving the day. This remains a movie of average people who commit small acts of heroism out of love, friendship, and familial feelings. Cloverfield tells us that these acts, even if futile, contain stories worth telling. Yet it still leaves no strong impression. [But perhaps it's not supposed to in order to fit with this theme.]
Here's the warning: I was nauseous through most of it and remained so for a good hour afterwards. Anyone remember the crazy camera work of Blair Witch? Imagine that on steroids - there isn't a second that the camera is still. It jiggles, it sways, it unfocuses and refocuses, it spins, etc, etc. [I don't have a weak stomach (having spent years rolling and flying through the air in break falls), but I seem susceptible to this kind of prolonged visual stimulus.]
Best thing about it all? My friend who insisted we see this movie hated it so much he's agreed to go and see Sweeny Todd with me 'as penance.' I'll take it.
Now, I've been told I've got fic to read!
So I try to wrangle a friend into seeing Sweeny Todd and it's a no go. Sigh. Why doesn't anyone see the hilarity of making a musical about
a serial killer who butchers the victims so that another person can put them in meat pies that become the favorite of London? It boggles the mind: "Why there's a smashing tale - let's have them sing!" And then to have Time Burton go back and turn it into something dark? Yes. All I can say is yes.
Instead, my friend chose Cloverfield, which I wanted to see somewhat since there hasn't been anything else sf out lately and Buffy-writer Goddard wrote it.
Story wise, it's okay. The dialogue is realistic, and the film does a good job of depicting what an unknown catastrophic event would be like for average people - ie, a lot of running, screaming, chaos, and confusion.
It also works on the level of 9/11 rewritten as a monster movie with normal people caught between the monster/terrorists and a government that doesn't know exactly what to do.
And another point in its favor - there's no big hero killing the bad guy and saving the day. This remains a movie of average people who commit small acts of heroism out of love, friendship, and familial feelings. Cloverfield tells us that these acts, even if futile, contain stories worth telling. Yet it still leaves no strong impression. [But perhaps it's not supposed to in order to fit with this theme.]
Here's the warning: I was nauseous through most of it and remained so for a good hour afterwards. Anyone remember the crazy camera work of Blair Witch? Imagine that on steroids - there isn't a second that the camera is still. It jiggles, it sways, it unfocuses and refocuses, it spins, etc, etc. [I don't have a weak stomach (having spent years rolling and flying through the air in break falls), but I seem susceptible to this kind of prolonged visual stimulus.]
Best thing about it all? My friend who insisted we see this movie hated it so much he's agreed to go and see Sweeny Todd with me 'as penance.' I'll take it.
Now, I've been told I've got fic to read!