Cloverfield (JJ Abrams, viral marketing) - Page 8

pANDAS Radio · 2nd February 2008, 8:29pm

Why is the Statue of Liberty's head the wrong size and colour when it lands in the street?

Foxglove · 2nd February 2008, 8:37pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by pANDAS Radio

Why is the Statue of Liberty's head the wrong size and colour when it lands in the street?

You watched a fictional film about a massive monster in New York and you are worried about this?

Suspension of disbelief allows such inconsistencies to be inconsequential mostly. OK, so there are occasions such things can grate on you and I can see you simply didn't like this film but if it is for reasons such as the above then maybe watch it without caring so much about correct dimensions and possibly it will grow on you? I also think maybe seeing it on the big screen with all that a cinema sound systems bring might have made it more enjoyable for you? Might not, but this is more of a big screen film for me.

Semprini · 2nd February 2008, 8:40pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by pANDAS Radio

Why is the Statue of Liberty's head the wrong size and colour when it lands in the street?

It's to symbolise how all that America once stood for has been tarnished and rendered almost unrecognisable by modern society.

Not really, it's to symbolise badly-done CGI

pANDAS Radio · 3rd February 2008, 12:30am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foxglove

You watched a fictional film about a massive monster in New York and you are worried about this?

Suspension of disbelief allows such inconsistencies to be inconsequential mostly. OK, so there are occasions such things can grate on you and I can see you simply didn't like this film but if it is for reasons such as the above then maybe watch it without caring so much about correct dimensions and possibly it will grow on you? I also think maybe seeing it on the big screen with all that a cinema sound systems bring might have made it more enjoyable for you? Might not, but this is more of a big screen film for me.

Nah, it was the story that i found pathetic and unappealing. I'd rather have followed the life of almost anyone else in New York that those idiots. The statue's head just annoys me because they have the rest of it the right colour and scale on all the advertising.

Dyno · 3rd February 2008, 12:35am

I enjoyed it, good entertainment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pANDAS Radio

Nah, it was the story that i found pathetic and unappealing. I'd rather have followed the life of almost anyone else in New York that those idiots. The statue's head just annoys me because they have the rest of it the right colour and scale on all the advertising.

Lighting...lack of, frequencies of light...manup Hogan!

I enjoyed it, good entertainment.

Joe Spinebuster · 3rd February 2008, 1:10am

Major complaints: Movie features far too little of the actual monster, characters feature far too much of "the fag".
Rather than sympathising with the characters, I couldn't wait to see these irritating pricks get flossed out from in between some dionsaur molars. The monster factor was near enough zero, though - if they had some kind of ridiculously huge-scale earthquake and skipped the monster entirely, it wouldn't have made a huge difference to the story.
I also thought the pacing wasn't very good, and the wobbly ass camera bullshit made me want to hurl towards the end.

All that aside, though, I did enjoy this movie. It started off pretty average, got really good, then dwindled back down into "nothing great" territory.

I really enjoyed it when the monster first hit the scene, and everyone was running about the streets as shit was getting fucked up left, right and centre. I'm sure that critics will complain that showing scenes of New York being destroyed post-9/11 is cheap, but pretty much ALL movie making is cheap in that case. These moving pictures bring out certain emotions in the viewer in direct relation to the things we have seen, experienced and heard of in our own lfietime, and a crumbling New York is still a very powerful image to the current generation. It worked well and I was so in the mood for an hour and a half of these punks running through fire-ridden streets as a giant monster chased them, stomping the fuck through as many buildings as possible as it goes.
The moment the characters went underground, though, so did my interest in the movie.

Wasn't terrible, like I said, and the basic idea was sound... I was just expecting something a little more to my specific taste. I was expecting, ya know, a monster movie.

Rev Scapegoat · 3rd February 2008, 11:39am

So...
How many big monsters were there?
Whale pics aside, the scale of the creature that ate Hud was way off from the one that took down the chopper earlier.

Semprini · 3rd February 2008, 11:39am

Joe - would you not agree that monster movies work better when you can't really see the monster? I'm always more of a fan of movies that leave as much as possible to your imagination.

Let's face it, Jaws was a lot better before you saw the shark, although modern effects technology has rendered the 'man in suit' syndrome less relevant.

Joe Spinebuster · 3rd February 2008, 11:48am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Semprini

Joe - would you not agree that monster movies work better when you can't really see the monster?

As long as it's balanced-out with enough satisfying scenes of a monster full-on rampaging through an entire city, yeah. Tension-filled monsterless scenes are definitely required to build suspense and a sense of dread, plus it provides the ideal opportunity for some character development and interaction. Also, come on to fuck here, monsters ripping the entire world apart just LOOKS COOL. It's that concept that draws us in in the first place for this kind of thing, is it not? Is that just me...?

Jaws is different because, well, sharks really exist so I'm not watching the movie to see a movie maker's take on some otherworldly beast that exists only in imagination. I've seen sharks before, on nature documentaries, I know what they look like and so it's easy for my mind to fill in the blanks there. With a giant fucking monster, I need at least a few proper full on scenes of what this thing looks like and what it can really do to get my mind giving a fuck about how the characters are going to escape the unholy wrath I've just witnessed.
Jaws also had the advantage that it had less infuriating characters and several interesting sub-plots. It's probably unfair to compare this or any movie to Jaws, though.

GoddamnElectric · 3rd February 2008, 12:40pm

I was sort of so-so on leaving the cinema last night. It was decent enough, but nothing near as awesome as the hype around it would suggest. Like Lev I took an instant dislike to the characters. The moral of the story seemed to be 'going back for the boobs will make you all die'.
The monster bits sometimes felt more like something out of Ghostbusters, but there were a few really good scenes I liked the stealth bomber hitting the monster towards the end. I wasn't a fan of the ending though seems like since Blair Witch too many films go out of their way to not give you a proper ending, because it's cool or something.
I was also furiously scanning the last scene and saw fuck all.

¡Punk! · 3rd February 2008, 12:43pm

I liked the fact the characters were annoying. Especially the eejit who had the camera.

GoddamnElectric · 3rd February 2008, 12:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ¡Punk!

I liked the fact the characters were annoying. Especially the eejit who had the camera.

Lol, he was all like dude, why wont this skanky chick talk talk to me? - cause you're fat and annoying.

¡Punk! · 3rd February 2008, 12:51pm

His ability to interupt the most tender of moments was a joy to behold

Stew · 3rd February 2008, 2:29pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Semprini

Joe - would you not agree that monster movies work better when you can't really see the monster? I'm always more of a fan of movies that leave as much as possible to your imagination.

Let's face it, Jaws was a lot better before you saw the shark, although modern effects technology has rendered the 'man in suit' syndrome less relevant.

I'm with you on that. Like the Alien franchise before they showed you the whole alien.

MarkMono · 3rd February 2008, 4:15pm

You mean the Alien franchise was going fine until about halfway through the first movie?

The whole 'Not seeing the monster' thing only works if the surrounding movie is awesome and what little we get to see of the monster at first is awesome, and even then it only serves as a precursor for when we do get to see the monster. Oh, and it has to be awesome.

Anyone who has seen Lost shouldn't be surprised that his entire storytelling technique consists of whetting peoples appetites (very skillfully, I might add) and then disappointing them because, when it comes down to it, he's got nothing of any substance to display on the screen.