Cloverfield

They needed Godzilla to fight that thing, not tanks or missiles!

Jokes apart, it's a well-acted and well-made found footage feature, no doubt whatsoever. However, I remember liking the movie much more when I first saw it in my teenage years. I vividly recall caring for the whole ensemble and the devastating tragedy that struck them out of nowhere.

More than a decade later, I cannot state the same, though. Perhaps it's the overexposure of the found footage genre in general or the fact I've now gotten habituated to such filmmaking and have seen much better works in the process. Whatever the reason, it did not resonate with me on the same level this time; I wish it did.

Sometimes the idea of a movie can transform the experience of watching it, and sometimes only on remembering it. The challenge is to have ideas that are not only clever and appear so, but which actually make good, effective films that matter.

I went into this thinking that it would be an evolution of "Transformers." That film worked for me, and worked in ways that were beyond anything I had seen. Sure the story was dumb and the very idea of the robots was childish. But the way the film was put together was a bit astonishing. In old movies, if there was a monster destroying a building, well then you saw the building being destroyed as if you were a placid god in the sky somewhere. With Transformers, you never really saw things this way. You saw them as if you were an observer threatened by and involved in the action. You were running, avoiding, occasionally glancing and sometimes accidentally seeing part of what was happening.

It was new, marvelous. But we always knew the cameras were not associated with humans, at least not the ones on screen. The idea was to trick us into adopting the disembodied cameras we always accepted and allowed us, the audience to be threatened, to be there.

Now this. Some of the effects are the same. At least in the beginning of the disaster, we only partially see what is happening. And there are many times when the camera is unsteady. But I got the impression that although the camera was handled by a panicked character, we always saw more than he would have. The camera was always where we would have wanted it, arranged to increase the dramatic effect.

Transformers was silly and we could assault it. Cloverfield was supposedly real and it assaulted us. That makes the deliberation of camera a whole different thing. Its control is external to what's happening. We do realize this without thinking about it, and it diffuses the terror and changes it to spectacle. This folding technique only works when you have the commitment of the audience. They thought they would get it with the teen soap opera at the beginning. Didn't work for me.

It would have worked better if she hadn't ASKED to be rescued.

Nice bridge though.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I agree with most of the comments I read, in that this film is definitely worth watching, BUT thought I'd mention a few things that others didn't.

The lack of a steady camera shot, even though it fits well with the plot, began to wear on me. I found myself relieved whenever the camera fell to the ground and gave the same view for a few seconds. It felt like I had on the wrong glasses - I was constantly trying to bring the scenes into focus and the continual motion, coupled with the random focus and quick glimpses of things I wanted to see clearly, made me feel stressed, strained and then annoyed.

Add to that the ending, which leaves so many issues dangling, and, overall, I found it very unsatisfactory.

Despite that I still gave it a 6. If you can handle triple rides on a roller-coaster then you'll probably really enjoy this film. If you get motion sickness easily then you may want to pause it every 10 minutes and focus on the wall!

It was nice to finally watch movie that didn't seem like anything I'd ever seen before. This, much like Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" and "Children of Men", completely immerses you in this incredible situation with absolutely no knowledge to comfort you. It's very disorienting, which adds to the experience; you never figure out what the hell is going on but you're so into survival that you put it past you. You're placed with a bunch of characters whom you get to know and eventually must join in their frenzied search for a friend while being subjected to some horrifying imagery and new threats.

The effects look great and realistic thanks to the hand-held camera, which isn't too bad-looking if you manage to get a seat further from the screen. The filmmakers came up with some really great creature designs that were menacing yet very much original. If you're bound to be upset over seeing a movie with a lack of music, then stay for the credits, during which a fantastic suite of music composed by Michael Giacchino titled "Roar! (Cloverfield Theme)" plays.

All in all, a fantastic time at the movies. A little more background on the monster would be nice, though the absence of this information is intentional. Everyone in the theater was rooting for a sequel; maybe a second set of footage is found elsewhere? Or perhaps there is more the the viral marketing -- what exactly were Slusho and Tagruato? Also be prepared to suspend some disbelief, but considering the movie is about a monster destroying New York City, that shouldn't be too difficult.

When some New Yorkers are celebrating a leaving party the ground starts to shake , with blowing up happening anywhere . They decide to abandon the flat when a monster terrorizes the Great Apple , breaking buildings , and every to get in its ways. Various characters cross paths with the giant beast, and they attempt to escape along with a young carrying a hand-held video camera.

This eerie tale is plenty of thrills, chills, restless horror and suspense . Film itself takes place from point of sight of a cameraman , with camera over shoulders , displaying a documentary style filmed by photographer Michael Bonvilliam . In fact , during the first weekend of the release, many theaters posted signs warning guests that the hand held camera movements may cause motion sickness . The title "Cloverfield"; initially just a codename for the movie, is named for the boulevard in Santa Monica where the Bad Robot offices were located during the making of the film . Good but unknown cast as Michael Sthal , Jessica Lucas, Odette Yusman , Michael Vogel, among others . Well worth watching if you appeal shaky cameras , such as : ¨Blair witch project¨, ¨28 days/ Weeks after¨ or the classic Italian ¨Holocaust cannibal¨; and recently ¨Rec (2007)¨ by Paco Plaza and Jaume Balaguero and its American remake ¨Quarintine (2008)¨ by John Erik . The flick is a crossover between Gozilla picture , catastrophe genre and documentary with Steadicam camera . Lavishly produced by J.J.Abrams (Lost, Star Trek) and Bryan Burk with excellent special effects and monsters made by Phill Tippet studio . The motion picture picture was professionally directed by Matt Reeves . He's a writer, producer (Yards) and director for television (Felicity) and eventually for cinema ; furthermore , usual collaborator of J.J. Abrams . Rating : Interesing and spectacular , above average.