Movie: Cloverfield

[SamuraiOdin]

Since part of the Transformers thread has now derailed into a semi-discussion on the yet-unnamed J.J. Abrams Project trailer (with the working project name of Cloverfield) I figured it deserved it's own discussion thread. For those unfamiliar with it, the preview, which is shown in a kind of "Blair Witch" handcam-style, shows a group of people partying and then all hell breaks loose. They run to the outside, where they see a series of explosions. Not much more is known about the movie other than that. Seems like it will be good though.

While Wikipedia can sometimes be off the mark, it seems like a good compilation of info on the Cloverfield project:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield

[Foomanchew24]

I saw a really crappy video of the trailer and only interesting thing was the explosion and some strange noises. If its produced by J.J. Abrams then I'm in. I want to see transformers too =( (patiently waiting for a decent copy to be released on the net...)

[SamuraiOdin]

Taken from the J.J. Abrams Wiki page:
A post on Ain't It Cool News shed more light on the project, saying it involved an alien/monster called "The Parasite" and the movie is filmed with handheld cameras[4], on July 09, 2007, an HD trailer for this movie was was released titled 1-18-08 [5].

[darkshadow]

I saw a really crappy video of the trailer and only interesting thing was the explosion and some strange noises. If its produced by J.J. Abrams then I'm in. I want to see transformers too =( (patiently waiting for a decent copy to be released on the net...)

cheapass, its the greatest movie in history, go see it in the theater.

[masamuneehs]

i'm slightly looking forward to this... it was the trailer at Transformers that caught my eye, but the more I see, the more it looks like a typical 'Armaggedon monster' movie... It did catch my interest, but I'm not really keen on watching a whole bunch of modern day yuppies running around screaming, crying and being like 'OMG what's happening?' for 90+ minutes...

I sincerely hoped that the trailer covered only like the first 20 minutes of the film or so, as I'd quickly get sick of watching the goodbye party (excellent way to establish characters, i'll admit) and the whole initial 'shock' value of The Parasite's attack can't last that long...

[Foomanchew24]

cheapass, its the greatest movie in history, go see it in the theater.

You say cheapass like it is an insult. Sorry if I dont have the extra time to go see a movie when I want like you but I also have three kids and a wife. Resposiblities>watching movie at the theater(I did however go to see Surfs Up with my son a couple weeks ago) Also I pay a decent amount of money for my internet connection thats owwned by media companies, therefore I feel that allows me to use it to download and watch any media I would like to that is on the net. Also, I only watched the trailer and not the Transformer movie, there is no good copy of it out that I would waste my bandwith on to Download.

Please be more considerate towards others before you start calling people names that may or may not actually represent who they are.

[Knives122]

I'll post what I posted on another site:

Got this over from Gametrailers, very interesting.


In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial monster of the sky. 1) The first monster roar is accompanied by an earthquake (Behemoth)
2) The second monster roar is accompanied by a huge fireball (Leviathan, for it can breathe fire)
3) The third monster roar is accompanied by the flying Statue of Liberty head (Ziz).
Not convinced?
The guy who says "maybe we can get a better view from the roof" has the Slusho logo on his shirt. Slusho is a classic J.J. Abrams icon, and it has appeared in both Alias and Lost, which are his shows.
Slusho.jp (http://www.slusho.jp/) has, by now, been confirmed as a part of the viral marketing campaign revolving around 1-18-08. Japan. Strangely enough, the character Rob, who is present in the trailer, was gonna fly to Japan a day after that party and the monster events.
Let's have a look around on that site. Not all pages are accessible. But there is an odd feature about the pages that are available. The main page background is on land, the Downloads page background is on air, and the History page background is on sea.
Furthermore, the six buttons on the main page cause popups of various animals, namely a Horse, a Whale

these are the three monsters supposedly:
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/1/10/300px-Lev-Beh-Ziz.jpg

And a new poster recently came out:
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7cb215de10.jpg

If you look at the poster you can see a trail leading to the city.

[Munsu]

Was wondering why there wasn't more discussion about this movie. I find it funny and cool how the movie is being marketed and how the whole plot has been kept secret pretty much. Seeing how people around the internet keep speculating on what the movie is going to be about, etc, will probably guarantee this movie is a success. As a prequel to the movie, some "fake news" have been introduced... you can see video footage around the internet in various languages.

Here are a couple of sites with such videos:
http://1-18-08.blogspot.com/
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/01/06/video-footage-of-cloverfield-monster-destroying-chaui-station-rob-hired-by-slusho/


This is also a nice site to visit that has a "game" in it with pictures time stamped, and you can move the pictures around to re-arrange them etc. Nothing much, but some good marketing in my opinion:
http://www.1-18-08.com/

There are also a ton of sites that claim to be related to the movie, but we don't know if that's true or not... the hype in the internet for this movie seems huge.

[darkshadow]

yeah thats some really nice stuff, i really like the poster too.

[Y]

It's this decade's Blair Witch Project. Hopefully it at least comes off as natural as that movie despite being a lot less genuine in its production.

[masamuneehs]

It's this decade's Blair Witch Project. Hopefully it at least comes off as natural as that movie despite being a lot less genuine in its production.

god, me and my friends were discussing this movie last night (and whether or not we'd see it) and that's almost exactly what I said, that it looks like it's the Blair Witch of the Godzilla genre...

all i want to know is what kind of monster the thing is. I'd be shocked if I went and saw this in theatres, but I'm curious... I'm thinking it's some kind of space spider, since that hasn't really been done yet

[XanBcoo]

Spoilerish:

Artists renditions of the Cloverfield monster based on descriptions given by those who have already seen the movie (http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/cloverfield-update-fans-draw-the-cloverfield-monster.php)

I imagined it quite differently, actually.

EDIT, More:
Updated version done by the artist of the first picture in the previous link (http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/3166/cloverfieldmonsterrevisvg1.jpg)
Based on scene from the 2nd trailer (http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6521/cloverfieldmonsterhv9.jpg)

[Abdula]

Looks like Godzilla meets Tremors meets Jurassic Park.

[XanBcoo]

Yeah. I remember a long time ago they had this really awesome looking fanart going around where the monster was a whale-squid thing. That was awesome.

I'm actually a little disappointed with this design, if it's as accurate as people say it is. It's a little more bland than I was imagining.

[Assassin]

well if it is going to be three monsters, then theres till one we haven't seen. Infact, it almost seems like the fan art os of just one monster, namely the behemoth. In one of the pictures, there seems to be a long tail that i attributed to the sea monster earlier, but it could just be a diff variation of the behemoth monster.

Anyway, i like the designs, they seem very 'ancient' and foreboding...i dont want just an ugly/scary looking monster, i want something with a presence. something that makes you go "that mofo crawled strait outta hell"

[XanBcoo]

well if it is going to be three monsters, then theres till one we haven't seen. Infact, it almost seems like the fan art os of just one monster
It is just one monster. There's only one monster in the movie...


Here's the whale-inspired fanart I was talking about earlier. Personally I prefer this to what I'm seeing in the new sketches:
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/5035/slushorarzc6.th.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=slushorarzc6.jpg)
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9886/cloverfieldpart2byg2.th.jpg (http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cloverfieldpart2byg2.jpg)

[kAi]

Just watched this movie, and it was ok.

Some pretty funny parts in the movie, and shit parts, I was getting dizzy watching it.

Not the best movie out there.

[Idealistic]

I've never had an interest in these types of movies. "A monster attacks Earth".... That just sounds so lame and boring.

[XanBcoo]

I just got back from this. Pretty amazing overall in my opinion.

I was actually surprised at how good a look you get at the monster. I had heard it was just glimpses here and there, but you get a really good look about 4 times.

Anyway, ignoring everything else, the movies presentation was pretty fantastic. I'd recommend that if anyone is planning on seeing it, see it in a theater. I don't think it would have the same effect otherwise. Despite what you think about the rest of the movie, it's very entertaining. They do a really good job of making you feel as if you're right there where all the shit is happening. Otherwise the characters were pretty good and I liked the plot. There is something about it that I can't put my finger on that rubbed me the wrong way, but otherwise it was awesome.

I've never seen Blair Witch so I can't compare, but this movie is definitely a ride.

[Assertn]

Hiding under a bridge is the dumbest idea I've ever heard.



***SPOILERS*************************************** ******






I had originally thought the clip at the very end of the movie was supposed to be like a week after the incident, and that Rob and the girl had survived and was apparently at an amusement park. Then I realized it was just part of the original video that was being taped over. That changed the mood from hopeful to depressing really quickly :(


Oh and also....
I just read from rotten tomatoes that if you watch that amusement park scene carefully, you'll see something fall from the sky into the ocean. Perhaps this explains the monster's origin?


************************************************** **************

[XanBcoo]

Spoilers I guess.

I read about the Coney Island scene before I saw the movie and watched the horizon carefully, and yes, there's a long, grayish object that falls into the ocean. It could have been the monster, or it could have been a satellite that is reported to have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean on the Targuato website (as part of the viral marketing for the movie). Either way the origin of the monster is pretty ambiguous. Which I love.

Also I'm with you about the bridge thing. The subway scene also had me wondering why in the world they'd want to hide under something. I was sure I'd see a huge foot coming through the ceiling at some point.

[FullMetalAlchemist]

So which concept art resembled the monster the most? Not something i would watch just wanna see what the hype was lol.

[Assertn]

So which concept art resembled the monster the most? Not something i would watch just wanna see what the hype was lol.
I think the first one was the closest....although, despite its overall ridiculousness, the second one has the most accurate depiction of the creature's front shoulders and hind feet.


The movie isn't so much about the monster itself, but the experience of being a guy stuck in the middle of a monster invasion. Which is really what made this movie stand out from any other giant creature vs city flick.

[XanBcoo]

So which concept art resembled the monster the most? Not something i would watch just wanna see what the hype was lol.
None of them.

Someone I know from my Uni's art club saw the movie and did his own interpretation. He showed me the drawing about an hour before I left to go see the movie, and I must say, he captured it perfectly. The monster looks 99% like this, minus the feet, which are never shown very well. He's an amazing artist.

The monster walks on all fours, using it's front arms to pull itself along, and moves a lot like a huge spider. It's a lot more spindly and snake-like than I imagined too: Here it is (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/8020/clovered3.jpg)

Also Assertn is totally right. The movie's draw is not the monster itself. "Clover" destroying New York only serves as a backdrop and setting to the rest of the movie, which is a survival horror. It's about the characters' viewpoints and reaction to the inexplicable madness.

[Assertn]

I dunno, XanBCoo, the problem I have with the depiction of his main arms still feels like it has one too many joints, just as the first rendition on that site had. If you think back about the overhead view of the monster in the helicopter scene, his fore-arms look almost like giant sticks protruding outward and then downward with a single joint, kinda like the second rendition on that site. And yeah, his legs look a little less tyrannosaurus than that.

[Ryllharu]

Here's the whale-inspired fanart I was talking about earlier. Personally I prefer this to what I'm seeing in the new sketches:
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/5035/slushorarzc6.th.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=slushorarzc6.jpg)
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9886/cloverfieldpart2byg2.th.jpg (http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cloverfieldpart2byg2.jpg)
Just thought I point this out:

Those are sketches from someone who has played Final Fantasy X too many times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sin2.jpg
Little parasites and all.

[SamuraiOdin]

I was reading a few other boards about the promotional websites for this movie, and stumbled across two interesting tidbits. The first is the sound clip played at the end of the credits:
http://cloverfieldmessage.ytmnd.com/

And the other is that on http://www.1-18-08.com/ you can flip the photos over (by clicking and kinda swirling your mouse around) and 3 of them have stuff written on the back of them.

Edit: Also, on the 1-18-08.com site, if you leave it up for like 10-15 minutes, you can hear the monster roaring.

[Crash]

Hmm i'd seen the pictures at the 1-18-08 site but i didn't know you could flip them over. I'm curious what the one with the Japanese writing says.

[SamuraiOdin]

Hmm i'd seen the pictures at the 1-18-08 site but i didn't know you could flip them over. I'm curious what the one with the Japanese writing says.
According to some of the guys over at IMDB, it's some kind of recipe, but some of the ingredients are a little odd (something about sea nectar, I think... Their translation, not mine)

[XanBcoo]

I dunno, XanBCoo, the problem I have with the depiction of his main arms still feels like it has one too many joints, just as the first rendition on that site had. If you think back about the overhead view of the monster in the helicopter scene, his fore-arms look almost like giant sticks protruding outward and then downward with a single joint, kinda like the second rendition on that site. And yeah, his legs look a little less tyrannosaurus than that.
It's actually really hard to tell how many joints the monster has until the big revealing shot at the end, and in that scene, he's quite obviously got 2 joints in his front arms, just like the picture I posted.

Maybe the speculation about there being 2 monsters is real? Probably not (since it's a pretty dumb theory), but the monster seen at the end definitely has 3 segments to his front arms.

Edit: More fanart!!
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/5674/clover3so3.jpg
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/717/clover2al2.jpg

The second one is pretty awesome.

[Munsu]

I just got back from this. Pretty amazing overall in my opinion.

I was actually surprised at how good a look you get at the monster. I had heard it was just glimpses here and there, but you get a really good look about 4 times.

Anyway, ignoring everything else, the movies presentation was pretty fantastic. I'd recommend that if anyone is planning on seeing it, see it in a theater. I don't think it would have the same effect otherwise. Despite what you think about the rest of the movie, it's very entertaining. They do a really good job of making you feel as if you're right there where all the shit is happening. Otherwise the characters were pretty good and I liked the plot. There is something about it that I can't put my finger on that rubbed me the wrong way, but otherwise it was awesome.

I've never seen Blair Witch so I can't compare, but this movie is definitely a ride.
Just came from watching the movie, it was fantastic in my opion. Pretty much I echo what you said here. The best things about the movie are the surprise factor, the sound effects, and the army scenes. Man, those scenes when they are fighting the monster are incredible... but really the surprise factor made this movie great. Shit happened when you least expect them, and I think they did a good job to provide that. Also, when Hud got a hold of the camera, I thought to myself "This motherfucker would be the last man standing just because he has the camera". He came close, but he didn't make it... It would've been awesome if he did though, since it would be ironic that the dumbest guy in the movie lasts the longest.

But yeah, this is a movie that you need to watch in the theatres... most of the suspense is is brought from loud noises, and nothing does it better than a dark theatre with loud speakers.

And for those complaining about being dizzy... man up you fucking pussy.

[Genma]

I don't know why everyone goes around thinking this is "fantastic," "great," "creative," or even "worth the price of admission." Seriously, I thought it was garbage overall. Yeah... I'll admit it had some good moments, but most of the movie bored me to tears, to the point where I started looking around the theater (to relax my eye muscles), only to see that my friend next to me was falling asleep.

Keep in mind that I watched this opening night without prior knowledge of the movie other than the obscure trailers, and that everything in the theater was set to make the movie experience enjoyable. Even the ground rumbled whenever there were explosions and stuff, so the bass must've been turned on loud, and I admit that aspect of it was pretty cool... making you feel like you're there... but the movie still sucked in my opinion.

The beginning was by far the most boring sequence I've seen in a long time. It's boring enough going to a party surrounded by people you don't know or care about, which I've done far too many times as is, but watching a twenty minute movie intro about it? I understand they were trying to introduce the characters and all that but... geeze... they couldnt've made it any less boring. I was getting ready to just leave and sneak into Walk Hard when suddenly the movie took off, and I'll admit I liked the start of the attack and shortly thereafter.

Eventually the shaky cam got old though. I don't care if it's supposed to be like you're watching some home movie of an alien creature invasion, it still made me nauseous and strained my contact-ridden eyes. The CG for buildings was great, the action sequences were good, but the monster looked ridiculous and totally CG. I guess they thought that by only shooting short sequences of it, people wouldn't notice how crappy and out of place it looked. And what was with that tentacle on the bridge? I totally didn't understand that part at all.

When the helicopter came down, that's when I realized this movie was garbage. Why the hell would the monster suddenly turn away from thousands of people to focus on three teenagers? And why did it rip Hud in half? Totally didn't make sense, and neither did the part when retard "i wanna save the love of my life" protagonist hid under a bridge to finally mutter the words "i love you" before being blown to shreds.

Then the movie came to an end, and I looked at my cellphone in disbelief. Did I seriously just drop $10 to see a home movie with a terribly CGed monster and shaky cam that only lasted like... a little over an hour?

At that point I realized, yes, I did. And it gave me a headache.

Sorry if I offended anyone who actually liked this movie, it's just obviously not for everyone... like me.

[Knives122]

The beginning was by far the most boring sequence I've seen in a long time. It's boring enough going to a party surrounded by people you don't know or care about, which I've done far too many times as is, but watching a twenty minute movie intro about it? I understand they were trying to introduce the characters and all that but... geeze... they couldnt've made it any less boring. I was getting ready to just leave and sneak into Walk Hard when suddenly the movie took off, and I'll admit I liked the start of the attack and shortly thereafter.


I actually liked the beginning and the parts where it cut to the original tape, actually thought it was the most well done part of the movie. Getting to see the two of them have some perfect day in their relationship and actually getting some char. development(what little there was) made up for the amount of crappy mediocrity that was the movie.



Eventually the shaky cam got old though. I don't care if it's supposed to be like you're watching some home movie of an alien creature invasion, it still made me nauseous and strained my contact-ridden eyes.

I actually didn't have a problem with the shaky all over the place camera one bit. Didn't get nauseous or dizzy. But I can understand how some people would be disoriented after seeing this movie.



When the helicopter came down, that's when I realized this movie was garbage. Why the hell would the monster suddenly turn away from thousands of people to focus on three teenagers? And why did it rip Hud in half? Totally didn't make sense, and neither did the part when retard "i wanna save the love of my life" protagonist hid under a bridge to finally mutter the words "i love you" before being blown to shreds.


I actually started laughing at all the things that were going on in the movie. The monster was pretty much stalking the group b/c it was everywhere they went and just decided to take down the helicopter with them in it at the last seconds as if to say "fuck you heroes."



Then the movie came to an end, and I looked at my cellphone in disbelief. Did I seriously just drop $10 to see a home movie with a terribly CGed monster and shaky cam that only lasted like... a little over an hour?

At that point I realized, yes, I did. And it gave me a headache.

Sorry if I offended anyone who actually liked this movie, it's just obviously not for everyone... like me.

You don't have to apologize for anything, you saw the movie and made an opinion of it, and isn't that why movies are great in the first place?

I'll give it to whoever for thinking of using the camera direction for this type of genre, but there are just so many flaws with movie that it's really hard to actually watch this movie a second time without wanting to turn it off(Unless you love it, in which case good for you).

I probably won't be buying this movie when it comes out on dvd or actually ever watching it again b/c of it being pretty much dull. One big MEH for me.

[Raven]

Was it just my cinema or were the end credits in epileptic mode for everyone else? And WTF was with the operatic music? It puzzled me to no end.

I thought it was great, overall. The acting was good and seemed very genuine, which is what I thought would let it down. The part where they were running along that deserted street only to suddenly be in the middle of the military strike was intense. It's definitely a movie you need to see at the cinema as any other format just wouldn't do it justice.

The only part that I thought was a bit unrealistic was the lack of language. You did hear a 'shit' here and there occasionally but for kids of that age in that sort of situation all you'd most likely hear is "fuuuuck" every few seconds.

[Munsu]

Matt Reeves is in early talks with Paramount to direct a "Cloverfield" sequel
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979910.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

[XanBcoo]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979910.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Yeah, I heard talk that if there is a sequel, it will involve the events from the same day as Cloverfield, but from a different viewpoint.

Possibly the military's, possibly another group of friends. Either way it could be pretty good.

Also Genma, with all your complaints I'm surprised you overlooked the most glaring flaw, which was that Beth (the girlfriend) could run around and survive a helicopter crash after being impaled on rebar for several hours. I think that's the only thing that bugged me about the plot because it can't be explained away. The rest was completely reasonable.

[Munsu]

Yeah, I heard talk that if there is a sequel, it will involve the events from the same day as Cloverfield, but from a different viewpoint.

Possibly the military's, possibly another group of friends. Either way it could be pretty good.

Also Genma, with all your complaints I'm surprised you overlooked the most glaring flaw, which was that Beth (the girlfriend) could run around and survive a helicopter crash after being impaled on rebar for several hours. I think that's the only thing that bugged me about the plot because it can't be explained away. The rest was completely reasonable.
Yep, I read about that too... I hope it isn't, I don't think it'll add too much to what has already been established. What I want to know is what happened after they bombed the shit out of NY; but I guess they don't want to give the outcome away. I guess this guy could survive and capture the aftermath, but who knows.

[XanBcoo]

Other people have suggested a documentary style type sequel, where we are shown various sources of footage from the Cloverfield event, as well as news and military coverage. It would also be good for expanding on the origins of the monster as well as the aftermath. I think that would be pretty cool.

[Munsu]

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsByBrand.htm?BR=863&ID=21030 <--- I guess this should reveal/confirm exactly what the monster looks like.

[XanBcoo]

Oh man I want one!! It's nice to finally have a static shot of the thing.

But $100? Darn...