Yes and no. There are no quick cuts like the Bourne movies but the camera moves quite a bit ant it gets knocked around during the scenes when they are on the run.
--- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > is it as bad as The Bourne Supremacy (the second flick?) That one made me sick at many times. The third Bourne film didn't bother me, though > > -------------- Original message -------------- > From: "B. Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > I have to give one warning, if you are bothered by by shaky camerawork > this might not be the movie for you. One person threw up > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, "B. Smith" <daikaiju66@> wrote: > > > > I read the review and he misses the point and his biases were showing > > big time. The reason we don't ever get an origin or backstory is > > because we only know as much as the characters. They are damn near at > > ground zero when the events happen and they don't have any secret > > knowledge. They are scared and on the run. > > > > The bridge sequence is awesomely effective. Manhattan was being > > evacuated and it was their quickest escape route. Clover or MGP as > > some websites have called him is attracted by the noise and light from > > the helicopters, cars, etc. and attacks the bridge. > > > > I've heard a lot of people complaining that they didn't like the > > characters. I actually liked them especially Hud. They seemed like > > pretty normal twentysomethings. Rob seems like an ass due to the Beth > > thing but you can see that he's totally in love with her and panicked > > when their friendship was rapidly morphing into something deeper. > > > > I really liked the movie and most critics did as well. It's riding at > > 77% on Rottentomatoes.com. > > > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, "Tracey de Morsella (formerly > > Tracey L. Minor)" <tdlists@> wrote: > > > > > > Since I posted a good Cloverfield review, I thought I would post a > bad > > > review as well > > > > > > Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008 > > > Corliss on Cloverfield: The Blair Witch Reject > > > By Richard Corliss > > > > > > An explosion shakes the earth. Flames spark through the night sky > like > > > fireworks. It's either July 4th or Sept. 11th. More like the latter, > > > because devastation and hysteria have engulfed lower Manhattan. > > Then, in > > > flash glimpses, we see the cause of the carnage. A scaly tail, long > > as a > > > city block and wide as a boulevard. A furtive figure 25 stories big. > > > Whatever the thing is, it's alien, it's odd-looking and it's royally > > pissed. > > > > > > Most horror and monster stories follow a simple format: "What if > > [insert > > > worst thing you can imagine]...?" In the junky, fitfully frightening, > > > virally marketed new movie Cloverfield, the "if" is the worst > thing you > > > can remember. To wit: What if a previously unknown agent of evil > > were to > > > destroy a world-famous New York City edifice? Not the World Trade > > > Center, this time, but the Statue of Liberty â" the Lady's head is > > tossed > > > like a used beer can onto a lower Manhattan street. And the Statue > > > decapitator is not a team of al-Qaeda operatives but a scaly, 300-ft. > > > monster, an American Godzilla. > > > > > > Instantly you have a million questions. By which I mean: three. 1) > > Where > > > did the creature come from? (The Hudson River? Or the Arctic, thawed > > out > > > by climate change and sent south on tidal currents? Possibly > Hoboken?) > > > 2) What event roused it from a snooze that may date back to the > > dinosaur > > > era? (Godzilla's rampage across Japan, you'll recall, was the > spawn of > > > atomic bombs dropped there.) 3) What, exactly, the heck is it? > > > > > > Can't say, since the movie â" written by Drew Goddard, from an > idea by > > > producer J.J. Abrams, and directed by Matt Reeves â" purports to > be a > > > video document "retrieved at an incident site formerly known as > Central > > > Park" (now known as Cloverfield), and is told exclusively from the > > point > > > of view of a few twentysomethings. We know only what they know, see > > what > > > the videocamera sees. I.e., not much. > > > > > > They gather at a surprise going-away party for young Rob Hawkins > > > (Michael Stahl-David): his gal pal Lily (Jessica Lucas), his > on-and-off > > > girlfriend Beth (Odette Yustman), his best bud Hud (T.J. Miller) > and a > > > pretty stray named Lizzy (Marlene Diamond). Early on, Hud is given > the > > > job of documenting the event with a video camera. The movie spends > its > > > first 20 mins. introducing you to a bunch of people, most of whom > will > > > be dead by min. 30. All you have to know: Rob had a brief affair with > > > Beth and wants to get back to her; Lily, although nobody hits on > > her, is > > > a definite hottie; Lizzy is the disposable outsider; and Hud is the > > kind > > > of guy who'll tag along to anything, including Armageddon. (Still, > you > > > have to give Hud credit. He may be running for his life for the 10 > hrs. > > > of the plot, but he never drops the camera or forgets to point it at > > the > > > creatures that are ready to kill him. The guy's a trouper.) > > > > > > They're all meant to be cool, attractive, upmarket young > > professionals â" > > > Rob has just been promoted to vice president of some company that's > > > sending him off to be in charge of Japan â" but their behavior is, > > tops, > > > adolescent. The men in attendance clumsily hit on pretty girls they > > > don't know; they mope about an old love (Beth) showing up with a new > > > guy; they frantically pass along gossip about who's been sleeping > with > > > whom. A suspicion forms in viewers' minds that Cloverfield has been > > > rated PG-13 "for the emotional age of the characters." > > > > > > But their behavior is Noel Coward-sophisticate compared to what > happens > > > when the monster strikes. A horror/sf/disaster movie loses points > every > > > time you're forced to ask yourself, "Why are they doing something so > > > stupid?", and the answer is, "Because they're in a horror/sf/disaster > > > movie." And if you thought that Abrams â" the creator of Felicity, > > Alias > > > and Lost, and the writer-director of the spiffy if underperforming > > > Mission: Impossible III â" would produce a horror movie that was > > not just > > > high-concept but high-IQ â" you misjudge his faithfulness to a genre > > > requiring that, in extremis, people act in a manner that's way below > > > their intelligence levels. > > > > > > Susan Sontag described horror and science fiction as "the > > imagination of > > > disaster." The innovation is in thinking the unthinkable, not > creating > > > rounded or even plausible characters. In fact, human idiocy is a > > crucial > > > aspect of a genre that trades in mortal threat. If the characters > holed > > > themselves away in some safe place, they'd never meet the monster. > They > > > have to be at risk in order to escape, or get trampled, and for us to > > > get a cheap but essential movie thrill. > > > > > > Once the monster surfaces in Cloverfield, mobs of Manhattanites > run for > > > their lives across a bridge out of the borough. They. Are. Stupid! > > They, > > > and you the viewer, are supposed to believe that this huge > creature â" > > > whose stride spans several city blocks, and who could get across the > > > East River in about three steps â" is some sort of snob who > > wouldn't be > > > caught dead in Brooklyn. (But his victims would. That tail whips > out of > > > the water and snaps the Brooklyn Bridge in two.) > > > > > > Of course, in movies like this, stupidity can also be read as movie > > > heroism. In The Day After Tomorrow, with the northern half of the > U.S. > > > population dead from a sudden attack of Global Freezing, Dennis Quaid > > > decides he has to go on an Iditarod race from Washington, D.C., to > the > > > 42nd Street Library in New York to save his stranded son, Jake > > > Gyllenhaal. Tom Cruise went on a similar suicide mission to reconnect > > > with his family in Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Here in Cloverfield > > > Rob decides he absolutely must save Beth, trapped in her midtown > > > highrise, even though she's a four-mile trudge away, the rest of the > > > town is being smashed, trashed or eaten alive by crazy creatures, > they > > > have no access to food or water, and Lily's wearing high heels. > > > > > > Apocalyptic pessimism may be the theme of these movies, but the > hero is > > > driven by a desperate optimism: the world's ending, so I have to > go on > > > an impossible journey to save someone dear to me. The idea is that > > > you'll forget about the tens of millions who died elsewhere and > > > concentrate on the people you've come to know and have a rooting > > > interest for. This elitism applies to virtually any movie set in > > > cataclysmic times, whether it's the Civil War of Gone With the > Wind or > > > New-York-under-siege fantasies like Cloverfield. The leading > characters > > > become emblems of survival, and the movie proceeds under the theory > > > that, in such a crazy world, the problems of a few little people > really > > > do amount to a hill of beans. > > > > > > So Rob and his posse head into the subway tunnels, hoping to elude > > > Cloverzilla and get uptown alive. Here's where the movie's one > > > inspiration kicks in. Earlier, we saw the monster shedding parasites > > > that had attached themselves to its hide like barnacles. These > > dog-size, > > > cricket-faced, crablike creatures can bound like kangaroos, stick to > > > ceilings and attack people without so much as a "Boo!" > > > > > > Just about every other plot and effects element in Cloverfield is > > > familiar. The movie is basically the 1954 Godzilla (itself a gloss on > > > Ray Harryhausen's 1953 The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, in which a > > > prehistoric beast is roused by atomic tests to terrorize New York > City) > > > told in the style of, and with the characters from, The Blair Witch > > > Project (but with a lot less internal cohesion; this could be called > > > "The Blair Witch Reject"). The State of Liberty head comes from the > > > poster for John Carpenter's Escape from New York (though that shot is > > > not in the film). The little crab creatures are like the toy > meanies in > > > Gremlins. And when the main monster opens its mouth, you pretty much > > > know there'll be a second, Alien-like set of teeth. > > > > > > In its broader contours, Cloverfield evokes real-life horror. The > Wall > > > Street area already had its monster mash, on 9/11. So there's no way > > you > > > can watch downtown panic and crumbling towers without it seeming a > > > bit... familiar. Naturally the director says, he didn't want to > > diminish > > > or exploit the residue of grief from 9/11. And, as the press notes > > > inform us, "The visual effects teams even took care that the > collapsing > > > buildings in the film were older-looking structures that did not > evoke > > > the style of the structures that were attacked six years earlier." > > > You're right, visual effects team. It doesn't bother a New Yorker to > > see > > > a gorgeous landmark like the Woolworth or Empire State Building > > > destroyed. Those things are too old anyway. > > > > > > Mind you, I don't begrudge the creators of even a junk-food movie > like > > > Cloverfield the fun they had demolishing New York one more time. The > > > city is as irresistible to filmmakers as it is to terrorists, and for > > > the same reason: it's an amazingly dense and compact symbol of power. > > > Harryhausen, Carpenter, Abrams and the I Am Legend team, among many > > > others, see a city ready to explode from its own ambitions and > > > animosities, from all that compressed energy; they'll just give it a > > > push into catastrophe. But I have to agree with my wife, who, when I > > > told her about Cloverfield, sighed and said, "Couldn't somebody, just > > > once, pick Chicago?" > > > > > > > > > * Find this article at: > > > * http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1704366,00.html > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
