Tags: Movies, Reviews
Did a double bill at the cinema today with the girlfriend, seeing the matinée of Cloverfield and Sweeny Todd.
Cloverfield
What a brilliant movie. Blair Witch meets Godzilla pretty much sums it up, but the execution of the story was so well done and there’s lots of different twists and turns in there to keep you satisfied. I love how this movie was marketed on “unknown” hype, and not only delivers, but DELIVERS and DELIVERS again and again. The idea of the “tape” being played in sequence with jump cuts works really well… for flashbacks, the tape jumps to what was previously recorded on it, but it retains the tension from the present because it’s the equivalent of getting static on the radio and not knowing what’s happening. I really can’t go too much further into the actual description without giving away the surprises- and believe me, it’s best to go into this movie with as little knowledge as possible… just know that it does PAYOFF, which makes it a great cinema experience.
I heard kids in the bathroom saying how they were going to tell EVERYONE to see Cloverfield, and right after the credits roled, all the comments were positive and excited! That’s word of mouth, baby! Cloverfield is gonna rule!
A lot of people are saying that it “redefines the monster-movie genre”… well, I’ll say that it was a brilliant concept with a near-flawless execution, but it’s not redefining anything. It’s a good movie in the monster genre, bringing the style and mechanisms (as well as lessons learned) of the Blair Witch Project into the fold to increase the tension. Comparing it to the Korean flick “The Host”, where within the first 15 minutes the monster is out and about in broad daylight terrorizing the denizens of the riverside, Cloverfield does something even more interesting… it teases and teases, but just as you’re actually starting to think “am I going to be let down by this” is does a WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM and blows you out of the water with a serious of well-placed jabs. So brilliant, yes. Redefining, no, just very good.
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I’ll post my review of Sweeny Todd sometime soon. Gotta head down to Mississauga for an Editing session. Ta!
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