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Cloverfield 
Actors : Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas (II), T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel
Director : Matt Reeves
Studio : Paramount
by Paramount
Brand : PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Release Date : 2008-04-22
Publisher : Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0097363520641
UPC : 097363520641
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 566 reviews)
List Price : $29.99
Our Price : $9.15
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Product Description |
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Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal horrifying event of their lives.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 097363520641 Manufacturer No: 352064 |
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Dvd-books.com |
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One of the first things a viewer notices about Cloverfield is that it doesn't play by ordinary storytelling rules, making this intriguing horror film as much a novelty as an event. Told from the vertiginous point-of-view of a camcorder-wielding group of friends, Cloverfield begins like a primetime television soap opera about young Manhattanites coping with changes in their personal lives. Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is leaving New York to take an executive job at a company in Japan. At his goodbye party in a crowded loft, Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel) hands a camcorder to best friend Hud (T.J. Miller), who proceeds to tape the proceedings over old footage of Rob's ex-girlfriend, Beth (Odette Yustman)--images shot during happy times in that now-defunct relationship. Naturally, Beth shows up at the party with a new beau, bumming Rob out completely. Just before one's eyes glaze over from all this heartbreaking stuff (captured by Hud, who's something of a doofus, in laughably shaky camerawork), the unexpected happens: New York is suddenly under attack from a Godzilla-like monster stomping through midtown and destroying everything and everybody in sight. Rob and company hit the streets, but rather than run with other evacuees, they head toward the center of the storm so that Rob can rescue an injured Beth. There are casualties along the way, but the journey into fear is fascinating and immediate if emotionally remote--a consequence of seeing these proceedings through the singular, subjective perspective of a camcorder and of a story that intentionally leaves major questions unanswered: Who or what is this monster? Where did it come from? The lack of a backstory, and spare views of the marauding creature, are clever ways by producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves to keep an audience focused exclusively on what's on the screen. But it also makes Cloverfield curiously uninvolving. Ultimately, Cloverfield, with its spectacular effects brilliantly woven into a home-video look, is a celebration of infinite possibilities in this age of accessible, digital media. --Tom Keogh |
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Excellent movie... |
A friend lent this to me, as I missed it in the theater. I liked it so much I bought it. You see just enough of the creature to get a good fright but also not enough to keep you mystified. I highly recommend you watch this movie with surround sound.
Please don't pay attention to the "it's too jerky!" claims; it's not even close to being as bad as others make it out to be. The special effects are fantastic and the story is great. I loved the 1st person viewpoint, but I do have to admit that Hud did get on my nerves a little bit.
The other nice thing about this movie is that it's PG-13 scary; very little bad language and not a whole lot of gore. It's something you can watch with your teenagers and not worry about rivers of blood or every other word being profane. It's nothing like that at all.
Without giving the ending away, others (including my wife) think it leaves too many questions unanswered. I simply took it for what is was - a very different spin on a Monster-in-New-York movie - and loved it. |
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Just awful! |
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If I could give this a half star I would. Boring...! And of course, violent. It took too long to get to the point, whatever that was...! |
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superbe blu ray |
Pour les acheteurs français qui aiment le frisson ce blu ray est incontournable. Le film est très bon (je ne vais pas m'étendre sur le sujet car vous trouverez beaucoup de commentaires) et côté technique il réussit à conjuguer des prises de vue caméra à l'épaule et une belle définition.
Enfin, la bande son canadienne est bonne, seuls quelques prénoms américains sont prononcés... à l'américaine. Donc si vous pouvez supporter d'entendre "wrob, wrob, wrob..." dans le feu de l'action (le héros se prénomme Rob) tout va bien.
A ne pas manquer. |
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After Several Months, Doesn't Hold Up |
(Notice: Spoilers Ahead)
By far, the best thing about Cloverfield was the previews hyping its release.
Granted, by the time I finally got around to watching it on DVD, I'd seen the creature, but that's really about all I knew. I hadn't heard much about the storyline or any major revelations. Of course, I now realize why that was-there aren't any.
Here's what happens: Some twenty-somethings are throwing a going away party for their friend. They document testimonials from friends and the pre-party preparations on a video camera so he can watch it when he gets to Japan. He shows up, is surprised, and loves it. His friend who he happened to sleep with a few weeks before shows up with another guy, they fight, she leaves. He reveals to his friends that he never called her after their "special day." Then a giant monster attacks Manhattan, and they all flee in terror as the military shows up and shoots ineffective rockets. They capture their exodus on the same video camera, and when the scorned girl calls the "hero," she pleads for him to come save her, she's trapped under some rubble. He and his friends then risk life and limb to find her and rescue her, which they do, only to be killed by the monster's parasites, the monster itself, as well as the eventual bombing of Manhattan by the military. But the good thing is, it was all caught on a camcorder which was eventually found, and that's how we get to see the unfolding of what the military dubbed "Cloverfield."
The narrative technique really astounded me. The movie starts off with a recording of the "hero" and his love's special day after they sleep together, then moves into the going away party because the "hero's" brother and friend don't realize they shouldn't be taping over it. When they turn off the camera in the "real-time" of the movie, it reverts back to the special day from weeks previous, which was a pretty cool touch. That, along with the hand-held feel of the movie, truly gave me a sense that I witnessed the events of the film as they actually unfolded. That practice heightened the tension and made for an exciting visual experience.
Speaking of which, the special effects were beautiful as was the method of revealing the monster only in glimpses and snippets. Remember, we were virtually getting a "first-person" view of events, so if the shaky hand-held didn't go for a close-up on the creature, we didn't see it.
Sadly, that's where the good ends. The acting was atrocious, the dialogue lowered my I.Q. by at least twenty-points (and I can't spare them!). They somehow took my favorite word, "dude," and made me hate it. What little story existed was clichéd and insulting. Those looking for answers as to what the monster was, where it came from, and why it attacked Manhattan got absolutely no closure at all.
With J.J. Abrams producing (he of LOST fame), I really expected better. He says he was inspired by seeing Godzilla everywhere in Japan toy shops while there promoting a different movie. He's gone on record professing the wish to create an "American" monster that clawed its way into the social conscience as had Godzilla in Japan. What he failed to realize, though, is that we actually have to care about the monster and the people its killing. I, for one, was so annoyed by the whining and obnoxious external ponderings of the primary video taper, I couldn't wait for him to cash it in so I wouldn't have to listen to him anymore.
Finally, I really thought it was in bad taste to mimic so precisely the fall of the Twin Towers and the terrible events of that day. A building can fall in a movie-I get that-but to copy people running down the streets and taking shelter in storefronts so exactly, I found it offensive and creatively apathetic.
Cloverfield would appear to be a movie totally dependent upon its marketing and hype. I'm sure for those who saw it in the theatre and were firmly entrenched in the "now" of its mysterious campaigns, it was quite satisfying. Months later, though, now that it's out on DVD, it doesn't hold up on its own merit.
~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant |
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Paint-Can-Shaker Filming method & dreadful characters |
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I'm not sure what was worse, the camera hooked up to a paint-can-shaker or the chararcters. (Be sure to take your dramamine before watching this FILM). And please, enough with these insipid "Blair Witch wanna be films"--they are unwatchable ok? The only good thing about this method was that it detracted from the plot. Although the plot did have some initial interest, but only with respect to the aliens. The set-up was too long & I totally disliked all the vapid, no-redeeming value characters, which were so awful that I actually found myself rooting for the aliens, hoping none of them survived--I only wish the whinner was killed a lot sooner!!! An ending would also have been nice, even though, it really didn't matter that much to me by then, (certainly there was enough time, given how short this film was). I was constantly looking at my watch wondering when this mess would finally be over--at which time my wife & I just looked at each and couldn't help but laugh at how dreadful a movie this was. Oh, and it was her idea to watch this, so she owes me next time I want to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again for the 10th time--and yes I'm being factious. How this movie rated 3-stars is incomprehensible to me, it's no better than 1-star. |
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