I Saw Some Thing In The Theater

Man it seemed cold today. I mean take what you think of as cold, then imagine going out in that without clothes on and it was that kind of cold. We didn't let the kids go outside and play because of that (partly because we felt it was way too cold to be playing outside and partly because neither of us wanted to the responsible adult that was out there with them). And after going out tonight I have to say I do think it really was too cold to playing outside. So instead of going out we settled for taking down both the Christmas trees. Yep, up until now both trees were still up (ornaments had been removed previously, but the trees and lights had still been up).


We had Ben over again tonight for dinner (one of these days I may even get a picture of him while he's here). Ben was over because he and I were going to see Cloverfield tonight. But before we did that he had to suffer through the kids telling knock knock jokes during dinner. Suffice to say Catherine still doesn't really understand he concept of a knock knock joke, but she thinks she's funny and the stuff she says invariably gets some form of a laugh, so she keeps telling them (sometimes the same one over and over).

As for Cloverfield both Ben and I like the fact that there's been a lot of mystery behind the promotion of the monster movie and figured if we didn't see it this weekend the chances of seeing it without it being spoiled would be slim to none. And I don't know what it is, but every time we go see a movie in the theater near where I live we also end up only being able to get tickets to the movie in the director's hall. Which I admit has a really nice sound system and sweet leather seats, but it's also a way for them to jack the ticket price up to $13.50 instead of the normal $9.50. I can't believe I'm going to see a movie for that price. You can buy the DVD for that these days (sometimes less).

Anyway, if you've seen any promotion for Cloverfield you know it's a monster movie, but they've gone out of their way not to show the monster. It's a monster movie from a different perspective. If you think about the old Godzilla movies you always got to see the guy in the rubber suit trashing the model town. And the camera point of view would be from what was (supposed to be) about 300 feet or more in the air showing the destruction. Typically in the old Godzilla movies there would be wanton destruction, but you would only see that from Godzilla's perspective. Cloverfield's whole concept is it's a monster movie with a street level point of view. The movie is shot camcorder style and told exclusively from the point of view of one group of people in the city as it's attacked. As such some things you don't get told (such as the origin of the monster), nor as in many other monster movies do you get a feel for the organized efforts against it (typically a Godzilla movie will have a scene that will cut away to the military leaders giving lengthy exposition as to what they're planning). None of that happens here. Also unlike Godzilla movies there's no monster bonding with a child, nor are there giant robots that show up to fight the monster (which is a shame though, because that could be an interesting movie in and of itself, since giant robots are inherently cool).

The movie does take a few liberties with some technical aspects. The camcorder used has one of the longest taping times I've seen for one tape, plus it never seems to require a recharge. There are also a couple times a cell phone gets used where it seems improbable that you would be able to establish a connection under the circumstances. But aside from that, the concept for the movie is pretty good. I found I was fine with not being told the reason for everything and just going along for the ride. And in case you're wondering, you do get a money shot of the monster, but to be honest, I would have been just fine had I not gotten that (although I can see how some people needed that). I think my favorite reaction of other people in the theater was once it ended someone loudly said "You've got to be f***ing kidding me." So take that for what it's worth, not everyone is going to like this movie. I'll admit I wasn't overly happy with the idea of the camcorder shooting the entire thing although I can see all the reasons why they felt they needed to do that. Overall thought it was a nice change from normal monster movies.