Just got back from the midnight showing, pretty good, the ending wasn't so great though.

1/18/2008 1:41:25 AM

^yes, I thought the entire thing was awesome, even the end.

the movie is exactly what I expected based on the trailer. One side of a story. One view.

Unlike the idiots that sat in the back row, and as it ended had to chime in, "worst movie ever...I almost fell asleep. Where did the monster come from? Is it dead? This movie is stupid"

As if they didn't watch the previews all shot the exact same way as the movie.
You're not supposed to know everything, just as the millions of people that went through the shit in the movie didn't know anything.

It's one of the things I liked about this movie. The guy recording everything is just your average joe. Not like most movies, where he would have also been a marine biologist who happened to specialize in the effect of global warming and toxic waste on marine life.... and would have figured everything out just in time.

1/18/2008 1:58:08 AM

I just got back from the midnight showing as well, I thoroughly enjoyed it. there were some really ballin scenes, like when they were running down from the roof and such at the beginning. subway was pretty tight. street battle. etc.

I almost forgot it was a monster movie for a while before the attack began.

[Edited on January 18, 2008 at 2:17 AM. Reason : hfsd]

1/18/2008 2:14:31 AM

How was the Star Trek trailer?

1/18/2008 2:17:46 AM

it was just a little teaser but it was pretty sweet and epic seeming, although i was never a HUGE star trek fan

I'm pretty excited for doomsday, saw that trailer too, LOVE the descent and dog soldiers.


hopefully this seemingly larger budget won't decrease the quality of his movies =\

[Edited on January 18, 2008 at 2:22 AM. Reason : fhsd]

1/18/2008 2:18:32 AM

Seeing this tonight. Time to avoid TWW at all costs for the rest of the day.

1/18/2008 7:00:27 AM

meh. it had some good moments and was an OK movie. I liked the fact that it was just one limited third person type view the whole time. But overall I was disappointed for some reason. Not enough to want my money back because it was entertaining but wasnt up to par with what I was hoping for.

1/18/2008 9:29:21 AM

Quote :

"I'm pretty excited for doomsday"

Really? Because that movie looks like a generic cross between 28 Days Later and Max Max... in a bad way. Complete with the "would die from one punch" waif that is straight out of the stereotypical action hottie mold.

1/18/2008 1:33:14 PM

Probably gonna go see this tonight. I just want to know one thing - does the monster get killed?

1/18/2008 2:06:21 PM

^do you really wanna know that?

if so




*****************spoiler********************

















we don't know. it doesn't really show you.




















****************end spoiler**********************

1/18/2008 2:32:02 PM

Just got back from it. I thought it was good, although I'm not sure that it entirely lived up to all the hype.

I do think Thorsten makes a good point; since this version of events is being told from the perspective of one single person trying to journey through the chaotic aftermath, he (and by extension, the audience) naturally won't know where the monster came from, and is understandably more concerned with just trying to survive. It'd be nice if Abrams or somebody could post some background of the monster on the interwebs, though. The monster did look pretty neat, but it'd be nice to see more in-depth pictures of it.

I was definitely impressed by the durability of the camera and the longevity of its batteries. Granted that it's obvious they turned it off for periods of time, but considering all of the trauma it suffered it's the little camera that could.



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

















The ending was definitely a downer, but I guess I should have seen it coming. And considering that the tape being used was also the tape of the main guy and his girlfriend, it sort of feel like things come full circle for the two of them.

I was actually sort of glad that the retarded best friend got killed off. I found him useless and pretty clueless. You're running around for your life, your friends are getting pounced on by those mini-me monsters, and your first concern is to keep taping everything? And I just felt like his comments and jokes had the most inappropriate timing. If I was one of the characters, I would have just told him "stop filming for five fucking minutes and don't open your mouth again." How could he possibly be the protagonist's best friend? How could anybody be friends with a douche like that?

Finally, I was sad that the emo-looking girl died. She could get it, and she deserved better than dying trying to save the douche camera-man.



















*********END SPOILERS**********

[Edited on January 18, 2008 at 2:54 PM. Reason : more space for spoilers]

1/18/2008 2:53:36 PM

Quote :

"do you really wanna know that?"

Yeah. I'm one of those people who believes "100 travel books aren't worth a real trip." I read movie and TV spoilers all the time, and it doesn't take away any of my enjoyment of what I'm watching. Sometimes, knowing what happens beforehand makes it even better.

1/18/2008 3:17:21 PM

i cant see how that saying applies to movies the way you used it.

the whole point of this movie was not knowing what it was. and thats cool if you still want to know anyways, but that saying is kind of out of place or something.

[Edited on January 18, 2008 at 3:26 PM. Reason : ]

1/18/2008 3:24:47 PM

if you want to know the background and other angles of the movie, that's what the marketing campaign and all of that viral stuff is for. there is a new manga that is out now that is supposed to shed some light on something, but it's very vague.

right now, everything is very vague, but if you look at this as a technique, abrams gives himself a lot of room to play with this story. after all Cloverfield the movie is only a tape from one group of survivors and their story. if they want to, think of how much expansion they could do in the "Cloverfield universe", like youtube videos of other witnesses encounters, newspapers and press releases online, fake studies from scientists on the monster online, think about it, JJ Abrams has just created a cash cow of a marketing vehicle that could run for years to come, far beyond this movie which could just be a very small piece.

so much for closure, but then again, this is the guy that created Lost.

1/18/2008 3:43:13 PM

What I liked that hasnt been said so far here:
I liked the sounds, it is rare to find a movie where they use actual weapon sounds and not replace them. I havnt heard a platoon sized element fire like that in a while, and sure as hell havnt heard an M1 Abrams fire since Ft Knox. There is nothing better for a Military person to see a movie when they acualy get it right.

****Spoiler kinda*******



What I didnt like:
The were soooo many things about the monster that were not answered and left alot open.
Some new questions not here:
Why dit the camera man say he thought they were trying to drag him away? Away to where? and Why? To eat him or for some other purpose? And what was the deal with the little ones? Did they die too? Sqeual to retake NYC?
I wish they would have answered one of the following: The origin of the monster or the purpose of it.

***End Spoiler***

I give it a 7/10, good for 5 bucks ealry show. Great sounds, decent CGI destruction, And the Army was well represented for a crisis movie

1/18/2008 4:05:41 PM

Well, after just having seen it, it was...ok. Entertaining, but I kind of would have liked to see some sort of explanation of the monster at some point, even if it was just overhearing something from some of the military people. But oh well.

1/18/2008 4:43:20 PM

you've got to remember, this isn't a movie where we see the scientists researching the monster or the marine biologist discovering origins or the hero discovering a weakness. it's supposed to be what we all know it is, a tape found in the camera of someone caught in the disaster, it would have been pretty crazy to have a random person run into an expert on the subject who just so happens to explain (to the group that is chaotically trying to escape) the origins, weakness and motivation of the monster and it's parasites.

1/18/2008 4:59:46 PM

I saw it this afternoon and I think they could have worked in a little on the origin of the monster without going into weaknesses, etc. They had interaction with the military, it would have been easy to put that in.

Overall opinion of the movie..... it was ok.

1/18/2008 5:53:48 PM

i saw it this afternoon, wasn't too bad, but I didn't like the ending

i'm also interested in the background for the monster, although...

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











in the final shot of the movie when he and the girl are looking from the ferris wheel to the water, my friend saw something fall into the water near the ship...maybe the monster or its egg, and it hatched a month later.

also, I would've liked for them to explain why the girl exploded, or what was the problem with her being bitten other than detonating. was it like an aliens thing, where they hatch later or what?

and I liked the friend, he was funny





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

1/18/2008 6:06:07 PM

can someone please PM me regarding what the "monster" is? I dont plan on seeing this movie so don't worry about spoiling it for me

1/18/2008 6:41:41 PM

Quote :

"in the final shot of the movie when he and the girl are looking from the ferris wheel to the water, my friend saw something fall into the water near the ship...maybe the monster or its egg, and it hatched a month later."

Definitely didn't see that, but I wasn't watching for anything. Anyone else see this?

^The movie never says what the monster is. There are plenty of views of it though.

1/18/2008 6:46:09 PM

Quote :

" Really? Because that movie looks like a generic cross between 28 Days Later and Max Max... in a bad way. Complete with the "would die from one punch" waif that is straight out of the stereotypical action hottie mold."

i'm excited for it almost entirely due to its director

1/18/2008 7:29:46 PM

I thought it was quite good, but I'm the type where I'd really, really like to know more about the monster/events/etc. I understand why they did the movie the way they did, and like I say, I really liked it. But I'd also be pretty thrilled if the creators would put up a website or something with a little more explanation.

1/18/2008 8:59:19 PM

I agree with GrumpyGOP...I think the DVD will have a lot of bonus features

1/18/2008 9:14:13 PM

My only question: How the fuck did a 30 story monster keep sneaking up on them?

1/18/2008 9:32:06 PM

^ haha.

i loved the movie.

[Edited on January 18, 2008 at 10:15 PM. Reason : we also saw the "drop" at the end ]

1/18/2008 10:14:38 PM

It was a satellite from the same company who made the oil tanker, fyi.


Oh, spoiler alert.

1/18/2008 11:36:03 PM

At the end of the credits, the audio comes back in and someone says something, but I couldn't make it out. Anyone else heard it?

STAY 'TILL THE END OF THE CREDITS.

1/18/2008 11:40:21 PM

The phrase "It's still alive" played in reverse

http://boomp3.com/m/bd034dfca370

1/18/2008 11:43:17 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rubPutd2rvc

1/18/2008 11:48:26 PM

I went in with low expectations but I enjoyed it. reminded me of the game Half-life 2.






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








some stuff I found unrealistic:

-the army showed up pretty dang quick, had rocket launchers and tanks within minutes? medical stations also. it took forever to get to Katrina and we knew the hurricane was coming.
-carpet bombing the thing didn't even seem to scratch it

1/19/2008 12:25:04 AM

^how is that unrealistic? They probably knew about it hours before it hit new york city. think of the seismic activity, radar, naval shit, whatever. that's a huge fucking monster.

1/19/2008 12:37:15 AM

There is an Army base at Fort Hamilton in NYC as well as a major Army Arsenal site up the Hudson river.

1/19/2008 12:41:08 AM

I thought the movie lived up to the hype and was probably a little better than I expected. I figured this would be a big-hype movie and then just crash in theaters, but it was a lot of fun. I thought the first-person view would get old after a while but the "documenter" was awesome.



*** Spoiler Discussion ***





I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed the thing splash into the water in their video at the end. No one I was with saw it, and yeah I don't know where the satellite idea you mentioned came from. I thought it was the egg and showing that the monster probably came from space.

One of the parts I wasn't sure about was the end when Hud got killed and you could see the little things dropping off of the large monster and yet Rob and Beth managed to get away? Those things weren't exactly slow and there were several of them that dropped.

And yeah, this is JJ here, you have to leave a lot of open-ended stuff. That said, I really hope they don't continue this series unless they take it to a normal-perspective movie and they try to re-take NYC, that could be good.



*** End Discussion***

1/19/2008 12:56:55 AM

Abrams said in a interview that the monster was a baby and that it was acting like a baby animal would in a strange place.

1/19/2008 2:02:39 AM

^Well that would only support the idea that the thing that crashed into the water was indeed the monster.

1/19/2008 2:07:43 AM

Quote :

""in the final shot of the movie when he and the girl are looking from the ferris wheel to the water, my friend saw something fall into the water near the ship...maybe the monster or its egg, and it hatched a month later.""

OK, i will watch for this at work tomorrow... I can probably try and catch the ending at least 3 times. I didn't notice it when I watched it.

1/19/2008 3:27:27 AM

heard some great things about this movie tonight.


defintely gonna try and see it this weekend, hopefully sunday before feetball

1/19/2008 3:43:51 AM

have you guys heard of the theory that the monster came from the deep sea in response to the mining/harvesting of the material used in the new ridiculously delicious slushy product?


...



my other friend said that he saw a rumor on the internets that the monster came from the deep in response to humans taking the slushy ingredient that is so dear to it and fucking up the people who drink the stuff. This drink can be seen as it is the feature of the brother's shirt, even though its faded out and all.

at the comic con my friend went to he managed to pick up the same shirt, so kinda intriguing as to why they would feature this as part of the campaign...

1/19/2008 3:48:36 AM

*** Possible spoiler *******

















http://www.1-18-08.com/

See the picture on top of the stack.

Does that mean they killed it??

1/19/2008 11:27:19 AM

my biggest problem with the movie:




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









I can take monsters the size of sky scrapers
and smaller ones too...
and I can go along when a building is slanted and resting on another and characters still make their way through it....
and after all is said and done, I'll even buy surviving the helicopter crash

but


buying a cell phone battery that is pre-charged.... you gotta draw the line somewhere. This is more outlandish that 300 greek guys with no chest hair






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

1/19/2008 11:43:51 AM

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




























I say they killed it, despite the line at the end of the closing credits.

























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

1/19/2008 11:45:59 AM

I'm pissed the movie didn't actually take place on 1/18/08...what a rip off.

1/19/2008 12:29:25 PM

it probably got killed eventually, so no knowing whether it died then or not, although I'' go with it dies at the end of the movie

the radio message or w/e probably means something lived and there will be a new monster

1/19/2008 12:51:20 PM

I think we can stop with the spoiler alert shit now . . . if people are still reading the thread and haven't seen the movie, they should expect to see spoilers

1/19/2008 12:55:16 PM

Saw it last night, loved it, although a few things:

1) The comment the cameraman dude said about the homeless people on fire was pretty funny
2) The little critters that the big monster dropped reminded me a lot of the ant lion things on Half Life 2
3) Hahaha so remember when the Army dude in the tents was saying something like "The government is implementing Operation Hammer at 0600 to clear out the city" or whatever. When they were under the bridge at Central Park and the air raid sirens went off, I said under my breath "Stop---HAMMERTIME" and a bunch of people heard me and started laughing.

1/19/2008 12:57:26 PM

haha, yeah that flaming homeless person thing was hilarious, along with the "wait, you've heard of superman?' 'WOW, no way, you know about superman too?!?! You ever heard of GARFIELD?!?"

these aliens with the beak/croc mouth are getting kinda old...see

starship troopers
Starcraft zerglings
^ant lions in HL2

etc

1/19/2008 1:11:02 PM

Zerglings were my first thought.

1/19/2008 1:50:43 PM

Oh, P.S.

Don't forget the LOST tie-in. The Dharma logo appears briefly in the bottom corner of the screen (right side) at the beginning of the film.

and if you think the monster is dead, you don't know hollywood. Cloverfield 2, hello?

1/19/2008 2:12:53 PM

I loved the flaming homeless people comment to and when Hud describe the monsters as "a terrible thing"

1/19/2008 2:14:24 PM