Cloverfield

Don, Jeremy and I just got back from seeing the movie Cloverfield in the theaters - the new thriller by J.J. Abrams (director of the T.V. series Lost). Don't worry, I won't give any spoilers away but I do have to say a brief word on the style of the movie and encourage everyone to go and see it. The consensus from all of us was that the movie was great. It was a high budget Godzilla type creature feature filmed similar to The Blair Witch project, a first person hand held camera documentary of the accounts taking place. I'm not really into monster movies but I loved this take on it.

The problem with monster movies is that you know they are not real. No matter how much you suspend disbelief, you are constantly aware that this is all make believe and you are watching a fictional story unfold. Because of the first person perspective from which this is shot, you never have time to think about the unreality of it all. You are too busy feeling like you are actually running for your life through the streets of Manhattan with the characters on the screen and thinking what your next move is going to be and how you are going to get away to have any time whatsoever to think about the fact that this is not real and could never happen. And even more amusing, we spent more time on the car ride home talking about what our strategy for escape would have been and how we would have reacted similarly or differently than the actual characters did than we did critiquing the movie itself. Well done J.J. Abrams.

I am really picky these days about what movies I will actually go to a theater to see and what I will wait for to come out on DVD. This movie is definitely best experienced in a theater. So go and see it and let me know what you think.