Cloverfield Night

Okay, opening night for Cloverfield was tonight. I said I'd be there, and I kept my word. And was not alone. Got a movie posse together, which was quite cool because we so rarely manage to pull one off anymore (or have reason to). I was lucky enough to have my office close early today (as we have Monday off for the MLK holiday, and they always close early on the Friday before a 3-day weekend), and had time to run around and get a bunch of stuff done that I just never seem to have time for...getting an oil change, getting a haircut, etc. We had chosen to hit the 8:10 show, and as I usually do on these premieres, I went ahead and Fandangoed the tickets for everyone so we wouldn't have to deal with the chance of sellout. After my errands, I headed to Ken's house. A.T. met up with us there, and I drove us. We got Barrie and Jess on the phone, and they had Kyle with them already, and Chris managed to get off work just early enough to join us. We all met up at Century theater on Ethan (home of many a big movie night for us over the years), and the wait for Cloverfield was finally over.

And I'm really not going to say much about it. I'd like people to see it on their own without any spoilerizing from me. I will say this, as I think it best sums up the impact of the film: when it ended, and the credits rolled, half the sold-out theater booed. The other half cheered. It was that kind of film. I quickly realized that I can in no way predict how you're going to react to this movie. I think that's a good thing for a film, when it can really draw strong emotional reactions out of people, one way or the other. Me, personally? I loved it. I really did. And I found myself wanting to strangle many of the "haters" that kept walking by me on their way out as I heard them grumbling their REALLY REALLY STUPID REASONS for not liking the film. I would have accepted their opinion had that made any kind of sense!! To explain further would be to give spoilers, and I won't. Because I think you should see it and make up your own mind.

However, do NOT see this film if you have motion sickness issues. This film is giving people serious nausea. That's because the whole film is a POV through a camcorder...filmed by someone who's, more often than not, running. Did Blair Witch give you issues? This one is worse. You will spew.

But if you don't mind the shaky cam (and if you do, by the way, don't ever watch any of my camcorder videos), I'd say go check it out...if for no other reason than so I can discuss my opinions on it with you. Let me just suggest this to you - let the film be what it is. Understand its storytelling technique and go with that, and if it's different than what you're used to in films you see...let it be different! Try something new! I think they did a great job doing exactly what they set out to do, and I think it was one hell of a ride, and some damned fun filmmaking. Thanks for not letting ME down, at least, J.J. Abrams. No matter what the other half of the theater thought...