Cloverfield -

...was a movie for this generation, for sure. Just watching it you see all these reminders of the techno world we now live in – the fact that it is shot entirely from someone’s video camera (which you think one might put down at some point when trying to escape a huge ass monster), to the way that people in the movie rely on cell phones not only in the background, but as ways to further the plot of the movie. Great use of technology – the way technology was used in the movie, and the choice to shoot the whole thing from the “video camera perspective” kind of makes the movie that much more believable when you’re in the theater watching…although I don’t know how seriously it can be taken once you realize the thing attacking New York City is a giant monster (but you know, on LOST Abrams has us all believing that white smoke can kill people, so this isn’t too far of a stretch).


Putting the technical aspects of the movie itself aside, I wanted to comment quickly on the marketing of the film. On MarketingBlurb, there’s a great post about how the way they advertised this movie was pretty cool. Making everything such a tease to the audience, and not really ever giving away too much about plot, characters, etc. made the experience of going to the movies and seeing this film that much more appealing. And note the experience card – the marketers of Cloverfield successfully made people want to go to the movies and experience this. It was an event. It was a monster attacking New York. That’s something that brings audiences in, especially if you keep it under wraps like they did, it makes people want to know what happens in the movie.

The website, www.1-18-08.com , is pretty vague in that it only contains pictures from the day of 1-18-08, when the film is set. They make you wonder what the hell is going to happen in the movie. It’s a great tease. And finally, the poster of the movie, the statue of liberty with her head blasted off, is just one more way to get people talking about this film.

Basically, I think the marketers of Cloverfield revealed the perfect information to pique the public’s interest in the film, and released details that brought people into theaters. I guess it’s not too hard to market this fantastical monster film and get people interested, but if they revealed too much, it would have served to keep people away from the theaters.

Good marketing.

Atonement just blew my mind...

I just watched Atonement and it was absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking. It made me literally say out loud “that is so beautiful.” The cinematography in this film is staggering. I cannot believe that they could get that many stunning shots in one film. Right from the beginning when Briony is wandering around the house with her prized play, the way the shots move and are framed blew my mind. I am so impressed.

And I thought the acting was top notch, too. I just cannot say enough for this movie. I loved it. I read the book previously and knew everything that was going to happen; yet I could not unglue myself from this movie. And even now I don’t know why I’m still awake but I had to write down quickly my initial reaction to the beauty of it. And the costumes were great too.

The last scene where we look into Briony’s blue eyes so full of regret, of sorrow, it just connected with me so much more than the book.


And as I learned about in screenwriting class today – set up a world, a character, something happens, a rise to climax, then we see this character again in the same world, yet changed somehow from what’s happened. Watch this movie and you’ll see a transformation in each of these main characters. And this especially rings true with Briony, it’s quite obvious in her case actually.

Anyway, the images were amazing. I guess that’s what I’m getting at. This definitely deserves the nominations and awards (Golden Globe so far…) that it is receiving. Breathtaking.

silly

Barack Obama...Robin Williams...Gena Davis - he is following in the footsteps of great Commanders in Chief.

(thanks liz for posting this on faceload)

The Ol' Bucket List

The Bucket List – a mediocre movie starring two people who I expected more from, yet I guess even the best acting cannot save a somewhat slow moving romp that tries a little too hard to summon deep emotion laced within comedy. The humor is dragged down, and the somber moments don’t connect fully with the audience. My mom says I didn’t enjoy it because it’s “for an older audience,” but I’m interested to hear her thoughts after viewing the film. (note: parents watched the film last night and...enjoyed it! maybe I am too young)

One thing the movie does adhere to is the rule that Morgan Freeman must provide voiceover for the narration of any movie he is involved with, as two men who discover they don’t have much time left to live try to accomplish everything on their “bucket lists,” things they want to do before “kicking the bucket.” I’m sure you are aware of this plotline from the movie’s trailer (which generally will save you about an hour and a half if you just decide to watch that instead of the movie). In other words, the movie is basically a remake of A Walk To Remember, replacing Mandy Moore with two older men.

And since the timeframe to post about the “Top ____ Moments of 2007” has passed, I’ve decided to share the embarrassing “My A Walk to Remember List” with you that I wrote sometime in late middle school/early high school:

(enjoy!)

1. Read one book by everyone we learned about in English
2. Learn to play the guitar
3. Take a roll of film using a good camera trying to be artistic (hahaha)
4. Go to France (and the reason I picked France out of anywhere in the world…?)
5. See a Redwood tree in real life
6. Be famous (I once read a statistic that some crazy proportion of teenagers believe they are going to be famous. But that discussion is for another post)
7. Send someone I don’t know that well a nice note if you see them in the paper (this was prompted by a nice note I received from like my Grandma’s friend’s daughter who saw my name in the paper…)
8. Learn how to speak a different language fluently!
9. Go to Israel (Now I’ll change that to “Revisit Israel”)
10. Fall in love
11. Write a book
12. Write a movie (or direct)