Comments on: Cloverfield – Ray’s Review

By: DVD: CLOVERFIELD | Obsessed With Film

DVD: CLOVERFIELD | Obsessed With Film — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:04:22 +0000

[...] what I said in my original review at the film’s theatrical premiere: The first ten minutes of the film are mostly annoying set [...]

By: Burbanked

Burbanked — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:31:04 +0000

No doubt about that backlash, Ray; it’s already in full swing. David Poland is just one critic who has decimated Cloverfield, and although I’m not a fan of his reviews, it seems overly brutal.

And I never saw Blair Witch a second time. Maybe ’cause they never showed the monster.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:18:49 +0000

@ Burbanked – I agree about the differences in characters between the two films. However, the main device of both films – the hand-held, all-seeing camera – makes more sense in BLAIR WITCH than it does in CLOVERFIELD. Hud the cameraman for CLOVERFIELD needed to put the camera down and run his fat ass off. It’s just not that realistic to keep filming and framing great shots while fleeing for your life.

Having said that, the film does a great job of moving so fast that you barely notice these obvious problems. However, I think there will be few that actually want to sit and watch it over and over again. It is, after all, a gimmick movie, and, like BLAIR WITCH, I think there will be a certain amount of backlash because of it.

By: Burbanked

Burbanked — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:26:59 +0000

Actually, I liked it a bit more than you, Ray, and I think it would stand up for repeated viewings more than Blair Witch. I had a blast with this movie and even though intellectually I was feeling how thin the characters and plot contrivances were, it never bothered me for a moment.

A comparison to Blair Witch is inevitable, of course, but what I find interesting in the differences between these two films is that the Blair Witch characters choose to enter the woods and document their story, and are therefore somewhat to blame for their own deaths, for having the hubris to believe so casually that they can expose the unknown.

The Clover-yuppies are thrust into this horror unwillingly. To my mind, that puts me a bit more in tune with them, sympathetically speaking.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:06:47 +0000

This movie was absolutley horrible. I used to trust Ray’s reviews. Now Ray owes me 2 hours of my life back!

By: jared

jared — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:54:46 +0000

Hmmm…I was not going to waste my time with this one, but I usually trust Ray with movies (not a chance in hell I will ever trust him in regards to music) so may just go see Cloverfield. Thanks Ray.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:51:02 +0000

I thought for sure that you would hate this. This is a surprising review. I think you just wanted to be like your idol Harry Knowles, so you had to like it.