Discland
edited by Jonathan Doyle
Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

Two stand-out elements in Jake

Two stand-out elements in Jake Brooks' New York Observer piece about David O. Russell's friendship with Columbia professor and Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman, "the primary inspiration for Dustin Hoffman's character in the audacious and philosophically dense I Heart Huckabees (10.1). One, a decision by Brooks' editor to put the film-title word "Heart" in brackets. (Hello...?) And two, this comment from Russell: "A monk once said, 'If you're not laughing, you're not in on the joke.' That's why, to me, it's not contradictory to have comedy together with these [mystical, meditative, what's-it-all-about?] questions. Investigating what you are is an absurd proposition."

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 29, 2004 at 7:23 AM

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