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)

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August 27

Traitor

August 29

Babylon AD

College

Disaster Movie

Goal II: Living the Dream

I Served the King of England

My Mexican Shivah

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Year of the Fish

Young People F*cking

September 3

The Pool

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A Secret

August Evening

Bangkok Dangerous

Everybody Wants to Be Italian

Mister Foe

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Surfer, Dude



When Layer Cake director Matthew

When Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn dropped by my UCLA Sneak Preview class in early April, I asked if he could confirm that he'll be directing X-Men 3. Vaughan said he'd just come from a meeting an hour or two earlier at 20th Century Fox to discuss just this, and said he didn't want to do the X-Men sequel if he couldn't give it a particular flavor and inner life of his own. (The Hollywood Reporter quoted him as saying he wanted to bring "more heart" to the next episode.) Clearly, Vaughan had doubts about Fox's willingness to let this happen to his satisfaction. I then brought up director Franc Roddam...the ultimate example of a British director who'd made an excellent film (Quadrophenia) and was thereafter imported by Hollywood only to make bigger-budgeted, more formulaic stuff like The Lords of Discipline, which brought about a huge career devaluation. Vaughan said he was aware of this potential and wasn't about to follow in Roddam's footsteps...and reiterated he wouldn't direct X-Men 3 unless the deal looked and felt exactly right to him. And now, almost two months later, the other shoe has dropped: 20th Century Fox said Tuesday that Vaughn is giving up the reins of X-Men 3 over "personal reasons."

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 1, 2005 at 5:09 AM

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