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)

It's time to admit something

It's time to admit something and be done with it. I've been a big fan of My Date With Drew since I saw it in April '04, and I've written two or three column pieces about it, and it finally opened on August 5th after a long wait and...it tanked. Box Office Guru's last posting as of 8.14 had total earnings at $181,041. It took in $85,000 on the opening weekend in 85 theatres. People didn't care. A good thing was ignored, waved away, dismissed...and that's what happened. Too bad, but I guess those distributors who said people wouldn't pay to see it because it's too much like TV were right. I saw it with a festival crowd and they went apeshit and it got a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, but ticket-buyers were another story.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 20, 2005 at 5:08 PM

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