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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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"In the Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead," a cult novel written by James Lee Burke, has been adapted into a screenplay and is now being directed by the great Bertrand Tavernier -- his first English-language film since 'Round Midnight -- in Louisiana. The problem is that the movie is going to be called In The Electric Mist, which obviously doesn't get it.

We all know that eight words don't fit on a marquee but they should stick with the book title anyway because it sounds right. Chopping the title in half is a crude dumb-down procedure.

I've read the script, an atmospheric detective story about the hunt for a serial killer of women, and it's very high quality. Tommy Lee Jones (who co-wrote the screenplay with Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski) is playing the lead role of Robicheaux, a small-town policeman and an ex-alcoholic Vietnam veteran doing the old Phillip Marlowe-Hercule Poirot routine. Peter Sarsgaard is playing an over-indulged Hollywood star who's shooting a film in the area.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 30, 2007 at 11:43 AM

comment #1

youchild says ...

That was the first Dave Robicheaux novel I read. I'm really glad that Tommy Lee Jones finally got this one out of development hell -- and that it's better than Heaven's Prisoners, the Robicheaux adaptation with Alec Baldwin. Baldwin was good, but Jones is a better fit.

Posted by youchild at April 30, 2007 12:03 PM

comment #2

Brian says ...

"Chopping the title in half is a crude dumb-down procedure."

Probably true, but "The Shawshank Redemption" is a better title than "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption".

Posted by Brian at April 30, 2007 12:13 PM

comment #3

Hallick says ...

It sounds like somebody ought to be sitting down with Mr. Burke and see what his alternate titles for the book were because "In the Electric Mist" is god-awkward. And paring it down to "The Electric Mist" would be even worse.

Put "The Electric Mist" on a poster and I'm lookin' for the "As Seen on TV!" label in the upper right corner (Or maybe "guest starring Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader").

Posted by Hallick at April 30, 2007 12:13 PM

comment #4

Joe B. says ...

I remember a play that I liked -- Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love -- was made into an ok film called Love & Human Remains. Thought the condensing seemed silly....

Posted by Joe B. at April 30, 2007 12:23 PM

comment #5

jeffmcm says ...

Maybe "In the Electric Mist". Right now it sounds like a sci-fi movie.

Posted by jeffmcm at April 30, 2007 1:36 PM

comment #6

Mgmax says ...

How about Coup de Torchon II?

Posted by Mgmax at April 30, 2007 3:00 PM

comment #7

gruver1 says ...

Wells to jeffmcm: "In the Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead" sounds like a sci-fi-movie to you? My, you certainly have a feeling for metaphor and poetic allusion!! Tell me, Jeffmcm...did "In The Garden of Good and Evil" sound to you like a movie about a middle-aged gardener who works a small patch of turf in which good and bad things happen?

Posted by gruver1 at April 30, 2007 5:14 PM

comment #8

Mgmax says ...

He's thinking of "Do Confederate Androids Dream of Electric Mist?"

Posted by Mgmax at April 30, 2007 6:37 PM

comment #9

jeffmcm says ...

"The Electric Mist" sounds like a sci-fi movie. "In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead" sounds like a book, not a movie. "In the Electric Mist" is the middle ground I would recommend.

Do you mean "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"? That one's a good title because it gives us a time and a place with fairly generally understood connotations.

Posted by jeffmcm at April 30, 2007 6:37 PM

comment #10

The Winchester says ...

In The Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead sounds like a 70s prog rock album title.

Naturally, it would have a really badass album cover.

Posted by The Winchester at April 30, 2007 11:16 PM

comment #11

George Prager says ...

If Penny Marshall directed it, it would be called "Tears of a Clown."

Posted by George Prager at May 1, 2007 6:41 AM

comment #12

T. S. Idiot says ...

Burke is a wonderful writer, but dragging in his hero's personal life always slows things down too much--as it does in too much contemporary crime fiction. Phil Marlowe and Sam Spade had no personal lives, thank God. In Electric Dead, Robicheaux's adopted daughter, an especially tiresome character, is kidnapped. The first thing Bertie T. should do is jettison this subplot altogether. An early, non-Robicheaux Burke is The Lost Get-Back Boogie, a lovely title.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at May 1, 2007 12:21 PM

comment #13