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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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New Toronto Sidesteps?

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It's nearly time to get out the notepad and start making a list of seemingly ambitious, seemingly high-pedigree dramas coming out in late September, October or early November that won't be showing at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival (or Venice or Telluride). The bizarre case of The Departed aside, it always means something when a low- or mid-budgeted fall drama ducks out of these three festivals. This was reflected in an article I wrote last fall about Running With Scissors called "The Old Toronto Sidestep." Ditto a piece about the festival-avoiding History Boys called "Art of the Dodge."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 28, 2007 at 11:30 AM

comment #1

Jeremy King says ...

One of the main reasons I never went to see ElizabethTown in the theater was because of all the bad stuff I read about it after it played at Toronto. Every blogger/internet critic/journalist ripped it and said it was boring and tedious. But I've talked to people who actually like it and say it's not that bad. The point is, I hate Orlando Bloom.

Posted by Jeremy King at June 28, 2007 12:44 PM

comment #2

Pelham123 says ...

No, "Elizabethtown" is, unfortunately, THAT bad.

Posted by Pelham123 at June 28, 2007 12:55 PM

comment #3

DavidF says ...

Woah woah, wait....The Departed didn't play the TIFF last year? Shit, Wells, how could you let this huge news fly below the radar?

As someone who lives here year-round I want to retroactively express my disgust and curse this film for slighting us: Once again, Scorcese, you will be denied the Oscar you think you so richly deserve!!
Don't mess with the 416! (That's, like, our area code.)

I kid because I love.

And Elizabethtown is on the brink of being good. I think it's because of how consistent and awesome Cameron Crowe is that everyone was so hard on it. I'm not saying it's a good movie - but it ain't as bad as it's been made about to be, IMHO.

Posted by DavidF at June 28, 2007 1:01 PM

comment #4

Monument says ...

I love Cameron Crowe and I wanted so badly to like Elizabethtown, but holy hell it was bad. Sure it had some classic Crowe moments, but mostly it was a mess.

Posted by Monument at June 28, 2007 1:12 PM

comment #5

MilkMan says ...

Elizabethtown was an excuse for Crowe to play all of his favorite songs, the ones that really "bring it," the ones that really "get him where it counts," the ones that "mean something to him."

I got a whiff of this turd the last time my dad gave me permission to come over and watch his DSS and the only reason I even bent down was to see if Kirsten Dunst's character was another Crowe stroke job, which it was, hyper-articulating Dunst's preternatural cuteness until she resembled nothing so much as a genetically-modified stalk of corn created in a Osaka labratory. Not to mention Crowe's atrocious use of Paul Schneider, a more natural fit for the lead (Orlando Bloom's confused, graceless non-performance isn't worth a stray Raisinet), whose performance in All the Real Girls hints that maybe, if he's utilized by the right director (other than David Gordon Green), we might just have the heir to the Nicholson/Id of a Generation Crown that no one has bothered snatching from Jack's bulging, pickled head.

And to say that Elizabethtown is tedious and boring is to give Crowe way too much credit, as if he's the Bela Tarr of Malibu, pushing the audiences' attention span past the point of comfort until the old modes of viewing are obliterated and replaced with something more pre-industrial and contemplative. Crowe, like me, is a windbag, better suited to pithy little catchphrases like "It's casual," which, not coincidentally, I've been repeating to my wife ad nauseum every time she screams at me for not getting a better job so that she can stay at home and play with our four-month old daughter, who, by the way, is fucking awesome.

That last line, about my daughter being fucking awesome, that was me doing an impersonation of Cameron Crowe. Oh, Good Lord, how I wish you were here right now, I'm driving in my car and I'm thinking about my daughter and I'm listening to Helen Stellar's Flutterby and the tufts of hair on my neck and back are standing up and saluting you.

Posted by MilkMan at June 28, 2007 1:42 PM

comment #6

TheJeff says ...

"The bizarre case of The Departed aside, it always means something when a low- or mid-budgeted fall drama ducks out of these three festivals."

Wolf! Wolf! Wooooooooolf!

Posted by TheJeff at June 28, 2007 3:11 PM

comment #7

lazarus says ...

Nice to see some good words on Paul Schneider, MilkMan, as well as your observation about how he's been underused. I wonder why he hasn't been working with David Gordon Green lately, as I was under the impression that many of the guys who worked on All the Real Girls (and George Washington) were old college friends who genuinely loved collaborating. God I loved that movie.

Here's the big question though--would Elizabethtown have actually been better had Ashton Kutcher stayed on the film. Would we have actually seen him give a decent perf?

Crowe lost me at Vanilla Sky.

Posted by lazarus at June 28, 2007 3:28 PM

comment #8

The Hoyk says ...

Sorry haters, I like ELIZABETHTOWN. It's not in Crowe's Top 5 movies by any stretch, it's very flawed. But in my fuck-not-humble opinion, it's a fine film, and everyone I've shown it to agrees with me.

Posted by The Hoyk at June 28, 2007 4:36 PM

comment #9

colby says ...

I agree with everything that has been said about Paul Schneider so far, everytime he shows up in a movie my spirits lift a little. I remember reading in an interview someplace that Paul Schneider was supposed to be in Undertow but budgetary reasons kept his scene out.

Though I feel he is not in enough movies too, it looks like he has moved onto directing (at least for the time being. ).

Posted by colby at June 28, 2007 7:37 PM

comment #10

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Alright I'll call bullshit on Hoyk cuz nobody else did.

It's not in Crowe's top 5 movies? Then you're saying it's better than Vanilla Sky? Good lord, what a recommendation *rolls eyes*.

From Crowe, just give me AF and Singles and I'm happy. Actually, scratch Singles...just give me the soundtrack instead.

Will he ever write anything as promising (esp. given his age at the time) as FT at RH? All signs point to NO.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at June 29, 2007 11:14 AM

comment #11

austin111 says ...

Ha!!! But didn't The Departed still play at the Toronto Festival, albeit in a secretive sneaked manner to several journalists, who then went on to talk about it "secretively" (another HA!) in their respective blogs, etc.? And didn't they generally lay it on a bit thick about how much they really liked it? In other words, the curiosity about it began to build in a fairly satisfying and positive manner as far as the studio was concerned, probably far more than if it had just "played" at the festival and been smacked down as too commercial and not up to Scorsese's best.? Clever maneuvering to be sure.....and one would have to say that it worked quite nicely now.

Posted by austin111 at July 1, 2007 12:37 PM

comment #12

kimi98 says ...

Hollywood Elsewhere