comment #1

Rich S. says ...

Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Not Godzilla. Mecha-Godzilla. You see fleeting glimpses of the thing for the first 2/3 of the movie, then in the big reveal it's shown to be clearly man-made. But since the movie is told from the victims' point of view, no one knows who made it or why. They only know that it's tearing the shit out of New York.

That would be pretty cool.

comment #2

christian says ...

"Could Cloverfield be, in essence, a high-tech, handheld-video version of a Tojo monster film from the mid '60s?"

Jeff, what exactly else did you think it was supposed to be? A big monster attacks a big city. Hmmm. Sounds like every Japanese monster film ever made. But with CG.

comment #3

p.Vice says ...

I talked to someone who's seen the film and they said the Cloverfield monster actually looks quite similar to that picture of Hilary Clinton a couple posts back.

comment #4

Ross says ...

Is this another Snakes on a Plane? The internet geeks are getting all riled up, going so far as to create their own art... but in the end nobody goes to see it?

comment #5

Me says ...

Ross, you nailed it.

comment #6

Walter Sobchak says ...

You mean there's a possibility that "Cloverfield' might suck? How could that HAPPEN!?

comment #7

gruver1 says ...

The "Cloverfield" tracking indicates at least a $15 million opening weekend, and it could obviously go up from there.

comment #8

christian says ...

Back to tracking so soon?

comment #9

Dave says ...

The "Barack Obama" tracking indicates at least a 10% victory in New Hampshire, and it could obviously go up from there.

Oops, I thought this was MONDAY, sorry.

comment #10

storymark says ...

I appreciate how you took into consideration all those people who, just yesterday, asked you not to post the monster's pic, spoiling the movie.

Classy move, Wells.

Oh, wait. Nevermind. Ass.

comment #11

christian says ...

It looks like coloring book version of CLOVERFIELD.

comment #12

MovieBob says ...

A little busy looking, but I like it. More of an Ultrama enemy type than a Godzilla.

comment #13

christian says ...

Now what if CLOVERFIELD was an Ultraman movie instead?

comment #14

Mumbleboy says ...

If I had any interest in seeing Cloverfield on opening night, I would have to boycott HE from now until the 18th, and that is exactly what I recommend to anyone planning on seeing it then. Especially since it is obvious that Wells is going to ignore the multiple requests from his readers to not show any spoilers until after the jump. Luckily, by the time I get around to seeing this monster flick, it will have been "spoiled" at most every site I frequent. And by spoiled, I mean, I will hear if it is any good before I plunk down my hard earned money. And by hard earned money, I mean the $3 I'll spend once it hits one of the second run theaters around here.

The last flick I spent full price for was TWBB and it was worth every penny.

comment #15

sweet_billy says ...

one other thing:

when i saw you in the video store, i really wanted to throw my blu ray "close encounters" at the back of your head for your repeated ignorance of the people who read your site and keep it alive who beg you on a daily basis to cut the shit with the spoilers. it's so easy to hide the images/information in the body and keep everyone happy.

what don't you get?

i used to come here because it was good. now i come here because it's funny to watch.

comment #16

christian says ...

Jeff has a competition in him...

comment #17

actionman says ...

I am willing to bet that Cloverfield grosses more than Snakes on a Plane did at the US box office. Just a hunch.

comment #18

Bocephus says ...

Snakes on a Plane lost its steam as soon as the trailers came out and we could all tell that it was going to be as bad as we were expecting, but not as fun as we'd hoped.

Cloverfield is a different animal completely. The trailers are intriguing and they hint at a unique take on the action monster flick. I have no idea if the movie is going to be any good, but the trailers are good enough to give me a little hope.

comment #19

storymark says ...

"i used to come here because it was good. now i come here because it's funny to watch."

Yeah, I started reading Wells when he wrote actual columns (ah, the good ol' days) that had a bit of substance and thought to them - even if every once in a while he'd devote one to the evils of mustaches and how terrible it is to have to look at overweight people.

Now, I just come to see what he's done to piss off his readers on a daily basis. I come here more for their responses (often correcting Wells), than for anything he writes.

The blog format, though it may have added a fun factor for those of us who comment, really, really damaged the strength of Wells' writing.

comment #20

carla kolchak says ...

I have been looking forward to this film ever since it was announced and I hafta say that I don't particularly care what the monster looks like--it's not that big a deal (in fact, I am in the camp that would prefer to get no more than glimpses of the beast). All of the speculative designs I've seen so far (yesterday's turtle-monster, an earlier whale-monster) have been lame anyway. 'Cept for the one on the right in Wells' post yesterday. It would be a gas to see that li'l cyclopean dude stomping the shit outta Manhattan! :-D

comment #21

Sean says ...

"The "Cloverfield" tracking indicates at least a $15 million opening weekend,"

Interestingly, that's almost exactly what 'Snakes on a Plane' grossed in its opening weekend.

That's the high-cap on the Internet fanboy market (which usually caps at around ten, if Kevin Smith films are anything to judge by).

comment #22

Ross says ...

It does look better than Snakes on a Plane, I never cared about that one, but am definitely interested in seeing Cloverfield. I'm just noticing the parallels, that Geek interest, doesn't equal bank.

comment #23

Sean says ...

Ross - I see it a little differently (though I agree that the movie, removed from any hype, seems more interesting than 'Snakes').

I think that, in both cases, internet fanboys heard whispers of the idea, intriguing possibilities, and imagined entire scenarios that had nothing to do with the movie.

In the case of 'Snakes on a Plane', they decided it was a comedy. Unfortunately, the studio thought that was a good idea, and it became a weird amalgam of some comedy and some straight-forward, so it didn't gel. The comedy was forced, the non-comedy was funny, but not funny enough, and it sank.

In the case of 'Cloverfield', they decided that it was a monster movie with no monster. This, also, was not the case, and, fortunately, they either couldn't go back and re-do it, or realized that making a monster movie without a visible monster (so that you can dissect the nature of fear) is like making a porn without nudity (so that you can really dissect the nature of love). It's just not a cinematic idea at all.

comment #24

CloverfieldClues says ...

MovieBob is right. It is an Ultraman monster called BUGBUZEN.

Check out: http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7386/ultramannexusae7.jpg

comment #25

Rich S. says ...

Wow. Kudos to MovieBob and CloverfieldClues for the excellent detective work! Seriously.

comment #26

D.Z. says ...

I think that image is swiped from the Godzilla '98 cartoon.

comment #27

The Movie Man says ...

A couple of things: both bitchy.

1. We all know the emperor's gonna have no clothes on when Cloverfield comes out. Abrams has made quite a bit of money jerking obsessives who think about the product more than he does off for four years now.

2. I'm with Wells on various spoiler nonsense. People spend hours reading about movies and then, GOD FORBID, read something about the movie and then bitch. Guys, if you don't want to know what's up the movie, don't read the fucking site. Or many other sites for that matter.

comment #28

thethinkingis says ...

This ain't the monster.

[spoiler warning]...

The Cloverfield beastie is most certainly organic and not mecha, is much more of the deep-sea variety and slightly recalls 1983's long-forgotten X-tro alien in the way it occasionally walks on it's weird backwards front legs. Plus there's the parasites that fall off it's back. But the film is very much a homage to the Japanese monster, right down to a closing theme by Michael Giacchino that is unmistakable in it's similarity to the original Godzilla theme.

comment #29

clumsymonster says ...

Here's my spoiler-free bottom line:

When I saw the trailers I was in the "this is just at Blair Witch Godzilla" dismissal camp, and that perfectly describes this movie but actually in a good way.

If you see it before you know too much you may have a great ride. I don't know if it will be good for a second viewing, or if I would have enjoyed it after hearing a lot about it, but everyone I saw it with liked it a lot, or was at least rattled by it. Box office is anyone's guess for the long haul, but I would imagine this can find an audience.

Entertaining enough to get me out of lurker mode and actually post here.

Minor spoiler:

You do see healthy glimpses of the main monster, but really not much more than that, and thethinkingis' description is dead on.