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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To judge by the trailer, Vadim Perelman's Life Before Her Eyes (2929/Magnolia, 4.18) is some kind of turbulent-memory thriller about a suburban mom (Uma Thurman) dealing with a 15th anniversary of a Columbine-like high school shooting that killed her best friend (Eva Amurri).

The problem, for me, is that the teenaged Thurman is played by Evan Rachel Wood. How do you roll with this? How do you turn of the alarm bells would tell anyone this is biologically unfeasible? The interesting approach, of course, would have been to have Wood play both roles. (It's not difficult to make a 19 year-old look 35.) Or better yet, digitally de-age Thurman to make her appear like she was in, say, Dangerous Liasons or Where The Heart Is. That, come to think, would be really worth seeing.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 20, 2008 at 3:52 PM

comment #1

p.Vice says ...

Word at Toronto was that this is a huge piece of shit. Maybe that explains why the title was changed from "In Bloom".

Posted by p.Vice at March 20, 2008 5:14 PM

comment #2

jodyr says ...

ERW is going to look nothing like UT in her middle age.

Posted by jodyr at March 20, 2008 5:30 PM

comment #3

MilkMan says ...

Evan Rachel Wood is a shiksa goddess. What an angel. She's a vanilla cupcake stacked five and half feet high. Wouldn't see any of her movies, though. But, Oh vey, what a punim on that one. How hot is she? Am I alone on this one? I bet having sex with her is more addictive than crack.

Whoops...wrong site. Sorry. I'll take me boner and mosey.

Posted by MilkMan at March 20, 2008 5:36 PM

comment #4

actionman says ...

I cannot stand Wood; she's ruined just about every movie she's appeared in for me.

However, The House of Sand and Fog was a stong piece of work, so I bet I'll check this one out at some point.

Posted by actionman at March 20, 2008 5:42 PM

comment #5

CarloDennis says ...

Wood called Across the Universe one of the greatest films ever made. I'll never be able to watch her in anything again without thinking of this.

Posted by CarloDennis at March 20, 2008 6:15 PM

comment #6

JohnCope says ...

Perelman's obsequious commentary track on House of Sand and Fog in which he endlessly genuflected before Kingsley was one of the most nauseating, insufferable things I've ever heard. For whatever that's worth.

Posted by JohnCope at March 20, 2008 6:17 PM

comment #7

Wrecktum says ...

Wells is right. Thurman was already a known actress by her late teens. It's silly to cast someone who looks nothing like her as someone we're already intimately acquainted with.

Posted by Wrecktum at March 20, 2008 6:37 PM

comment #8

bmcintire says ...

I'm no great fan of ERW, but she's close enough to Thurman to pass muster for this. If you want a truly egregious example of this kind of thing (though thankfully in smaller doses), look to Jodie Foster. Here is an actress who grew to fame and notoriety through her child-actress days, and she gets cast in childhood flashbacks worse than almost any actor I can think of. Could they have missed the mark any more ridiculously (beyond casting outside of race or gender) with THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and CONTACT?

Posted by bmcintire at March 20, 2008 7:03 PM

comment #9

Josh Massey says ...

Huh. I always thought Jena Malone was good casting as a young Foster in Contact.

Posted by Josh Massey at March 20, 2008 7:24 PM

comment #10

The Winchester says ...

now if they only cast Helen Hunt as the older version, and Leelee Sobieski as the younger...

No, still not interested.

ERW likes rough sex. With Marilyn Manson. So I've heard.

What's up with the dating site spam? I mean, I always wanted to date a millionaire, but not through the internet. That's just unclassy.

Posted by The Winchester at March 20, 2008 7:50 PM

comment #11

hiviper says ...

the most disappointing was a young Jennifer Connelly turning into Elizabeth McGovern in Once Upon a Time in America. Connelly was so perfect it was such a let down her character turned into the horribly miscast McGovern

Posted by hiviper at March 20, 2008 8:09 PM

comment #12

D.Z. says ...

This looks like the lesbian answer to Unbreakable.

Posted by D.Z. at March 20, 2008 11:29 PM

comment #13

Doug says ...

"House of Sand and Fog" was so depressing it became funny.

Posted by Doug at March 21, 2008 12:08 AM

comment #14

eithan says ...

I don't agree. Even though "House of sand and fog" was far from perfect, it still was a powerful piece of work, and as for mz. Wood : ever since the extraordinary "13", I've been following her career. There still great things in her (maybe even in this movie). And after wathching the trailers (the 1st is much better than the 2nd), I can't see any problem in Rachel Wood passing for the younger Thurman.

Ah... and tomorrow I'm going to see "Across the universe". For the second time.

Posted by eithan at March 21, 2008 12:46 AM

comment #15

thatmovieguy says ...

I saw this in Toronto and I don't want to give anything away, but there's more to the Evan/Uma connection than meets the eye. (Sorry, DZ, it has nothing to do with lesbianism.) It's not a great film, but I hadn't read the novel and I must say the story kept my interest. Thurman is excellent, as well. I couldn't figure out why it was called IN BLOOM in Toronto -- I thought maybe they were putting the Nirvana song on the soundtrack. THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES is a much more fitting title.

Posted by thatmovieguy at March 21, 2008 6:35 AM

comment #16

vp19 says ...

Since girls normally reach their full height before boys do, ERW must have undergone a really late growth spurt to become the six-foot Uma.

Posted by vp19 at March 21, 2008 6:38 AM

comment #17

Bocephus says ...

Or they could go the way of Walk Hard and have the late 40ish actors play themselves as teens with no makeup, and just say "I'm 12" a few times.

Posted by Bocephus at March 21, 2008 8:09 AM

comment #18

MarkVH says ...

House of Sand and Fog wasn't "so depressing it was funny." It was so pretentious it was funny. A giant, flaming piece of shit. Awful movie.

Posted by MarkVH at March 21, 2008 9:05 AM

comment #19

Jay T. says ...

They're both blonde and on the leggy, skinny side... but I don't think many girls grow 6 inches after high school! lol... yeah, pretty bad, they should've just picked one actress.

Oh, and I thought Jena Malone as a young Jodie Foster in Contact was actually pretty damn good casting.

Posted by Jay T. at March 21, 2008 9:52 AM

comment #20

Awlright says ...

Evan Rachel Wood is about 5' 10'', but that is all beside the point, it is a movie.

The VANITY FAIR rave review in this month's issue has me hooked - I'm there.

Posted by Awlright at March 21, 2008 10:10 AM

comment #21

MilkMan says ...

Evan likes ROUGH, ROUGH sex, but it didn't start with Marilyn Manson. It started with Ed Norton. What I heard is that he liked to beat the shit out of her during sex, and that she liked it. I'm just saying. This is what I heard. I forgot who I heard it from. But it sounds like it would be true. I mean, Ed Norton was with Courtney Love. Anyone here under the delusion that C. Love is a tender lover?

Posted by MilkMan at March 21, 2008 10:16 AM

comment #22