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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I've just emerged from the semi-nourishing, semi-tortured Fellini-esque Chinese box mindfuck-dreamscape that is Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York...and the press conference is just starting. [Ten minutes later] Kaufman has just explained the title's pronunciation: Syn-ECK-duh-kee. At least that's settled.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 23, 2008 at 01:59 AM

comment #1

GKLondon says ...

'Tortured Fellini-esque Mindfuck Dreamscape'? The mind boggles.

Will we possibly be hearing this press conference?

Posted by GKLondon at May 23, 2008 03:04 AM

comment #2

Sean says ...

Yeah, as noted in the "Syndoche" thread, that's how the word is pronounced ... in the dictionary. The title pun is part of the key of what the film is.

Posted by Sean at May 23, 2008 04:28 AM

comment #3

T. S. Idiot says ...

Yes, but how does he pronounce integral?

Posted by T. S. Idiot at May 23, 2008 05:20 AM

comment #4

gansibele says ...

Kauffman had to explain how you pronounce the name of a poetic trope to a roomful of writers? Tells you something about the woeful state of film criticism.

Posted by gansibele at May 23, 2008 06:11 AM

comment #5

nemo says ...

Those writers obviously didn't go to Jesuit high school, where we got the concept and pronunciation of metonymy and synecdoche and all those other literary tropes with Greek names thoroughly hammered into our skulls.

Isn't Metonymy a suburb of Synecdoche, New York?

It's pronounced meh-TAHN-uh-me. Try saying "metonymy, synecdoche" together six times very fast. They really get to rolling off the tongue.

Posted by nemo at May 23, 2008 08:09 AM

comment #6

breadlymoore says ...

"'Tortured Fellini-esque Mindfuck Dreamscape"

So Kaufman really is a one-tricky pony.

Posted by breadlymoore at May 23, 2008 08:51 AM

comment #7

cinemascopian says ...

Asking Kaufman how to pronounce the name for his movie baffles me. Didn't you all learn what Synecdoche is in high-school? And metonymy? and metaphor? and simile? You journos have lost your heads (find the synecdoche in the previous sentence).

Posted by cinemascopian at May 24, 2008 09:15 AM