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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November 12

Slumdog Millionaire

November 14

A Christmas Tale

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Dostana

The Dukes

Eden

House of the Sleeping Beauties

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We are Wizards

November 21

The Betrayal

November 30

WALL*E Tati

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A friend saw Andrew Stanton's WALL*E (Disney, 6.27) and says it's (a) sort of an animated Jacques Tati film in the vein of Mon Oncle, in part because there's almost no dialogue for the first 45 minutes or so, (b) it's a kind of companion piece to An Inconvenient Truth in that it's a strong message movie, set in a ruined post-apocalyptic world, about how we're killing our world with poisons.

You might think from the trailers that it's basically a robot love story, but that ain't the half of it. It's "not your typical wheee, happy, up-up-up animated family entertainment," the friend says. "Once again, Pixar is pushing the buttons. It has a lot more on its mind."

WALL*E is this little robot going around in this huge junkyard that used to be the earth, now inhabitable due to some toxic poisoning, saving remnants of what life once was. He's obsessed with Barbra Streisand's Hello Dolly and plays these clips over and over," he says. "The story later shifts its base to this massive shopping-mall space station, a floating planet of some sort with all these overweight fat people who can't walk on their own, moving through a giant mall...an exaggeration of our culture today."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 13, 2008 at 2:18 PM

comment #1

DarthCorleone says ...

The lack of dialogue in the trailer caught my attention and intrigued me. I don't tend to check out the kiddie fare, but I was considering this one. I wonder how smoothly this tonal shift at the 45-minute mark goes down, though.

Posted by DarthCorleone at June 13, 2008 4:33 PM

comment #2

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

Holy shit, I just realized that the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA crew just landed on WALL*E's post-nuke Earth.

You can see him crawling over the Brooklyn Bridge in the background of that one shot, behind Adama and Roslin.

He's the fracking Fifth Cylon!

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at June 13, 2008 5:04 PM

comment #3

Rothchild says ...

Bandsaw, BSG hasn't aired in most of the country yet. This makes you the fucking devil.

Posted by Rothchild at June 13, 2008 5:21 PM

comment #4

Chance says ...

Based on the trailers and early buzz, I think WALL-E will be the flick to beat for best picture of '08. Of course, I'm a complete Pixar fanboy...

Posted by Chance at June 13, 2008 5:34 PM

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

"sort of an animated Jacques Tati film in the vein of Mon Oncle,"

But how does it compare to Short Circuit?

Posted by D.Z. at June 13, 2008 5:39 PM

comment #6

Rothchild says ...

Um, Short Circuit is only a good movie if you're on a nostalgia kick. Wall-E is going to make 400 million and it's a possible masterpiece.

Posted by Rothchild at June 13, 2008 5:41 PM

comment #7

qwiggles says ...

"a floating planet of some sort with all these overweight fat people who can't walk on their own, moving through a giant mall...an exaggeration of our culture today."

Oh boy. Satirizing the obese AND the disabled in one clean go. OK.

Posted by qwiggles at June 13, 2008 5:52 PM

comment #8

Jimmycrackcorn says ...

The new Time magazine calls it "Pixar's most enthralling entertainment since Nemo."

Posted by Jimmycrackcorn at June 13, 2008 6:36 PM

comment #9

Mgmax says ...

Maybe this is going to be great, but all I think when I see the trailer is, great, a kiddie version of the last third of A.I.

Posted by Mgmax at June 13, 2008 8:36 PM

comment #10

actionman says ...

I have NEVER wanted to see an animated movie more than this one. Looks fucking brilliant. Roger Deakins was a "visaul consultant" on this film. Wow.

Posted by actionman at June 13, 2008 9:37 PM

comment #11

John Cocktosten says ...

Bandsaw:

You are a very small person. Enjoy your spoiling. It's probably your only pleasure in life.

Posted by John Cocktosten at June 13, 2008 11:03 PM

comment #12

YND says ...

A friend of mine saw it recently. He'd been oddly skeptical going in (I don't know why), and I'd been telling him I was sure it was going to be amazing.

He was blown away. Said it was stunningly beautiful and one of Pixar's very best.

I never doubted it for a minute -- can't wait.

Posted by YND at June 14, 2008 3:44 AM

comment #13

Mgmax says ...

"He's obsessed with Barbra Streisand's Hello Dolly and plays these clips over and over," he says. "

So it's a movie about a gay robot as well as being an environmental screed (and an attack on the obese and disabled)?

Posted by Mgmax at June 14, 2008 6:28 AM

comment #14

wayne76 says ...

This sounds terrific. I'm a huge fan of Tati.

Oh, and Bandsaw, you're a dickless piece of shit. Thanks a ton, fuckhead.

Posted by wayne76 at June 14, 2008 8:59 AM

comment #15

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

Don't come whining and bitching to me -- looking at all of your posting-times, they're hours after the episode already aired.

All spoiler-embargoes were officially off by that point. Un-backlog your fucking TiVos every once in a while.

Oh, and for the record -- my wife wet her thong watching this episode. I get plenty of action from her, thanks for asking.

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at June 14, 2008 12:11 PM

comment #16

Mgmax says ...

Well, now we know someone whose posts we need never read again. Fortunately I'm so far behind that even if I read it, I wouldn't know what the hell it was about. Hey, Starbuck found the arrow!

Posted by Mgmax at June 14, 2008 5:33 PM

comment #17

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

Yeah. I guess Jeff had better install a "killfile" system here, hadn't he?

...Anyways, (Oh and by the way -- Dualla's a Cylon.)

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at June 14, 2008 7:09 PM

comment #18

wayne76 says ...

"Un-backlog your fucking TiVos every once in a while"

That aired LAST NIGHT you dumbass.

Posted by wayne76 at June 14, 2008 9:34 PM

comment #19

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

Er...*YOU'RE* the one who posted at 8:59 AM on Saturday morning, numbnuts. Twelve fucking hours after the episode already aired.

Learn to fucking count.

Like I said -- watch your fucking TiVo from the night before, before you go crying and bitching after the spoiler-ban deadline passes.

Christ on a pony.

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at June 15, 2008 1:05 AM

comment #20

Jean says ...

"a floating planet of some sort with all these overweight fat people who can't walk on their own, moving through a giant mall...an exaggeration of our culture today."

I just hit the mall yesterday. It ain't an exaggeration - we're there already.....

Posted by Jean at June 15, 2008 10:36 AM

comment #21

MisterSalty says ...

Bandsaw, rationalize it any way you want, but you are in fact an enormous, gaping bunghole. Welles should ban your sorry ass, or at least enable an ignore function.

Posted by MisterSalty at June 15, 2008 11:56 PM

comment #22

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

It's not like Jeff even watches BATTLESTAR, though. (I mean, he *should*, but he doesn't.)

And, oooooh...I mentioned one quick spoiler from a "sci-fi" show, after the spoiler-embargo had passed, and suddenly I'm "Public Enemy #1" around here?

Please.

It's nothing, and you people know it. Get a life and move on.

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at June 16, 2008 11:18 AM

comment #23

MisterSalty says ...

You might have a point if this were a story about "Galactica." In that case, people who hadn't yet seen the episode would know they should avoid reading any further. But to randomly drop your comment into an unrelated story is the act of an asshole. Unless you're dumber than they day is long, you knew what you were doing. I hope your dick falls off.

Posted by MisterSalty at June 16, 2008 12:06 PM

comment #24