So I take it actually showing the beast did not completely ruin the film.

"It is Guillermo del Toro on a tab of brown acid with a little crack thrown in."

Love it Wells...can't wait.

Soooo, I'm guessing it doesn't suck then?

As excited as I am, Jeff has a penchant for review overstatement. I refer you to KING KONG.

And what person claims there is no 9/11 connection? The posters show the skyline of New York engulfed in destruction. Ergo, 9/11. Not exactly subtle.

Wow. I expected the gush from Knowles, but hearing something like this from you Jeff! My excitement level just rose a whole notch. Can't wait to hear more of your reactions.

After the plumber fixes your "mess" that is.

When the inevitable backlash sets in around a month from now (when the fanboy sugar rush wears off and hindsight starts to settle in and everyone realizes it's a great concept in search of a real movie), I can't wait to hear Jeff trot out the "but they shouldn't show the monster" argument again to pooh pooh what he's written here. This "review" will easily be asterisked, if not entirely retracted. No doubts.

Wells was also pretty excited about Matrix Reloaded the day after he first saw it.

hey Vice, have you seen the movie? if not, shut up please.

haha... once again, a "shut up" instead of anything intelligent to say. You're hysterical, actionman.

"I don't want to draw overly literal parallels here, but you can't tell me this thing isn't 9.11-inspired. You can say it isn't and that's fine, but I'm not buying it. Nobody will. The travelling dust cloud threatening to engulf everyone, the crowds walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, the earthquake-like impact that everyone feels at the very beginning, the molten explosion and the flying projectiles (like the scrap metal and wheels of the jets sailing down into the streets after the second plane hit)....gimme a break."

Uh...I'm not sure why this would be considered so radical. Didn't SS already hit this with WOTW?

JohnCope, thanks for using SS instead of Steven "He Who Shall Not Be Named" Spielberg.

In answer to your question, of course he did. But "SS" is not given credit for innovation, or talent, or much of anything else, 'round these parts.

Again with your 9.11 infatuation.

When you here some people talk about that day who watched on tv, you can sense a yearning to have been there...you sound like these people...you seem to have some of sort of perverted, romanticized, nostalgic feelings for 9.11, and I, for one, find it a little disturbing.

For a different kind of horror movie, see Peter Weir's The Plumber: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079727

Wells to arch451: Yes, sometimes the first sugar-rush reaction is overtaken a day or two later, or a week or two later. Here's what I wrote about The Matrix Reloaded two days after the first riff: http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/elsewhere/74.html

Anyone who says their first reaction to a movie (particularly a "big" sensory-assault movie) is set in stone for eternity, never modified or re-considered, is a liar. It is normal to say one thing and then, sometimes, say something a little different after it settles in.

I tried watching Thej Matrix Reloaded on DVD a couple of years ago, and there's no question of it being intelligent and absorbing and "stimulating." The failure element is that it didn't build upon the first Matrix movie...hell, it didn't seem to understand why the first one worked so well.

Yes Wells, you did have some reservations about The Matrix Reloaded even while you were pretty excited about it.

Ebert gave The Bucket List one star, the review is pretty hilarious.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/REVIEWS/801100301

*hear*...

...and I'm with Jeff on changing emotions...for instance, I really liked and admired Zodiac after first seeing it...now I'm indifferent...

Vice...unless you have something to say about a film that you have actually seen, then shut up. I mean seriously, you're an idiot, everyone around here knows you're an iditot, and I doubt anyone cares about what you have to say about a film you haven't seen. If you have seen it, then offer up your opinoin. So again...have you seen the film? Do you have any reason to think it will be anything less than terrific? Just because Wells is raving about it now doesn't mean he's going to turn his back on the film down the road. Wells' review suggests that there's an intense visceral experience to be had with Cloverfield, something you could tell immediately from the trailer. Only an ass would argue otherwise. But in the end, you're an annoying hater, who typically has nothing but negative things to say about movies in general. I mean, do you ever enjoy anything? Just because I was terse with my first posting and told you to shut up doesn't mean I don't have something intelligent to say. However, considering the time of the day of my posting, it might suggest that I have a job (and a life) and that I'm not able to unload a diatribe (like this one) on how much of an ass you appear to be.

Thank you, come again.

"Anyone who says their first reaction to a movie (particularly a "big" sensory-assault movie) is set in stone for eternity, never modified or re-considered, is a liar."

No Jeff, they may just have a better handle on their opinions than you. You raved over BEOWULF, KONG, MATRIX ELOADED, MIAMI VICE, THE HEARTBREAK KID, etc. You love the white-hot heat of instant passion overwhelming your critical senses. Which is fine, makes for fun writig and commentary, just don't tell us we all do it.

My feelings on THE PHANTOM MENACE are exactly the same today after I watched it in the theater opening day. My geek love of STAR WARS didn't overide my problems with script, cast or Jar Jar.
The MATRIX sequels were disastrous on first viewing. Still are. Maybe I'll come to revise my take on GODZILLA 98 down the road, but...no.

Seriously, your catch-all "you're a liar if you don't react my way" is condescending, but blind fervor is symptomatic of Obama suporters;]

Wells to delbomber: I think that if you're going to absorb a horrific experience, better to absorb it live than on TV. Always live in the moment in the moment -- don't insulate or digitize. So yes, if I could wave a dark magic wand and re-order my past I would put myself in downtown Manhattan that day rather than at the Toronto Film Festival. Just as I would, if I could, time-machine myself back to ancient Judea for a month or so I could meet Yeshua of Nazareth. The more organic reality in my life, the better. I really feel that we're all too absorbed in iPhone net-surfing and texting and e-mailing. What's the 1970 John Lennon line? "Can't do you no harm to feel your own pain." So yes...bring it on...as long as it's real. And you think a longing for immediate tangible experience is "disturbing"? You're the disturbed one, pal.

Nice one Christian, you managed to slip in more Obama hate in a completely unrelated thread.

"I think that if you're going to absorb a horrific experience, better to absorb it live than on TV. Always live in the moment in the moment -- don't insulate or digitize. So yes, if I could wave a dark magic wand and re-order my past I would put myself in downtown Manhattan that day rather than at the Toronto Film Festival."

I was close enough (34th and 5th) to see the smoke billow up the street as the first tower fell. I could taste and smell the ash as I hurried to Penn Station to catch the apparently last train back to Jersey. From the train we watched the second tower burn only to learn, after it had disappeared from sight, that it too had fallen. I sat with two men who had fled the first tower as one recounted the horrors they had seen while the other, obviously in shock, simply nodded. I wish I had been home sick that day. I still have nightmares.

I think Zodiac, unless Cloverfield Obama. But then, if Obama Zodiac Cloverfield, then Zodiac Zodiac Zodiac. Of course, if Cloverfield Obama Zodiac, nobody will Cloverfield OR Zodiac Obama. Obama Cloverfield Obama. Zodiac Cloverfield Obama Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Cloverfield Obama Cloverfield Zodiac Zodiac Zodiac Cloverfield.

But that's Zodiac just my Cloverfield Obama opinion.

I'm touched that you think of me as your pal...Ok, so point number one is confirmed...you wish you were there...I don't have a major problem with that feeling, I understand it, although I think a desire to have been present downtown is somewhat of an affront to people who were there, faced the danger and either died or are living with indelible physical and/or emotional consequences...unlike the crucifixion, people around the world were able to experience 9.11 first-hand and wanting to be there seems a bit, I don't know, macabre.

...again, though, I understand those feelings...it's when you seem to revel in that day and want to re-experience and relive it that I find your words disturbing.

Your pal,
del

Anyway, surprised by your rave...looking forward to seeing it...

I think Jeff's point is that human beings tend to yearn for visceral, horrifying experiences. We live for that kind of destruction.

Herzog's Lessons of Darkness puts it more elegantly than anyone else could. Those helicopter shots of a destroyed post-Gulf-War Iraq set to Wagner were terrifying. The utter destruction was horrifying to see, yet strangely beautiful. Only one kind of animal could ever see beauty in such complete devastation; the human animal. Werner Herzog didn't need to say a word to convey the darkness that fuels the human soul.

Spot on, Bocephus.

Wells liking this really surprises me. But, if a month from now he doesn't like it, that won't surprise me at all. But having a change of heart or just a change of opinion is perfectly okay. In fact I'd say it makes us pretty human. Shit, there's plenty of flicks I hated upon first viewing and grew to love later on. Which is perfectly acceptable in most film circles but somehow we get all bent out of shape when the exact opposite happens.

I love a good monster movie. However, I don't get the whole J.J. Abrahams thing. It reminds of the Joss Whedon thing. I have a friend who loved Buffy and I just remember thinking you're a grown fucking man what are you watching this 90210 vampire shit for? I think I watched a half an episode of Alias and that was enough. I watched a full episode of Lost and didn't dig that either. I would rather watch the The Wire. In fact I would rather watch The Wire than most things. All in all he hits me as the B version of James Cameron.

"And you think a longing for immediate tangible experience is "disturbing"? "

Longing for that specific immediate tangible experience is disturbing, yessir.

It suggests that, because you have never been a part of anything truly horrific, you can't understand how genuinely terrible it was to be there. (I'm sure you'll add one of your "magic" caveats, like "Obviously, I would have to know that I was in no physical danger of death".)

"I wish I had been in downtown NY on 9/11, the experience sounds so exhilirating and exciting!" This sounds like the kind of thinking of somebody who watches too many movies and can't quite understand the difference between the experience of watching a movie and watching somebody horrible, which, in and of itself, is disturbing.

"Nice one Christian, you managed to slip in more Obama hate in a completely unrelated thread."

Because there simply can be no topic divergence on HE. As fer it being "hate," well, I rest my case about Obamaniacs. Read Lawrence O'Donnell's astounding essay on HufPo today for the ultimate in hate -- but it's from a typical elitist media pundit demanding we submit. No thanks.

So it really is America's post-traumatic Godzilla?

"I think Jeff's point is that human beings tend to yearn for visceral, horrifying experiences."

I'd add 'safe' in between 'horrifying' and 'experiences'.

To categorize 9.11 as an "experience" is to trivialize it...it's a natural feeling to want to be part of something immense or monumental, but one that we should sometimes reject...I take issue with Wells' romanticizing of the day..."the sights, the sounds, the smells" type of stuff...it's all very self-centered.

I think I understand Jeff's feelings about wanting to experience things physically rather than just visually. I always felt that there was something disingenuous about that "We're all New Yorkers" sentiment after 9/11. What I watched on television that day was horrifying but was absolutely incomparable to the experience of being there and seeing it first hand.

I don't know if I would have wanted to be there on that day, but I understand the sentiment.

We have a saying here at work: "9/11 Envy."

On 8 September 2001, after spending five months TDY at the Pentagon, I flew home on the Saturday morning American Airlines flight from Dulles to LAX-- the one that would a few days later would be steered into the Pentagon.

I got to watch 9/11 from my couch in Hermosa Beach, knowing that plenty of my co-workers and friends were having the worst day of their lives.

Meanwhile, by a quirky coincidence, my brother who lived in Midtown Manhattan was *also* in L.A. for a few days for business. So, that afternoon he joined me at my apartment to watch all the events knowing that many of his co-workers and friends were going through the same deal in NYC (his roommate who worked down near the WTC was trapped in a deli by the dust cloud).

I moved back to DC for good that December. But ever since then, that day has been one of those that immediately creates a gulf between people who *were* here that day, and people who weren't.

I don't regret missing that day, not one bit. It wasn't a fucking thrill ride, it was an *act of war*.

That said, I haven't been at a Washington D.C. party in the six years since that hasn't at one point or another had someone bring up the conversation, "Where were you on that day?"

This might be out of left field, but this discussion reminds me of something C.S. Lewis wrote about being in WWI:

"…the cold, the smell…the horribly smashed men still moving like half-crushed beetles, the sitting or standing corpses, the landscape of sheer earth without a blade of grass, the boots worn day and night till they seemed to grow on your feet…This is war. This is what Homer wrote about."

I guess to me it's about the difference between knowledge and understanding. I could watch every bit of video footage of Manhattan on 9/11 and it still would not compare to the visceral experience of being there; I do not, nor will I ever understand the impact of seeing towers fall first hand. I think that the desire to be a part of something that immense and powerful is natural. I'm not sure that envy is the right word.

Personally, and I am only speaking for myself here, I think 9/11 is an individual experience unique to every person alive at that moment. I know for myself, I do not envy those that were there that day at ground zero. I do however, have a profound sense of respect, awe, compassion, the right word escapes me, for those that lived through, and those that didn't, that awful day. On the other hand however, the events of that day did have a impact on my life as well, not related to the fact that I wasn't in New York, or Washington. I was sitting in my car, under twenty-four stories of concrete, when Flight 93 flew over my head. I was part of a mass evacuation of a major city, I did have to hold my eight year old son and try to help him understand what was happening. It did change my entire life. I quit my job and started my own company because of what happened that day. And other things. And I am certain that many people that "lived" through that day have similar experiences. Different experiences, different memories, different impact. I don't judge any of them, because it is a particularly individual response to each of us, unique and different.

It is one of the things that make us human. So yes, when I see the smoke billow down the street in the Cloverfield trailer, it brings memories of that day back to life. I suppose it always will. Much as my grandfather winced when he heard a prop-plane fly over head, because of what had happened at Pearl Harbor. Even though he was on the other side of the island when it happened.

Just my two cents.

Anyone remember Harry's rave for the Broderick 'Godzilla'?

I agree with Giantman and especially del.

It took me years to not wince when I heard a low-flying plane anywhere.

Jeff, if you want to know what it felt like to be in 9/11, why not vacation in the Middle East? Sooner or later, you'll be close enough to a real-life terrorist attack, and then you can be happy in your "experience". Of course, you won't have the added bonus of *knowing* anybody who's dying in it, but not everybody can have the same experience.

And that's whya monster movie invoking 9/11 cheapens it to a degree. And it's not that clever.

Did Godzilla cheapen Hiroshima? If you look at how popular he still is to this day, I think it provided a huge catharsis for the Japanese.

Thank you Bocephus, you just made my point.

No, it's a different point and one I was prepared for. Godzilla is catharsis, but I'll tell you one thing, the Japanese have better memories than Americans. Those CLOVERFIELD posters would not be up within two years of 9/11 out of sensitivity.

Now, it's just another Hollywood spectacular.

"The Bucket List" is a movie about two old codgers who are nothing like people, both suffering from cancer that is nothing like cancer, and setting off on adventures that are nothing like possible.

When Ebert's good, he's damn good. A shame he even needs to write any more than that opening line, but I guess there is space to fill...

Here's another zinger:

I've never had chemo, as Edward and Carter must endure, but I have had cancer, and believe me, during convalescence after surgery the last item on your bucket list is climbing a Himalaya. Your list is more likely to be topped by keeping down a full meal, having a triumphant bowel movement, keeping your energy up in the afternoon, letting your loved ones know you love them, and convincing the doc your reports of pain are real and not merely disguising your desire to become a drug addict.

Translation: die you piece of shit movie from the director of North. Which, you'll recall, inspired Ebert's most famous rant...

Ebert's review of NORTH is one of my favorite movie reviews ever. I read it once a year at least so I can laugh. It's so funny. And so true.

Jeff: You really shouldn't give too many details about your location, or the other jeff might stalk you. Anyway, it's nice to know it's not a generic monster flick. I just hope it's the scary type of Del Toro, and not the artsy type. I haven't seen Alias, and I wasn't convinced by the clips of MI3 that it was anything more than a Cruise vanity project[moreso than usual, anyway], so I'm hoping this one actually goes for the jugular.

christian: "My feelings on THE PHANTOM MENACE are exactly the same today after I watched it in the theater opening day. My geek love of STAR WARS didn't overide my problems with script, cast or Jar Jar.
The MATRIX sequels were disastrous on first viewing. Still are."

So you hate the Matrix sequels, but love the SW prequels? At least the former films had some thought and build-up put into them. Lucas was just winging it in the latter films.

DZ, I'm not sue what thought went into that underground rave in RELOADED or the rebel's armor that left their entire upper torsos completely exposed in REVOLUTIONS or...

When certain people love certain things in certain genres they don't necessarily have a certain affinity for...I worry. All I'm saying.

christian: "DZ, I'm not sue what thought went into that underground rave in RELOADED"

That's still more entertaining than the dating montage in Clones.

"or the rebel's armor that left their entire upper torsos completely exposed in REVOLUTIONS or..."

See the Animatrix and you'll understand why. But, hey, I can top that: Why did Yoda and Obi Wan wait 20 years to take down Vader, when they easily kicked his ass the first time around?

If Jeff really wanted to be in NYC on 911 he should get REALLY excited about where I was. Standing on the steps of the Angelica Theater on Houston Street, watching the towers fall.

I don't believe in censorship and if J.J. wants to make a silly 9/11 monster movie parable then go ahead.

However, there is one scene of the film that I saw on Youtube that really bothered me and felt exploitive especially as someone who was a few blocks away on 9/11.

The scene is filmed in almost the exact same way as video filmed that day that was shown several times on all the news stations. A guy with a hand held camera watches the tower fall and the smoke starts to come down. The smoke then starts to chase him and he starts to run. Someone from a nearby delli pulls him into the store. The camera is still running and we get the POV of someone in the store as we see the smoke outside the windows that would have caught up w/ the man if he had not entered the delli. The scene in Cloverfield is EXACTLY the same. This just felt cheap and I though J.J. went to far.

Walter Sobchack is WAY funnier than Zodiac.