Honestly, I'm not sure how you are supposed to refer to this movie.... I've been calling it record, some people have been just saying the letters (arr eee see) and some people have been calling it rec (wreck). Despite not being sure what to call it, most can agree that [REC] is an awesome movie.
Short but sweet, [REC] clocks in at 85 minutes. The viewer follows a tiny TV film crew of Angela(the reporter girl) and Pablo(camera dude) in Barcelona as they shadow two firefighters(bomberos en espanol) as they go on a routine call at an apartment building. The call becomes less routine once the biting and carnage begins. What started out as a dull night quickly escalates to a fight and flight for life fright fest.
tl;dr version: much better than I expected and I can't wait for it to be released here. Almost right after I finished it, I wanted to watch it and get scared all over again. That's not something that normally happens for me.
And another thing that doesn't happen too much: getting scared at horror movies. I love horror movies; the vast majority of my movies are either horror or have horror as a sub genre. Perhaps I've been desensitized through over-viewing. The lists of movies that have made me a bit paranoid after viewing is pretty decent. But the lists of movies that have actually frightened me is much smaller. And the lists of movies that have me gripping the arm of the chair, forgetting to breathe over the adrenaline rush or shrieking like a little girl are very few.
Welcome, [REC]. You have made it to the top.
I've heard a few people refer to [REC] as a Cloverfield rip-off, which is simply not true. Cloverfield = monster movie [REC] = zombie movie Granted, both use the handi-cam medium for visualization but the genres are different. And Cloverfield isn't the first movie to use the handi-cam/first person view to build mood and heighten anxiety. Besides, it's a useful tool and there's nothing wrong with sharing.
Oh, and FYI,[REC] was released in November 2007, Cloverfield was released January 2008. Unless the Spanish have perfected time travel, traveled to January 2008, watched Cloverfield, then traveled back to 2007 and made a different genre movie, I don't really think there's any 'ripping-off' going on.
On a crappy note, there's to be a [REC] remake called Quarantine. And what I've seen so far, it looks like nothing more than an American carbon copy.
So, here's my hopefully stimulating review of Cloverfield. Anything that would be considered a spoiler will be left at the end of the post for those who haven't seen it yet.
My overall opinion of the movie is good. Great actually. I know there's a lot of complaints about certain aspects: acting, milkshake camera, monster, etc. and I'll address these individually. But overall, I went into the theatre excited and ready to have an enjoyable time. And I did. I left the theatre satisfied and on a movie high.
Man... I love those movie highs.
Everything seems bright, shiny and a-ok in the world for a little while after watching a good movie. Honestly, I can't really think of a real complaint I have about the movie. The only thing that comes first to mind that bothered me was the extreme camera shake. And the ending. But more on that later....
Acting: A lot of people found the acting to be a bit hokey(relationships especially), over reacting(throughout most of the movie) and reaching too much. It didn't bother me. I felt that the situation called for it. With relationships, you're going to be a bit hokey. I'm a girl, I catch myself being lovey-eyed often. I saw the hokey-ness as a bit of realistic love going on while there's a city-wide crisis going on. Over reacting..... who wouldn't be completely nuts when a monster is attacking your city? I over reacting when there's a tiny spider in my room.... or anywhere within a mile of me. Do I sit in my room, worrying over the spiders outside and how they are plotting my demise?
You bet your butt I do.
tl;dr version: Acting: the situation called for it.
Story: monster attacks city. Who doesn't love it? I also enjoyed the cuts to the original recording on the camera's tape, it gave insight into the main relationship of the movie and a big hint at the end.
Monsters: I was.... well.... intrigued, yet slightly let down at the big monster. There's some concept art running through the forums of a whale-esque monster with crab-like little monsters. I would have been really pleased if they had pulled this off. Instead, it's... well... kinda gross. However, the little monsters did cause me to duck and grab onto my seat handles a few times. And there's very clever(scary) use of night vision.
tl;dr version: Monsters: would have preferred the whale monster, but it definitely was scary. The little monsters made me cover from phobias.
Milkshake camera: I believe this is the main complaint. It only bothered me when it seemed too ridiculous for it to be that shaky. I've watched(and enjoyed) the Blair Witch Project, and that wasn't as shaky. Yes, you're freaking out, the grounds shaking, fine, great, fantastic. But if there's nothing going on, stop shaking or at least put the steady cam mode on. I heard that more people got sick from this then from Blair Witch. Which is understandable: I wasn't bothered at all by the shaking in that movie, yet in Cloverfield, I was slightly annoyed sometimes.
tl;dr version: Milkshake camera: use steady cam please, I don't want to have to clean other peoples' vomit off me. :D
The hype: I enjoyed the hype. Watching the trailer online. Finding broadcasts about oil rigs being damaged and weird bloops going on under the sea added to the excitement. Granted, the week of opening, they showed TV spots a little too much.
Ending: To avoid spoilers.... let's just say that I wasn't pleased. Also, there's an extra message after the credits.
Alrighty, to space the spoilers away from the regular review... I give you: Laughing shark.
It's well shameful that I find this funny.
Spoilers!!!
Monsters: Big one: gross, slick-like skin. Red air sacs on side of face. Long, icky limbs. Little guys: made funny noises, spider-like.
Ending: Everyone except Lily(who leaves in a helicopter separate from everyone else) and Rob and Beth(could be dead, it's uncertain) dies. Rob and Beth take cover underneath a bride in Central Park which crumbles around them, presumably burying them. Yet, the message at the end sounds like Rob's voice, so he might not be dead. The message at the end? "Help us" maybe, but if played backwards "It's still alive." Oh noes!! Also, the last scene is from the original recording of Rob and Beth's trip to Coney Island and when the camera pans out to the sea, there's a tiny black dot on the far right side and falls into the ocean. This is said to be a satellite that fell and woke up the monster. The end. :( Too many questions left to be acceptable.
So, yes.... I've played Portal. And I'm hooked. I love this game. And the ending theme..... I love the ending theme so much that it's my ringtone. That's how much this game has gotten to me. I had heard/read mention of this game, but paid it no mind. I knew pretty much nothing about Half-Life. I knew that this set came in an orange box. I knew Half-Life was the source of head crabs. :D (more about my crustacean obsession later) So, when my roommate at the time mentioned that I would really enjoy Portal, I was curious. Then he played the ending theme for me.
Then I knew. I knew I must play it. And I loved it.
Here's a link to the song: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/extras/stillalive.php
It's a little flash animation up on the VG Cats website. Much amusement ensues.
Portal is basically a 3+ hour puzzle-type game. You pay as a woman that eventually gets possession of a portal gun.
Go in one portal..... leave out another portal. And while there's some physics here, and I've never taken a physics class, I became a master genius of physics. Throughout the game you're being guided by a computer with a deep appreciation of cake. And your only friend is a weighted companion cube (seen in the picture on the right).
Words can't even describe the game. I really got into it. I really enjoyed it. It could have been longer; I could have cried when I got to the end.
Also... you want to know what else I really got into?
So, it took a little bit to get used to my new routine of work and sleep and...... work and sleep. It's a bit weird, universities have started classes today and I'm not part of it. No rushing to class, no remembering schedules, no buying books. It's really weird.
Saw Sweeney Todd Friday; was quite interesting. There were three other people in the theatre with us; one of them was a guy who has seen the Broadway show a couple of times. He really enjoyed it. It was definitely dark and full of aerosol blood. There was blood spray everywhere; I instinctively ducked to the side sometimes.
The movie also caused a taste for meat pies. In fact, I believe meat pies are for lunch today...... excluding the whole cutting up and grinding down people bit. Which is a bit of a shame really.
So, there's been some prescreenings of Cloverfield and I've been avoiding most of the movie forums that I normally frequent. I want to wait to see the monster for myself and there's a few people out there that don't understand how to hide spoilers. Besides, I'm not sure that I have the self-control to stop myself from looking at the spoilers as well.
I've got some interesting stories from work to share, but I'm saving them for next time. As well as my thoughts on Portal (a super fantabulous game) :D
Sky kitten watches over all. Too bad it didn't show up while I was in London. It would have been interesting to have been on the eye at that moment.
So, being freshly done with school gives me tons of free time. Time to catch up on unplayed video games, unwatched and ranted about movies and recreational reading. I also have much more time to put toward blogging as well. So expect to see more posts than usual.
What? I'm bored.
Movies I am excited about (whether on DVD or theatre): Cloverfield Shoot 'em Up Golden Compass Sweeney Todd the Machine Girl
for those curious about the Machine Girl, here's a link to the trailer : http://youtube.com/watch?v=MBt1SihHDt0
Check out my minicity and help my population grow : http://rosebranch.myminicity.com/
Currently obsessed with this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2h_AuyNArM&feature=related The band wrote a song to the tune of the MegaMan 2 Wily stage theme. Super catchy and really cute.
