In the end, the film heartily endorsed the agenda of a return to the bad-old "baby-scoop" days and thus yes, a return the days (if they are indeed over) of women's sexuality being shameful and not within women's own control. And thus yes, a return to the days (if they are indeed over) when abortion was not readily or safely available.
I came away from the movie thinking quite a bit about this, but I'm not sure what I would have liked the movie to have done differently in terms of dealing with it.
I just noticed looking at the ad in the Phoenix that CLOVERFIELD was written by Drew Goddard. Huh.
Okay, not that I had any intention of seeing it anyway, but Manohla Dargis's one-sentence review of Cloverfield:
Rarely have I rooted for a monster with such enthusiasm.
[link]
Interestingly enough, Willie Waffle gave
Cloverfield
four waffles. High praise. He thought the monster was very well done. Now, I'm curious to see the movie just to weigh in on the monster factor. From what he said, it sounded more like what you don't see of the moster for the most of the movie is what builds the tension and that he didn't find seeing the whole monster a let down. The local morning DJ asked him if it was a King Kong level of believabilty (I'm thinking the Fay Wray version here) and Willie said no, better.
I should say, that's the only line in Dargis's review that talks about the monster at all, really. She hated it because she wanted to beat all of the characters to death with a shovel.
I just noticed looking at the ad in the Phoenix that CLOVERFIELD was written by Drew Goddard. Huh.
Dude, that's part of why I've been so excited to see it all these months!
I wanna see it, but apparently it has the whole "hand-held-camera-induced nausea" factor. I had to move to the back of the theater for
Dancer in the Dark
and leave the theater for 5-10 minutes during
The Blair Witch Project
due to this, so I'm a bit wary....
That's what I heard, Tommy. I couldn't watch the last half of the second Bourne movie (um, Identity? Conspiracy? Supremacy? Cupidity?), so I figure I'll at least have to wait for this to hit DVD, where I can control the nausea in the privacy of my home.
But the cameraman is named "Hud." How fun is that?
The shakycam aspect is the one thing I'm concerned about—I've never watched something shot in that style on the big screen, so I don't know how it will affect me. Planning to take some pre-emptory Aleve before entering the theater tonight.
The cast-of-Friends-gets-squashed-by-Godzilla premise that some people are complaining about was actually what sold me on the idea of the movie in the first place, though.
