Directed by Matt Reeves

Starring some people and a monster

IMDB Synopsis: “Revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people.”

I know a lot of people do not care for this movie, but I really enjoy it. I saw it in theaters when it first came out, and now upon second viewing (divorced from the hype and anticipation) I am still impressed. I wouldn’t have put it at the top of my DVD queue, but Nate really wanted to see it so I threw it on there.

In a way, I will liken this movie to my review of Interview With The Assassin, which I talked about a while back, because its the concept of it that really makes this movie for me. Though I will say that, whereas I thought Interview was great in concept but failed in execution, I would say that Cloverfield is great in both. First of all, the whole marketing campaign had me hooked. Releasing a movie trailer with no title and only hinting at exactly what its about? Awesome. Second of all, telling such an epic story from the first-person perspective of this guy’s video camera. Brilliant. It’s experimental story-telling that offers a new take on the disaster genre. Instead of having big stars playing really heroic, smart people who always end up saving the world, this movie has a group of young, no-name actors play out the story of normal people just trying to survive. Also, unlike something like Signs, the movie continues to be good even after you see the monster.

 8/10