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z3ph
Reviews
Cloverfield (2008)
Try to understand what you're watching, or you won't have a good time.
It's a shame that some people weren't aware that the entire film was from the perspective of an SD card from a handy-cam. Too many found themselves hating the film for this reason, and then decidedly getting angry at every other aspect as a result.
Firstly, I must make the point that this is a film for theatres. If you wanna watch it online, I'm guessing it won't be as good. The home video aspect of this film doesn't detract from the big screen experience whatsoever, but hand-in-hand with youtube quality? I foresee a bad time.
People have been slating characters' decisions. Why follow a crazy man on his plight to rescue his true love? Well, there's Lily, who just lost her true love, so I can understand her will to help save the true love of her true love's brother! Marlena is really only tagging along for Lily. That's barely excusable, but considering her option to either help people she knows, or try to evacuate with strangers, it's a pretty honourable thing to do. Hud is Rob's best friend, so it's pretty much the same excuse as Marlena, whom he has the hots for (plus, no cameraman = no film).
You can take what you like from this, but I'm still driving the fact that 2 of the 4 had undeniable reason to go, and the other two were best friends of the first two, with understandable alternatives.
Some people have said it's an alien attack. It isn't. And if it is, it certainly didn't land in New York (see the tagruato sonar images of the monster approaching the city). It came by sea. That's Godzilla's excuse, so points deducted on unoriginality. And in regards to people mocking the monster for the fact that it'll never make as good a toy as the G-Beast, I'd like to put forth my idea that it was never intended to be. Where Godzilla has dinosaur-esquire coolness and a penchant for defending Japan, this creature is a vile Monstrosity. There's as much plush selling power here as a Cthulhu. Then again, I have seen a plush Cthulhu on sale. I'd assume this was more of a cult-classic thing than a something-Junior-will-cuddle-in-bed thing.
Marlena's extraction from the scene due to the bite... No, she's not shot by the military; she explodes. It's horrible, I know, but that's what happens. I feel sorry not only for Hud, but also for the guys in the radiation suits that pulled her behind the shower curtain.
The evident echoes of the 9/11 attacks are as present as the shout outs to Godzilla, but should not be something to dislike the film for. If anything, the realistic shooting of Cloverfield enabled audience empathy for those involved. I consider this film to have moved me more in such a way than if it were to be Emmerich's Godzilla 2. Here's where I admit that I enjoy Emmerich's Godzilla as the family-fun romp it is. It's the Home Alone of monster movies! Back to Cloverfield.
It's not 9/11, it's not Godzilla, and it isn't Blair Witch. It has echoes of the first two, but that's part of the film's overall target effect. To say it's like Blair Witch would be like to say Kevin Smith's Clerks is like Casablanca because they're both filmed in Black and White.
I can see the resemblance between the critters in Cloverfield and creatures from Starship Troopers; another point is lost on unoriginality. And the weird voices they made detracted from the scariness of the situation in the subway. I usually stay for the end of the credits for a film I like. A commenter before me made the point that 75% of the audience around him stayed for the credits, and suggested it was the most negative reaction to a movie ever, for which I'm slightly disappointed. But there must have been people like me in that 75% who stayed because they enjoyed it.
Said commenter then ended by saying that fans of this film such as myself are deluded and "will have spent the last year or more pumping this movie for JJ Abrams and will be unable to admit to themselves or you that it is simply not good." I retort that I didn't 'pump' this movie, and found it a very good experience, even with my usual spitefully analytical view of films that try new things. Mr Abrams won me over with this film , even though it had me on the verge of motion sickness.
How Beth survived the impaling rod, and then a helicopter-crash, I will never know.
Finally, the party drama that kicked the film off: It was a worthy attempt at introducing and developing characters, and was a friendly introduction to the filming style. Were we instantly thrown into the shaking action, we'd be annoyed at the lack of heads-up! Speaking of which, I loved naming of Hud (heads-up display. Ha.) We don't need to know what Rob's new Job entails. We don't really need to know that he's becoming Vice President, either, except that that shows it as being a job worthy to leave NY for Japan. Hud's attempts to talk with Marlena are amusing, mainly because our introduction to him doesn't exactly present the most attractive of guys, and his insistence on filming her so much shows an infantile fascination for her. It's pathetic and amusing, but also sweet, and brilliantly acted.
I have many more points that I'd love to comment on, but I feel that I've outstayed my welcome.
In conclusion, please see this movie if you're interested in film, and are aware that it's 84 minutes of what you saw in the trailer. It's incredibly well done, and includes top-tier acting, spectacularly edited visuals, comedy, tragedy, and a beautiful love story (albeit recorded over).
...And please don't make a sequel.
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
The most heart-warming tale of courageous friends trying to get home
There have been countless talking-animal films in the past, the majority of which either feature animals' mouths digitally animated to nearly match the voice acting, or are ridiculously amateur. 'Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey' is neither.
This film doesn't need the infant-pleasing addition of moving canine lips, or gesturing feline limbs. It has the ability to make you believe that the animals are authentically talking to one another, and you can get rather emotionally attached to them at heart (as all great boy-and-and-his-dog films should).
Homeward Bound is the epitome of all family-friendly animal romps to me, and boasts some beautiful cinematography, an inspiring soundtrack (from the genius of Bruce Broughton), and an impressive cast...
Michael J. Fox ... Chance
Sally Field ... Sassy
Don Ameche ... Shadow
Frank Welker (Voice God) ... Various
It is a modernised version of the children's classic work of fiction 'The Incredible Journey', which was made into a semi-documentary film by Disney long long ago in 1963. The sequel (Lost in San Fransisco) isn't nearly as good a film, but extends the adventure of my favourite furry-footed friends, and is a fun urban-twist on the grand-outdoor-adventure theme. Want to entertain your children with a witty, pretty, heart-warming mini-epic, without the idiotic and often utterly ridiculous comedy of modern children's cinema? Parents, buy all three films for your children - now! Thank you, Disney, for bringing a tear to my eyes with each time I watch this early-90s classic!
Sonic Jam (1997)
The greatest collaboration of Sonic games to date
People have by now played on "Sonic Mega Collection" on the Gamecube (and "Mega Collection +" on the PS2 and Xbox), and compilations of Sonic games aren't uncommon (S&K pack for the PC; "Sonic", "Eccho" and "Golden Axe" on the GBA; Sonic classics collection on the Genesis; etc) and many fans are highly anticipating the soon to be released "Sonic Gems Collection", with its amazing line up of games that fans have been dying to master with their next-gen controllers, headlining as the 'gem' of the compilation is certainly "Sonic CD", the blue hedgehog's greatest outing in a 2D aspect.
But none of these come close to the Sonic Team masterpiece that is "Sonic Jam" on the SEGA Saturn. It had media from America and Japan, pictures, movies, music, all by the brimming bucket-full; and access to these was the adventure field-esquire 3-dimensional world that introduced how pointy a rendered 'hog can really be, and saw Tails flying mindlessly around and around and around. Fans rejoiced and went all-out in trying to complete the few missions available in that world. To me, this was better even than poorly devised Sonic 3D and its horrible isometric hell (my poor, innocent eyesight T-T) and the 3D world of "Sonic Jam" itself certainly went forward into becoming the Adventure Fields of sonic's first Dreamcast outing, and even triggered the idea of "Mission Mode" in the Gamecube re-release.
Moving away from the jaw-dropping world of "Sonic Jam", we come closer to the retro aspect. The greatest thing since sliced bread. Not only could you play Sonic 1, 2 and 3, but you could also go for S&K lock-on, and choose whether to play "Knuckles in Sonic2" or "Sonic3 & Knuckles" or even "Get Blue Spheres" Oh, the hours of my life gonna into that one... ^-^ And Knuckles being my all-time favourite character only added to the excitement! Then along came something that revolutionised the classic Sonic titles; a difficulty option for the lesser experienced player, and the ability to spin-dash in Sonic 1; oh, how we rejoiced (of course now you can spin-dash in the recent mobile phone remake of Sonic 1 also). A new wave of players could enter the best game series of all time, and really get to grips with the genre by kicking Dr. Robotnik's egg-shaped behind in easy, then once again in full-scale normality. Bliss - Perfect bliss.
Another advantage of "Sonic Jam" over the next-gen collections is the controller pad. Xbox, Ps2 and certainly Gamecube pads were not intended for sonic games and couldn't be more far off from the Genesis controllers of old (unless you modded your PS2 out to look like the low-bit wonder). But Saturn controllers had all the right buttons in all the right places, thus making it far simpler to pick up and play and understand what on earth you're meant to do. If I could start off my 7-year-old sister on "Sonic Jam", then I'm sure she'd be just as hooked on the 2D as she already is on Sonic and friends' 3D outings, but alas; my Saturn is no more T-T (Same goes for my Genesis and Dreamcast, which can only show why SEGA left the console race).
"Sonic Jam" may not have all the comic covers from the Archie Comics, and it may not have Sonic CD or Chaotix (then again that was only ever released once and isn't going to appear on Gems Collection either T-T), and it may seen rather outdated, but I can assure you that what it lacks in, it makes up for in every single other aspect it has jammed forcibly into that Saturn Disc. Just play it and find out why. If there was a choice between any Sonic Compelation available and the console to play it on, I'd still go for "Sonic Jam" and the Sega Saturn, cos even if that game disc dies on me or something, I still got NiGHTs, Bug!, and a whole lotta great classics available to me. The Saturn wouldn't even be a true SEGA console without that crucial 'Jam' that still out-shines compilations 8 years on...
Thank you Sonic Team, and Thank you SEGA.
-z3ph