Cloverfield

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SyFy showed it last night. Of course I have the DVD as does most of the human race, but I had to watch it again, commercials and all.  J.J. Abrams made it in 2008 right at the height of "Lost" popularity and he got the funding in spite of the concept; a giant monster breaks through from an alternate universe and wreaks havoc on NYC. Sort of the Godzilla concept but it is filmed from the viewpoint of a camcorder tape that was found in the "Area formerly known as Central Park" and is a top secret DOD possession "now". So the whole thing is jerky, with slanted views as the guy holding the camera runs for his life through NYC.

But it comes off well and has become a cult classic and one of the best S-F movies of the past 10-20 years.

Several things I noticed that I hadn't earlier. Of course it was the beginning of Odette Yustman's (now Odette Anable) fan-boy collection, she starred in Cloverfield and went on to make several successful movies and several failed TV sitcoms, but we always watch faithfully for any of her projects. But in an early scene of the going-away party with a bunch of 20-somethings in the high-rise apt. we catch a glimpse of Theo Rossi who later had a major role on Sons of Anarchy as "Juice".  He was probably cast as an extra. No dialog, on screen maybe 15 seconds, once in the apt. , later on the street running for his life.

And also Lizzy Caplan who had a bigger role, she was attacked by one of the ape-sized parasites that fell off the monster and the cuts on her back and shoulder began to affect her. Some Army troops took her and the others in the small group off the street into the triage center where many victims of the rampage were being treated. A Dr., upon seeing her , screamed "quarantine !" And she was immediately taken behind a screen where she was shot and killed, apparently to avoid spreading whatever she had contracted from her bites. How the Dr.'s knew this was necessary is never explained but that's the "appeal" of the movie. Everything is shown only from the camcorder footage. No exposition from anyone. Lizzy has had many successful roles since then, playing Virginia Johnson in "Masters of Sex" being one of her best, it will return later this year. She's also in "Interview" that riled up the North Koreans recently.

In the end Odette  and her boyfriend, the only survivors of their group of friends originally fleeing, (the apt. was in lower Manhattan, so when the monster tore the head off the Statue of Liberty and threw it across the river it landed in the street right outside the apt. ) they took refuge in one of the short tunnel/bridges in Central Park. One of the bombs from the planes attacking the monster landed nearby and sealed them in the tunnel. So they died which didn't please her fan-boys. Then we learned that they had filmed alternate endings where they survived but Abrams thought the 'death' ending was better.  

I have also heard many express their dislike and hatred of this movie and JJ Abrams type mysteries/SciFi projects. Certainly, there is some validity to this as the handheld "shaky camera" had been done years before in Blair Witch Project. I'm glad I stopped watching Lost years before it ended. Also, Star Trek Into Darkness was a complete rehash with use of exact scenes & dialog from previous ST movies. Odette was the only person I remembered being in Cloverfield. I haven't watched it in a long time. Maybe I'll re-watch it again one of these days. I don't seem to remember being too impressed with it. And I am not a fan of most of JJ Abram's projects.

Yeah, I had never heard of Rossi or Caplan at the time and some of the other lead actors have never been heard from since, or at least not by me. But I see at IMDB that a couple have done okay later on.