Cloverfield
Just got home an hour ago from seeing Cloverfield. As with a lot of people, I could do without the shaky camera. I never get motion sickness that I can recall but this got close. It’s not the first time camera work in this style this has annoyed me (I’m looking at you, Bourne).
Oh, and not to spoil it for anyone, but the weapons the various military units had available (even conventional) should have turned the big monster into something the consistency of paste, unless it had some unseen and unexplained powers. I mean seriously, they hit it with a lot of ordnance. Once you’ve decide it’s ok to drop bombs on your own city, that opens up a lot of options. That B-2 Spirit alone cares 20 2,000 pound bombs… I mention it because they show a bomb run that gets a couple of direct hits. And then I was wondering why they hadn’t napalmed it yet.
I realize that normally I’d be expected to suspend disbelief (it’s a monster movie, after all), and I would… but going back to my first point with the shaky camera, once I get a bit annoyed at a film, I start to pick it apart. I feel bad about it, but I do it anyway. In other words, giving me a bit of a headache does nothing for my enjoyment of the movie.
I think other than the headache it was an interesting piece of work. I hope they do another one without the hand-held camera, while somehow preserving some of the better aspects. Just so they can explain some things, if nothing else.