Tonight, after six months of insanely secretive hints and clues and bewildering teasers, the mysteries of J.J. Abrams’ movie Cloverfield will be unveiled.
Frankly, I’m not interested.
Not because I think the movie will be bad, far from it. I have high opinions of Abrams, director Matt Reeves and writer Drew Goddard, the cast seems able enough, and the concept (a monster movie told from the viewpoint of the frightened citizens) is an excellent one.
But could it possibly be better than the hype? I really doubt it. And I find I prefer the uncertainty of the hype.
First there was the way it was announced. Quietly, with no fanfare, in front of the Transformers movie. A simple little untitled teaser trailer that depicted a Gen-Y party that was interrupted by explosions and what turned out (after multiple viewings and by turning the brightness on our computer monitors way up) to be the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty fueled rumors galore. It was a Godzilla movie! It was a H.R. Lovecraft movie! It was a mutated 40-foot H.P. Lovecraft vs Godzilla movie!
(Note - this was a quickie filler column. I had just finished writing and posting a particularly snarky writers' strike column when the news of the DGA agreement came out and I decided it were best to stay civil. For now.)
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
What is the DGA agreement?
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
Was the Old Ones a reference to Stranger, or something else that I am unaware of?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
The Directors' Guild of America announced a deal with the AMPTP (the studios) that is widely expected to become a template for the AMPTP's deal with the writers. There are indeed some concessions in it that the writers were asking for, but the residual payments are much lower and several of the writers' demands are completely absent. The directors' needs are not the same as the writers'.
But it does mean that negotiations can start up again. And, since the AMPTP is at least making noises like they plan to deal reasonably, I didn't want to throw fuel on the fire.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Cthulhu is one of the Great Old Ones, according to Lovecraft.
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