Thank you movie gods.....

I'm can't express how relieved I am that Cloverfield didn't suck. In addition to Cloverfield not sucking, Once turned out to be quite brilliant as well. If you're ready, I'll tell you all about it.

Cloverfield

Wow, this movie didn't disappoint. It was, for what it was, nearly flawless.

If you're not aware, the movie is a fusion of the classic monster genre, and the Blair Witch Project. Basically, Rob is leaving New York for a new job in Japan. His brother, Jason, and his girlfriend, Lily, and numerous friends throw him a huge surprise party, while his best friend (Hud) spends the duration of the party recording 'testimonials' as are done during weddings. During the party, all hell breaks loose when an enormous creature attacks New York City.

There's some background on Rob's relationship with Beth told through occasional clips of their last day together weeks before when the footage is stopped, which does a pretty reasonable job of stitching together Rob and Beth, who shows up at the party with a new boyfriend, and just as quickly departs before the attacks take place.

Rob, Jason, Hud, Lily, and a girl which Hud is attracted to end up trying to travel together in the struggle to escape the city. Everything is told from the point of view of the camera that Hudson is still diligently hanging onto. The sense of urgency is amazing, the visuals are incredible, and due to the well coordinated shakes, the moments of frenzy when Hudson must be more focused on running, or hiding, than shooting, you spend much of the movie on the edge of your seat hoping that he'll turn the camera back.

My biggest fear had been that we may not get to see the creature, or that we would only ever catch a glimpse of it at the end, however, though fears were unfounded, and as it turns out, we get plenty of good views of the creature as the film progresses.

I have but 2 complaints.

First: Hudson's character is maddeningly stupid. He doesn't often really get to show it, and I'm certain that the goal of actor T.J. Miller was to portray him as the big, dumb, lovable, slightly drunk guy. Unfortunately, through most of his interactions, he seems to come off as only dumb. His character ends up being a doofus, and one that I didn't really find lovable.

Second: I was left with a feeling of wanting more. There was some oppurtunity during the movie to answer more questions, but in the vein of Lost a lot of the story was simply left out out so that you are forced to wonder what happened. I hope not to give too much away with this, but I mean to say, you don't know where the creature came from, or if the military ever truly stopped it.

The last thing I didn't really like, but I wouldn't really call a complaint was that after a certain point in the movie, they removed the time/date stamp from the video. I feel like this was done to help prevent anyone noticing in-continuities of time in the story. I do have to admit, however, that I was very impressed with the fact that the tape was run for exactly 90 minutes, it seems, which is a pretty brilliant editing job, in my opinion.

Overall, I think this is one of the few movies to come out of late that deserves all of it's hype. It's excellent in so many ways, and well worth the time invested to watch it. I'm hoping to see it again very soon, just see those things I missed when I blinked.

Once

I'm not normally a fan of musicals. That isn't to say that I don't like them, I just usually don't feel the need to watch, or re-watch them, unlike some people that seem to think they are the most perfect genre, and want to devour them like some kind of meal. For this reason, I was somewhat leery when going into Once.

I was thankful, then, to find that the music is spectacular and not even remotely what you'd normally hear in a musical, and that this movie doesn't also follow in traditional musical's footsteps. It forges its own path, and I was glad to follow along.

The movie is about a an Irish Singer / Songwriter who works the street for money and meets a lovely young immigrant girl, who begins to talking to him. This is not, however, your typical love story. It's surprisingly honest and simple in its storytelling. We follow them through the week as he decides to record an album and use her as piano and back-up vocals.

The beauty is in the way that events unfold, and the way we're treated to both of their broken hearts and their eventual love, which doesn't, by the way, culminate in passionate love making or even what you'd normally call a romance in a movie. It is, however, a love that is quite real.

Overall, the acting is spectacular, the songwriting is solid, and the music itself if just phenomenal (I'm looking for the soundtrack, as a matter of fact). The nuances of this film are make it such a pleasure to watch, and the great music are what it fuck to listen too.


That's it...

for now. I've always got so much more that I'd love to write. I could, actually, go on for hours describing everything that's happening, whether it's happening in my mind, in the news, or in the world immediately surrounding me, yet I find it impossible to continue my battle against sleep. One day, I hope, I will be able to best the foul beast. Until such time, you'll have to settle for Blog posts that are less that 50,000 words.

So, while the dim light will soon be extiguished on the bed side table, and the fan in my laptop will soon be silenced with it falls into a deep slumber, so shall I meet them both on the otherside. And to you all, I wish you a good night.