Cloverfield

Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman
Director: Matt Reeves
Released: January 18, 2008
IMDB Synopsis: Revolves around a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people.

When Rob Hawkins (Stahl-David) shows up to his going-away party on a summer Manhattan night, the most stressful event he’s ready to deal with is how to tackle seeing his ex-girlfriend Beth McIntyre (Yustman) and her new guy. The way he handles the action to come is…well, a little disappointing. Then again, how many of us are really prepared to tangle with an extra-terrestrial beast the size of Godzilla (minus the personality) that can turn a city street into a post-Apocalyptic battle zone with one angry swipe?

Cloverfield follows a pretty straightforward plotline that’s easy for the moviegoers that it’s geared toward to follow, i.e. fourteen year olds. We even give this movie points for presenting a mildly unexpected ending. Nice work. We don’t think this is worthy of a “spoiler alert,” but we’ll mention that Cloverfield’s monster leaves an impressive number of casualties, which is normally cause for celebration. We’re not sure if it’s intentional or not, but the majority of the characters are annoying enough that the audience cheered when the life was snuffed out of them. Perhaps Cloverfield’s monster is some sort of eugenic, quasi-Darwinian force let loose on Manhattan to exterminate the lame and obnoxious, in which case we politely implore it to stomp its way on over to Los Angeles.

The acting was fair; even though the cast was made up mostly of noobs, considering this is a genre where acting is normally abysmal, there were some surprisingly comedic moments. Interestingly, the degree to which a character is annoying seems to correlate directly with how quickly they'll be killed. Cheers to that.

It’s Cloverfield’s cinematography that garnered the most publicity. The film was shot to give the impression of footage from a hand-held camera, a la The Blair Witch Project. Rumors circulated that the subsequent jostling and bouncing led some to nausea, though none of us encountered that difficulty. If we felt like vomiting, it was the cheesy dialogue that was the likely culprit.

All in all, while this movie won’t change your life, break down any barriers, or set a new standard for special effects, we will hold steadfastly to our claim that Cloverfield delivers all that it promises, and all that you can expect. If you enjoy anarchistic fright films, then go ahead and check it out. We'll admit we were entertained. If that’s not your thing, then you probably shouldn’t bother.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

In America

Starring: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Jim Sheridan
Released: January 2003 (Sundance Film Festival)
IMDB Plot Synopsis: The story of an immigrant Irish family who move to New York City to start a new life after the death of their youngest child. The movie's theme is the family's survival of tough times and the loss of their youngest child.

Johnny and his family have relocated all the way from Ireland to New York so that he can pursue his dream of acting. While his professional goals are always in the picture, the film focuses on how this particular family struggles to make the best with what they’ve got and how they cope with the death of the youngest member of the family.

With limited income, the family moves into a drug-infested apartment complex that feels more like a halfway house than anything. While the environment is far from kid friendly, the girls find an unlikely friend in fellow tenant, Mateo, played by Djimon Hounsou. His performance is flawless and sincere. No kidding; we cried.

The acting is, in a word, superb. The children, in particular, deliver exquisite performances that put kid Hollywood starlets like Dakota Fanning to shame. We became completely absorbed in the unique story and heartfelt performances.

It seems like the storyline of a struggling actor trying to make it in the big city is pretty played out. For that reason alone, we have to applaud In America for approaching the angle in fresh way. Not to mention, immigration is a touchy subject nowadays, so a film that features immigration as a major theme has the opportunity to provide conversational fodder for both sides of the issue—though we can’t help but wonder how the film would have changed if it had been an immigrant family from Mexico instead. Would it have been as well-received? Discuss amongst yourselves, but be sure to comment…

All in all, we highly recommend In America to anyone. You’ve got to see this movie. Since it made us laugh, cry, empathize, sympathize, and even do some deep thinking, there’s only one way to rate it.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Music and Lyrics

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Hugh Grant

Director: Marc Lawrence

Released: February 14, 2007

IMDB Plot Synopsis: A washed up singer is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he's never written a decent lyric in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman with a flair for words.



Music and Lyrics starts out strong with a parody of an 80s pop music video, borrowing heavily from, well... any WHAM! single, with a generous helping of A-ha's Take On Me. The featured single, POP! Goes My Heart is reminiscent of MTV's satirical boyband 2gether and their faux single U + Me = Us (Calculus), meaning that the song sounds better than some authentic 80s hits.

We are most dismayed to comment that the movie goes downhill from there. It's difficult to say whether the movie is a satire or simply misguided. Many of Grant's lines are cynical in nature, yet delivered with sincerity. His character, Alex, is given many reasons to be as bitter as Faith Hill at the GRAMMYs, and he instead seems decently satisfied that his best venue is currently Knotsberry Farm. Yikes.

Barrymore, on the other hand, cruises along with minimal effort (don't mistake that for effortless talent) and her crooked smile. In a burst of inspiration, she has decided her character suffers from nervous habits and twitching, which leads to audience irritation. Her character, Sophie, is liable to indulge frequent outbursts and uncontrollable pen-clicking. Her talent as a lyricist is laughable; we haven't heard rhymes this bad since 8th grade English.

One of the most poorly performed roles is, hands-down, that of the pop princess sensation, Cora. We won't mention the actress, since she deserves zero publicity. Having emerged from a heartbreaking romantic split ("We were together for two months!") she has had a spiritual awakening and is seeking solace in what seems to be, though is not directly defined as, Buddhism. Miss Cora delivers a horrifically robotic performance. We are intrigued by what direction she was given; if her performance is intended to be funny, it falls flat. WARNING: Word on the street is that she signed a three picture deal, so there's more where this came from. This could be awesome or awful; your call.

Music and Lyrics could have been a worthwhile film had it starred two budding singers, and Cora's role could have served as a great cameo for an established pop princess. The movie also should have taken a firmer stance on the message it was trying to send. It's a shame, because this could have been a really funny movie... instead, it was really a big waste of time. We will admit that the best part was marveling at how on earth it was made. Final comment? It looks like they released a dress rehearsal.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars (Thank POP! Goes My Heart for this generous rating)