Mara's site

Okay, here goes my late review for Cloverfield. Not too spoilerific, but still spoilerific for those who want to know absolutely nothing of the movie before watching it. But hey, you probably have. If not, go to the cinema. :P







I had been waiting for this movie for how long. After first seeing the teaser trailer posted on the Lost in the Phil. ML, I knew it would become another JJ Abrams-cryptic-i-must-know-the-answer phenomenon. After all that hype, did it live up to the expectations for me?..... Hell Yeah! :D
For one thing, I love the idea of it all being shot on a handicam. (A very strong one, I must add.) Though some people hated the effect it had, I loved how it really put you into the movie. Yeah, the parts where the camera was just focusing on their running feet were pretty annoying (especially when the monster was there), but I still thought this style of shooting it fit like a glove on what the movie was about. It also had a great effect when the monster came. I loved seeing the little teasing shots of the monster going behind a building, or taking a peek over here. Nobody having seen the monster in any of the trailers or images, you could hear the whole movie house gasp when you could finally see a teasing peak of it here and there, which made it all the more fun since you'd be wanting more and more. I could see everybody leaning forward in their seats and you get this jumpy feeling in your stomach. You don't actually get to see it in its entirety in one whole shot in the film, but it makes it all the more real. When a monster is attacking, you won't exactly have the time to film it until it gets real close. :P (... or would you?)

The movie was more of focused on the group at the party: the sexy Hawkins brothers Rob and Jason, Lily, Hud, and Marlena. It was refreshing seeing a monster movie from the point of view of a regular person and not a scientist or a former military man who figures out the solution to defeating the monster before everybody else in all the government/CIA/etc agencies. It gave a greater feeling of reality to the film and put you in the main characters' places. When the monster first comes, it's incredibly unexpected making it almost believable that it could happen. :D :D There were some very intense scenes here where you do get scared (i was squealing :P) , and this might have been the first giant monster movie to get me scared. :D

As for the monster itself, saying very little here but i was very very happy with it :D. It's a big holy #@$&! moment when you first see it. I'm a big fan of giant monsters (especially deep sea ones :D), and seeing it filmed the way it was, made it incredibly real. Hay luuuuv et. :-x I love the monster. :D I want the toy :D.

One other thing that made me happy is that there was no shot of a woman screaming with her hands waving frantically at the monster as it's coming frightfully close and she's just staying in place and screaming- supposedly paralyzed by fear but the reactions are always so very fake. None of that. Real reactions. phew. I would've been very disappointed if there were one of those. :D

All in all, it is a very clever movie. I think there will be alot more movies filmed this way. I'm thinking there should be a zombie movie filmed like this.

Tips when watching:
1. I didn't get so dizzy as much as a headache from trying to concentrate while the camera is going frantic. Find something still to stare at in the movie house to relieve the tension from the movie.
2. One thing to know about JJ Abrams: There are always easter eggs. The very first few seconds of the movie, look at the lower side of the screen and see a tiny Dharma logo from LOST pop up.
3. Ah yes, as Mika said: stay til the end of the credits. There is a short bit of audio played at the end and you have to listen carefully because it's whispered.
After Michael Giacchino's ROAR! track (which is the only musical track composed for this movie, no music throughout the rest of the movie, so sit back and listen to Giacchino roar, it's a good track and the guy just got nominated for an Oscar for Ratatouille. support the LOST musical composer. =D ) stay quiet and if possible tell everybody else to shush. :P
4. Keep your eyes open to more easter eggs.
5. Watch front row. :D
6. When coming out of the movie house, take out your camera and look up to the buildings, you could practically still see the monster roaming about. :D


A bit of a spoiler:


Another easter egg: During the very last few seconds of the movie, look all the way out to the horizon and squint. You'll see something fall out of the sky but it's very faint. Just pay close attention to the horizon.
Oh yes, another Cloverfield easter egg, but not in the movie. In Heroes. In Season 2, episode 10, you could see Elle drinking a Slusho. :D

For those who do not get the slusho, by the way, Jason was wearing a Slusho shirt during the party. Slusho was part of JJ's viral marketing campaigns that he always has. It first appeared in Abrams's work in Alias when Sydney in Vaughn were at a convenient store and one of them got a Slusho drink. Slusho is believed to have a tie with the origins of the monster. How a sweet cute little shake site can involve the monster? Welcome to the world of puzzling wrack-your-brains JJ abrams questions. Come, let's join us. :D

This movie is really best on the moviehouse. The monster is all the more :Oing on a big screen.

Will watch this movie 4 8 15 16 23 42 times. Looooooooove it. Love the monster, and the lead guy is really cute. :D

Night vision.... @__________@

Beware, tis spoilerific for the movie and play:


Firstly I have to say it seemed kind of ironic the movie began with a pirate-y ship coming out of the mist . =P



Depp really was brilliant here. Not only was his acting solid but his singing was very impressive.
The rest of the cast being the usual group of Shakesperean actors -and Harry Potter cast members, hehehe, what does that say about Potter and Johnny Depp?hhmmmm...- being equal as amazing. Of course it was hard with such a difficult accent. I have this habit of needing to know the lyrics of a musical while watching it (so i can sing along hahaha) so it was quite difficult since the songs here were sung along with the accent. Nevertheless the cast was brilliant as usual and brought a very wide range and variety of voices to the movie.( I was surprised even Borat was there with his actual accent)

One complaint that I have though is the relationship between Anthony and Johanna. I haven't seen the play but was able to do a little research on it. I felt it was a little cold in the movie and didn't really show any genuine sincerity. In the very least Johanna did not seem to show any feelings toward him.

One of my favorite sequences was 'By the Sea'- Mrs. Lovett's little dream sequence where she marries Todd. Helena Bonham Carter is really very charming here and I love Johnny's expression throughout the whole song. :D

I watched it with Tobie, Chiqui, and Mika and Tobie made a point afterward in saying that in the end, they could've resolved the issue with Todd and his daughter instead of leaving it hanging in the end. I felt the ending also when Toby (not Abad =P) slit Todd's throat was a little too abrupt and maybe they could've added the last part in the end which is a part sung by Toby and Todd just to add a bit of finality to it.

But all in all, I did like it. I loved the morbidity of it and the combination of black, white, and red monochrome :D. Made for a very lovely effect. I especially loved the song 'A little Priest'- a cute song with cute lyrics with a dark and sick motive. :D

Not done 100%, I don't know who would be capable of doing the middle part 100%... O__O.

This is what is in store for those who want to try it! :D

Start:	Dec 8, '07 4:00p
Location:	Basement theatre of Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street

This anthology is a compilation of literary fictional works by several Filipino authors- both first time and established; as well as some writers abroad. Some of these writers were awarded during Neil Gaiman's Book of Dreams event,including Andrew Drilon, Yvette Tan, and Ian Casocot. The book is a third in an annual series. Philippine Speculative Fiction showcases a wide range of literary genres, from horror, fantasy, science fiction, and all in between. To get a taste of the stories here, you can look for works by Dean Alfar, who helped mostly to compile the stories in this book (most of which are from his Google Group "LitCritters"). Alfar has written stories such as "Salamanca", and "The Kite of Stars". He is also well-known as a playwright.

Hope people can make it to celebrate the book launch! :)

  I don't have any pictures, so here's a blog entry na lang. 

 I was at Serendra last Sunday (Nov 25) for The Book of Dreams event, where Neil Gaiman himself was to award the winners of The Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards.

 Familar peeps there along with me were Mika, Chiqui, Adam, Ranulf, Jovan, Karen Kristie, and one of the hosts of the event Karen Kuna. Following afterward but still able to buy an autographed Beowulf script were Tobie and Urim. 

  I don't think I was that 'fangirlish' until we (me, Mika, and Chiqui) were finally walking to Fully Booked. The conference room was packed with people engaged in discussion, giggling and wanting to take pictures, or passing by curiously and continuing to shop for books.

  I did feel excited when I finally saw Gaiman and heard him answering questions. He answered each question very clearly and spoke in a way that you became compelled to listen. ( Or at least I was trying to listen, people behind me were noisy and I couldn't hear!  ) After a while, I even forgot my fanatic fangirling, that was before he left the conference room and I came close enough to having personal contact with him.

 There were several presentations before the annoucement of the Awards winners. The first came from street/stage magician Eric Mana. I wanted a magic trick, but it was fun enough seeing his trick which he performed on Adam (Fuqua) (teeheehee...).

 After that there was a great Arnis presentation which seemed to span over several age ranges from young, in between, and gray-haired. Nevertheless, they were all great and had three arnis sticks present at one point, all twirling so fast from hand to hand, no wonder they call it lightning.

 And when it came time for the winners of the Graphic/Fiction Awards to be announced, Gaiman came back on the stage again. They began to talk about the book compilation Expeditions. Expeditions came in a set, one for the comics and the other for the prose. Gaiman was talking about each of the entries and why he chose them. He also came down to the roots of the Awards, and what exactly defines a graphic/fiction/horror story. They went on to the topic of realism in Filipino literature and how with the Awards in cooperation with Fully Booked, they want to encourage Filipino unrealism.
 
One of the stories I really enjoyed hearing Gaiman talk about was how he could get inspiration for his stories from almost anything. He talked about how he used a comment his son Mike ( ehem, Karen Kristie... ) made a comment about a goldfish and how this comment became one of his stories. He also used nightmares for his plotlines, which is no big surprise there. Whether or not the stories he creates from them are favored by people or not, I do respect his creativity and quirkiness in using these ideas. He looked at things and said, "I'm gonna use that later on..", and he did.

Well I didn't get the chance to have a book signed personally, but at least we got pre-signed books, and Mika won an autographed beowulf poster.    Gaiman mentioned that next year he would probably have more book signings and I look forward to that and the next time he comes here. I've read some of the stories from the Expeditions books, (mostly the comics) and am loving it so far. They're creative, dark, funny, sometimes cute, and most importantly they leave one with an impression. Even the short stories like one of my favorites, "Splat!" which did not even have any dialogue left me thinking about it for a while after. I send a big congratulations to all the writers and artists who contributed to the book... (in the hopes that they are somewhere in my network... )

 I do hope I can join next year, but if I ever will, I'll take it step by step. I'm sure it'll be worth it. After the awarding, Gaiman talked with each of the finalists intimately, writer-to-writer, and gave them advice about their career and works.



 

SPOILERS Beware:

Or simply read the book. I hear it's out already. =P


I watched Beowulf on the opening day last Wednesday. No doubt I would cause Beowulf is one of my favorite poems ever. =D

My thoughts:

Well for one thing, one can't ignore the fact that the animation is absolutely amazing. When I first heard that Beowulf was going to be animated and directed by Robert Zemeckis, I was actually expecting an adventure animation with beautiful princesses and heroic kings and a PG rating. =P But when I first saw the preview I was really impressed with the new twist on the story courtesy of a screenplay by Neil Gaiman.
First of all I loved how they stuck true to the story and weren't sympathetic in the least bit about the spirit of the Norsemen. The scenes in the hall were an accurate interpretation of how I know the Norsemen and I was awed at seeing it on screen. They even added Beowulf fighting Grendel nude. ( And there was some very strategic placing of things in front of others there.) Excerpts from the prose were even added to the script.
I really loved seeing the sea monster scene. A fantastic moment which once again brought me back to the poem:

" You're Beowulf, are you- the same boastful fool who fought a swimming match with Brecca, both of you daring and young and proud, exploring the deepest Seas, risking you lives for no reason but the danger?"

" I swam in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned."

Plus I really loved that moment when Beowulf went sliding down one of the sea monster's throat with his knife plunged into it followed by a wave of blood. :D

Grendel and Grendel's mother weren't dragons but Grendel's animation was nicely done. Hard to believe that was Crispin Glover. :P I also thought the scene where Grendel's mother sang and mourned for her son's loss was excellent.

Ray Winstone is one of the perfect people to play Celtic and Norse warriors. He played Bors, one of the Knights of the Round Table in 2004's King Arthur, and I'm not sure if it counts but he played Mr. Beaver in Narnia. =P His voice truly embodied the mighty warrior and I can imagine his war scream arousing an army for battle.

I give it five stars because despite the changes ( which added more to the dark and seductive aura of the movie) it stayed true to the prose and truly illuminated the story of Beowulf. The animation was gorgeous ( Beowulf's abs: =D). I loved the look of Beowulf's son as a dragon in the end. There was incredible action backed by a wonderful soundtrack by Alan Silvestri. The soundtrack is full of Celtic jigs for the party scene, stirring battle music, and melodic minstrel songs. One of the title tracks " A Hero Comes Home" is sung by Idina Menzel from RENT. :D

Five stars and this movie will be INCREDIBLE in Imax! =D

This is one of my favorite songs from Nightwish with the orchestral version of the track added in the back. You could hear the operatic voice added. =)

This video is self-explanatory. Warning: You may become seriously twisted after this. >=)

This site is a sci-fi/fantasy art gallery as well as a library for poems short stories and other forms of literature made by its members. Oh, and by the way, it's so purty. =D