The Cloverfield Trilogy

I never thought I’d watch Cloverfield. Not because I thought it would be scary since it is listed as a horror movie and I don’t watch those. No it’s really more of if I wanted to see a city get destroyed by a giant monster why would I just watch Godzilla or Kong? After all there is a time and place for the classic monsters of yesterday. Plus, I have three Godzilla movies on the current watch list.

This weekend though I decided to indulge in the Cloverfield experience. After all it is on Netflix and I’m running out of Sci-fi movies that are on there. So, I loaded it in My List on Netflix. The original movie from 2008 and the latest of the three The Cloverfield Paradox.

I have a rule I’ve followed on my Sci-fi movie viewing tour. I watch the movies in the order my queue or My List in Netflix put the movies on deck. I’m not sure the exact methodology but sometimes they take the newest and put in the on deck circle. So I found myself face to face with Cloverfield before I ever expected to be. So, I said “f” it let’s go. This my journey down the Cloverfield rabbit hole began. I new I wouldn’t get all three in on Saturday. That it would have to be broken up into a two day event. See I decided on Friday I was going to turn to Disney+ for the main movie of the weekend. The night viewing if you will, or the movie of the day if you prefer. So Friday was dedicated to A Wrinkle In Time, Saturday John Carter, and at this time of writing I’m getting ready to pop my Avatar cherry soon as my steak cooks. Now that Endgame has taken down Avatar which took down Titanic, I can finally let my grudge against James Cameron and my good buddy Chip for making me see Titanic. I hate that fucking movie.

I wasn’t sure exactly how the Cloverfield would play out. I knew I’d endure all three because when you are on a mission to watch as much Sci-fi as you can to learn all you can, one must endure. Also, 10 Cloverfield Lane isn’t on the Netflix roster so I’d have to rent it on Amazon. However it ended up splitting nicely with Cloverfield, and 10 Cloverfield Lane on Saturday before John Carter and I started off my Sunday with the Cloverfield Paradox.

So here we go:

I’ll start off by saying these movies have little common from my POV and if not for the name Cloverfield and some bad shit afoot I wouldn’t call this a trilogy. These are three distinct movies you can probably watch in any order but I wouldn’t bc that is how I am, watch them in order.

Cloverfield

The first thing I’m going to give Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams credit for is the hot cast they put together for this movie. I know that sounds awful and doesn’t do the movie justice but honestly Jessica Lucas, Odette Annabele, Lizzy Caplan are drop dead gorgeous. I’ve been a fan of Jessica’s since she was in one of the best Psych episodes of all time “Last Night Gus”. Unfortunately this trio was in for a really bad time in Cloverfield, beauty in this movie would have no impact what so ever in the beast. ****SPOILERS AHEAD from Trailer**** On a more serious note though it’s been 12 years since I’ve thought about Cloverfield or seen a trailer or any other info, so when I saw the Statue I’d Liberty’s head rolling down a Manhattan street I knew whatever we were dealing with in the movie alien or note was not messing around. Other than beautiful women all we really had was dialogue up to the point lady liberty’s dome became the worlds largest bowling ball recking New York like Twinkle Toe’s Freddie wrecked the pins. However from that point on chaos and everyone was having a bad time.

The movie has been called the Blair Witch Project of the MySpace era. It’s understandable because the movie is shot from one guys hand held camera. It is being presented to us as a form of government evidence of the incident that happened. I like the format. It was a bit shaky at times but I’m get motion sickness bad and I had no issue watching this movie.

The characters are likable. You can understand the hero’s plight and why he feels the need to go rescue the girl across town even though something the resembles a cave troll is mashing up the city. They do a nice job of keeping you on your toes and interested. You want you peeps do avoid the beastie, find the girl, and get out alive.

I’d recommend this movie, especially if you like the world being destroyed and people on the run for their lives! It’s well done. Good take on an old story.

10 Cloverfield Lane

I knew that Cloverfield and it’s follow up 10 Cloverfield were going to be different. I knew 10 wasn’t a monster destroying the city movie. I did expect this movie to be an aftermath movie of the first, it leads you down that path a little and then just does it’s own thing.

This movie plays with your mind a bit. This isn’t a Sci-fi movie with the heroine on a quest to find and free the people. No this is a really a psychological thriller that is two or three scenes away from being a horror movie. Hell some might even consider it one.

Most of the movie your sitting there going this isn’t right. Something is wrong here. Only to be lulled back into a sense of safety and thinking maybe it’s all gonna be ok. Then you turn the page and all of it is gong to shit again.

This movie takes place in a bunker. It’s about an older gentlemen who was prepared for the apocalypse, who brings a girl from a wreck into his shelter right before an ‘event’ happens. We are left to wonder most of the movie what said event could be. I thought it was the Cloverfield monster but you know trying to keep people on there toes and all, things ain’t always what they appear. Also in the bunker is a dude with a beard and a bad arm. He witnessed the event and new about the bunker and fought his way in.

There is an uneasy relationship bc we only know the girl. We don’t know the two dudes. One is old and creepy. The other is younger and has a he might be nice but can be a bit creepy vibe to him. Thus we do a dance. Can this new family wait out the apocalypse together? Will old and creepy lose his shit and kill them all? Will one arm bad arm be the knight in shining armor or is he in on it with old and creepy? Is our heroine gonna stay or will she try and fly the coup?

This is the dance we do for most of the movie. To be honest I liked it. Would have told it would have been a better horror flick. Kept making me think of hostel or one of those movies where at some people everyone is going to end up cut into 1,000 pieces and placed neatly in doggy bags.

John Goodman is great as the creepy guy. I think I’ve line him in everything but Roseanne. Just hate that fucking show and women. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does well as the lead. I believe she is truly terrified and trying to figure out just what in the world is going on. John Gallagher Jr. is a bit creepy but also nice so he keeps ya guessing: can I trust him or can’t I?

Again I really enjoyed the ride this took me on. It surprises me it is the highest rated of the three movies on IMDB only because even though I liked it and it kept me guessing it was my least favorite of the three movies in the Trilogy.

The Cloverfield Paradox

The Cloverfield Paradox is my favorite movie in the Cloverfield Trilogy. To me it was just good ole Sci-fi and I can’t really understand why it go such piss poor marks on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe I’ve just seen so many bad movies lately it makes me think this movie was better than what it was? I feel like it had a lot of classic Sci-fi elements in there but then again maybe I’m just a sucker for anything that brings in elements of the multiverse theory. Also over the last few months I’ve seen a number of movies and TV shows about being lost, trapped, or some other trouble in space or aboard a space station and I think this was enjoyable because it gave it a bit of a different twist. It was nice to see Ziyi Zhang in the cast since I’ve loved her since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Then again it was a pretty good cast that had a lot of familiar names and faces: David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, Chris O’Dowd, Elizabeth Debicki, and Donal Logue.

There are several Trilogies that I am a huge fan of. Of course, the Holy Trilogy that is Epsiodes IV - VI of Star Wars. The Lord of the Rings which pound for pound can punch with the best of them. The original Indiana Jones trilogy before the Skull incident. The Back to the Future Trilogy and Godfather are also both classics. While I think the Cloverfield Trilogy is far from a classic I did enjoy it and am really happy I watched it. Overall they are very entertaining and worth the watch.

I hope as I enter the dregs of the Netflix sci-fi scene these other movies can keep me entertained.