This is the time of year studios dump pictures that don't really fit anywhere else. It's the reason why something like Hannah Montana can be number one at the box office two weeks running.
However, it is also the time of year that modern moviegoers get to enjoy the closest thing we have to a grindhouse circuit, because the studios also release hard genre pics that wouldn't stand a chance during the summer tentpole season against things like Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, or The Dark Knight.
Two pictures in theaters right now scream pulp fiction in a mean, nasty way: monster movie Cloverfield and action-adventure pic Rambo.
I'm Sally O'Malley, and I'm 50 years old! 50!
Cloverfield got a lot of traction from being hyped as a J.J. Abrams production. Those who don't know the difference thought that meant it was a J.J. Abrams picture. If it had been, you better believe it would have been opening in June or July. Turns out some guy named Matt Reeves directed it, and his last credit as a director was on the David Schwimmer/Gwyneth Paltrow romantic comedy The Pallbearer. Unfortunately, I missed that one. Wait, what I meant to say was, fortunately, I missed that one. So did most people.
I'm not a J.J. Abrams fan, so the fact that he merely produced it didn't give me much hope. And while his television shows excel at what they do - alternately confound and electrify - I don't think he's come to terms with the fact that television and movies are two different mediums.
At any rate, I went to see the film with about fifty people from work who were excited beyond description. The energy and hopeful anticipation some of these guys exhibited, if bottled, could have powered a small city, like Chicago. So that helped, a little.
Then the movie started, and I was immediately sucked in. I was confused for the first eight or ten minutes, which is usually a good thing if the director knows what he's doing. The entire picture is shot from first person point of view, and this is sort of disorienting initially - particularly in the opening segments of the film. The first shots find us in bed with a young couple, obviously head over heels in love.
Rob (Michael Stahl-David) films his lovely girlfriend Beth (Odette Yustman) with his home video camera. After rolling around in bed like they're in some kind of Calvin Klein cologne commercial, Rob and Beth decide to go down to Coney Island to continue their advertising campaign to the 18 to 31 demographic. The camera is in Rob's hands, shooting Beth, and New York City, in a shaky, casual style.
Suddenly, we are cross cut into another location: a loft, someone's bedroom...it's hard to tell exactly because the focus is sporadic and intermittent. Sadly, the gorgeous girl and her handsome beau are no longer on screen. They've been replaced by an overzealous girl, Marlena (Jessica Lucas), who's organizing a going away party, her dull boyfriend Jason (Mike Vogel) who is helping but not really, and one of the dimmest yet most endearing knuckleheads to be projected onto a silver screen in recent history, T.J. Miller's Hud Platt.
Here Reeves gives the audience the reasoning behind the first person perspective: this charming trio is collecting testimonials for a friend of theirs who is moving to Japan for business. He's going to be vice president of something. Never mind that all these kids look like they were turned down for roles on Gossip Girl. Who cares about the plausibility of their jobs. They are easy to look at while the camera work is not. That is smart and effective casting.
So, everybody knows a big ass monster shows up.
Spoiler alert!
Yeah. But before that Reeves smartly sets up the melodramatic romantic tension that exist between our young heroes. Particularly Rob and Beth, who, since the opening moments, have become estranged. She actually shows up to his going away party with another guy. We don't know how much time has passed, but apparently not enough. The two are still very palpably in love. What do you do when you're in love but not together with that special someone? Fight. Beth storms out. Rob beats himself up over it.
Cue the monster. Cue the phone call from Beth to Rob. Rob is now on a hero's mission to save his damsel in distress.