maxwellwyman Reviews

Cloverfield (2008)

Monster movie with all of the destruction and a fresh perspective

[9/10 · 27 May 2014]

I finally watched Cloverfield, which I've been interested in ever since the mysterious trailers came out and impressed my monster-movie-loving-middle-school self years ago...and I wasn't let down. This could have easily turned out to be a lame gimmick flick (and many people will see it as that) with all of the shaky cam and found footage aspects, but I never found those to be a hindrance to my enjoyment of the movie and I even thought that it enhanced the atmosphere and mood of the disaster. After seeing the newest Godzilla movie recently, Cloverfield came along and gave me everything that I thought was wrong about Godzilla 2014. It shows a human perspective and a city dealing with chaos that came out of nowhere. Shocking, chilling, impressive...all shown in a way that reflects a lot of the fears from 9/11 (a lot of the footage reminds me of some scenes from 102 Minutes That Changed America. Instead of focusing on the monster (which I thought could have looked cooler) it focuses on the human reactions in dealing with the problem. BUT, it does have its fair share of monster movie glory. The destruction looks great. Buildings collapsing, explosions, smaller faster monsters, a good amount of gore, screaming citizens, military action...it's all there, just with a unique twist in the form of hand-held camera-work. It's definitely not a great quality movie when considering all of the standards in assessing film, there are flaws. The actors aren't great, the writing is below average, the constant commentary gets a little old. But I'm willing to overlook all of these just because it's a monster movie that I think really captured the initial and following moments of terror in discovering a huge alien creature destroying all of Manhattan. There is also a romantic sideplot added in, which I wasn't too excited about, although I will admit it adds a whole element that adds a personal touch. Annnd although it could have been better, I have no complaints about the ending.

Rating: 9/10 Watch again?: With pleasure

Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)

Good ideas, bad execution, not funny

[3/10 · 26 May 2014]

I can't say I expected this to be that good but I did expect to enjoy it more than I did. British zombie flick that will obviously draw comparisons to Shaun of the Dead (and to which it can't even compete with). There were some good ideas thrown around but I didn't really find it to be that funny at all. The two brothers and the grandpa are likable enough but I honestly just don't care about any of the characters. There is some cool gore but nothing that hasn't been done before. In my opinion, this was just a stereotypical zombie flick that attempted to add in some original ideas but was executed pretty poorly. For some reason the style and (attempted) comedy of this movie reminded me of 30 Minutes Or Less, which I also gave a 3/10...

Score: 3/10 Watch again?: Nope

Come and See (1985)

Great film, hard to enjoy for all the right reasons

[9/10 · 24 May 2014]

• Reviewed after a single viewing

As everyone else has already mentioned, this is an extremely disturbing, gritty, realistic, and impressive Russian war movie. Having a young adult (although by the end of the movie he is mentally transformed far beyond his age) as the main character was a unique choice for a war film and is just another way to make everything in this film seem even more shocking. And this young actor, Aleksei Kravchenko, is a perfect fit. His faces and movements perfectly display the extreme emotional turmoil that any of these situations would create. The writing and dialogue was a minimal part of this movie for me (although that could have been because I don't speak the language and had to focus on subtitles) but the message is easily communicated across any language barriers simply because of the bleak imagery and this feeling of dread and horror that I rarely come across even in legitimate horror movies. War is hell. I think that's the point of the movie and it definitely succeeds in showing that. There are way too many brilliant, memorable, but disgusting scenes of wartime atrocities, some of them bordering on surrealistic hallucinations (similar to some parts of Apocalypse Now), especially with the help of a very strange and unsettling drone/ambient soundtrack meant to simulate the confusion of bombings and shellshock. There are parts that drag a little bit, but not for long. Powerful scenes are spread evenly throughout the film and at the end the viewer should be left ragged. I certainly was. Some of the worst moments are stuck in my head whenever this movie comes to mind. Although this is a brilliant movie, it's hard for me to say I really enjoyed it, seeing as I usually enjoy lighthearted and beautiful movies. It was hard to watch but for all the right reasons. So on two different scales:

Enjoyment: 6/10 Quality: 8/10 Would I watch again?: Of course, with the proper mental preparation haha