Cloverfield

Blair Witch Project...This movie is filmed using the same first-person camcorder effect as The Blair Witch Project. Some viewers or critics may see this as innovative. First of all, it's been done. Secondly, the constant motion made my stomach turn. This movie was very difficult to watch on the big screen. It may play much better on the small screen. I felt like I was in a motion simulator game for an hour and a half. My stomach physically hurt for about an hour after I left the theater. The first person perspective is very limiting, which means the writers had to work harder to conform to the limited perspective. Which brings me to my next point...

The dialogue in this movie was adequate. I wouldn't say that the writing was exceptional, other than to give kudos to the writer's for being able to create a story line, provide background and identify all of the characters, all from the first person perspective of a camcorder. At times, it felt as though that is exactly what they were doing. You could actually see into the writer's mind... "Hmmmm, how can we introduce the viewer to the guy holding the camera? How can we give the background between the main character and the ex-girlfriend? How can we show things outside of the direct perspective of the camera? (Hint: Show what they are watching on television). The writers handled this pretty good, but you could tell that they were trying to fill in blanks in the story from time to time with contrived writing.

As I was being introduced to the characters in this movie, I noted that I didn't recognize any of them straight out. However, some of them looked vaguely familiar. Without giving away their individual roles, they included: The main character Rob is played by Michael Stahl-David (The Black Donnelly's), the female lead Lily played by Jessica Lucas (The Covenant and She's the Man), Marlena played by Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls and Orange County), Hud played by T.J. Miller (who has been in a few episodes of Carpoolers). These were the main characters in this movie. Mike Vogel also plays Jason Hawkins, Rob's brother. The acting was decent considering the limited framework of this film. However, I wasn't convinced in many of the scenes where total chaos ruled. There was sort of a surreal indifference to the things going on around them. Part of that can also be attributed to the writing.

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