The Reel Rejects - CLOVERFIELD (2008) MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!!

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Starting point is 00:01:37 Flash. Gordon, and I am Tara. Erickson. Wow, we did it. We did the name thing. Are you guys so stoked for us? We're watching Cloverfield today. I'm excited.

Starting point is 00:01:49 I remember seeing the trailer for this. I don't remember which movie I was watching to see in theaters when I saw the trailer, but I just remember being mystified and, like, hell yeah, this looks amazing. And then I never saw it, but we're going to see it right now. So I'm excited. Ah, okay, cool. Let's do it.

Starting point is 00:02:08 Oh, my God. That's it? No. Wow. That was like, that was some Romeo and Juliet shit. Like the last words were, I love you. Oh, Drew Goddard did this. That's, he did World War Z.

Starting point is 00:02:24 Remember that one? Oh, loved it. This was really, really. great. We just got done watching Cloverfield. If you're listening to us on Apple or Spotify gives a five-star rating, share this video, like it, do all the things, comment. This

Starting point is 00:02:38 is, this was great. I'm going to be honest. The camera, the handheld camera, because it was really jerky, did give me a little bit of headache, made me a little bit nauseous. I am a person who gets like car sick, though. So that was sometimes a little hard

Starting point is 00:02:53 for me, but for 100% of the time, I was never not fully engaged. And I believed everyone in this. I thought it was great acting, obviously really good direction because it all seemed very subtle, realistic. The casting was great because all of these people were just, yeah, who you would see in this environment in New York within their friend group and exactly how they would operate on a

Starting point is 00:03:23 day-to-day basis. I love that. I thought it was great. That monster was insane. For sure. And by the way, RejectNation Shop.com, make sure you get teased like these.

Starting point is 00:03:32 And also the Sheejects have such cool shirts out right now. We've got a new one coming for you. My cult of Sheeex one is in the wash still, but keep a look out. I agree with everything you just said. Normally I'm not, I haven't seen a ton of films that have found, you know,

Starting point is 00:03:48 found footage in a handheld camera like this did. And I agree with you. It was a little nauseating, like doing it the whole film, but I understand the purpose and the choice they made. Again, with a film that's not grounded in reality when you have a big Godzilla-like monster, whatever, you know, happening, it did add a sense of, you know, groundedness and realism to a situation like that. And the only thing I would say that was not realistic, but again, we needed it for us, the audience, for what they were doing. And I mentioned it a few times, just as a joke, the battery life on the camera.

Starting point is 00:04:21 Yeah. And the fact that, again, I know it was wrapped around his neck. I'm sure that helped support it. but the fact that he was able to, that's just a nitpick, but the fact that he was able to hold it as long as he did, the arms would get pretty tired, pretty fast.

Starting point is 00:04:35 But aside from that, it actually was a very well-made choice. And it didn't, again, there were times it was a little nauseating and it was bothering me a little bit. But overall, I liked the choice to do it. Again, it just added a sense of depth and realism. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:04:49 And in freakiness. I also love the choice. We know that J.J. Abrams is a very big fan of Jaws. So I love the choice, and I know he's a producer on this film, Bad Robot Productions. I like this choice doing the Jaws, Alfred Hitchcock approach with not over-showing the monsters, just showing it, especially at the beginning, just showing glimpses. And then more towards the end through, you know, through the camera, just showing again,

Starting point is 00:05:16 you know, even bigger glimpses of it here and there. But I thought that was such a wise choice because if you overdo it too much, it's going to take you out of it, in my opinion, at least. As much as we all like to see the damn thing, you know what I mean? It's way scary when we just saw a hand through the smoke and we didn't even know what it was. And we're like, what's throwing the Statue of Liberty head? We have no idea. And then the only other thing we saw after that was a tail.

Starting point is 00:05:41 Yeah. And that's the first 40 minutes. For sure. And I think like in our minds, what we create the images we create in our mind can be a lot scarier. Sometimes what we do see. It's what we don't see. Totally. And even like, I thought it was a wise choice too.

Starting point is 00:05:54 again, I don't know if this is PG-13, I'm assuming PG-13, but like having, I thought that was a wise choice when you showed, like, she was impaled, Beth, and then, like, the way they framed the camera, because they HUD had to help her, and then, like, just not, I didn't even need to see it, but then,

Starting point is 00:06:10 again, the sound effect is great. Yeah, the sound effect and the sound design, my mind was just imagining, and I was like, ugh, that was, like, way more disgusting than actually seeing it for me, personally. So, again, a lot of smart choices. And then there were, This movie was extremely suspenseful and just really did a good job of building upon that suspense.

Starting point is 00:06:30 I mean, there were times where my heart was like racing and also at the same time was able to stop too. Like you had that scene where they're in the subway tunnels and there's no lighting there. And then when we go to the night vision, obviously we have an inclination that something is arising or something bad is about to happen. And then when it comes like, holy shit. So this film really builds upon suspense and tension in a really palpable way. Scared the shit out of me. Oh, it was so freaking scary. The jump scares were great, too.

Starting point is 00:07:00 And I love the design of the creature. Really freaking different. Preacher looks so rad. I know. It was awesome. Awesome. Even the little things looked awesome. They didn't even look exactly alike either.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Those little things looked. So it was very original what they did with the little monsters, which looked just what Cloverfield would make. I haven't seen spider-looking. weird things with a head like an alien head like that and then the big monster look just wackado wild but i also do agree with you when we went into the subway when he had a moment with his mom and telling him that his brother is dead um and then hud gets to have a moment with lizzie kaplan that was one of my favorite scenes um it was just we needed that moment to kind

Starting point is 00:07:47 of sit there with both of them to rehumanize them again after the party we're just getting to know them, right? In the beginning, we had enough, though, of a foundation for us to kind of give a shit if they live or die, which is great. They didn't leave that out. The party was like the biggest jump scare is them what they were just talking on the, on the patio or at that party. Right. And just the shake of that thing, it's so unexpected. And you're like, what in the actual F is going on? What a great way to get us into it. Yeah, no, that was a good call what you just said with that scene that got me more emotionally invested

Starting point is 00:08:27 with those two characters. Also, too, we got to see that great scene between, I think it was Rob. He's the main brother that we get Mike Vogel's character. And then I forgot the other woman's name who's like his sister when they just realized

Starting point is 00:08:41 when they got to really like breathe in the moment that Jason had passed away. Right. I was thinking in my head, like they don't feel like people who had just lost someone dear and close to them. But then I also realized before that scene had even happened.

Starting point is 00:08:52 Well, also too, they're running from a freaking 200, 300 foot monster. So you're not thinking in the moment. You're just running for dear life. Yeah. Shock is in the moment. So I think Drew Goddard really nailed that and shut me up really quickly in my own head because I didn't express that out loudly.

Starting point is 00:09:08 I was just thinking for a second. I was like, wait a second. If I put myself in their shoes, I'm going to be thinking in my mind, but I'm not going to be expressing it in the moment because I'm running for dear life right now. Yeah. But then I'm glad we got that scene in the subway

Starting point is 00:09:22 because I wanted to feel what they're feeling in that moment because I'm like, you know you just lost someone. And then when they showed that scene, it was like, okay, thank you, Drew Godd. I'm glad you. Again, this is humanizing these characters, making me invested. And that's the thing you got to nail to. I mean, obviously, you always got to have characters that you believe and characters that you get invested in whenever you do any kind of movies.

Starting point is 00:09:41 But I fully really believe that whenever you have horror films. Yeah. If you don't give a shit about characters in horror films, then you just... Well, not only that, but yeah, exactly. Us as audience members were like, we don't kill it. I don't kill them. I don't care. And when you get emotionally invested and there's character development,

Starting point is 00:09:58 I think those are what set those apart then from other types of horror films. And that's why I always, sorry to sound like a repeat, as I always do. But that's why Jaws is one of my all-time, not favorite horror films, one of my all-time favorite films. I just think besides the fact that it's just such a great story, I think the characters are just unbelievable that, you know, when the shark starts, you probably not, have you seen it? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:20 Okay. That when the shark starts attacking, like, holy shit, you don't want anything to happen to these people. And I think that's the staple of a good horror film when you have characters you are invested in that you don't want to see anything happen to. And I think I really felt that. At first, like, at the party, it was like, okay, I'm not feeling this yet with these characters, but I'll let things evolve. And then as time went on, as scenes went on, I was like, I'm really starting to develop an emotional attachment now to these characters and I want them to survive. There was a good rapport, too, between the camera. they had nice direction in regards to the pacing with the dialogue.

Starting point is 00:10:51 It's quick. You kind of talk over each other. That's exactly how it would be at a party, which is why I was complimenting the direction, I think, in the pacing, which kept us at that party, made you feel like you were there. But also, especially him kind of zoning in on Lizzie Kaplan, us going through that with her. And then it was nice of them to show us how someone would die if they got bit.

Starting point is 00:11:15 Because we don't know. seeing at that point were bodies that are ripped up, guts hanging out. We have no idea. I assumed when I saw the weird spidey thing on them that I was like oh they're all dead. They're going to die right now and then they survived

Starting point is 00:11:31 and that was it was a nice moment to see where he gives her the water she's kind of cleaning off her her bite or whatever and she has a moment there between her and HUD and she kind of smiles at him and that's the

Starting point is 00:11:47 last time that her and HUD really would have had that moment. And I think it's really sweet that that was the last moment because we weren't expecting her to die. We just, we didn't know. We thought maybe it's a bite and who knows. But oh my God, how amazing is it that it is, she just comes back. Her eyes are bleeding. She starts throwing up blood. And I'm like, I'm in my brain. I was like, are we going to see her head explode? And I love the way they did it. It's the exact same way of, I don't know what the budget was on. this but they they they didn't need to show us a head exploding right they just showed it behind that sheet we know what happens it's just boom you're done yeah um it's it's obviously infected you

Starting point is 00:12:29 infected your blood i thought it was a great um way for them to show us that well also if if maybe they were like we wanted to show it but we needed to save on budget i have no idea but if they needed to save on budget they did it in all the right ways because it still didn't take me out of it When they pulled her up off the railing that was in her chest, didn't need to see it. I didn't need to see an up close of like a fake head exploding from Lizzie Kaplan. We just assume that that's what's happening and it makes it also adds it into that really fun pop kind of horror where we're like getting monsters, we're getting blood, we're getting a little bit of gore, but mainly we're getting like heart in regards to these characters and

Starting point is 00:13:16 really great writing and conversation. Yeah. And like, whoa, when it ends, you're like, that's it. That's wild. It was so fast. Yeah. And also, too, to your point, you know, when you made that suggestion, like, oh, my God, is she going to explode?

Starting point is 00:13:29 Like, my mind had not gotten there. I either thought she was going to, like, maybe turn into one of them because I was thinking, like, you know, maybe zombie type of rules kind of thing, like a virus. Or I was just thinking, like, bloodlash was going to die. But then when you made that suggestion, like, Tara knows best. I need to start listening to Tara. But, like, it was an interesting choice because, again, it's the, world building that has you so fascinated you know what i mean also too and i was talking about before i

Starting point is 00:13:50 get into the trivia i was talking about the suspense in this film with the jump scares and all that there were other scenes where it was extremely suspenseful besides the fact that you're waiting for something to happen how about the scene when they were up on that the building that was tilted and they were just climbing across them like my heart was yeah it felt so damn real i don't know how they were able to achieve it i don't know if like how they just had blue screen foot probably a great, a practical set mixed with green screen in the background.

Starting point is 00:14:20 It was so well, it felt so realistic. I agree. It was fantastic. I was just really impressed. Again, like you, I don't know what the budget was, but they made every dollar count in this film.

Starting point is 00:14:30 Yeah, they did a great job. And you know what? I honestly think that if this was like longer, I'm not sure exactly where it would go. But even if it was, if they had originally shot and it was a little bit longer, if they got in that editing room and the director said, you know what, that's not important, let's lose it.

Starting point is 00:14:50 You call it, it's a weird phrase in filmmaking where you got to cut your babies out, lose your babies, which means it's your baby thing in the script and you love it so much, it's so close to you. And to lose it is like such a drastic measure. But if they did that, they got in the editing room,

Starting point is 00:15:05 I'm like, this is why I have five stars, baby. If you cut out all the stuff that we didn't really need, we got to the point, great, great stuff. What's the trivia you got for us? We're going to get in the trivia in a second. knew I was right. I just didn't say it while we were reacting. The actress who plays Beth. She was in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, 1990s kindergarten cop. She was one of the little kids. I knew that was her. She was also in the film The Unborn. But let's get into some trivia.

Starting point is 00:15:29 Lizzie Kaplan thought this was her romantic movie until her second audition, where she read a scene. After she was offered the role, she found out it was a monster film, and the actors weren't allowed to read the script until after they signed on. That's a trip. This is a cute romantic. Oh, no, it's not. That's awesome. But you know what? That's really smart.

Starting point is 00:15:51 We don't need them for the horror part. Actors, you can play scared mostly. What we need them for is I'll take it back to Alien. They did a really good job of setting up the rapport with all of those characters. That is like the one film. I'm like, that's a great setup. I don't want any of them to die. They did a great job with this.

Starting point is 00:16:10 The rapport at the top is what brings us into meeting all of them. We need that from those actors. To be fair to Lizzie, there were aspects of the film that were romantic. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So I could see where she's coming from. The running time of the film without credits is about 80 minutes. The length of long-running mini-d-vitape, a common format used in consumer camcorders.

Starting point is 00:16:33 Cool. The head of the Statue of Liberty is shown about 50% larger than the actual size. CG supervisor David Vickery said in an interview that many people imagine the head being much big. bigger than it actually is, and that the size was increased due to complaints that the head looked too small in the trailer. Oh my God, I would probably complain about that too. Hey, that's great that they dropped the trailer and you know what? They flipped.

Starting point is 00:16:57 They changed it. That's a quick turnaround. You probably have three months in between when a trailer drops and you're going to theaters. Yeah. Love that. The first trailer for this movie, this answers my question. Remember I said I saw it in the trailer? Right.

Starting point is 00:17:11 The first trailer for this movie played before Transformers. It showed a giant explosion in the heart of New York City and the Statue of Liberty's Head being thrown down a street. It was shot with a handheld video recorder. There was no tile. I remember now I was seen because it makes sense of the Transformers. You got all these big robotic things fighting each other. This would be the perfect movie to show this trailer.

Starting point is 00:17:30 I remember being fascinated. Oh, this looks intense and interesting. I just didn't know that what are we got? 17 years later, I'd be reacting with Tara in front of you guys to this film. But here we are. The man they encounter in the Alice. is speaking Ukrainian. He is asking for help to find his daughter and his family as he can't live without them.

Starting point is 00:17:52 I just thought he was saying, don't go that way. Yeah, me too. But that definitely adds a... That's sweet. More of the sadness to it. Most people took issue with how one of the main characters Rob could use his cell phone in the subway station. This, however, was a savvy case of truth in television since the MTA is actively wiring subway platforms for cell service, specifically so wrong.

Starting point is 00:18:14 riders can use their phones during emergencies. Indeed, after much of Manhattan had been smashed into oblivion, the subway station might be the only place where you can get cell phone service. Hell yeah, dude, this movie's so smart. The fact that the, you know what, it wasn't like they had to lose any babies in this. They cut it to be exactly like a camcorder tape, the same length. So smart. And also doing your research on the MTA that they would have cell service.

Starting point is 00:18:41 Boom, baby. True. During the first weekend of the release, many, Many theaters posted signs warning guests that the handheld camera movements may cause motion sickness. Yeah, it was... Yeah, I got to tell you guys

Starting point is 00:18:54 that like through the like mid part of it, that's why I took ibuprofen, but I wasn't talking as much because I felt, I felt that. I really did and it makes me nauseous and I get like hot behind my neck and I was experiencing those things. Well, also thinking this movie was amazing

Starting point is 00:19:12 but I was like, oh God, please don't throw up. up. I'm glad I didn't. The decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty in the street is inspired by the poster for one of my favorite films, John Carpenter's Escape from New York, which depicts the head of the Statue of Liberty lying in the middle of the street. Right when that happened, I was thinking in my head, this looks just like the poster for Escape from New York, which I'll show you, I will show you, just so you can see. Oh, yeah, it does. That's awesome. Love that. Yep. We'll just do a couple more. Let's get to the spoilers. All right. And we We did see that there is a Cloverfield Lane 10 that we saw there.

Starting point is 00:19:48 Yeah. I saw that pop up right after. I would love to do that one too. Yeah. Ditto. Yeah. Got to get our headache medication ready for that. Okay. I think I just got to the spoilers. Let's see. Ooh, this one got 466 people found this interesting. Okay. Let's do it. According to Neville Page, creature designer, the monster is a baby in a new environment,

Starting point is 00:20:12 spooked and looking for its mother? That's a baby? Having many other babies? What? That means the mom is the size of like four states. Give me a break. That's insane. It was originally intended for the Brooklyn Bridge to be destroyed by one of the monster's hands,

Starting point is 00:20:33 but it was decided that it seemed too deliberate. It was changed to the monster's tail destroying the bridge, which seemed more accidental. I agree, because it's like that big old thing is just, moving around, and I love that choice. Way better. Ooh, after the closing credits, there is a mysterious broadcast voice. When played in reverse, the broadcast says, it's still alive.

Starting point is 00:20:56 Cool. What? That's awesome. After viewing a cut of the film, Steven Spielberg suggested giving the audience a hint at the fate of the monster during the climax. This resulted in the addition of the broadcast overheard, which we apparently didn't hear, overheard on the military helicopters radio as well as the sounding of air raid sirens

Starting point is 00:21:15 both signal the forthcoming hammered down bombing mentioned earlier in the film. Oh, I did hear that in the helicopter. I was paying attention to that where they were like, it's coming in, we'll sound the sirens. That's when I knew. When they were down there, I was like, oh man, they're going to get bombed to death.

Starting point is 00:21:30 I knew it. I want to ask you this one before I read it out. Well, last one. Mm-hmm. How much screen time would you say the monster had in the entire film? So the film was 80 minutes long. Taking a guess, out of 80 minutes.

Starting point is 00:21:43 The big monster? The big monster. How much screen time out of 80 minutes? Three and a half minutes. You are so damn close. The Cloverfield monster has two minutes and 37 seconds of screen time. It's fantastic. You don't need any more.

Starting point is 00:21:57 Oh, it's effective. You do not need any more than that. We need to stick with the characters that we are walking through. We're in the point of view of the characters. We need to be and stay in that point of view to be able to care and to make that feel like a realistic situation, that monster isn't in our face the whole time. I got to read you this one last one.

Starting point is 00:22:18 Okay, great. On HUD's MySpace, because this came out in 2008, on HUD's MySpace pages, height went from 6 foot 2 to 2 foot 6 due to being bitten in half by the monster. And last one, producer J.J. Abrams, came up with the film's final line. I had a good day. Yeah, aw.

Starting point is 00:22:37 That was so sweet. I love this movie. Great freaking job, filmmakers. Love what you did. The way that you made it is really smart. I love that it's the length of a cassette tape, the stuff of the MTA with the cell phone. The monster looked amazing.

Starting point is 00:22:51 I had no issues with any of the makeup or the special effects. It all looked great. I mean, and I think like to have heart, to have good actors, good pacing, good tone, great dialogue, and to not have any issues with like the CGI, their special effects, that's what makes a great movie. So five out of five, 10 out of 10, whatever you want to say.

Starting point is 00:23:12 Well done. Great stuff. Don't forget to like, share this video, comment, and go to reject nation shop.com. If you could click the link of my Instagram story, I would love it if you'd help me support the film that I'm making. Please, please, please. Do you got anything to say? Last, last stuff for him, Andrew?

Starting point is 00:23:31 Matt Reeves, he just continues to be such an incredible filmmaker. We have loved every film so far of his that we've reacted to on this channel. And obviously, also, I love the Batman as well. I can't wait to see more of his films and I hope you guys want us to do 10 Cloverfield Lane or whatever it's called. Yeah, thanks for joining us and staying with us this far if you have.

Starting point is 00:23:51 So we love you guys. We love you. We'll see you on the next one. If there was a monster attack happening in this world, you know who I'd want by my side? Let's hear it. Gabriel. Call him up.

Starting point is 00:24:07 There's a lot about Gabriel about the way Gabriel speaks up that I feel like would be a protector and a leader. And more importantly, when that alien, giant monster shows up, you're going to want an atheist. Yes. You don't want someone. Panicked God, fearing man. This is the plague. Your entire religion would be totally messed up in your brain.

Starting point is 00:24:34 All your beliefs would be totally wiped out. If I have a, like some Christian. guy leading me I wouldn't want that Gabriel want a person who's like this is what I expected this is more along the lines of my beliefs occurrence this is my

Starting point is 00:24:51 knowledge isn't going to help us out of here I just know it's not a spiritual event yeah well everyone else is freaking out calling an abomination I'm not going to deal on that shit it's a biological anomaly you're going to make sure that we're going to be able to find our way to safety and you'd

Starting point is 00:25:09 cry and you strike me as a very violent guy and we need a violent guy yeah we need someone who's willing not just kill yeah you mean you got to like shoot you gotta fight the monsters but also there's some humans who might want our rations who might want to get in our way or prevent us from like getting on to something the humans are the real monsters always so you're gonna have to like kick their ass yeah you're gonna have to shank them and then make a necklace out of all their ears just to prove you can yeah and then we'll all cower behind you and you know lift you up as our offering to the elder god do i like all the words and then as you're being devoured you're just like this isn't a religious experience

Starting point is 00:25:49 anyway anyway that's my thought process you know come out here and let's get disastrous see you buddy

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The Reel Rejects - CLOVERFIELD (2008) MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!!

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