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Cloverfield

#91 User is offline   civilian_number_two Icon

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 08:59 AM

Heccubus, it's NOT where the similarity ends. The footage that you are watching is supposed to have been recorded by the characters in the film, who presumably are all now dead. THAT'S where the similarity ends; ie it is the same premise as BWP. Just filming with a camcorder, yeah that's been done before and I could name some examples. But justifying a limited point of view by making the story subjective is actually not common. I can't think of another example apart from BWP. And even if that were the similarity, that the footage was captured by a character in the story, it could have been done another way; that is, the character could be alive, and the footage could make up a part of the movie, not all of it, like "this is something that happened at the company picnic." But in this movie, it's some mysterious event about which we know little or nothing, and the best evidence we have is this tapoe recovered from the scene. That's the exact same premise as BWP.

The comparison to 9/11 is due to a shot of smoke billowing down corridors of buildings, towards the camera, and one shot of a building in the distance being struck by something and fire bursting out the side of it. I saw these bits in the trailer. You're resisting the comparison for some reason, but it's as similar as if we had a character shot in a slow-moving convertible and his wife climbed out over the boot, to have someone say "That's got nothing to do with JFK."

Anyway, that's just the one review I read. What are the others saying?

"I had a lot of different ideas. At one point, Luke, Leia and Ben were all going to be little people, and we did screen tests to see if we could do that." -George Lucas, in STAR WARS: the Annotated Screenplays (p197).
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#92 User is offline   Heccubus Icon

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 10:53 AM

QUOTE (Heccubus @ Jan 29 2008, 06:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
But regardless, what is accomplished by arguing whether or not a movie is similar to another? Nothing. All you're doing is proving or disproving that two completely unrelated movies have some base similarity. It still doesn't make Cloverfield a better movie or a worse one. It just shows that there are a few parallels between the two films.


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#93 User is offline   Slade Icon

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 01:03 PM

Civ, Change the word "boot" to trunk this instant! I know nothing of Canadians adopting Brit-speak, but a boot is footwear, not a storage area. tongue.gif

The whole like BWP or not argument? Who cares? It has some of the same elements, and some elements of some other things people have experienced. Whatever. Let's move on.
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#94 User is offline   civilian_number_two Icon

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Posted 29 January 2008 - 07:30 PM

Oh, agreed. Lert's move on to how crappy this movie (probably) is. I just wanted to say "I told you so" after Hecc's assertion a while back that there was nothing to the similarities I'd mentioned a few weeks back. I suppose I'm still smarting from his saying that even by mentioning the ovbious there was something "immature" in my film-watching. And no way, Jose! You want immature, you're gonna get three weeks of "I told you so!"
"I had a lot of different ideas. At one point, Luke, Leia and Ben were all going to be little people, and we did screen tests to see if we could do that." -George Lucas, in STAR WARS: the Annotated Screenplays (p197).
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#95 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 30 January 2008 - 02:17 AM

I think a movie being derivative can serve as a strike against its character. A movie that mentions The Matrix on the jacket (Including the other two Matrixes) is grounds for dismissal in my view. The fact that they clearly did have to borrow from the Blair Witch premise is a sign of things to come. Also as I pointed out they took the statue of liberty deal from every disaster or monster movie ever, so aside from an enigmatic name I dont know what they have going for them.

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#96 User is offline   looktothesky Icon

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 09:54 AM

QUOTE (J m HofMarN @ Jan 30 2008, 02:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I think a movie being derivative can serve as a strike against its character. A movie that mentions The Matrix on the jacket (Including the other two Matrixes) is grounds for dismissal in my view. The fact that they clearly did have to borrow from the Blair Witch premise is a sign of things to come. Also as I pointed out they took the statue of liberty deal from every disaster or monster movie ever, so aside from an enigmatic name I dont know what they have going for them.


It takes place in New York, just like almost every movie made, ever. Is that grounds for dismissal too?

...If you take people's right to plagiarize / 'borrow' away, where are ideas going to come from?

This post has been edited by looktothesky: 04 February 2008 - 09:55 AM

PRECIOUS VELIUS....
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#97 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 05 February 2008 - 03:03 AM

Theres a line between borrowing and being derivative. A film can borrow and still be able to stand on its own merits because it changes what it borrows and makes it its own. For instance, a lot of bits in Wing Commander were borrowed from classic navy films, especially the depth charging sequence from Das Boot. But the borrowing film is old enough, and the circumstances are different enough that it looks pretty interesting and fresh. Blair Witch however was too well known and too recent and it hardly meritted being borrowed from.

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I don't know about you but I have never advocated that homosexuals, for any reason, be cut out of their mother's womb and thrown into a bin.
- Deucaon toes a hard line on gay fetus rights.
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