Cloverfield

[Tovarish 0]

I thought it was pretty average.

I give e'm points for trying something fairly original, and it was entertaining. However it was short, and some of the acting was pretty laughable. Though I understand that the point was to show this through the eyes of the clueless people experiencing the catastrophe, I would have loved to see some sort of back story to the monster at the end, even if it was a paragraph on the screen. This was supposed to be a DoD tape after all wasn't it?

Sadly, I don't think there IS a backstory, and it bugs me that for all the mentions of Bloop being an inspiration, and the viral videos of the Japanese deep sea drilling platform being destroyed, they didn't even try to make the thing look like it would have come from the ocean.

It was much better than America's attempt at Godzilla, but that's hardly a compliment

[Dr. Mojo- PhD 0]

if it's some envolved insect or similar

then remember chitin armor is one hell of nature developed material ..

so imagine our best exoskeleton soldier ... now multiply resistance by 10 to 100 times ...

then add ultra resistant body inside exo it can suffer heavy internal damage including body parts loss and still live and fight

...

I don't really want to be the one to point it out, but a cockroach is only strong because of its tiny size, not because of its exoskeleton.

The Square Cube Law applies here. While the creature might be aquatic in nature (which is fine since buoyancy is a matter of displaced water, which increases as the cube increases) it would collapse and die under its own weight as soon as it left the water. What the square cube law says is that when an object undergoes a proportional increase in size, its new volume is proportional to the cube of the multiplier and its new surface area is proportional to the square of the multiplier.

In other words, increasing an something with an exoskeleton -- say an ant -- to the size of a Hollywood monster would quite literally kill the ant. Ants range in length from 2 to 25 mm, and let's say theoretically they this particular ant is 25 mm long by 2 mm by 2 mm, for a total volume of 0.1 cm3.

Now, to increase the ant to, oh, just 25 meters -- 1000 times the size -- he now has a volume of 25 m by 2 m by 2 m, for a total volume of 100 m3 -- or 100 000 000 cm3, to easier compare to our earlier measurement. That's one billion times the volume. This, of course, is the cube of 1000 -- the size we made the ant bigger by.

Now of course his surface area -- his exoskeleton -- and other factors which increase in strength (and are always cross-sectional in nature such as bone cross sections on humans) has only increased by the square. The square of 1000 is 1 000 000.

In other words, he is one billion times as massive but only a million times as strong. Of course, the extremely high mass-to-lift ratio of the ant would also be lost. It is the ant's tiny size that confers this benefit (as it does with fleas, spiders, etc.) A man shrunken to the size of an ant would be able to lift far more (proportionally) than he could at the size of a man. On the other hand, a man enlarged to the size of an elephant would die of heart failure as the vascular system could not support itself. Whether this happened before, after, or while all his bones snapped under his weight is not really relevant.

So imagine our best exoskeleton soldier ... now multiply mortality by infinity. It can barely walk, would probably crush itself, and because of the enormous pressure put on its exoskeleton from inside, would probably readily burst if it had a rock thrown at it.

[ebud 18]

You just the took all the fun out giant monster movies for me. I hope your happy now

[Dr. Mojo- PhD 0]

You know, Ebud, Keats once lamented that Newton had taken the beauty out of a rainbow with his prism. I like to think the contrary is true -- in understanding it, he added beauty to it. The more you know and all that.

Of course, films are all about suspension of disbelief. Does the knowledge of a time paradox stop you from enjoying Terminator 2? Does sound magically propagating in a vacuum ruin Star Wars for you?

I hope not. As a both a filmmaker and a science-lover, take my word for it. They're too separate worlds. They dance together, they flirt. They even, like a little community, depend on each other to live. But at the end of the night they can go their separate ways and be perfectly content in doing so.

Enjoy!

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Ban Dr. Mojo, PhD, he takes the magic out of our lives with his atheist science!   Hollywood is the truthful encyclopaedia britannica of moving images.

[ebud 18]

You know, Ebud, Keats once lamented that Newton had taken the beauty out of a rainbow with his prism. I like to think the contrary is true -- in understanding it, he added beauty to it. The more you know and all that.

Of course, films are all about suspension of disbelief. Does the knowledge of a time paradox stop you from enjoying Terminator 2? Does sound magically propagating in a vacuum ruin Star Wars for you?

I hope not. As a both a filmmaker and a science-lover, take my word for it. They're too separate worlds. They dance together, they flirt. They even, like a little community, depend on each other to live. But at the end of the night they can go their separate ways and be perfectly content in doing so.

Enjoy!

I was kidding, lol.

I read a post on IMDB that the Director (Reeves I think?) should go back to study his grade school science books because a certain aspect of the movie wasn't scientifically correct. The next post assured the previous poster that the director really should re-read those books if the thought a giant monster was correct. Really bad paraphrasing.

[Dr. Mojo- PhD 0]

I was kidding, lol.

I read a post on IMDB that the Director (Reeves I think?) should go back to study his grade school science books because a certain aspect of the movie wasn't scientifically correct. The next post assured the previous poster that the director really should re-read those books if the thought a giant monster was correct. Really bad paraphrasing.

You'd be surprised the amount of people who aren't kidding when they say something like that.

Or that I over think things. Over thinking things is fun!

[TrevorOfCrete 0]

i heard that a women went to see this movie and actually threw up becusae if the camera

[ebud 18]

i heard that a women went to see this movie and actually threw up becusae if the camera

TBH I'm sure a LOT of people threw up during or after this movie

[klavan 0]

i heard that a women went to see this movie and actually threw up becusae if the camera

TBH I'm sure a LOT of people threw up during or after this movie

Now all my dubts about how much a scary experience seeing this movie is are all gone.

[moricky 211]

I saw it today and it was just ... wow.

Thousands of questions, almost no answer. I don't know if is it either good or bad, but I can't stop thinking about this movie

[ebud 18]

I saw it today and it was just ... wow.

Thousands of questions, almost no answer. I don't know if is it either good or bad, but I can't stop thinking about this movie

For an exercise in frustration you can go over the IMDB Cloverfield forums. I did find lots of interesting info there in between all of the hate postings.

[Dr. Mojo- PhD 0]

Well, keeping in mind that The Thing is the best horror movie ever made -- both according to me and according to IMDB (The Shining and Aliens don't count as they aren't pure horror), and Manos: The Hands of Fate is both the shittiest horror movie and the shittiest movie ever made, how would a person who has seen Cloverfield rank it, on a scale of Manos: The Hands of Fate to The Thing, Manos: The Hands of Fate being the lowest, The Thing being the highest, and The Blair Witch Project being average?

[MehMan 0]

Well, keeping in mind that The Thing is the best horror movie ever made -- both according to me and according to IMDB (The Shining and Aliens don't count as they aren't pure horror), and Manos: The Hands of Fate is both the shittiest horror movie and the shittiest movie ever made, how would a person who has seen Cloverfield rank it, on a scale of Manos: The Hands of Fate to The Thing, Manos: The Hands of Fate being the lowest, The Thing being the highest, and The Blair Witch Project being average?

Oh yeah, The Thing was truly awsome, the whole setting gave such an eerie feeling, a cold and dark place, with small tight places, a station that is small yet big enough for an alien creature to hide. Then the whole deal because the alien could take human form added a whole other level because it kept you guess who is it, or is he infected or not. Just awsome. Although it did keep you wondering at the end what happened to Mac, even though the video game says what, I can't recall. Even still, I think this movie deserves no sequel, because it was just so awsome that no sequel could do it justice.

[berghoff 11]

Might be spoilers in text...

I went to theater today, not knowing much about the movie except a trailer i've seen on TV that revealed close to nothing but it was an amazing interesting movie! Obviously the camera work (At first it thought "meh" aswell at early party shots but turned out quite nice) might not please most people but it imo made the movie more scarier and mysterious. Only downside are the unanswered questions but also its more mysterious this way.. where did "it" come from, deep-sea, otherspace, is it still alive?

This movie is farrr better than Godzilla. And kudos for Panasonic >:~D

[moricky 211]

http://www.1-18-08.com/

Official site full of interesting photos. With some imagination, they can answer some your questions.

More can be found on this fan site:

http://cloverfieldclues.com

[Rhodite 3]

Really enjoyed although I have to question the rational of one of the lead actors.

Lots of fun and plenty of questions unanswered.

[Halochief89 0]

I have it on my comp now (no Im not giving it out) and now I can find every bits a piece. And I thought I didnt see an abrams in the first assault on clover. But there was one still in desert attire like it just got in from iraq. But if a Howitzer cant do anything how does a M1A2 do any better lol.

[jakerod 254]

I have it on my comp now (no Im not giving it out) and now I can find every bits a piece. And I thought I didnt see an abrams in the first assault on clover. But there was one still in desert attire like it just got in from iraq. But if a Howitzer cant do anything how does a M1A2 do any better lol.

Thats what I was wondering. I was thinking though that maybe they could get a few lucky hits in on the 'things/smaller things' that are still crawling around on it or something. Or maybe they've played too many video games and think that they might hit a 'weak-point' and it will explode into a million pieces.

[Rhodite 3]

Guys, it's a film, it's not real, just go with it for the fun factor!

[walker 0]

Hi all

I finaly saw it. It is a good film. In this genre one of the better ones.

The stock film themes of stupid people who see the little things falling off the big one and are not immediatly arming themselves with sharp sticks and clubs or indeed in America arming them selves with guns, amazes me but it means that the story lines can be run. It is a bit like the habbit of films where the hero runs around weaponless or with just a pistol and 3 bullets when he has just killed six guys armed with Uzis AKs Rocket launchers and the rest.

One thing ArmA/OFP teaches you is Rammage the bodies for Ammo and better weapons but common sense is what makes you do it in the first place.

Remember Rammage the Bodies!

Kind Regards walker

[mattxr 9]

I loved this film.. it made me feel like i was actually in the shoes of the guy with the camera and gave me a sense of a rush..

How the hell can someone get motion sickness.. haha they cant handle much can they?

[ExtracTioN 0]

I went to this movie 3 days ago and I liked

[BlackScorpion 0]

Human body and mind has amazing variance.

Anyways... watched it few days ago. Not bad. Kinda hectic and sometimes hard to follow (especially as I had no subtitles), but no big issue. Fits the mood anyways. Sad she (forgot her name... Martina?) experienced what she did, but well... considering the end...

Short but nicely packed film with somewhat innovative camera work, compared to the most stuff available. Can't wait for the sequel... the has to be one!

[HotShot 0]

Possibly spoilers....

I saw it yesterday and thought it was excellent. Alot of fun to watch, and quite tense at times too. Some of it reminded me of 28 Weeks Later, but I think it was probably better than that.

For the first few minutes the camera seemed really shaky, but after that it felt steadier, but maybe that was just me getting used to it. No one felt sick, even one person who was feeling sick before hand and had to sit on the end of the row didn't puke, so I think the camera work is OK (the worst shaky film I have seen is 'Outlaw', which isn't even supposed to be filmed in a video camera).

Kudos to Rob's-brothers-girlfriend for managing to run around half of new york, and even cross skyscrapers, in high heels.

I'm hoping for a sequel to clear up what happened next, where it came from etc, and also as it was a good, easy to follow, fun film. Small details like skipping to the recording Hud (not sure if that was the cameramans name) was recording over of the holiday whilst they were rewinding, really added to the realism. I felt the intro party seemed to go on for ages, but I guess it helped you feel for the characters - I felt really bad when the girl exploded.

Now i'm going to scan those websites Gaia gave to get some more clues.

P.S. another camera held film I saw a trailer for before the film was a spanish one called

. I thought it was of the Madrid bombings... I dont think it is after seeing the trailer which alone scared the crap out of me, but may be interesting as appears to be of a similiar directing style.