Went to see Cloverfield today. The verdict? It was good. Go see it. Really liked it. I think I'll go again with Mom when she's back on her feet.
But something's sticking in my craw: what's up with New York getting the snot kicked out of it again and again in the movies? Seriously people, I think I saw my office get nuked again for the nth time this morning from the comfy chairs of the 42nd Street e-Walk and although having a Deus Ex Machina fantasy involving never having to go to work again does have a certain appeal to it, there is the whole thing of having my home city blown up too that more than offsets that. I'm not the only one wondering what's up. Mom just sent this Daily News article to my aunt in Texas trying to illustrate why we New Yorkers are getting a little tired of having our backyard trashed. People are kicking this question around on Yahoo too. For chrissakes, go after L.A. for once! Volcano doesn't count and don't tell me you wouldn't like to see some Hollywood producers stomped on right about now.
I know, I know, New York has the most recognizable landmarks of any American city and there would be a much lower shock and awe factor were Cloverfield to rampage through the cornfields of Iowa ("Go... the distance... RAWRRR!"). Fine, I get that. And as I said, I love a good disaster movie. I got a kick out of watching the New York Public Library ice up in The Day After Tomorrow and although I was creeped out by the icky Alien-style pods in Madison Square Garden, Godzilla was still thrilling. But two disaster movies in the space of a month? We've reached critical mass. Last month I saw Will Smith lose his mind while tromping around a few blocks from where I have my calligraphy class and this morning I saw some freaky beast dine on helpless twentysomethings right where I've napped away some lazy summer days in Central Park.
That's not even getting to the point of what really bothers me about this movie, though. Here's what really bothers me. There was a moment during the movie when I saw a building in Lower Manhattan collapse upon itself and my breath stopped. That was too close to home. Waves of ash rushed through the city streets, turning the sky black. Also too close to home. Not cool. Take a chunk out of a building, whatever, just don't take me back to 9/11. I was here and while you're entitled to your opinion on when's a good time to move on, my memories of that day aren't going away anytime soon. Neither are my memories of evacuating Manhattan via the 59th Street bridge during the 2003 blackout, when we didn't know what was going on at the time but knew we had to get home before dark. (Aside: if Cloverfield decided to show up one day I'd head straight home to Queens. Hollywood monsters don't do boro and they don't like the hood. Maybe it's not as crunchy?) Watching those kids cross the Brooklyn Bridge as it got taken out by that lethal critter took me right back to that hot summer day when I could actually feel the 59th Street bridge sway. Again, too close to my direct experience as a New Yorker over the past six years.
Also found it darkly unsurprising that the filmmakers went after the Time Warner Center. More than a few people here noted a bit of hubris in having twin towers constructed on the island of Manhattan so soon after 9/11 and I'm sure that's what the movie was playing on as well. Maybe Middle America likes this but that's where I pick up my groceries, man, and I do not like the idea of getting squished underneath a pile of rubble while checking out the produce.
This is not to say that I didn't like the movie. I like watching things blow up as much as the next person, I really do. And I don't mean to be so negative in my review but you know, I'm developing a bit of New York Disaster Movie fatigue. It would cheer me up a little if I knew that people from elsewhere in the country felt the same way. I mean really, can't we do target practice on San Francisco or something? They've got the Golden Gate Bridge. I hate to say this given how much I love the megalopolis I'm about to name, but... Tokyo? Hello? Darling, to my knowledge Hollywood hasn't seen fit to lay waste to your skyscrapers in quite some time and you're the frickin' home of Godzilla! I'm just sayin'.
Ok, end of rant. I still had a good time watching the movie despite all this. Only thing I'd recommend you watch out for is the Blair Witch Project-style hand-held camera jiggle-a-thon. Disorienting to me, actually nausea-inducing for some others. While in the restroom answering Mother Nature's call after the movie I heard a very odd retching sound coming from a few feet away and when I emerged, there was this poor girl looking all green with her head drooping over a sink. She was actually halfway through a later showing and had to leave because her stomach was turning. Said she was going back. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was going to get worse. I hope she didn't hurl again!
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