Flicker Fusion

Cloverfield

You should just know that Cloverfield has some big problems and, if you’re a “movie person,” these problems just might be insurmountable. For one, the plot has these huge gaping holes that require not just a willing suspension of disbelief but an ability to ignore basic logic that would make your average creationist proud. The characters are impossible to relate to unless you happen to be a sophisticated twenty-something Manhattanite, in which case you’ll hate them for their hipster ways, instead of hating them for their vain banality (like the rest of us).

The allusion to September 11 is, somehow, simultaneously slapped in your face and conveniently ignored in a clumsy metaphor that completely misses the point; unlike Spielberg’s masterful War of the Worlds, which handled the terror connection with true power, Cloverfield brings the noise in a way that just felt cheap and tawdry. I, for one, would love to have seen a different American metropolis get picked on, say, maybe one that wasn’t physically and psychologically scarred this decade - is it too much to ask Hollywood to play in their own backyard? The vapid upper west siders of the film could have easily been replaced by vapid Los Angeles socialites.

With that said, as someone who’s interested in digital culture, media, the so-called creative class, the internet and how my generation deals with the rapidly accelerated changes these things bring, I found the movie fascinating. As you no doubt know if you’ve paid any attention to the massive viral campaign preceding this weekend’s opening, Cloverfield is all handheld camera work, shot from the perspective of one of the characters (incidentally, the film’s cameraman, Hud (get it?) comes closest to being likable, mostly as comic relief, except for being so goddamn stupid). It’s this first-person perspective that ultimately makes the film work, not just in a medium-is-the-message kind of way, but in keeping the tension so high for as long as it does. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that the camera’s night vision mode comes into play in a way that puts Paris Hilton to shame.

Beyond the fumbling of any sort of political or social message, the ultimate satisfaction of the movie is the exploration of digital culture, of our generation’s relationship with ubiquitous technology and constant personal broadcasting. I thought at one point that had September 11 happened in 2006 instead of 2001, in the age of pervasive handheld video cameras, cameraphones and streaming video, we would be watching this movie as eight minute vignettes on YouTube. Cloverfield misses the bigger point but shows us how we might live through it all the same.

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.

—Steve Jobs, on the Kindle and why it, sadly, makes no business sense to build an e-book reader.

Ford unveiled its redesigned F-150 pickup Sunday flanked by all-American cultural icons including country singer Toby Keith, professional bull rider Justin McBride and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Rick Crawford.

Ford unveiled its redesigned F-150 pickup Sunday flanked by all-American cultural icons including country singer Toby Keith, professional bull rider Justin McBride and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Rick Crawford.

—If by “all-American cultural icons” you mean “cloyingly emotional pap aimed squarely at rednecks” then, yes. Truly, the last refuge of the scoundrel, best of luck with that one Ford.