A quick update and some thoughts on Cloverfield

I now have to update my continuing chronicles in Moo2, the game of Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant I started up, the Twilight Imperium game we finished Tuesday, AND the epic Warhammer 40,000 game we played Wednesday at Sarge's. (Preview: ORKS ARE GREAT FUN)

But I need to talk about a totally awesome Daikaiju (Giant Monster) movie I saw today, Cloverfield. In short form, its Blair Witch Project style of viewpoint mixed with what might happen should a giant monster attack New York City. (One of the 2 biggest targets in movies for anything horrible, the other being Tokyo.)

It was BRILLIANT. Somehow they made me care about a bunch of rich 20 something yuppies trying to get out of old NYC. They stick together and put it all on the line to save one another. The monster is creepy and impressive enough, seeming to be a lot like the Gryphon design for the mid 90s American Godzilla film that was never made. Its raw. It doesn't hold your hand or explain anything. Its brutal. I saw it in a nearly deserted theater near the Crystal Mall in Waterford as opposed to my superior local theater with the stadium seating. (Many people at Sarge's consider it worth the extra driving distance to go to the theater I am mentioning.) But I was closer if I wanted to catch it in time. (Had to pick up Advance Wars Days of Ruin and grabbed the new Warhammer 40K portable game at the same time. I got the PSP version for graphics fidelity.) Maybe 6 other people were in the theater, all behind me. (I tend to sit in the middle of the theater for THE perfect spot.) It made it all the more raw and intense, and the drive home in the post 11PM cold was a tad disturbing.

Even better is my iPod was on shuffle and the song that popped up when I started my car?
New York Minute. (The Eagles version on their Hell Freezes Over album.)

TOO PERFECT.

In the annals of Daikaiju films Cloverfield is either a little above or a little below the king of the genre, Godzilla. (The 1954 original. Japanese or Raymond Burr version.)

I'm not sure I will be able to watch the genre in the same way any more though. It has changed and transformed the genre.

Highly recommended.