1/18/08 Cloverfield

[hutch]

Maybe all the streets are full of so much junk/rubble there's no way you could get anywhere?

[chrono]

Maybe all the streets are full of so much junk/rubble there's no way you could get anywhere?

In EVERY movie?

[Ratchet]

This crap reminds me of INDEPENDENCE DAY before it came out in 1996 (starring Will Smith, etc) and before the internet really took off (no investigating via Google or Wikipedia back then) as far researching movies. All we had were posters plastered all over BART and MUNI (public transportation in Frisco) that gave little hint as to what the movie would be about. I didn't even think of an Alien type invasion movie when I saw those posters, but it got me intrigued.

The original poster of ID didn't have an Alien ship hovering over NY.

[bsu legato]

'Splodey woman goodness...err, badness?

Frustratingly brief glimpse of.....It?

And some semi-spoiler pictures

http://www.movieweb.com/news/91/24491.php

[EXO]

I'm so ready for this!

[Ratchet]

Must be a tall monster if this soldier's firing an AT-4 at a 45 degree angle. Also note the M1A2 OR A1 behind him pointing it's turret in the sky.

Edited November 21, 2007 by Ratchet

[Sumdumgai]

I just guess for the hell of it: Cthulu!

[electric indigo]

There was a Stephen King short story in which a milityary project ripped open a door to another dimension, and in came not one big specific monster, but a whole wildlife of mean creatures. So we can have city-crushing giants and people-bursters and other nasty stuff from all directions.

[ShadowerV2]

There was a Stephen King short story in which a milityary project ripped open a door to another dimension, and in came not one big specific monster, but a whole wildlife of mean creatures. So we can have city-crushing giants and people-bursters and other nasty stuff from all directions.

Not sure if it's the right story with a military project that brought in the monsters. But I was poking around and apparently the Stephen King story with monsters attacking a town is called "The Mist" And the monsters came when the mist appeared.

The movie is supposed to have just come out on the 21st of Nov 2007.

[chrono]

Must be a tall monster if this soldier's firing an AT-4 at a 45 degree angle. Also note the M1A2 OR A1 behind him pointing it's turret in the sky.

Shooting at a shape blocks away + film making = really stupid looking army guys.

[jenius]

The mist is definitely another movie, I saw the ad for it before Heartbreak kid.

[electric indigo]

Found it: http://www.themist-movie.com/

directed by Frank Darabond (The Green Mile), so I will keep an eye on it.

I wonder if Cloverfield will go Blair Witch all the way, i.e. everything we get is the handheld tape, nothing is explained, everybody dies.

Better stock up on Aspirin.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Shooting at a shape blocks away + film making = really stupid looking army guys.

I suppose we can try to explain that by saying, well, if there was a 400ft tall fire-spewing, building crunching lizard/bug/mushroom, we wouldn't want to get within stompin distance would we?

F-15E Strike Eagle's with GBU-15s seem like a better idea than foot soldiers.

Oh, and I have always wanted to see AC-130 gunships blast away at Godzilla type monsters. Plleeeeezee include that!

Just look at the delicious list of mayhem you could include in the movie! I don't care if it bounces of the monster. It'll look cool!

AC-130A Project Gunship II

4× 7.62 mm GAU-2/A miniguns

4× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon

AC-130A Surprise Package, Pave Pronto,

AC-130E Pave Spectre

20 mm Vulcan cannon ammo belt4× 7.62 mm GAU-2/A miniguns

2× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon

2× 40 mm (1.58 in) L/60 Bofors cannon

AC-130E Pave Aegis and AC-130H Pave Spectre II

2× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon

1× 40 mm L60 Bofors cannon

1× 105 mm (4.13 in) M102 howitzer

AC-130U "Spooky" Gunship

1× 25 mm (0.984 in) GAU-12/U Equalizer gatling gun

1× 40 mm L60 Bofors cannon

1× 105 mm M102 howitzer

or

2× 30 mm Bushmaster II cannon[10]

1× 105 mm M102 howitzer

Edited November 22, 2007 by Retracting Head Ter Ter

[kalvasflam]

I suppose we can try to explain that by saying, well, if there was a 400ft tall fire-spewing, building crunching lizard/bug/mushroom, we wouldn't want to get within stompin distance would we?

AC-130A Project Gunship II

AC-130E Pave Spectre

AC-130E Pave Aegis and AC-130H Pave Spectre II

AC-130U "Spooky" Gunship

Hmmmm, I wonder which airplane is your favorite for delivering ground support.

Actually, I think in the trailer, you do see F-16s going over the city, somehow though, this situation cries out for Apache gunships. Hell, they did a bang up job against Godzilla (US version).

Edited November 22, 2007 by kalvasflam

[jenius]

That'd be awesome if we got a shot of two military guys arguing over which weapons to use and one of them busted out "Did you ever see Godzilla? What'd they use in that?"

[the white drew carey]

That'd be awesome if we got a shot of two military guys arguing over which weapons to use and one of them busted out "Did you ever see Godzilla? What'd they use in that?"

Actually that would be extremely funny.

Oh, Kalvasflam, Apaches did a crap job in Godzilla ("Oh, I have this vehicle that goes up and down very easily, but I'll just stay at a height where the monster can crash through a building and knock me down and/or crouch and then jump up and eat me when I fly overhead.") But, then again, that was through the incompetence of the writing/directing team who simply cannot and/or refuse to research military tactics before making their films.

Edited November 22, 2007 by the white drew carey

[chrono]

I suppose we can try to explain that by saying, well, if there was a 400ft tall fire-spewing, building crunching lizard/bug/mushroom, we wouldn't want to get within stompin distance would we?

We could. But I think that it was said best in the manga Cannon God Exaxxion.

"Hey it's like we're crawling! Can't we go any faster?"

"But we're already moving at 120 mph."

Scale kills when your on the ground and even being a full mile away isn't gonna help you when something that big is moving that fast!

Just once I'd like to see them drop a Fuel Air bomb on a big monster.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Just once I'd like to see them drop a Fuel Air bomb on a big monster.

My 'Perfect' Godzilla/monster movie would have the Army/Airforce/Navy throw EVERYTHING at the monster. EVERYTHING.

Start by local red-necks and cops shooting small arms. Of course nothing happens except squashed/toasted humans.

The Army gets called in. M16s, Bushmasters, Apaches with Hellfires and tanks with 120mm guns. MLRS and M110s on screen with proper sound effects would be great. All bounce off. We get to see MBTs get toasted by Atomic Monster Breath.

Airforce comes in, dumps shitloads of AGMs and GBUs and MOABs. We see pretty fireworks and more Atomic Monster Breath. Switches to stand-off weapons to escape Bad Breath range. C'mon, who does not want to see a squadron of A-10s have a go at Godzilla with the Avengers?

Navy jumps in with its missiles and naval rifles too. (I'd assume they never retired the Iowa class ships for this movie)

Basically, just a fan-service to see the entire Defence Industry catalogue of weapons line up on screen one-by-one.

Then have the Top Brass argue about using nukes on home soil.

But I don't have any idea on how to end the movie.

Edited November 23, 2007 by Retracting Head Ter Ter

[kalvasflam]

Actually that would be extremely funny.

Oh, Kalvasflam, Apaches did a crap job in Godzilla ("Oh, I have this vehicle that goes up and down very easily, but I'll just stay at a height where the monster can crash through a building and knock me down and/or crouch and then jump up and eat me when I fly overhead.") But, then again, that was through the incompetence of the writing/directing team who simply cannot and/or refuse to research military tactics before making their films.

I was being sarcastic, unfortunately, I saw the movie. Only an idiot would release weapons in the middle of a city, and play hide and seek with a monster that was shown to be so damned agile.

I like the defense industry line up, but when do you think they would decide it was nuke time?

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

I like the defense industry line up, but when do you think they would decide it was nuke time?

I guess when Mr Stompy has devastated an entire city and even the 16/50 rifle, bunker busters and MOABs fail to stop it, it would make sense to try some tac nukes before another half dozen cities get flattened.

Or maybe try some singing by a teenage Chinese restaurant waitress?

[reddsun1]

Found it: http://www.themist-movie.com/

directed by Frank Darabond (The Green Mile), so I will keep an eye on it.

Funny, when I saw the trailer for The Mist, my immediate first impression was: this movie looks/feels more like Silent Hill [the video game] than Silent Hill [the movie] did.

[Roy Focker]

So why should I give a damn? Great idea keeping what it is a guarded secret but are any of this disaster-invasion-city destroyed-large cast of actors trying to escape any good?

[reddsun1]

Alas, I guess we'll never see Hollywood do the military-versus-giant-rampaging-monster schtick from a realistic approach, showing tactical applications of hardware. Meh, the American Godzilla licked balls. It would've been cool to see Apaches used tactically, i.e. pop-out from behind bldg cover, release a salvo of missiles, then duck & maneuver behind/between bldgs to set up another firing position.

I like the cinematic technique used for the space combat scenes in the new Battlestar Galactica series; utilizing a lot of wide-angle shots, with zoom & focus changes to "keep up" with the action, as though seen through a combat camaraman's lens...

[CoryHolmes]

I like the cinematic technique used for the space combat scenes in the new Battlestar Galactica series; utilizing a lot of wide-angle shots, with zoom & focus changes to "keep up" with the action, as though seen through a combat camaraman's lens...

I hate that. It's too destracting from what's on the screen that it becomes hard to figure out exctly what's happeneing (a complaint often leveled against the Transformers film). It also ruins any sort of suspension of disbelief, too.

[chrono]

Or maybe try some singing by a teenage Chinese restaurant waitress?

Maybe Gamera...

....

..

... naw! Gamera's into little boys.

@Roy Focker, don't tell me you actually watched most monster/horror movies for their actors!!

[reddsun1]

I hate that. It's too destracting from what's on the screen that it becomes hard to figure out exctly what's happeneing (a complaint often leveled against the Transformers film). It also ruins any sort of suspension of disbelief, too.

If you mean the "shaking-like-somebody-running-with-a-camcorder-screen-is-constantly-jostling-and-shaking" style, then I concur. I've not seen the Transformers movie, but I've also seen/heard people complain about that--apparently, it's annoying enough to induce seizures...nah, I can't stand a constantly shaking screen either. If it's more like this, it ain't so bad:

[Ratchet]

But I don't have any idea on how to end the movie.

That's easy. Just have a Minmei type person sing the monster to it's death.

[David Hingtgen]

Real warfare vs monster:

I'd use a battleship. (Because giant monsters ALWAYS attack cities on the coast, because they're usually from the ocean, or hatched in a lab in a big city).

If the ship's only a few miles offshore, then the flight time for the shells is only a few seconds and you won't have to worry about trying to lead your aim much, if any. (a big ship shell goes roughly 20-25 miles per minute)

[kalvasflam]

Real warfare vs monster:

I'd use a battleship. (Because giant monsters ALWAYS attack cities on the coast, because they're usually from the ocean, or hatched in a lab in a big city).

If the ship's only a few miles offshore, then the flight time for the shells is only a few seconds and you won't have to worry about trying to lead your aim much, if any. (a big ship shell goes roughly 20-25 miles per minute)

Unless the stupid thing can swim, in which case, a battle ship might be in trouble.

For example, we could always rebuild the Yamato, and put it in the middle of Tokyo bay.... heh heh, but against Godzilla and the host of Toho, poor Yamato would stand even less chance than it did against the 3rd fleet.

Edited November 24, 2007 by kalvasflam

[David Hingtgen]

Depends on speed of monster. Iowa class is good for 35+ mph if it has to run away. Godzilla's never moved very fast IIRC.

[Warmaker]

I was about to say Battleship also if near a coast.

But the worst thing to use in these situations are tanks. Guys like Godzilla went through tanks like I did with Spam as a kid

[kalvasflam]

Depends on speed of monster. Iowa class is good for 35+ mph if it has to run away. Godzilla's never moved very fast IIRC.

That's true, but Godzilla also has atomic breath.... and Yamato was much slower, only 28 kt.

The thought about modern tanks is that they might do well in open area, but not in cities where their manueverability is highly restricted.

[Loner]

Something I found on the nets. Seems plausible.

[Sumdumgai]

The great emo whale, covered in giant lice shall go try to cut itself in New York.

[jenius]

I wonder why the woman explodes though?