Monsters - Post Release Discussion - Page 2

I’d imagine that came from an overzealous PR person, or maybe a reviewer with poor fact checking skills. IMDB have it at $800,000, so it seems like we’re firmly in ‘everybody make up a figure’ territory.

 

Enjoyed the film immensely, including the leads. While Sam doesn’t have much to do in the early stages, she does kick into life in the second scene with the ferry ticket scalper where she essentially secures their ticket home when Kaulder runs out of bluster.

 

I understand the other criticisms raised in this thread, but at the end of the day it’s a Marmite kind of film – it goes out to do a specific thing, and it either clicks with you or it doesn’t. It's not that the people who wanted more of the aliens are wrong - it's a problem inherent to the whole 'genre mashup' thing that one thing almost invariably outweighs the other, and it may not be the one everybody is most interested in.

 

I do agree though, that showing the monster in full up front is a bad move. It’s almost as if Edwards is trying too hard to ram home the point that the movie isn’t really about the giant alien squiddy things, but squanders the potential for some good suspense down the track. Though I was fine with the amount of aliens in the film, he could've easily jettisoned the full-alien shots at the beginning and made the gradual reveal throughout the rest... Well, actually made it a gradual reveal.

 

On the whole though, I had a great time with the film. Hammerhead nails it about the title; it’s clearly referring to the Americans and not the aliens. Whether it’s a good title even with that considered is debatable, however. I miss mystique in my movie titles.

I didn't mind that opening Alien shot because it was blurry as hell. But it gave us a general idea of what the creatures were like.

 

Loved the chemistry between the two leads and that "Alien standing over the Convenience Store" shot was beautifully done.

Dug it. Appreciated the world-building. It's amazing what a few roadsigns and CG set extensions (and filming in impoverished and demolished towns) can do. Nice fish-out-of-water reversed-immigration-POV angle. Very much in the line with ambitious genre fair like CLOVERFIELD, THE MIST, and D9.... but more of a focus on the 2 leads' "journey" and a bit less on the danger than those other flicks.

 

Hope Edwards shows a more of G-Man in his GODZILLA update though.

 

From what I hear, it was some sort of promotion on the film which tallied up all the materials you HYPOTHETICALLY would need to make the movie Edwards made. So, if everyone was lucky and everything broke right, this COULD have been made for $15k given the crew, locations and special effects material.

I presume that would include the director not paying himself to do the digital effects work.

What a beautiful, specific film. I'm glad they didn't have a bigger budget, because I liked that it was a small, tightly focused story. As has been said, it's beautifully shot; some almost painterly and gorgeous shots and composition. I will say I thought the close ups were sometimes a bit frustrating on the 2:35:1 aspect ratio; they felt a little too tight and close.

 

I knew Scoot from a couple of guest shots on the TV show Bones, and I was extremely impressed with him here. I thought he gave a really natural, fleshed-out performance. Whitney Able was ridiculously appealing and also gave a great performance; this film stands or falls on these two entirely, and I think they not only succeeded but surpassed expectations. I think it was quality of the cinematography and the strength of the leads that bring this film home. The world-building, effects and supporting characters and events surely contribute, but without the two main characters being sympathetic and believable, it would be an interesting experiment rather than a finished story.

 

Re: dialogue and sociopolitical allegory: I was fine with the immigration/war parallels being pretty obvious, because I don't think they overran the story and they didn't (to me) become super obvious until the film was almost done (Sam and Kaulder viewing the wall is what spells things out for the dim bulbs like me). I thought some of the other dialogue, between Sam and Kaulder about themselves, was a bit clunky and awkward (and not purposefully so), but it wasn't egregious and most of the film's dialogue was solid.

 

I'm also glad the film was only 90 minutes. I liked that it was tight, specific, and managed to feel full and deliberate without being slow or bloated.

 

And yes, the gas station scene was just amazing. I'm really excited to see what this guy does with Godzilla, assuming studio fuckery doesn't ruin the skill and sensibility he brings.

Except for the beginning/end shenanigans, I really enjoyed it. It wasn't anything mind-blowing except as an exercise in budget management but it was better than I expected. 

 

And as for the characters feeling weird it is definitely a product of the way this was made. Empire had a nice feature about this. They basically said "These are your characters. No start talking to each other." They filmed the whole trip and actually made the story in editing.

Just read a couple of online reviews/pieces, and the articles said most of the film was made up as they went. If so, the achievement's doubly impressive, as I think it coheres remarkably well.

 

If I do end up getting a blu-ray player this year, this'll be a purchase for sure (assuming it's out on BD).

It is out on blu-ray, and the picture quality is amazing.  Some of the natural landscape shots are reference quality.  Also, there's an extensive amount of special features, including a full-length documentary that confirms that all of the dialogue and a majority of the story was improvised.  They shot hours and hours of footage, and then the editor miraculously was able to fit it all together to make a somewhat coherent story.

 

As for the movie itself, I liked it... but wasn't blown away.  But it is amazing what Gareth Edwards and his editor were able to accomplish with their funding, and how the film was shot.

 

Why didn't you like the beginning / end, Stelios? Unecessary, obvious twist?

Pretty much this. I guess it's genre fatigue. The whole "We're safe now, WAIT A MINUTE MONSTER OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE BOOM!" is only shocking and poignant the first one million times you watch it. Especially in cases like this one where there were zero narrative reasons for it to happen.

 

Decent film. Looks really good. The acting wasn't anything special but I bought the basic romance. More or less. The script is pretty inconsistent. There are some nice moments but also some awkward plot points to keep them together.

This movie was really well shot, but the forced 'romance' hobbles the entire thing and it would've been nice if the main guy was likable.  Every time he said "what's that?" I wanted to throttle him, because it's probably gonna be a monster.  It was also nagging at me why, after six years (or whatever the time), no name had been given to these creatures.

 

I really liked the score.

Just saw it on Netflix Instant and it was pretty good. Even taking away how impressed I am by the budget and what Edwards accomplished with it, the plot, characters, and dialogue hold up. It's too bad Edwards and was tapped up for Godzilla before he could put out a few more movies like this.

I didn't notice the wrap around because the footage they keep showing on the news throughout the movie looks like the result of the opening battle.

Like others in this thread, the Ride of the Valkeryies made my stomach drop when I realized what was about to happen to them. Then I immediately went back to the first scene and was crestfallen that was the real end.  That sealed this for me. The film looks beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed the temple scene and wall scene. I kinda want more stories about the Mexican band who transported people. The leader had a face built for the B-Movie action thread.

 

 

 

There is some suspension of disbelief required. We can't find a giant, light-pulsating, land octopus? In the dark? with 20 troops looking for them? They won't hurt us if we don't hurt them, but then Chtuluson ate the first truck? Why did he take her passport? Richie Rich can't find another way of getting his daughter home? Like south to a city to fly home?  Planes can't fly high enough to dodge land octopi?  She doesn't want to go home-- Is she finding happiness with Photo man, or just continuing to run from her problems?

You remember in District 9 they had all those signs that said things like "No Humans Allowed" and "Alien Zone"? This movie was made by someone who wanted the whole film to be about those signs.

Late to the party, but finally saw this little gem. I wish I didn't have the habit of reading about films on message boards after I see them. Just when I got into the acceptance of that ending, and started to like the potential tragedy of it, I come online and find out that the short prologue at the beginning of the film is actually the ending. It takes place after the convoy picks them up. Kind of makes me almost hate the ending even more....the chronological ending is quietly tragic in a quiet film, the true ending is on the nose and indicative of so many of these types of films.  Beautifully shot film though and enjoyable performances.