Welcome to Last Night on TV, our daily column that looks back at what happened on television the night before. If we’re going to stay up all night and watch TV, we might as well talk about it the next day.
Last night on TV, Christopher talks The Amazing Race.
The Amazing Race
Christopher Campbell: At its best, The Amazing Race is a thrilling competition. But even when it’s not exciting, as this week’s episode was not, it still functions as a decent travel show with a side of cultural education. Last night, the racers stayed in Cartagena for the entire leg, giving us more information about local practices and showing us more places to visit if we ever can get down to Colombia ourselves — and if not, we got a nice virtual experience of the claustrophobic catacombs of the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, the city’s public transit and some of its street vendors.
There are three main sorts of challenges for teams on The Amazing Race. There’s the touristy experience challenge, of which there was none this week (normally they’re something scary, especially for racers afraid of heights). Then there’s the cultural challenge, where the players have to try out a local sport or craft or at least learn about one. These are the ones that in turn inform the audience, too. Last night, for instance, we learned about the explosive bar pastime of tejo, which I could see being popular in hip city neighborhoods in the US if they’re not deemed dangerous and therefore illegal. And we learned about the traditional indigenous artisan bags called mochila.
The third kind of challenge, and the one I sometimes question the idea of, is where racers perform a job of the working class of the area. Last night there was a Detour where teams had to be bus attendants and collect money from passengers. It’s okay, as I’m sure the production always pays the people whose jobs are being taken over, and they always prove how hard-working the real professionals are. In this challenge, nobody wanted to ride the buses, so teams had to get creative in order to convince random people who were fine walking to ride transit. Poor Scott had to watch as his daughter, Blair, offered men kisses for money — “besos for pesos.”
Meanwhile, this leg was won quick and easy by the athletic and plenty smart duo of Brodie and Kurt. Their ultimate frisbee talents were especially beneficial in the tejo Detour, because it entailed precision and a good arm. But right on their heels were Tyler and Korey, who didn’t feel quite as comfortable with the sport but could appropriately relate it to cornhole and do just fine. And they might be the smartest team. I’d have thought the fraternal team of Mensa members Darius and Cameron would have been the smartest team, but after doing well in the first episode they fell back due to terribly stupid mistakes and wound up eliminated this round.
Between the frisbee players and Tyler and Korey (who are just friends! but still so cute together), both of who seemed to have arrived at the pit stop way ahead of anyone else, are clearly the frontrunners of this season and it’s hard to imagine any of the others being much competition for them. Something crazy could happen, of course but I see this as already being down to just the two teams. Who do I want to see win? I like Tyler and Korey a lot — almost enough to go pick up Tyler’s book — and they’re also the team I predict will win. They’re just so compatible as teammates and have such great spirit. I really do wonder what might slow them down if anything.
Experience one of Akira Kurosawa's epic masterpieces on the big screen in 4K this winter. Studiocanal has debuted a trailer and a poster for the re-release of the 4K restoration of Kurosawa's Ran, finished and first released in 1985 - now playing again over 30 years later. The script, partly based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, depicted a ruthless, bloodthirsty daimyo (warlord), played by Tatsuya Nakadai, who, after foolishly banishing his one loyal son, surrenders his kingdom to his other two sons, who then betray him, thus plunging the entire kingdom into war. If you haven't seen this film before, now is your chance to get the full on experience. Thankfully it's getting UK + US restored re-release - now playing at Film Forum in NYC.
Here's the new UK trailer (+ poster) for the 4K restoration of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, direct from YouTube:
Japanese warlord Hidetori Ichimonji decides the time has come to retire and divide his fiefdom among his three sons. His eldest and middle sons - Taro and Jiro - agree with his decision and promise to support him for his remaining days. The youngest son Saburo disagrees with all of them arguing that there is little likelihood the three brothers will remain united.Ran is the final masterpiece from legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, released in 1985, after he made Kagemusha and it's considered one of his great epics. The film is fully restored in digital 4K and will be released in the UK from Studiocanal in April, and in the US through Rialto Pictures starting this week. For complete theater listings in the US, visit here.
Welcome to Last Night on TV, our daily column that looks back at what happened on television the night before. If we’re going to stay up all night and watch TV, we might as well talk about it the next day.
Last night on TV, Christopher talks Top Chef and Portlandia, while Alisha catches up with Wednesday night’s Supernatural.
Top Chef
Christopher Campbell: Let’s take a moment to mourn the loss of the greatest, most interesting cheftestant of this season. Maybe Kwame isn’t the “Top Chef” among these people, but in my heart he was the “Top Top Chef Cast Member.” Every single week, he’s had something more fascinating to add about his back story. And he may have had the classiest goodbye statement to the judges ever on this show. Of course, Tom was right, he has accomplished a lot in four years, and he will continue to be impressive. Even if he’s never a renowned chef, he’s a remarkable guy. And chef. I’m going to miss him a lot during the time until he (better) returns for Top Chef All-Stars.
Well, Marjorie’s hopes panned out. Kwame probably would have done just as badly without having Phillip assigned to him as a sous chef, though. I think he got penalized more than was being let on for not making his own waffles. Otherwise, Jeremy surely would have been out. Then again, it was difficult to read the true interests of the judges this week. They seemed a whole lot more critical of Jeremy and his unfocused “Taco Dudes” idea. But it’s always hard to get a good read on the judges when the challenge isn’t totally about the taste of the food. This was about business ideas, as well, and frankly I personally kind of hated everyone’s concept anyway.
So, the loser was a big surprise in the end, and so was the winner. Who could foresee that no-wins Carl was going to take this contest of Fast-Casual creativity? The one the judges discussed most favorably as far as the food and the idea was concerned was Marjorie’s “Pasta Mama.” I thought guest judge Adam Fleischmann was going to hand her an investment right on the spot to help create the brand for real. I guess it was just a lot of red herrings. Meanwhile, the episode was so lacking in flavor as it played out, without drama or big obstacles in the prep and cooking section that, until the end reveals, it was one of the most boring I’ve ever seen.
Alisha Grauso: Eleven seasons in, Supernatural shows why it continues to go strong year after year, long past the point where most series would have completely jumped the shark. It’s strength is that it’s not ever truly been story-driven, but character-driven, and the writers still find ways to continually surprise us with what the characters do, to plumb their depths and give us new facets to their personalities that resonates.
Wednesday night’s episode, “Beyond the Mat,” chased down two storylines, the first being Sam and Dean heading to a traveling wrestling show after Dean finally admitted to Sam that he was burned out and needed a break. It was a nostalgic trip for Dean, who looked back fondly on the times their dad brought them to a wrestling show. For Sam, not so much. But when he made a snarky comment about remembering their dad’s beer consumption, Dean immediately snapped at him: “Could you please try not to ruin one of the few nice things Dad ever did for us?” It was a rare moment of vulnerability from the normally flippant Dean, and gave us a glimpse of just how close to his breaking point he is.
The second storyline finally gave fans what we’ve been waiting for ever since the series returned from its midseason hiatus: Crowley. More specifically, the real Crowley, King of Hell and scheming, diabolical trickster, able to weasel his way out of any bad situation, not the whipped, degraded “puppy” in chains at Lucifer’s bidding that we’ve gotten in the last handful of episodes. The moment that Crowley dropped the cowering sycophant act and I realized he’d been pretending the entire time legitimately made me want to cheer: “You really think you could double cross me? ME? I perfected the double cross. Like, literally.” That’s the Crowley we know, and oh man, was it a fun moment.
The only questionable aspect of the episode was that, once again, the Darkness storyline seemed to be mostly put on the back burner for a standalone episode, but I’m not complaining. Amara hasn’t been particularly compelling as the big bad of this season. It’s been much more fun watching Sam and Dean getting back to their roots, Castiel and Lucifer (a.k.a. Casifer) battle for control of one body, and Crowley scheme to get back to the top of Hell’s food chain. The fun in Supernatural is very rarely the big bad, but when the Winchesters are forced to team up with lesser enemies in order to defeat them. At the moment, I’m envisioning a season ending showdown of the Winchesters, Lucifer, Crowley, and Rowena all teaming up to take down the Darkness. Expect double and triple crossings and strategic alliances to abound. It will be glorious.
Portlandia
Christopher Campbell: “Sand in the pone, dry as a bone.” That’s all I really have to say this week. And I can’t stop saying it. Actually, this week’s episode was full of repeatable goodness. “TADA!” And, here in full: “Jack, Jack, he goes about, he mines all he can; he picks away at rocks and stone, he is a mining man.” Also, some memorable and repeatable facial expressions that of course can’t be replicated in words, here. Most of them came from Carrie’s cab driver, though. All of the disabled extras in their group meeting were also wonderful in their reactions to all the nonsense from Kath and Dave.
That said, the episode (“TADA”) wasn’t perfect. As brilliant as some sketches were, particularly the look at what we’ve done to cab companies with our preference for Uber and such, there was at least one that was quite weak. The silent retreat bit was a little longer than its one-note idea could handle. Ironically, it left me silent. I also didn’t love the opening with the science lab furniture for men, at least not in its concept. The delivery was great, at least. Also, I grew up with a barber’s chair in the living room of my dad’s house (meanwhile, his couch was a very uncomfortable church pew), so I feel so marginalized now. TADA!
"Don't you know what I've given up to be here! I have nothing." Warner Bros in the UK has unveiled a trailer for a film called The Man Who Knows Infinity, about a young Indian boy, played by Dev Patel, studying at Cambridge University during WWI. The full ensemble cast includes Jeremy Irons, Stephen Fry, Toby Jones, Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally, Enzo Cilenti, Shazad Latif, and introducing Devika Bhise. This is such an intriguing title for a film about a mathematician, I'm curious based on that alone, but the footage seems like it could go either way - good or bad. We would've heard more praise out of TIFF if it was really something, but I'm still interested to see Dev Patel's performance in this anyway. Enjoy.
Here's the first official trailer for Matt Brown's The Man Who Knew Infinity, from WB UK's YouTube:
Colonial India, 1913. Srinavasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel) is a 25-year-old shipping clerk and self-taught genius, who failed out of college due to his near-obsessive, solitary study of mathematics. Determined to pursue his passion despite rejection and derision from his peers, Ramanujan writes a letter to G. H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons), an eminent British mathematics professor at Trinity College, Cambridge. Hardy recognises the originality and brilliance of Ramanujan’s raw talent and despite the skepticism of his colleagues, undertakes bringing him to Cambridge so that his theories can be explored.The Man Who Knew Infinity is both written & directed by Matt Brown, of only Ropewalk previously. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015, and opens in the UK this April. No US release date is set. Stay tuned.
Not everyone gets to officially vote for the Oscars, but we all like to fill out our own ballots and play along at home. Especially if there’s a pool going around the office or Oscar party or just between your close family members to see who gets the most predictions right. My aunt likes to wait until the show is starting to begin a texting onslaught asking for my expert opinion on various categories. And now my three-year-old son is making his way into the fun. He loves to “vote” for things. Lately, he’s obsessed with telling people his choice for president: “Donald… Donald Duck.” He thinks he’s hilarious.
This week, he filled out an Oscar ballot. He loves any excuse to play with the iPad, and this was an opportunity to touch-screen his way through the categories with “The Official Oscars Challenge” (technically you’re supposed to be 18 or older, so we never actually submitted the picks). He hasn’t seen but three of the nominees all the way through — two animated features, one of which is contending in two categories, and an animated short — and therefore mostly responded to titles and the images attached to each title on the Oscars site. Occasionally he’d ask to see a clip of something to help him decide.
I tried to get him to explain each pick in depth, but he is only three. He would get restless and often made little sense. Basically, I wouldn’t recommend using my son’s choices as a guide to filling out your own ballot. But it will be interesting to see if he matches any picks with the actual winners this Sunday.
Best Picture: Brooklyn
Originally, he made this first choice by title alone. “I like Brooklyn. He’s good,” my son said for his reason, as if the film was named for a character. But when he saw the posters next to the titles in the Oscar Challenge, he became more logical. “I like girls,” he noted, alluding to the image of Saoirse Ronan. I pressed him more as to why. “They’re like kings and princesses.”
Actor in a Leading Role: Matt Damon, The Martian
“I want him. I like his suit,” my son said with interest in Damon’s spacesuit worn for the movie. I guess if you show a kid photos from this category, it’s no surprise they’re going to pick the astronaut. Kids love astronauts. He asked to watch a clip from the movie after making his choice.
Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
“She has cool glasses,” my son responded when asked about why he chose Lawrence. She certainly has a more distinct look in her screen shot with those sunglasses. Then he added, “She’s good. She’s not a bad guy.” That’s true, I guess.
Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
“I like his suit,” he said looking at a photo of Ruffalo not wearing a suit. When asked to explain what he meant, my son responded, “I don’t want to talk to him anymore.”
Actress in a Supporting Role: Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
This was a very curious pick. “I like girls,” my son answered when I asked him why McAdams. I addressed the fact that all of the nominees are girls, and he proceeded to count them. He said there are six girls. Apparently he sees a baby girl with Alicia Vikander in the still from The Danish Girl. I decided to just move on.
Animated Feature Film: The Shaun the Sheep Movie
He’s actually seen two of these, Inside Out and The Shaun the Sheep Movie. Earlier, I asked him which one should win the Oscar, and my son shouted “Minions!” Maybe he’s into write-in votes? For the sake of this ballot, though, he had to choose. He clicked on Boy and the World because, he said, “I like the colors.” I told him maybe this time he should choose one of the movies he’s seen. He started to pick Inside Out because, again, “I like girls.” But his final answer was The Shaun the Sheep Movie. “I like that girl dog,” he said as his reason, pointing to the little stray, Slip. Let’s watch a clip about the character from the film, also one of my favorites of the year:
Cinematography: Skipped
After the first quarter of the Oscar Challenge was done, so was my son. He got distracted when this category came up and didn’t have any interest in choosing. So I picked for him: Sicario.
Costume Design: (tie) Cinderella and The Danish Girl
Hearing that Cinderella was a nominee in the next category got my son interested in the game again. He hasn’t seen the live-action remake, but he has seen parts of the animated version. At least, I thought he had. “I think she flies,” he said of the title character. I asked if that was his pick for costume design, and he tried to click both that and The Danish Girl, but that of course doesn’t work. “I want to pick two because they’re both girls.” Sorry, Carol.
Directing: Mad Max: Fury Road
“Star Wars!” he shouted when he saw the poster accompanying the entry for Mad Max: Fury Road. It should be noted that, at this point, my son wasn’t aware that Star Wars is up for any Oscars. I told him that it wasn’t Star Wars, and he stuck with the choice anyway.
Documentary (Feature): Skipped
My son gave no reason why he wouldn’t choose any of the feature documentary nominees, but I’ll just assume it’s because he knows Daddy is the documentary expert and he didn’t want me to judge his pick. Obviously I never would! But that’s fine, I chose for him: The Look of Silence.
Documentary (Short Subject): A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
He didn’t have the same issue with the short-subject documentaries. “I like girls,” he stated again for this one. I kind of saw that coming.
Film Editing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
“Yeah, Max, I like Max!” he exclaimed while I was still reading the nominees. Because he had chosen the movie before. But then I got to the end, and his excitement changed upon learning that Star Wars was in the mix. “I like Star Wars,” he acknowledged. Not that he’s seen this new movie, but he likes the brand and he’s seen the trailers and likes BB-8 a lot. Almost as much as he likes R2-D2.
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Like me, my son hasn’t seen any of the nominees in this category (I know, we’re both bad cosmopolitan cinephiles). So, he glanced over the accompanying images and chose Son of Saul based on its poster. “I like those,” he said pointing at it. “I like letters.” He really does, because he’s three.
Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
At this point he wanted to actually see what this Max movie was. I tried to pick something that wasn’t too violent. He watched in amazement as cars and trucks raced through the desert with motorcycles flying through the air above them. I think he fell in love. I’m just waiting for him to play Mad Max with his Hot Wheels now. Oh, I also showed him a quick bit with Nux and Immortan Joe as an example of the makeup and hairstyling. So his pick was validated.
Music (Original Score): Star Wars: The Force Awakens
“That’s from Star Wars!” he shouted, seeing that the image attached here was a close-up of BB-8. I think at this point we can be certain The Force Awakens is sweeping all its categories.
Music (Original Song): “Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction
“Is that like a stingray?” my son asked as I was reading the nominees. I said, “Sort of, but you’ve seen manta rays at the aquarium, too.” Either way, he liked the title. He wanted to hear the song, so I pulled up the music video, which features Anohni (still credited as Antony) singing over the J. Ralph-composed music and spectacular microscopic images of plankton. He loved it. Here, you should watch it, too:
Production Design: Skipped
I think this one was just accidentally skipped over. Maybe my son pressed the “next” button too many times and passed it. I guess I didn’t notice. In any event, I’ll choose for him: Mad Max: Fury Road.
Short Film (Animated): We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
My son had seen one of these in full, because Sanjay’s Super Team played in the theater before The Good Dinosaur. He watched a clip to remind himself, but he didn’t seem interested, if it was even actually familiar to him. He saw bits of Bear Story and World of Tomorrow but just wanted to watch more of We Can’t Live Without Cosmos, which he could see in full online. Although he hasn’t finished the whole thing yet, he really likes the astronauts. Because he’s a kid.
Short Film (Live Action): Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
At first, I thought he chose Everything Will Be Okay — which is far and away my personal favorite in this category — because like Son of Saul it was accompanied by a poster filled with words. But so is Shok and Stutterer. Instead, his reason was this: “I like the white. White is my favorite color.” Please don’t get any ideas with that comment.
Sound Editing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Obviously
Sound Mixing: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Obviously
Visual Effects: Star Wars: the Force Awakens
Obviously, though before I’d finished reading all the titles he jumped the gun and said The Martian.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Brooklyn
“Yeah, I like Brooklyn,” my son said in a tone as though we were back at Best Picture and he wasn’t sure why he had to tell me again. I can’t help but wonder if he also just loves the word Brooklyn because Mommy and Daddy have told him that’s where he was conceived (sorry, not sorry).
Writing (Original Screenplay): Inside Out
After passing on Inside Out, a movie he does genuinely love, in the animated feature category, he was certain about picking it for its screenplay. When asked why he said, “I like Disgust. And Anger.” That’s good, because he’s going to show signs of those emotions when his choice loses to Spotlight this weekend. We finished by him requesting to watch something he likes even more than movies: this Inside Out surprise egg unwrapping video:
Australian director John Hillcoat has made a name for himself with unforgiving characters committing brutal violence amid some pretty bleak environments. With The Proposition and Lawless, he brought period-set grit to the screen and made the future even less appealing in The Road. The latest from Hillcoat is Triple 9, and it's the director's first opus of violence set in modern day. This fact doesn't keep the violence from being as cold-blooded as the director can make it nor the characters from being their typical, Hillcoat shade of gray. Triple 9 is a relentless look at the lengths to which evil men and women will go, and, though it never fulfills the hope of transcending the action genre, it satisfies the hunger for adult-driven entertainment with an edge. Just don't get attached to anyone.
Working from a screenplay by Matt Cook, Triple 9 centers on those doing good and bad in Atlanta, Georgia. A small band of bank robbers made of ex-military and corrupt cops is planning their latest heist for the Russian Mafia. Not that the head of the Russian family (Kate Winslet) is giving them any choice in the matter, but the task proves too risky for regular measures. The team concocts a plan to kill a rookie office (Casey Affleck) and commit the robbery while the entire city shuts down to attend to the 999 Officer Down call. As with any, good, crime thriller, if random acts of God and the actions of the investigating detective (Woody Harrelson) don't bring the team down, all the back-stabbing might take care of them.
Even with a relentless stream of double-crosses and shocking revelations, Cook's screenplay for Triple 9 is rather straightforward. His characters are rarely defined by anything other than their actions, and those actions consist of a slew of bullets more often than not. If the opening heist doesn't whet your appetite for the urban violence that is to ensue the chase and shootout on an Atlanta freeway will surely get the job done. Cook packs his screenplay full of colorful characters both moral and corrupt but much more so corrupt. Harrelson's detective acts as something of a mentor for Affleck's rookie, and the two seem to be the only players – besides the background women in their lives – who aren't shaded with the darkest of grays.
The team of thieves is as interestingly cast as it is written with Chiwetel Ejiofor playing a former soldier and the leader of the band of thieves. His character, though, is justifiably motivated. Winslet's Russian Mob boss has taken his son and promises to return him after the group can pull off their one, last job. Anthony Mackie and Clifton Collins, Jr. make up the corrupt cops of the team, Mackie's officer having just been assigned to partner with Affleck. Norman Reedus and Aaron Paul play brothers and the remaining two members of the team. Cook writes his characters with a healthy understanding of their reasons even if things rarely ever go according to plan.
Hillcoat, too, brings an apparent understanding to the characters who inhabit the ruthless world he creates. All of Triple 9's left turns and explosions into uber-violence are organically placed, each knife in the back naturally coming down one right after the other. In that way, Triple 9 never reinvents the wheel that is the modern, urban, crime thriller, but it does a damn fine job making that wheel spin.
There are instances of a more eccentric story at work here. Winslet, though immaculate with her thick, Russian accent and wardrobe of specifically crimson clothing, never bursts into hammy melodrama as you might expect. That is both a good and bad thing here, as Cook and Hillcoat's barrage of quirky, Atlanta characters give the city an unnerving and grimy attitude rarely seen outside of New York crime flicks from the 1970s. Michael K. Williams of "The Wire" and "Boardwalk Empire" fame makes a brief appearance in Triple 9, and, though his character is best left unrevealed here, there isn't nearly enough of him or the jarring theatricality with which his character embodies.
The back-and-forth between grounded and eccentric is easily smoothed over, though, by the phenomenal and varied cast at work here. Affleck's rookie is the most straight-laced of the bunch, but even he commits to a sense of slight, moral ambiguity in his character. Mackie and Collins, Jr. both bring solid and nuanced performances to the table, while Reedus and Paul pull off their respective roles with more over-the-top flash. Ejiofor combines strength with sympathy well, but Harrelson is the only one of the cast who achieves that perfect blend of morality and peculiarity. It remains to be seen whether his character's habit of smoking anything and everything he can get his hands on was present in Cook's script or if it that was something Harrelson, himself, brought to the table. Either way, it's one of several ticks that make Harrelson's character endlessly watchable.
Much like his character, there's very little in Triple 9 that doesn't play well. Hillcoat's latest is a palatable thriller of greed and dishonesty that is so good you're almost frustrated it isn't great. The director is capable of great. See The Proposition, still his finest hour, for reference to that. Regardless of the final results, though, Hillcoat remains a filmmaker whose body of work continues to grow with quality films. Triple 9, his first film set in modern day, delivers on the hard-hitting, fast-dealing, cringe-inducing thriller that keeps action fans going back to the theater. It just may not have you booking a flight to Atlanta any time soon.
Oh, movies of 2005, we can’t quit you. This week on the show we will right some wrongs by using ten years’ worth of hindsight in order to reevaluate the movies lauded at the 78th Academy Awards.
Joining us for the operation is screenwriter John Gary, who helps us explore the correlations between Munich and Bridge of Spies and asks the toughest question of all about Crash.
Plus, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Walk the Line, Good Night and Good Luck and many more to examine with the test of time. It was also a year that brought us a new Batman and a new Fantastic Four movie, so it’s a lot like stepping out of a time machine and thinking it didn’t work. Should you join us anyway? Absolutely.
Finally, the truth comes out. No, 10 Cloverfield Lane is not a Cloverfield sequel. In fact, it has nothing to do with Cloverfield (the original 2008 monster movie), producer J.J. Abrams finally admits: "This movie is very purposefully not called Cloverfield 2, because it’s not Cloverfield 2." However, what he's getting at here is the "bigger picture" concept behind why Cloverfield is in the title and what they're going for: "there is a bigger idea at play for us with these movies and this connection." Essentially, movies made by Bad Robot that end up with "Cloverfield" in the title or synopsis are part of a series of "monster movies" that deal with a big sci-fi threat - not specifically the same monster. Abrams finally cleared the air about what to expect.
Ever since the first trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane premiered in theaters, fans have been going crazy with excitement at the possibility that they made a Cloverfield sequel in secret and it's out in two months and no one knew. But of course, that was a bit too perfect to be true. The reality is that the project was produced under the name Valencia and they did, at some point in production, change the title with the idea that it would connect into a bigger series of thrilling sci-fi movies that deal with a "monster" of some kind. Abrams says this movie "is definitely about different kinds of monsters," but obviously wouldn't say more than that.
Erik Davis of Fandango talked with J.J. Abrams recently and got a few key quotes from him (seen below) regarding what exactly 10 Cloverfield Lane is. Obviously not much is fully revealed but it is worth reading.
"This movie is very purposefully not called Cloverfield 2, because it’s not Cloverfield 2," Abrams says, adding that "the association is clear and there are multiple connections – and there is a bigger idea at play for us with these movies and this connection."
So does 10 Cloverfield Lane take place during the first Cloverfield?
"No it doesn’t, but there's a larger thing at play with these connections," Abrams continues. "And the fun of it is that some of these connections – and there's a lot of them – are not the kind of connections you might think. So if you're approaching it as a literal sequel, you'll be surprised to see what this movie is. But while it's not what you might expect from a movie that has the name 'Cloverfield' in it, I think you'll find that you'll understand the connection when you see the whole thing."
So that means - go see it and you'll know what he means and everything will be revealed, of course. Arrives in theaters starting on March 11th next month. Abrams adds a bit more about how it all came together:
"The story of this movie – and it came to us originally as a spec that was very different in a lot of ways and an unrelated thing altogether – is definitely about different kinds of monsters," he says. "And while the Cloverfield monster isn’t in this movie, there’s a new monster and there’s something else that happens… but I don’t want to ruin the ending."
Yes - so once again, go see the movie and everything will be revealed, but be on the lookout for hidden connections. I'm glad Abrams is coming out with this - see the full interview on Fandango. In a separate interview with EW, Abrams adds: "This is just this movie, and it’s only two films that we're talking about right now. There is something else that we'd like to do, and hopefully we'll get a shot." SlashFilm speculates this could be another small script called God Particle. And for those wondering, "the decision to connect it to Cloverfield happened a long time ago, but it was a very conscious decision not to announce it as such," Abrams claims. I'm very curious to find out. Will all our questions be answered in March? Only J.J. knows.
For those still wondering about the possibility of a Cloverfield sequel, it's not entirely off the table. Abrams: "there were a lot of ideas [for a follow-up] – at one point there was this really big idea for doing three different things at once. A lot of things were thrown around. But we now live in that post-Godzilla, post-Pacific Rim era where those movies have been made, so what would we do?" But here is still some hope: "I was actually talking to Drew [Goddard] last week about what would happen if we continued that specific story [as told in the first Cloverfield], and there are some fun ideas, but still not 'the thing.' There's a reason why the movie we're talking about right now isn't Cloverfield 2, but something else entirely." I guess he means to say - they still haven't figured out an innovative idea for Cloverfield 2, but this movie is something interesting on its own, and is worth checking out anyway. Sounds good - only a few weeks to go.
For those interested in more of this world - the viral marketing ARG underway for 10 Cloverfield Lane has exciting things going on. SlashFilm has been covering it closely, reporting on games and other activities all based around a website at FunandPrettyThings.com. The character John Goodman plays, Howard Stambler, is running the site to keep in touch with his daughter - he posts updates here. There are hidden/subliminal images in the latest footage, which is very cool, connecting everything together which lead one Reddit user to dig up a box buried at some coordinates, containing a few things including a USB drive with mysterious files on it. Now that we've got you hooked, visit funandprettythings.com and figure out what all this means.
With the Academy Awards coming up on Sunday, we’re celebrating the breathtaking work of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who is nominated this year for his work on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. If he wins, Lubezki will be one of . . .
With the Academy Awards coming up on Sunday, we’re celebrating the breathtaking work of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who is nominated this year for his work on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. If he wins, Lubezki will be one of . . .
