10 Cloverfield Lane keeps you in suspense the entire time

Movie Title:      10 Cloverfield Lane

Grade:   A-

Rating:   PG-13, 1 hour 45 minutes

In a Nutshell:    J.J. Abrams puts a spine-tingling spin on doomsday prepping.  He is a master at suspense and this psychological thriller has plenty of it.  He loves to NOT show the audience things, which adds even more to the achingly tense scenes and viewer anticipation.  

Did you ever see his 2008 Cloverfield movie?  (It made me dizzy with all its shaky cam effects.) This is sort of a sequel, but it’s not necessary at all to have seen that one to understand this one. 

Uplifting theme: 

·       Which is scarier: the known monster or the unknown one?

·       Be prepared. 

Things I liked:

·   Excellent performances by John Goodman (Howard), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Michelle), and John Gallagher Jr. (Emmett) Did you know that both Mary Elizabeth and John got their start on Broadway?

·       The film really plays with you, so much so that you never know exactly what the truth is until the end.

·       Foreboding music really gets you on edge….the whole time.

·       I love the close-ups on small things that really tell the story without words, such as when you see Michelle’s white knuckles on the steering wheel to her chipped fingernail polish.

·       Fantastic car accident in the beginning.  Very well done.  It really got me.

·       You’ll get to see lots of emergency prep products and think about what you might need if there really were some kind of disaster.  I noticed Emergency Essentials buckets in the house, which is a company I have used for many years and can highly recommend!

·       The Santa Clause card game scene was outstanding.  It was intense, funny, and the moment where the movie really revs up and gets crazy.

·       The majority of the movie takes place inside a very small space, which increases the dramatic tension immeasurably.

·       This is director Dan Trachtenberg’s first movie.  It looks like he has a bright future.

Things I didn’t like:

• The ending.  Hmmm….could have been stronger.  Does that mean this will be a trilogy?   J.J. Abrams refers to anticipation as his “mystery box.”   He is excellent at building expectation, but sometimes the end result is a bit disappointing.  I’m still mad at him for the TV series Lost: Season 6 - Final Season , but I think he did a a great job with Star Trek Into Darkness .  His next one comes out this summer!
• Like the first Cloverfield movie, you only get to see a tiny bit of the “thing”.  You’ll be disappointed if you think you’re going to see a bunch of monsters or aliens.
• John Gallagher’s character doesn’t get as much attention as you might want.  There is a tiny back story, but it feels rushed and we don’t get to know him very well.  Of course, Michelle is the protagonist in the story, so her experience is where the focus is.
• There’s really only one line that shows any connection with this movie to the first Cloverfield and that is when Howard mentions he worked for a satellite company.  In the first movie, it is a satellite that falls into the ocean that awakens a monster/alien from underneath.

Funny lines:

•  “There’s no place like home.” – Howard
• “Neither one of us will be able to go up there to help you if you get stuck.  Don’t get stuck.” – Howard
• “Come on!” - Michelle

Tips for parents:   

• There are some explosions, a shooting, and some gruesome images of dead people that might frighten young children.
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead is in her underwear during some scenes.
• 1 F-bomb.

 

Earth to Echo doesn't quite repeat the charm of E.T.

Movie Title:  Earth To Echo

PG, 1 hour 29 minutes

Grade:  C

In a Nutshell:  This tween flick feels like an attempt at remaking E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial or even Super 8 with The Goonies (1985) , but not as magical and charming as any of those.  Relativity producers could learn a lesson from Spielberg.  Even the ad imitates the beloved E.T. movie poster.

The film takes some misfit kids on a scavenger hunt to help an extraterrestrial find the pieces he needs to rebuild his spaceship and return home.  While that’s not exactly an original script, it’ll feel fresh to little ones who haven’t yet experienced the better movies I just mentioned.

The movie is shot from the homemade perspective of one of the boys who is using his camcorder, so much of it is shaky and may cause motion sickness.   Remember Cloverfield ?  (That made me so dizzy I thought I was going to throw up.)  Sony HD cams get the spotlight on product placement in this flick.

Uplifting theme:  

• “Having a friend light years away taught us that distance is just a state of mind.” – Tuck
• Kids can do anything.  In the beginning of the movie, Tuck shakes his head in dismay and says “you have no power to stop ‘cuz you’re just a kid.” By the end, he and his friends feel empowered to do anything.

Things I liked:

• They did a good job using technology to address how kids today spend their lives.  They follow a map that appears on their combined smartphones, and then they do Google searches for things like “weird barf shapes on my phone.”   
• Echo is pretty doggone cute. 
• There are some cool special effects, like when Echo makes an oncoming truck disassemble in air so that the kids aren't hurt.

Things I didn’t like:

• The acting was really terrible.  I really wanted to fall in love with the kids, but it just felt like they were auditioning for a school play.
• How convenient that the alien understands English.
• The kids steal their older brother’s car and take it for a joy ride without a license or training.  Thanks for putting that idea into millions of pre-teens’ heads.
• Of course, the kids in the movie are smarter than the bumbling, idiot adults. 
• The kids are unhappy because they’re being forced out of their homes so that a freeway could be built in the area.  They rant and rave as if that’s completely inhumane, but in reality, their parents are being paid for their properties.
• Tuck states “Our whole lives we’ve been invisible…the good kids.  Not anymore.”  Again, thanks for putting that great idea out there for kids to emulate.
• The kids cheer wildly in the predictable ending “We did that!”  Um no, Echo did.

Interesting lines:

• Tuck tells his bros that he kissed a cute girl.  When they find out he really didn’t, he explains “It’s aspirational thinking…you’re thinking one thing and living it the next.”  Hmmm…has he been reading the book The Secret ?

Funny lines:

• “I need an Advil.”  - Mudge
• “Did your phone barf?” – Tuck
• “I think mannequins are hot.”  - Mudge
• Why don’t you just play with your super rich friends and eat steak or something.”  - Alex
• The kids go into a bar and one of them says “Look old!”

Tips for parents:   Young kids will probably enjoy this movie, especially if they’ve never seen E.T.  They love to watch other kids become heroes and do things adults think they can’t do….or defy them to do.  The language is clean and the script is mostly harmless.

Now, if you want to introduce your kids to some classics, help them discover the following: