Crimson and "Cloverfield"

Saw "Cloverfield" over the weekend. Not bad, and much better than any January movie release has a right to be. This is the dumping time for studios--the time for movies with Queen Latifah or Nicholas Cage. Not that N.C. doesn't occasionally make a good film, but he makes so many movies that inevitably there's a cinematic turd that turns into a Jan. or Feb. dump job. I guess the studios decided that "National Treasure 2" wuz a sufficiently lame holdover from the holidays, so they didn't need to inflict another "Wicker Man" on us. Anyhoo, with "Cloverfield" the new shaky-cam film genre scores its bigget hit since "The Blair Witch Project," and even outdoes it in some ways (tho' BWP was creepier). There isn't much to give a shit about in terms of the characters, of course, but after fifteen or so minutes of boring chit-chat by the lead actors for the camcorder-guy at a party, the Big Monsta attacks New York and totally punts the Statue of Liberty's head through some skyscraper uprights like Lawrence "third Tynes a Charm" in that game Sunday. And, oh yeah: it's on! (alas, just like the doomed characters in this film, the Giants are prolly gonna get they asses kicked by the Big Monsta Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday, but for Scotty's sake I hope that the rebel alliance can win the day).