BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

My old friend John called me from beautiful British Columbia, last evening, to wish me a happy new year; to ask me if I've seen Cloverfield; and how things are going in my life (or what there is of it). There was more to our 'catching up' conversation than that, but you get the idea. And, of course, this information is important to your own existence. (Insert picture here of the plate of delicious bacon and eggs I had this morning for breakfast.)

As we are both Ed Wood fans, the subject came up. We cannot have a full blown conversation and not broach the subject of the infamous filmmaker. Plan 9 From Outer Space and Bride of the Monster, for starters, warrant regular cogitation.

John explained why Cloverfield, to him at least, works superlatively. Within its own logic and what the filmmakers clearly set out to do, the film is perfect. The sound is awesome and the camera shaky. His girlfriend had to leave during the screening as she could not take the jerking image any longer, but John survived the "visceral experience".

I will see Cloverfield at the Bloor Cinema when it hits the reps.

My friend asked me if I had seen the so-called "Phantom Edit". (This is a re-edit job done by a guy in the States to the worse than awful Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Remember that one... from 1999?) I had heard of the project as it made the news, but I never bothered to track down a copy or even search on the Net for one. John is not a Star Wars fan but he is very impressed with this re-cut since he is an editor himself. I will seek this one out. Calling all Star Wars fans. "Beep, beep, beep... beep."

"Beep."

Something else I learned from John is that there is a production company called Asylum that makes feature length movies to mimic the Hollywood versions before they even come out. Yes, Snakes on a Train was released on home video before Snakes on a Plane made it to movie theatres. This company has the process down to an art form, having release some fifty or so examples.

I told John that I too had thought of doing the same thing with Cloverfield. My version, which I almost put into production upon first hearing the news of the J.J. Abrams film, was titled Mayfield. Some dopey kid with a baseball cap and a rather portly and apple-eating friend defend his small town, U.S.A., against a giant monster. (McCarthyism? Communism?)

In life we sometimes miss opportunities.