Monsters (Gareth Edwards, 2010)

[manicsounds]

Did anyone else catch this and like this?

For a film that cost less than $500,000 dollars, with a very small cast (2 people) and crew (of 4 people), it's an amazing feat in special effects and filmmaking. The Blu-ray is out in the US now, and coming soon to the UK, it has a lot of special features on the creation of this little independent film.

Director Gareth Edwards is a promising director, and I certainly hope he doesn't ruin the next movie, "Godzilla" (coming in 2012)

I know there was some negative reaction from some, saying there was very little with action or scary scenes or violence, (of which it got an R rating for "language" which even that I don't remember anything of an R rating) and that it was a bit of a drag.

For me, that's what I liked. It was about the characters and atmosphere more than a violent action induced monster movie.

[Galen Young]

Loved it! Didn't get a chance to see it in theatres, but the blu-ray is terrific. The extra features on the production are very inspiring.

[manicsounds]

Who did see it in theaters? Magnolia (US) is a shit distributor of theatrical features, something like only 20 theaters for Monsters? C'mon! How do they expect a profit from that? I know it had a little better business in the UK, but not much. I'm just glad Magnolia put an extra effort on the disc itself.

[willoneill]

I managed to see it in theatres, but at a preview screening that I got a free pass to. After that, I'm not even sure it played anywhere else in town. It's too bad, because I thought it was a pretty good film, even if the acting was a little stiff. Still, I thought it would be an unexpected profitable hit.

[domino harvey]

Caught up with this and found it to be a wonderful little film, big on atmosphere, and ultimately quite beautiful. There are several unshakable images of strangeness amongst the vast and empty destruction that will stay fresh in my mind for some time, as will the prevailing melancholic tone. The film thankfully keeps its political undertones mostly muted (sci-fi as a genre gravitates away from social subtlety already, so this is a particularly laudable achievement), and the two leads have good chemistry (great, even-- apparently they got married afterward!). I can't believe this only cost half a million-- it's amazing what some people can do with so little and others can't with so much.

[Oedipax]

I haven't caught up with this one yet, but if anyone's interested in the technical end of low budget filmmaking (with a heavy visual effects bent), Gareth Edwards taught an online course in After Effects a few years back. It was centered around a made for TV movie about Attila the Hun that he shot, directed, edited, and did basically all the visual effects for himself (which took something like a year on its own). The site that offers the course, fxphd, is a great learning resource in general and I highly recommend it to anyone who's serious about film production (VFX and otherwise - there are camera, editing, color correction, etc courses as well). The video linked about has before/after comparisons but the course itself is literally an unedited moving capture of Edwards' screen as he recreates many of the shots while explaining what he's doing.

[Nothing]

Monsters is okay. Extremely heavy handed thematically, and the central relationship isn't very convincing (despite being played by a real life couple) - a fault that lies primarily with the script or, rather, the lack of it. The handheld camera is tired too. Yet he does create a strong atmosphere, draws good performances from the supporting cast and, of course, the VFX are impressive and lend a deceptively expensive feel. All in all, an extremely smart calling card that has clearly paid off...

Oedipax, that link is to a youtube trailer, do you have a link to the course?

[domino harvey]

Oedipax, I haven't even begun to go through the Blu-ray's extras, but there is easily a few hours' worth of bonus material documenting the making of the film at every possible juncture, if that's where your interest lies

[Oedipax]

Oedipax, that link is to a youtube trailer, do you have a link to the course?

There used to be some segments on YouTube but it appears they've been yanked (fxphd is a subscription training site where you pay $330 for three 10-week courses plus a 'background fundamentals' course which varies by term). There is this clip however. fxphd does offer older courses for sale sometimes but usually only after you've done the normal subscription. I'm a little surprised they haven't offered it individually with all the attention Monsters is getting.

[Camera Obscura]

Caught this last Friday (Imagine Festival, A'dam). Have to say, with $500,000 and a four man crew, Edwards manages to come up with some impressive shots and visual effects, but it's essentially a sweet love story and one a little too syrupy for my taste. The romantic interplay, dialog and sexual innuendo between the young leads was rather hard to swallow, though Whitney Able can stretch and yawn like no other, looking incredibly hot in her shortie jeans. And giant eyed monster tentacles that came straight outta War of the Worlds from equally cute love making monsters. C'mon...

And the heavy handedness, I just couldn't take it. Non too subtle. And to top it all off, pretty much every South-of-the-Border cliché was thrown in there.

Not looking for logic in a giant monster flick, but was there any thought behind the lush dripping evergreen jungle at the Mexican side of the giant wall and the arid desert at the US side? I mean, that's a pretty sharp climatic divide... Or climate change on an extremely local scale.

Or is this Edwards' way of telling us how inhumane US immigration policies are? Also, at one point, they are looking at a climate map of Mexico, based on the Köppen-system (!). In another scene they're asking directions and a local points the way with a 16th century Spanish map. Perhaps I'm just reaching here, but if this was all meant as some kind of in-joke, I'm afraid I totally missed it.

[manicsounds]

Edwards says on the extras that there never was a political reason or metaphor about illegal immigration, but he finds it interesting in hindsight to see that. It was mostly logistical and financial reasons to make this in South America, and use 'American' actors.

The US Blu-ray is a great package that rivals the DVDs of David Fincher movies on the moviemaking process. No silly EPKs with congratulations, all very important stuff. Just wish the comic-con interview was longer. But with the amount of talking Gareth Edwards gets in through all the bonus features, there may be not much else to say.

[Camera Obscura]

Thanks. Sounds like the extras on the bd would probably answer most of my questions.