[UPDATE: Well, I was going to hold off on the review until Friday, but I'm sure Paramount won't mind a spoiler-free positive Cloverfield review.]

I’ll be sitting down to watch the long awaited Cloverfield movie in about 2 1/2 hours. I’ve promised Paramount that I wouldn’t publish my review until Friday, but after I see it I will be updating this post to at least give you the thumbs up or thumbs down on it.

Cloverfield has been the recipient of a monster (pun intended) viral marketing campaign and as my buddy John points out at The Movie Blog, there is the possibility that this could end up being another Snakes on a Plane. If you recall that film generated a TON of online buzz (not much in the “real” world, though) and it ended up tanking big time at the box office.

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How would you like to attend an official Cloverfield movie party? If you’re within traveling distance of New York City on January 17th (the day before the movie opens on 1-18-08), you can RSVP to for a chance to receive an invite.

Here are the details…

Cloverfield and Myspace are throwing a surprise party for Rob in New York City!

Join us next Thursday night, January 17th for a send off for our buddy Rob, he’s moving to Japan! There will be drinks, dancing, and tons of cool people. It will be a party to remember!

We’re randomly picking 200 people who RSVP to join us for a big Cloverfield celebration in the Lower East Side. It’s going to be a blast!

RSVP to robsparty@cloverfieldmovie.com - make sure to include your FULL NAME and a PHONE NUMBER that we can reach you at. We will let you know if you have been chosen via telephone.

RSVP before Thursday night January 10th at midnight- we’re picking winners this Friday!

And here’s what the invitation looks like:

G.I. Joe casting update: More cast members have joined the Stephen Sommers-directed film, including big-time Korean star Byeong-Heon Lee, who will be playing Cobra Commander’s bodyguard (and Snake Eyes’ brother) Storm Shadow. Scarlett O’Hara will be played by upcoming star Rachel Nichols. They join Sienna Miller (as the female lead) and Ray Park (Darth Maul, who plays Snake Eyes). The film is scheduled to open in 2009. Source: Latino Review.

USA Network cancels The Dead Zone and The 4400: Fans were disappointed to learn both The Dead Zone and The 4400 were canceled today, and the final episodes were aired in September. Looks like any dangling plot lines won’t be worked out, unless fans can rally to save the shows, a la Jericho! Source: Ain’t It Cool News.

Hey everyone, just wanted to put up this clip from the highly anticipated Cloverfield, opening in just over a month on January 18, 2008 (the film was known by this date for a while, 1-18-08), from producer JJ Abrams. He does an introduction to the clip, and I’m almost positive it’s from the set of the new Star Trek Film!

The clip is after the jump. It’s awesome and actually a bit scary (think 9/11).

[UPDATE: The official Star Trek trailer is now online.]

Sorry about the lousy grammar in the title, but I was trying to figure out how not to make it a mile long.
We’ve all been wondering when we’ll get a look at the first trailer for Star Trek 11… well I have it on good authority when we’ll finally see it and what movie it will be attached to.

The Star Trek teaser trailer will be attached to J.J. Abrams monster movie Cloverfield, which opens on January 18, 2008.

It makes sense if you think about it. Attach the trailer for an upcoming Abrams movie to an Abrams movie. TrekMovie.com speculated earlier this month that the trailer might be attached to either Cloverfield or Indy 4. And according to Latino Review, the teaser is supposed to show (among other things) the construction of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.

And why do I think Bill Shatner’s going to be even more annoyed than he has been up until now regarding Star Trek 11…?

I just love a good bit of irony… after all the speculation on what J.J. Abrams upcoming monster movie codenamed Cloverfield would end up really being titled we finally have our answer.

Will it be 1-18-08? Monster? Some other well-hidden title?

Nope. Here it is:

CLOVERFIELD

Ya just gotta love that.
By the way, in light of how the recent spate of torture movies has done (ie. not so well), the buzz is that Abrams’ film is going to usher in the next wave of horror movies. So get ready for a bunch of new monster movies to start hitting movie theaters, especially if Cloverfield ends up being a big hit.

BTW, the new trailer is supposed to be attached to Beowulf, opening on November 16th.

Source: IESB

Since the trailer for J.J. Abrams’ mystery project appeared out of nowhere a couple of months ago, I must admit I’ve been eager to find out more. Referred to as Cloverfield or simply 1-18-08 - the film’s planned release date - the trailer had me hooked. As a major fan of Lost, I appreciated the lack of details. I loved not knowing.

Then came announcements of a monster destroying New York City.

Now the official title rumors have begun: first Monstrous and now, following that leak, Wreck.

Call me crazy but has the project suddenly become a whole heap less interesting to anyone else? What sounded like an eery, ominous thriller is beginning to sound more like Godzilla with a title to out-lame Hollow Man.

This post will be continually updated.

At the Paramount panel:

Hot Rod

The three leads from Hot Rod introduced a clip from the film. It was a hysterical parody of a classic scene from Footloose taken way over the top. I have to admit it was pretty damned funny.
Stardust

Neil Gaiman was there to introduce a clip from the upcoming film. It was quite an extended clip showing Michelle Pfeiffer as the Witch turning two goats into men in order to help her staff an inn that she also creates in the clip to trap the young woman (Claire Danes) who is quite literally the star of the movie.

Holy cow I can’t remember the last time I saw this much buzz/hysteria/mystery surrounding a movie based on so little information. I think I’d have to go back to Blair Witch Project for a similar case.

So here’s the latest:

- According to J.J. Abrams, the items I mentioned regarding the supposedly related Ethan Hass websites are in fact NOT related to Cloverfield, 1-18-08 or whatever you want to call this project. Now as far as I’m concerned, Abrams saying that these sites are unrelated does not necessarily make that true.

This week The Weekly Rant covers a wee bit of Iron Man, Live Free or Die Hard, of course I have to talk about Transformers and the goings on of the super-secret J.J. Abrams monster movie with the codename: “Cloverfield.”