One of the few decent movies this year

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2016)

What has happened to cinema in 2016? Disappointment after disappointment. It's like Hollywood just doesn't understand what entertains people these days. We don't want two and a half hour sermons about how much it sucks to be a superhero. Thank goodness for 10 Cloverfield Lane. . .
It's nice to be surprised. Like most people, I had no idea this film was even being made, until a few weeks before its release, and it's a damn fine roller-coaster ride of a movie too.
Most of 10 Cloverfield take place in an underground bunker, but the majority of its running time down there is more intense and edge-of-the- seat than Michael Bay/Zak Snyder destroying a hundred cities. A sharp script goes a long way, and is helped by wonderful performances. John Goodman is solid as ever, but it's Mary Elizabeth Winstead's show, and she's brilliant. Vulnerable, yet resourceful, kidnapped, yet refusing to be a victim.
Some people complain about the ending, but it is consistent with the tone of the movie, where the rug is always being pulled from under the characters' feet. It's only fitting that the pay-off would be, ahem, 'out of this world'. Imagine if it had turned out to be a reality TV show prank or something, then you'd have something to really complain about.