DUE DATE:
Though this movie has Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Fox, who are both terrific, and Zach Galifinakias (know I'm spelling that wrong) who is pretty damn funny, I think this looks kinda lame. I mean I'm getting used to trailers showcasing 70 percent of the freaking movie, but when it gives away what looks like every good joke or surprise, how do you expect me to keep interest. That and some of the lines, mostly from Galifinakias, just seem totally weak. Still these guys are capable of great comedy and a lot of this does look funny. I don't know whether or not I should try this out, though I know a great many will.
THE DILEMMA:
I was very surprised to find this was a Ron Howard film; then again, I guess he did do How The Grinch Stole Christmas time upon a once. Still this looks pretty good, Vince Vaughn and Kevin James play two best friends who love the fact they have the perfect double date thing going on with their two perfect wives, Jennifer Connelly (son of a bitch!) and Wynona Ryder (son of a bitch!). It is perfect only until Vaughn discovers Ryder is having an affair with a younger man (Channing Tatum, for you ladies) behind James' back. This has the makings of a good movie because The Dilemma actually has a good dilemma; should Vaughn tell James about his wife's infidelity? Would it be a betrayal to tell him the truth and destroy a marriage or to say nothing and let the deception last? There are even guns and fist fights in the movie. It has potential. The only downsides are the majority of the trailer is devoted to a bad case of poison ivy Vaughn gets in the film that screws up his bladder (it was kinda funny though because it seemed like Vaughn was trying to stay on the primary dilemma). And secondly, how do these two seriously get such hot wives; and it's not just in this movie, they have a damn track record (Vaughn in Wedding Crashers and Old School, James in King of Queens and Hitch). Maybe chicks really do like guys who are just funny. Maybe Seth MacFarlane and Judd Apatow's frequent pairing of babes with slobs is rubbing off on our culture. If so, there's gonna be a great many lucky guys in this world.
TANGLED:
An upcoming Disney animated film, Tangled seems to be taking that old fairy tale story of Rapunzel and throwing into, well, the Disney style. Our heroine with the elongated hair and our hero who climbs up the elongated hair begin in that Han and Leia phase it seems and their adventure begins as hijinks ensue. Though the trailer gives way too much away, leaves no real mystery to how the story will play out, and it even pretty cliche at times, it still looks really fun and funny. With the voices of Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore in the leads, I think Tangled could be a very enjoyable Disney movie.
THE TEMPEST:
The Tempest right off looks like a movie I will like. I love new takes on old classics. Though I've read very little Shakespeare, his work is kind of alluring, and this is his last work so there's that as well. The stories can be revised in so many unique ways. The story features several colorful and unique characters as they get into misadventures on a tropical island (a storyline I am in no way familiar with). Many of the characters seem to be terrorized or manipulated by the sorceress Prospera (Helen Mirren, playing what was originally a male character). A great cast is in this: David Straitherin, Alan Cumming, Chris Cooper, and Bill Conti play Prospera's apparent shady victims; Russell Brand and Alfred Molina play a couple of weird, idiotic, but mostly hedonistic wanderers; Ben Whisha is a violent supernatural entity; and Djimoun Honsou is Prospera's eccentric island rival Caliban. The director is Julie Taymor, who directed another revisionist Shakespeare story, Titus, to much acclaim. This looks pretty good, engrossing. Some thought provoking fantasy perhaps, with themes defined as only Shakespeare could.
THE TOURIST:
This looks like a good thriller again because of the cast. Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, and Paul Bettany. Depp plays a regular tourist seduced by an alluring femme fatale (Jolie) into a North by Northwest type of scenario, while a determined agent (Bettany) strives to solve this mystery. The trailer gets the fundamentals in: Depp is seduced, framed, on the run, and yet still can't seem to not trust Jolie (well as good as she looks neither would I), but the nature of what is happening isn't clearly stated. Still it looks witty and action packed, not to mention well directed. It's got people I like saying and doing things I think are cool. I like the fact that Depp is being the nervous Cary Grant character while Jolie is the mysterious badass, when first hearing about the film I thought it'd be the other way around (either that or a Mr. and Mrs. Smith type movie); I suppose, though, Depp is more fun when he's frantic and Jolie is more fun when she's luscious and lethal. Might have to check it out sometime.
LEGACY:
Legacy looks like my kind of thriller. Suspenseful, enigmatic, claustrophobic, good action, intriguing performers, and an interesting story. The plot involves an ex-black ops commando (Idris Elba) on the run from bad guys and possibly even his old comrades. He is held up in a hotel room, living in fear, and being contacted by various people, including an old lover, friends, journalists, and his politician brother. The trailer isn't loud and action packed (though there is action scenes), it is more atmospheric and visual friendly. It gets the fundamentals down but makes them intriguing; I'm invested in Elba's character just watching the trailer, that's the mark of a good trailer. This looks like the first time I will really enjoy Idris Elba's acting, I've seen a few of his movies and his fine performance as Stringer on The Wire, but this is one where he looks particularly intriguing. Clarke Peters from The Wire is also in the movie, so that's awesome too. I am very interested, it looks intense as hell.
YOGI BEAR:
...This is not my expertise. Well, kids are gonna like it I suppose. They got Dan Ackroyd and Justin Timberlake as Yogi and Booboo. So that's weird, but they seem to be pulling it off. From a kid's point of view this probably looks like some good cheesy fun with talking animated animals, but my adult mind is telling me this could either pan out as decent children's film or The Country Bears 2 (shudder).
THE DEBT:
Here might be a really thrilling thriller aka espionage actioner. The story deals with two timelines, one which deals with young Mossad operatives (Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Martin Csokas) who are on a secret mission to capture a Nazi war criminal in the 1960s. The other timeline focuses on the now older operatives (Helen Mirren, Ciarin Hinds, Tom Wilkinson) in the present as they are revered for their actions during the mission. I think the main plot comes about when proof arises that they actually made a horrible mistake during the mission (which we will no doubt so play out in the past) and have to make sure whatever secret they kept stays kept. The Debt looks intense, shadowy, and subtle, a bit like Legacy. Plus there are actors here that I like, which you've been and will keep hearing a lot.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS:
Okay, I've never been that interested in the Harry Potter series, book or film. I stopped watching around the fourth or fifth film because it was just kinda repetitive to me. Maybe I will follow up and watch the whole damn series at some point, like I plan to do with Twilight. Still no matter what old reservations I have for this series, this trailer looks epic as hell. I don't even know what the hell is going on but it looks cool. I only know that the pivotal fight that they were building up to since Philosopher's Stone between Harry and Lord Voldemort is gonna come to a head. A friend once described the ending of the book series to me, because these kinds of fans can't help it, and I had a hard time understanding (and this is the guy who thought Lost made sense). Still with cool visuals, locations, special effects, and a cast of just about every European actor or actress I adore, and of course a series fans around the world are in love with, I don't think this movie can go wrong.
SKYLINE:
Okay, this is one of my many cases where the teaser trailer for the film looks far greater than the theatrical trailer. Remember Inception's teaser which gave little to no clue as to what the movie was gonna be about, just that it was gonna be freaking amazing? Yeah, that's what I mean. Both trailers feature city-folk looking up in awe as alien ships begin hovering over every other roof everywhere, open up those doors of theirs, and start sucking people in. Now you just leave it at that, I'm in. But the theatrical came along and ruined that image. It keeps the image and a few other cool visuals, but then it goes on into clear bad acting, overly cliche story, and action that crosses War of the Worlds with Snakes on a Plane. It has actors I like, sure, like the underutilized Eric Balfour, Donald Faison from Scrubs, and the great David Zayas from Dexter, but even they don't seem to be saving this movie. The monster effects are shit too. So yeah, Skyline, you had me going there for a second, then you just went and cheesed it up. Hope I'm wrong.
THE ROOMMATE:
Single White Female much? This is indeed a pretty clear remake of Barbet Schroeder's Single White Female, only set in a college campus. So our recently crowned Sexiest Woman Alive, Minka Kelly, stars as a new student in your standard dream movie college. She has a nice roommate, Rebecca (Leighton Meester), goes to flashy night clubs, and even has a cute guy (Cam Gigandet). It all seems perfect, until it turns out her roommate is obessessed with her and will do anything to keep her for herself. Then the horror, oh the horror, begins. Though this trailer has some really intense and scary moments, it is hard to take seriously. I can handle the spiritual remake aspect mostly because I haven't seen Single White Female, but you know the story. For one thing, key scares from classic horror movies and thrillers are rehashed here; the Rebecca chick fades in out of darkness behind the heroine like Michael did in Halloween, stabs a guy to death during sex like in Basic Instinct, there is that cool "Go check it out!" shot taken from The Shining, then of course the trademark stalker stare. Also, I can't take Leighton Meester, the uppercrust Blair from Gossip Girl, as a friendless psycho. Why? She is hot as hell, even when trying not to be; more like 200 friends on Facebook. Oh yeah and for us guys there is apparently a kiss scene between Kelly and Meester (there's something to look forward to). The thing that really freaked me out is that my friend is in college and her roommate was a chick named Rebecca (watch your back, jk jk).
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN:
This looks like a grindhouse movie that'll put the actual Grindhouse movie in it's shadow. Hobo with a Shotgun is based off of the Canadian faux trailer submitted to Grindhouse for its collection of faux trailers. Now it has evolved into a full blown, crazy ass movie. The movie looks like a collection of hardcore violence and action. It puts Rutger Hauer as the Hobo in a city that is on a fast track to Fallout 3 territory. He finds a shotgun, sees the violence corrupting his world, has nothing better to do. The choice looks simple. So we pit the Hobo against the cities worst and it looks like cartoonishly graphic exploitation at its strangest. I mean, I really don't know whether to watch it or shy away from it. It looks too crazy actually, but in a good way. The one thing that really sells me on it is Rutger Hauer, an actor who will never cease to be intimidating and awesome. The trailer mainly features a monologue he gives to a hospital nursery full of newborn babies, as he bitterly laments their likely bad futures. It'll be good just to see him be a badass again. I am pumped as hell.
THE GOON:
Based off of the popular comic book (which I've not read unfortunately), The Goon is an animated film that will feature too cartoonish but nevertheless badass partners, the musclebound and gruff Goon (Clancy Brown) and the stout and talkative Franky (Paul Giamatti) as they go to work fighting supernatural forces. The trailer shows their daily activities: passing beers and playing games around a bar, killing zombies, and looking back on the old days when vices weren't as messy. The last featuring The Goon and Franky piling through a street filled with zombies, firing off tommy guns and swinging baseball bats to the sound of country rock sold me. It is also being produced by David Fincher. It looks like a fun, graphic, and clever little movie.
SUCKER PUNCH:
From the mind of Zach Snyder, here comes a movie that looks freaking awesome but doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I won't try to describe Snyder's premise so here's some things featured in the trailer that will catch people's interest: guns, swords, WWII, mental patients, gangsters, robots, dragons, samurai, martial arts, gun fu, 50s culture, and, above all else, a cast of scantily clad young women who can kick some ass. And every nerd in the world jizzed in their pants. The main cast of girls include Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, and Jamie Chung, as well as Carla Gugino, Scott Glenn, and Jon Hamm supporting. Sucker Punch looks like every style choice Snyder has ever put into a film evolved times ten and thrown together to make a CGI laced action picture that looks as if it seeks to outdo Sin City or 300 or even Kung Fu Hustle. I mean all the trailer really is is action, pure, fast paced, and heavy hitting. And damn if I am not ready for it.
BLACK SWAN:
Okay, now this looks fucking crazy. The trailer seriously freaked me out. This is Darren Aronofsky's new film, a psychological thriller centered around a paranoid star ballet dancer (Natalie Portman). Portman's character has been rising high in the ballet industry. Succeeding a previous star (Wynona Ryder), she becomes her handsome director's (Vincent Cassel) grand pupil. Her insecurity kicks in on a dangerous level however when the director seems to have found a new rising star in another dancer (Mila Kunis), resulting in a possibly unstable state of mind. The trailer features such surreal, horrifying imagry that I imagine it will be hard to sit through this movie. The last visual suggests a Cronenberg-esque body horror aspect. Aronofsky's direction, no matter the genre he pursues, seems to be very stark and powerful. The acting looks tremendous, Natalie Portman in a type of role I don't think I've seen her in before, looking frantic. Mila Kunis needs a role in a movie that looks this dark and edgy, a right career move. The supporting cast of Vincent Cassel, Wynona Ryder, and Barbara Hershey will no doubt add to the movie's success and outcome. I think this movie looks like a haunting, surreal, thought provoking thriller. I will definitely want to see it. One thing though: does every film these days have to feature a lesbian kiss? Is it like an obligation? Don't get me wrong, I am just as ready for a Portman/Kunis lip-locking anytime, but still I just find it odd. I think it's probably just a cheap route to draw male audiences in (and its working, though the movie looks great anyway). Maybe trailers should feature more kisses between gay men; somehow I think the result would come back negative?
HEREAFTER:
Clint Eastwood's new film, and most times that's all I'd need to say. For the past 20 years, Eastwood has in more ways than one confronted life and death within his films, and with Hereafter it seems as if he is making a film primarily about the subject. It centers around various people who have had different experiences with death, as we all have. Many of these people look to a once renowned spirit medium (Matt Damon) for help, but he has his own troubled conscience to deal with. The subject of death is particularly interesting for a film to base itself around, especially since we all think about whatever hereafter there might actually be. If it's Eastwood I'd imagine this is gonna be a bold, emotional, compelling movie that definitely leaves an impression like the majority of his movies. Though I certainly hope this won't be his last one.
TRUE GRIT:
I know I will have to see the John Wayne original beforehand, but still how can I not be totally pumped for this movie. A remake of the classic western, revisioned by the masters of the craft, The Coen Brothers, and featuring Jeff Bridges as the A Number 1 badass. I'm in all the way. With Matt Damon and Josh Brolin in the supporting cast, this just looks like a terrific western and I'm glad as hell that there are still terrific westerns (it's just a totally classic genre). So yes only three words needed to sum up why this movie is gonna be great: Coens, Bridges, Western.
127 HOURS:
I think this might be the movie I'm looking forward to the most. Based on a true story, Aron Ralston (James Franco) is a young adventurer always looking for new obstacles in far away places. During a hiking trip in the desolate terrain of Utah in 2003, he literally gets stuck between a rock and a hard place when his arm is crushed by a boulder while between a narrow canyon wall. Low on supplies, with no help coming, Aron will be forced to go to the extremes in order to survive. Though having a cast with Treat Williams, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, and Clemence Poesey on the side, the movie will primarily feature a solo act from the great James Franco. For a movie about a guy stuck in one place, it looks intense and exciting as hell. I unfortunately know the outcome of this story however. I can't imagine how its gonna be on film, but I'm sure it will be effective. This is the latest film from the master filmmaker Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Slumdog Millionaire. I am excited as hell for this movie. It looks amazing.
So those are some recent trailers to movies coming our way soon or a little ways down the road. But these are just my opinions, you have yours and I advise you to see what you want.
No comments:
Post a Comment