While this past week had a few fun trailers, unfortunately there wasn’t anything that I’m going to be waiting in line opening night to see. It seems that we have fully transitioned out of the exciting summer films and are now getting prepared for the mediocre releases that didn’t quite make the summer block.
This week we have a couple big budget films that I feel obligated to talk about, a couple smaller indies I’m a little more excited for, and — Moon Nazis!
Real Steel
There was an early teaser that came out for this last year, but this is the first chance that we really get to see the story of this film. On one level you instantly want to dismiss this film as “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots: The Movie,” sure to be filled with terrible dialogue and cheesy one-liners. But on another level you hope that this interesting premise might actually turn out to be a fresh take on inspiring boxing films.
Hugh Jackman (X-Men, The Prestige) is usually pretty decent in whatever he does, but who I would be most interested to see is Evangeline Lilly in this role, who is most famous as Kate from Lost. Although she was in The Hurt Locker for a bit, this will definitely be her biggest step into features.
While part of me is excited to see some fun robot violence, I feel ultimately this film has to disappoint. Everyone is going to be expecting Transformers quality CGI, but there is no way they had the budget to pull that off. And, I get the feeling that people are going to want this film to have more heart that it will end up having.
Horrible Bosses
The first thing that should catch your eye is this film’s tremendous cast. Most notable are Jason Batmen, who has been cranking out films almost as fast as Natalie Portman, Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Kevin Spacey, who does so few movies these days that you have to be intrigued by the ones he does pick. But of course, filling out the rest of the bill are Colin Ferrel, Jamie Fox, Jason Sudekis (SNL), and Jennifer Aniston rounding out this all-star cast.
Even though the premise of this film is basically a modern day Strangers on a Train, the trailer is pretty funny. But you have to be careful this type of comedy, because more often than not all the good jokes are ruined in the trailer to the point that it is almost not worth seeing the entire film.
All in all, I doubt this will be the “breakout” movie of the year, but with a cast this strong, it has to be enough to at least eventually watch on Netflix. Despite all this, I am excited to see Charlie Day with a feature film career.
The Artist
This is actually the film I am most excited for this week. The Artist is a black and white silent film about a silent film actor struggling with the introduction of sound into the medium. The movie just seems like a fresh of breath air, something completely different that actually took a lot of guts to produce.
The trailer itself is pretty well put together, with strong emotional points so you really get a sense of what the film is going to be like. It is going actually going to take some strong performances to pull this movie off in a way that will be entertaining to a modern audience. Also, I can really appreciate the cinematography, the black and white doesn’t look cheesy and modern at all.
If Michael Hazanavicius, the french director of this film, is able to pull this film off in a compelling way, then he will certainly be someone to keep keep track of. My only fear is that it will get too melodramatic at times instead of finding a real honesty to the performances that will make film connect with it’s audience.
Documentary Corner:
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Ok, I have to admit that I am particularly biases towards this film since I love filmmaking documentaries. This may not be the most exciting trailer you have ever seen, but the subject matter instantly grabbed me. It’s going to be Lost in La Mancha on LSD. And while there are sure to be some great, “profound” lines from director Alejandro Jodorowsky, most famous for his cult film Holy Mountain, I am most interested in the hopes of seeing some footage from his attempt to put Dune on the big screen.
Ridiculously Awesome Trailer of the Week:
Iron Sky
I know this isn’t the first trailer released for this film, but this teaser has a lot more footage than the previous ones. What is most surprising is that it looks like the film will actually have good cinematography and visual effects. My fear is that this film will be really amusing for the first 20 minutes, then get old after a while, but if it turns out to be as tongue-in-cheek as I want it to be, it could actually be kind of amazing.
Other notable trailers:
Straw Dogs
This is a remake of a 1971 thriller starring Dustin Hoffman. What caught my attention first was how the trailer itself was structured almost like a mini short film, starting at the end then flashing back to the beginning of the story. The trailer does seem to have some decent performances from an interesting cast. I’m willing to give James Mardsen a chance to be taken seriously even though most people only know him from X-Men or Enchanted, and it is good too see Kate Bosworth working again. While Straw Dogs is sure to be a riveting thriller, it won’t be anything new or amazing from a filmmaking perspective.
Fright Night
The first thing I had to think when watching this trailer what that this film is a little late for catching onto the whole vampire craze, but it does seem to take itself a little more seriously than most young-adult vampire flicks. In terms of cast, we have newcomer Anton Yechin, who was great in Star Treck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, most famous as Fogell in Superman, and Colin Farrell, making his second trailer appearance this week. If you’re looking for a fresh taste on the vampire genre then you should probably wait for Stakeland, but if are simply a horror fan then this will certainly be a fun show.
christmas stocking stuffer
January 2, 2014 at 7:46 amHurrah, that’s what I was looking for, what a data! existing here at this website,
thanks admin of this website.