Bye Bye......kinda
I'm shutting down this blog again. However, I will be restarting my WrtechedGenius blog as an open arena for movie-related stuff, which includes any future trailer reviews I write.
http://wretchedgenius.blogspot.com
Watching the good, the bad, and the ugly of the cinamatic world
2 1/2 minutes at a time.
I'm shutting down this blog again. However, I will be restarting my WrtechedGenius blog as an open arena for movie-related stuff, which includes any future trailer reviews I write.
I want to see this one, but I have low expectations. This film is based on a comic that wasn't very good to start with, though it looked gorgeous. The plot of the movie looks a little more streamlined than the jarring, jumping plot of the comic, and that should work to the film's advantage. The visual style holds pretty true to the comic, which should also be to the film's advantage. On the downside, the cast either looks flat (Josh Hartnett & Melissa George), or grossly overplayed (Ben Foster again, apparently trying to become the next Giovanni Ribisi). The always-great Danny Huston is in the cast, but I did not spot him in the trailer. Hopefully he'll remain a true professional and give a good performance even though this movie is way beneath him.
In the old west, Christian Bale has to escort master criminal Russell Crowe to a train (guess which one). Alone the way, Crowe's gang (now led by a dementedly over-the-top Ben Foster) tries to intervene.
Jason Bourne rocks. That's all I need to say. "The Bourne Ultimatum" looks like more of the same, and for this franchise that is a shining compliment. Can't wait to see it.
This movie is that one where only the release date is given. It shows a bunch of 20-somethings celebrating someone's going-away or something. Suddenly there are loud noises and people talking about a monster. They all rush outside, see a distant explosion, then hear growling/roaring getting closer. And all of this is seen via a POV shot from a crappy digital camera.
Ben Affleck gets a bad rap, though a good portion of it is his fault. He's a good actor when he chooses to be, but too often he prefers to mug uncontrollably to unamusing effect. I bring this up because I'm sure many people will dismiss this film outright because it is Ben's directorial debut, and they will associate his countless bad acting roles with this film. Based on the trailer, I don't think that is a wise move. "Gone Baby Gone" actually looks pretty good. Casey Affleck (Ben's underappreciated, more-talented younger brother) plays a neighborhood man who starts investigating the disappearance of a small child. Either helping or hindering him is Morgan Freeman (the trailer doesn't make it very clear if he's a protagonist or antagonist) as a local police officer. Ed Harris also stars as another officer, and his role seems more antagonistic. I think.
A killer obsessed with a hot teenager girl kills the girl's friends while at a party on a secluded farm.
I love Richard Matheson's novel. And fortunately, it has already been cinematically ripped off and butchered so many times that I am no longer hit with that initial wave of heartbreak and disgust when I see that Will Smith will be starring in a 100 Trillion Dollar blockbuster version of what should (if faithful to the novel) never cost more than 10 million. The novel takes place almost entirely inside a man's house. In the Will Smith trailer, he was only shown in a house for about 2 seconds, and those 2 seconds appeared to be taken from a workout montage. He wandered all over an abandoned New York, carrying an automatic weapon and doing fun things like hitting golf balls off the wing of a parked Stealth bomber. And despite my love of the book and my exasperation at Hollywood for never being able to take a good idea and not inflate it to 400%, I actually didn't find anything immediately appalling about the trailer. The sets looked good, Will Smith didn't make any Will Smith-eque jokes, and the director appears to know how atmosphere is created. As a teaser trailer, it did not show any of the vampires. Well, I guess they technically aren't vampires, just infected people. Kinda like the "zombies" in the "28 _ Later" series. But they act vampire-ish. Regardless, they don't show up in the trailer.
Stallone has thrown together some early footage from "John Rambo" to use as an enticement for distributors. He has also made the footage available on the internet to get some feedback from the fans. It's not a formal trailer (and features way more gore than even a red band trailer would allow), but I felt like reviewing it anyway.
Jason Statham and Jet Li star in "Jason Statham vs. Jet Li 12: War".
"Even Money" is another one of those movies where 400 different storylines share a common theme and intersect in ways that make no sense to the plot, and only exist so that the wives in the audience can turn to their poor bastard husbands and whisper "Hey look! It's that guy from that other story!" This time around the plot focuses on the negative effect that compulsive gambling has on the lives of gamblers and the people around them.
The movie stars Jessica Simpson.
The movie looks like it should be a Will Ferrell movie. Except instead of one Will Ferrell, we get both Will Forte and Will Arnett. What's the deal with cinematic craziness and guys named Will?
Man oh man I can't wait to see "Fido." A retro 1950's-esque world where zombies have been incorporated into everyday life to do menial jobs and help out around the house? That's awesome. I can't tell what the plot is about, but I don't really care. The cast has great fun with the concept, and I can't wait to see Carrie Anne Moss get to be funny for a change. After this film and "Shaun of the Dead," I really hope Zombie Comedy becomes a popular genre.
The plot synopsis of the film says that the story involves a signal that transmits through all regular forms of electronic media (phones, computers, TVs, radios, etc.) and turns people into zombies, or vampires, or monsters, or something. The trailer I watched, however, was just a series of half-second jolts of random chaotic footage interlaced with TV static. I've seen this technique used before, but this time the trailer never stopped or slowed down to focus on anything. Without even just one iconic image, it's just a mishmash of grainy footage. How's that supposed to interest me?
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I remember when Elisha Cuthbert had some real promise. Now she is almost intolerable. I remember when director Roland Joffe was great ("The Mission", "The Killing Fields"), and slowly succumbed to mediocrity ("Super Mario Bros", "The Scarlet Letter"). And oldschool horror director Larry Cohen (80's camp classics "Q: The Winged Serpent", "The Stuff", and "It's Alive") is now an empty shell of a screenwriter. Only this collection of faded talent could produce a film which looks like nothing more than a straight-to-DVD "Saw" sequel.
I think Jason Biggs is a fine comedic actor, and I wish he were given more opportunities to play something other than a slight variant of that pie-fucker guy. This movie does not afford him said opportunity. Not only does "Wedding Daze" have Biggs once again slipping into his "American Pie" shoes, it also appears to have Isla Fisher playing her "Wedding Crashers" role. And I mean identically playing her previous role. Same crazy laugh and everything. In fact, I had to look the movie up on IMDB after seeing the trailer just to confirm that it's not a "Wedding Crashers" sequel.
Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga begin to suspect that their perfect little boy, Joshua, is a burgeoning homicidal sociopath. While the tone of the trailer was deadly serious, and Rockwell appears to give another strong performance, I couldn't help but think I've already seen this concept done to death. It's plainly obvious from the creepy shit the boy says that he is unhinged, and yet the parents do nothing but worry to themselves and their friends. Any normal parents would stick him in therapy and fill him full of happy drugs. Hell, parents these days do that just to stop their kids from singing loudly in the shower. But not in the movies. It takes a dead dog and a kidnapped baby before they start to think "something may be wrong with our son." Really? You mean the kid with the dead eyes who is always wearing a formal black suit and smirking? Never would have guessed it.
Here's what I can piece together about the plot:
Hey, remember that time I posted trailer reviews for 3 months, then took a year and a half off? That was awesome.
We all know how these movies work by now. Phillip Seymour Hoffman will be the bad guy who does clever evil things, Tom Cruise will save the day, and Ving Rhames will have a small role to remind audiences that he's been in every movie. The M:I theme music will play while explosions go off everywhere, and Michelle Mognahan will be put in peril so that Cruise can save the day in a more crowd-pleasing manner. Actually, I meant to describe the movie, but I've managed to describe the trailer, as well. Makes sense, since the Mission: Impossible movies each play like overlong trailers anyway.
Spike Lee's latest film finds Clive Owen staring straight at the camera, narrating about how he planned and executed the perfect crime. The trailer cuts to Owen and his crew robbing a bank, dressing the hostages up to match the robbers, and Denzel Washington being called in to negotiate. Jodie Foster shows up to be the evil political bitch working for the mayor, or the governer, or somebody who will do something bad to Washington if he screws up. Owen and Washington battle wits, Foster says condescending things, and blah blah blah.
The trailer includes the claim "From the director of Troy and The Perfect Storm...". I'm not so sure that will help to bring in audiences.