It’s buzzing with Oscar glory right now, still several weeks away from its Christmas release, but Paramount has sent me (and, assuredly, every other blogger and their mothers) several video clips from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which stars Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett.
The Curious Case for Benjamin Button Video Clip #1: Tent Revival
The Curious Case for Benjamin Button Video Clip #2: Under the Table
The Curious Case for Benjamin Button Video Clip #3: Meeting in the Middle
The Curious Case for Benjamin Button Video Clip #4: I Came Home
The Curious Case for Benjamin Button Video Clip #5: Never Had a Woman
While I was disappointed that the new Batman movie trailer didn’t premiere with Iron Man, I was delighted to see a new, longer and much better movie trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull before the comic book film.
Some people complained that the last preview was a little too goofy and comical; apparently, someone was listening, because this new trailer has almost no humor whatsoever. That’s a good thing. The trailer starts off with a little more explanation about the myth of the Crystal Skull – essentially more information about the plot than anyone has heard about before (the Crystal Skull is believed to be some relic that, when returned to a sacred temple, the person who is responsible for its return will be able to control its power any way he or she sees fit). Beyond that, the movie trailer digresses into an action montage, some of which we’ve seen before as well as a few new tidbits.
Overall, the new Indiana Jones movie trailer is much more cohesive and really gets you pumped up, whereas the teaser trailer was entertaining but not particularly motivating. With only a few weeks left before its release, this trailer made me just a tiny bit more excited.
The new movie trailer for the upcoming sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is online in all its glory. The trailer is pretty good, having great setup with its slowly intensifying drum roll and more ominous visuals. Overall, the movie looks darker than its predecessor – and in fact one of the characters even makes note of that – which is a good thing.
Unfortunately, I got pumped up about the last Chronicles of Narnia and it ended up being underwhelming. Ultimately, the movies are still more geared towards children, which means these previews that show savage battles and intense fighting will not be nearly what they appear to be. What also concerns me is the lack of attention the trailer gives to the acting, most notably that of Ben Barnes, who plays the title character. He only gets one credited line in the trailer, and it’s a rather painfully delivered, “I am Prince Caspian.” I hope the line is just taken out of context, but I am not impressed.
Imagine every cell phone, radio, and television in your city suddenly broadcasting the same mysterious signal over and over. Now imagine these “terminus” transmissions evoking violent, uncontrollable, psychotic chaos from everyone who comes in contact with them. More…
By now, everyone and their mother has seen the previews for Vantage Point, the new political thriller starring Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Matthew Fox, Sigourney Weaver and Forest Whitaker. The cast is huge, the explosions are excessive and the action guaranteed… so why am I hesitant?
First, realize that I am looking forward to seeing Vantage Point. The trailers are exciting and well done, at least in terms of establishing what could be a smart, edgy story filled with lots of action. There are assassination attempts, kidnappings, car chases, shoot outs and more. At the same, you get the sense that there is going to be a more methodical approach to the delivery; the entire movie isn’t going to rely on action. That’s a good thing.
Still…
The movie trailer shows way too much. Why are studios willing to give away so many plot twists in the previews? The previews for Vantage Point show so much that some people may assume (perhaps rightfully so) that they’ve seen all they need to see. Honestly, did we need to know that the President isn’t actually assassinated? Why not leave that twist for the film? Or that he’s kidnapped later on? Come on, what the f**k!
The movie trailer has been really overplayed. Vantage Point was originally going to come to theaters in Fall 2007; and now it’s arriving at the end of February 2008. I’ve seen the previews so many times now that I’m actually quite sick of it.
The release date begs the question of quality. Action films that come out this time of year often are lacking something.
Vantage Point will be entertaining, and I’m hoping it will be smart, too, but I’m going in with moderate expectations.
A new trailer for the upcoming movie The Eye, starring Jessica Alba as a woman who regains her ability to see and a whole lot more, is now online. The film is a remake of a Chinese horror movie.
December. It is the perfect month for movies. It is in this month where some of the best movies of the year are released (though for many, they don’t arrive until January). Below is a list of my top ten most anticipated movies of December 2007, in reverse order. These movies may be Oscar contenders, or they may just look entertaining, but they are the films I’m most excited about. Granted, some smaller release pictures may pop up that I can’t anticipate, but take it or leave it.
The Bucket List doesn’t look particularly interesting to me, but you can never rule out the combination of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman come December. The movie has the chance of being this year’s As Good As it Gets, as it looks to be a blend of comedy and drama. The plot probably involves at least one of the characters dying at the end, but having a blast and hitting on young girls up until that point. The feel good movie of the year? Maybe.
I definitely didn’t think this one would ever make any top ten lists. The first Alien vs. Predator was a God-awful, laughable mess, but I have to admit that its sequel, Aliens vs Predator Requiem (what does “Requiem” indicate?), with a different director and different cast, looks a lot better. The movie appears to be a lot grittier, a little more grounded in reality (as much as it can be), and a whole lot bloodier. Unlike the first one, the studio wisely made this sequel R-rated, which means a lot more gore. Aliens, Predators and gore is enough for me… I’m sold!
A big Oscar contender lies in Charlie Wilson’s War, a movie starring Tom Hanks as a politician who starts his own war and relief mission. The movie is directed by Mike Nichols, who hasn’t really proven himself as an especially powerful director with a few notable exceptions (The Graduate and Closer) come to mind. More intriguing to audiences will be that the movie is written by Aaron Sorkin, best known for “The West Wing”. The cast isn’t too shabby, either… Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others come to mind… Overall, this has the potential to be very good, though the trailers have been a little underwhelming. While it looks good, is it good enough to be an Oscar contender? That remains to be seen…
Fans may be tired of Woody Allen films, but Allen has proven that when he stays away from comedy, he can deliver fresh and meaningful stuff. Following Match Point, a movie I consider to be excellent, Cassandra’s Dream is about two brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor) who get hired by a relative (Tom Wilkinson) to kill some dude. The movie is a thriller/drama about decisions that can affect the rest of your life. The movie looks dark and relatively gritty, and I’m definitely looking forward to this one.
Love it or hate it? Really good or really bad? This one’s going to be divisive, and is definitely one of the riskier pictures of Tim Burton’s career. Then again, are movies really risky when they look like a Burton film and star Johnny Depp as a really weird and twisted character? It’s been a while since we’ve seen Burton and Depp together, and Depp looking like something closer to his Edward Scissorhand days, and that’s refreshing. Then again, it’s a musical, and that will be a challenge for Burton. Basically, this movie could be really good or really bad, and there’s only one way to find out.
The movie was heavily promoted over the summer, but since then I really haven’t seen much if any advertisements for this fantasy film, but New Line is certainly looking to capitalize on a lack of fantasy kids films. New Line has to be worried as several films from the same genre have struggled this year, with exception to Harry Potter, of course. The movie looks pretty good, and is one of the few blockbuster-type films this year. Reviews may make or break this one, however.
Will Smith. Action. Sci-fi. It’s a pretty safe bet, even when Smith is the only actor on screen most of the time. The teaser trailer was top notch and quite creepy; the later trailers have revealed the mutated humans (zombies?) to be fast-moving CGI creatures, which have dampened my excitement a little bit. The special effects aside, the movie still looks like a lot of fun, and even if it isn’t a masterpiece, Smith has proven that he can make even so-so movies entertaining (I, Robot comes to mind).
This movie has more Oscar buzz around it than most, and could end up being the Little Miss Sunshine of 2007. My brother has already seen it and says it’s great, and I tend to trust his judgment 95% of the time. The previews are funny and quirky, and considering that there seems to be a real lack of quality comedies right now (Lars and the Real Girl and The Savages being comparable exceptions), this may find both critical and box office success.
Another film with a lot of Oscar buzz, Atonement has received some great reviews, stars Kiera Knightley (always a plus) and is directed by the guy who brought us the most recent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which was surprisingly well done. That combination, served up with another period piece story about two lovers who are betrayed by a jealous young girl, has me intrigued to see exactly what this movie is going to be like. Thus, Atonement is high on my list.
This is my personal pick for Best Picture. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but if There Will Be Blood is not worthy of a Best Picture Oscar, I will be disappointed. I realize I’m setting myself up for disappointment here. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) and starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), the movie looks absolutely stellar. It’s going to be dark, gritty and powerful if I have anything to do with it, and even from the previews it appears there are Oscar nominations in sight for both Day-Lewis and young Dano. At the very least, Dano’s performance could be a break-out one.
Note: Two movies that would appear on this list if not for the fact that they are released in late November, not December, are The Savages (Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a comedy-drama) and Awake (a B-grade thriller that happens to look pretty entertaining and star Jessica Alba).
The new Cloverfield trailer – which confirms the name of Cloverfield for a project that has had more rumors and buzz than any I can imagine in recent history – has found its way onto YouTube, albeit in a very low quality format. Still, it looks pretty exciting… Check it out below.
Yahoo! just posted the new movie trailer for Amusement, a horror movie about a bunch of young people who get killed by a serial killer clown. Clowns are creepy, there’s no denying it, and Amusement will hopefully use that creepiness to its full potential. Of course, it isn’t It (the Stephen King movie), and the killer just wears a clown mask, but if done right this movie could be entertaining.
In reality, it’s just going to be another slasher film, and the movie trailer isn’t that good. The clown really isn’t used to its full potential, although the audio track is where the real magic is. The killer’s giggling is fairly memorable.
Oh, how the tides can turn so quickly. Guy Ritchie was at the top of his game just a few years ago, with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and it’s even more entertaining “sequel” Snatch. Then came Swept Away, and in a moment his career was gone like a starfish removed after a sudden hurricane. Some blame Madonna, others blame a poor career choice, and even some just claim that the media made a much bigger deal out of it than it needed to be. But for whatever reason, Guy Ritchie hasn’t been heard from in years, and we’ve watched his latest film Revolver float around in limbo (at least domestically) for over two of those years.
Is Revolver that bad? Was the studio just afraid that releasing it too soon after Swept Away would taint its chances at box office success? It’s hard to tell, but the movie trailer for Revolver, which is now online, has me looking forward to it. Snatch was a lot of fun, and Revolver looks to be of the same vein that made Guy Ritchie so popular in the first place. When you stumble, you return to what you know works and you do it again. There’s nothing wrong with that. Sure, Revolver looks a bit different – it looks a little glossier, a little more coherent and a little less British, but it still looks like Guy Ritchie. If there’s comedy, it isn’t show in the previews.
Overall, the movie looks good. I like edgy, twisting crieme thrillers, even if they turn out to be not that great. At the very least, Revolver should be entertaining, and at its best, it will put Guy Ritchie back on solid footing.
What does bother me is that after two years of being in limbo – which in itself is a bit disconcerting – is that Samuel Goldwyn Films is only giving the film a very limited December 7th launch, not exactly a huge vote of confidence. Why not give it a wide release in January or February, when movies like this can make a bit of money?
While I was disappointed that the new Batman movie trailer didn’t premiere with Iron Man, I was delighted to see a new, longer and much better movie trailer for 
