Category Archives: Reviews

Funny People (July 31)

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February 23, 2009

[imdb Funny people]Yikes! There are three movie plots crammed into this dinky little trailer! How much information do they expect us to process in just three and a half minutes? Adam Sandler’s funny, Seth Rogen’s funny, Adam Sandler’s dying, now he’s not dying, now he’s a home wrecker. Yeesh. It should have ended with a simple Adam Sandler may not be dying, that gives the essential conflict without having the whole film laid out.

This trailer feels cramped, like the editor had some important points to get across to the filmgoers, and a) didn’t trust us to pick up on small hints, and 2) did not have an outline. It’s like one of my high school essays about why I like summertime; the type of essays I would leave off till the very last second. It has no order to it. This does not feel like a cohesive montage with a single point (the plot) clearly focused upon. It’s much more a hack job of the two-hour film. I feel exhausted just watching the preview, and I don’t think I need to bother seeing the film; I know everything that’s going to happen.

Most trailers, not teasers, I’ve seen recently are usually 2.5 minutes long. It seems as though the extra minute the Funny People trailer had could have given us even more insight as to why we should see the film. Instead, that extra minute hurt the trailer, dragging it along like so much dead horse.

Beautifully crafted trailers need to have some sort of harmonic flow to them. They need to leave the audience asking questions that can only be answered by seeing the film. The trailer also needs to whet the viewer’s appetite. While the trailers of films I’m chomping at the bit to see usually end up making me even more hungry for the actual film, the trailer itself is usually so fun to watch by itself, it can usually allay my painful need to see it.

Funny People’s trailer leaves nothing to the viewer’s imagination. Omg, is Adam Sandler going to die? No. Oh. Well, is this woman going to stay “the one that got away?” Probably not. Oh. Is Seth Rogen going to develop and uber man-crush on Adam Sandler? Well, don’t we all? Oh yeah. Pshaw. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already seen the film. There is going to have to be some major twist in the film to make me shell out $15 to see it.

Rating: ½ 

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Friday the 13th (Feb 13 & 1980)

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February 18, 2009

[imdb tt0080761]Despite what my friends will tell you, I was not the only person in our group to say “What are they counting to?” when we first saw the new Friday the 13th trailer.  Plus, I figured it out quickly enough, so there.  Although these trailers aren’t any longer than other theatrical trailers, for some reason, with them counting to 13, it feels like they go on forever.  I get that they are trying to be clever, and I also like the nostalgia it conjures from the original film’s trailer, but it did seem to drag a little.

The original (from 1980) Friday the 13th’s trailer has some fun with its music, to get some spines chilled in the 2.5 minute montage.  It also uses clips with some pretty heavy built-in suspense, like where we see the kid ascending into the cabin, from pretty much the killer’s perspective; as he enters the cabin, the camera pulls away, and the audience is left to wonder what’s going on. 

However, it takes away from the tension you’d get if you actually watched the movie, because it shows how each character dies.  Now, when you watch the film, you’re going to be primed for the deaths, instead of being surprised.  I don’t know, but maybe the trailer wasn’t shown as often in 1980 as trailers are shown today, so maybe people would have forgotten by the time they got around to seeing the movie, but it still seems a little anticlimactic.

[imdb tt0758746]The new film’s trailer is a little less blatant.  It uses some clever editing (i.e. fades, flashes, quick cuts) to try to detract from the fact that they are still giving away the murders…only more creatively.  We can still gleen who’s going to bite it when, but it happens in such quick sucession, we tend to doubt what our eyes just saw.  The quick cuts are slightly misleading, but essentially we’re shown the murders. 

The new film was rumored by some to be a remake of the first, but it was plainly a sequel.  So it’s interesting that the new trailer is mimicing the original.  While I dislike the original giving away climactic points, I love how it draws out the suspense.  The new trailer does not give me goosebumps until the end when it uses the creepy “kill kill kill” sound effects and has the mother talking about Jason in her eerie little voice.  I liked the original movie, despite being long and drawn out, because it seemed a study in the animalistic sort of hunting of camp counselers, and of course the baiting of the audience.

The new film’s trailer shows the audience exactly what they should expect from the film, a little sex, a little suspense and a LOT of blood and gore.  So, for present-day trailer standards, it’s a pretty decent trailer, despite practically handing us the punchlines of all the murders.  I will say, though, that having seen the movie, if you’re a fan of creative, gruesome murder scenes, this film is pretty good at that.  Not the best, but not bad. 

Rating: ★★★☆ 


httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEgahzAwOy8

Rating: ★★★☆ 


Also posted in Comparison, Deja View, Retrospective – 0 Comments

Still Waiting (Feb 17th, Straight to Video)

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February 17, 2009

[imdb still waiting]It’s like when you hear someone yell, “I’m gonna puke,” and you look.  You knew what you were about to see; you didn’t really expect anything different.  If that wasn’t what you wanted to see, you simply should not have looked.  Yeah…that’s this trailer.  I don’t know what I was expecting from a trailer of the sequel to Waiting.  I guess this is about it.

 It is kind of sad because alongside some absolutely crummy actors, are some really good ones.  It’s cool to see Maggie Lawson (Juliet from “Psych”) getting a starring role, but a starring role in this is not saying much.  She may as well star in an American Pie sequel.  With her is Luis Guzman and John Michael Higgins, who are always brilliant to watch, in a worthwhile film.

I will say that the trailer knows who its audience is, and its caters to them…strictly to them.  It doesn’t attempt to reel in people who would not be interested in T & A and bodily fluid humor.  There is no bait and switch going on here.  The trailer says, “This is a gross crappy movie with lame jokes,” so if you rent the film thinking otherwise, you totally deserve what you get.  Thus, while this this trailer is putrid, especially since it thinks a major selling point of the film is a cameo by Adam Carollla, at least it’s honest. 

Rating: ★★☆ 


httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtbOw8Ut-JI

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The Brothers Bloom (May 09)

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February 11, 2009

[imdb the brothers bloom]The Brothers Bloom trailer does not dilly-dally around the point.  It hurtles the audience into the plot just as the actual film would.  It shows that the trailer author knows exactly what audience the film wants to attract, and how to attract them.  The way the characters are presented mimic the “Heist” film style.  The sequence of events have the action and questions constantly escalating to the point where the audience is on the edge of its seats waiting to know what comes next.

The writer/director, Rian Johnson, has only two other credits to his name, one of which is a dark, brilliant film called Brick, which completely emobodies the film-noir style.  Although The Brothers Bloom has a strikingly different tone, it seems as though Johnson does have a grasp on how to revamp a tired genre.

I do hope this trailer is a good sampling of the humor.  The preview has excellent comedic rhythm that gives me butterflies when I watch it.  It doesn’t help that I’m madly in love with Rachel Weisz, who looks absolutely huggable!  I succumbed to a thrill of excited giggles after I saw this trailer, and I do hope that the film will be just as awesome.

Rating: ★★★★★☆ 

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Four Christmases (Nov. 26)

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November 21, 2008

[imdb four christmases]In Blake Snyder’s book “Save the Cat,” he writes about having read this script in its infancy.  My fiance, Dan, and I started speculating on what the poster might look like.  I pictured the poster separated into four sections with the same couple standing in front of four different front doors.  I only bring this up in order to boast that in the preview, there is a tiny clip where the screen is separated into four sections with four different front doors.  Damn straight.

Because I was aware of this movie before it was produced, I do feel a fondness for it.  I also love the roster of actors, from Vince Vaughn to Mary Steenburgen to Jon Voight.  But I also can identify with having four different families.  I think this trailer does a fantastic job of realistically setting up these crazy characters and this semi-surreal situation, while giving us just a little taste of the underlying sweetness that you know the movie will inevitably have.

From the trailer, I get the feeling that the main couple has been together for at least a couple years, but they don’t seem to know anything about one another.  The husband doesn’t know the wife formerly had weight issues, and the wife doesn’t know her husband’s real name.  My curiosity is piqued; do these sorts of revelations only come about when your significant other meets your family, or is this couple just uncommunicative.  This trailer does exactly what it should, make me want to see the film.  I also must say that although I’m not fond of vomit jokes, this has the best one I’ve seen, although that could be due to Vaughn’s delivery.  He is adorable.

 

 

Rating: ★★★★☆ 


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Bolt (Nov. 21)

Written by
November 21, 2008

[imdb tt0397892]I do not like the narrator in this trailer.  I’ve watched the preview a couple times now, and I feel there is no real need for him.  I think the plotting of the clips are crystal clear enough without the voice of God being all snarky.  Besides, the trailer beautifully sets the audience up in the beginning, showing clips of Bolt the superdog in action.  I was tricked into thinking that was the movie.  Then the shot of the director yelling cut perfectly demonstrates the twist that Bolt is simply a normal dog, albeit a little confused. 

The narrator only succeeds in yanking me out of the immersive storytelling of the trailer.  Instead of the preview saying “This is the story, come see our film,” it’s saying “This is a movie, it is for kids, it comes out at Thanksgiving, it’s Disney, it’s going to be big.”  Ick.  How dumb do they think we are?  How dumb do they think kids are?

Disregarding the narrator, the trailer is dead on.  It shows exactly what that stupid voice over reiterates.  Bolt is a tv star, he is delusional, he joins up with with a cat and a hamster.  Even the most stupid, idiotic, brainless dolt watching this trailer (i.e. my little brother) would be able to deduce what the movie is about.  Give us a little credit, will ya?  Anyway, you hired a top notch trailer editor to give you a concise, cohesive movie pitch, why pay more money to muck it up by being redundant?

 

 

Rating: ★★★☆ 


httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDWPsoKQoOs&feature=related

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Star Trek (May 09)

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November 20, 2008

[imdb tt0796366]From Star Trek’s trailer, we get a couple tiny battle clips, a shot of the bad guy, and some angsty Kirk moments, but the preview gives nearly nothing away in regards to plot.   Instead, the two minute montage is rife with character development.  For those of us familiar with the show, it tugs on those heart-string attatchments we have for these characters, and yet it still presents a little more humanization, particularly in those small peeks into Kirk’s background.  I love the blips of Sulu, Uhura, and Scotty.  Even more so, I like that the five seconds of screentime Bones gets, he uses to lecture Kirk.

I think the opening of the preview was great.  It was exciting, enthralling, and fun in its introduction of James Siberius Kirk…HUH?!  Either this kid read his line wrong or he needs to learn to ennunciate, but I’m pretty sure I heard Siberius, and last I knew it was Tiberius…with a T.    Maybe it’s like in Wicked where Galinda changes her name to Glinda, Kirk changes his name to Tiberius.  Or maybe he just decides that James T. Kirk is more manly.  Maybe I’m just nit-picking…or heard wrong…but the brat’s little slur of words irks me.  It sets a bad precedent for the accuracy of the rest of the film.

However, my fiance and roommate, who are both extreme, mega Star Trek geeks, who practically had a coronary because the left central turret of the Enterprise ship was off by a centimeter (I’m exagerating of course…it was probably closer to an inch), didn’t even blink when the kid said Siberius, and when I bitch they look at me as though I just sprouted a Bajoran nose.  Blarg, what do they know?

I do think that the person (or peoples) who cut this trailer had a mini-gasm when they used the clip of Eric Bana proclaiming “The wait is over.”  How supremely, nerdarifically perfect is that little gem?!  I couldn’t supress a little giggle, that’s for sure.  And I love the use of the transporter sound effect and the bit of original Star Trek theme song at the close of the preview.  I think a fan or two cut this trailer, or so I’d like to believe.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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Monsters vs. Aliens (Mar. 09)

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November 15, 2008

Dreamworks has done it again, and I swear, I’m going to have their babies. Monsters Vs. Aliens not only looks pretty, has a fantastic, star-studded cast, but also promises to be side-splittingly hilarious.

The trailer does a good job presenting the film, which pokes fun at 1950’s pulp sci-fi and monster films. I love the cute asides, like the reporter complaining that America seems to be the only country aliens ever land in (although Japan should be a close second). The trailer does an excellent job presenting the humor and the plot at the same time.

We get to see the basic plot, aliens attack Earth, and Earth is so desperate, they decide to fight back with monsters, who are just as “scary.” However, it does a good job of not giving away what happens between the monsters and aliens, because never once in the trailer do the two groups meet. We also get just enough humor in it to make me excited, but it doesn’t give away all the good jokes. I know what I’m going to see for my birthday!

Rating: ★★★★★☆ 

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Fast & Furious (June 09)

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November 15, 2008

[imdb fast and furious]Boo-yah. If I had any interest whatsoever in this hyped-up, drawn-out, steroid-induced, sorry-ass excuse for a franchise, THIS would be the trailer that would make me stand in line (all by my lonesome, by the way) for opening day. The teeniest bit of testosterone I have lying dormant in my body hit a boiling point when I saw this trailer.

The opening is brilliant, and makes us go, “hey, is this the movie?” As much as I love a good montage; giving us an excerpt of the movie is an excellent way to setup the plot and feel. In thirty seconds we’ve got a heist, a car chase, guns, couple of car crashes, a freakin’ mega-explosion, and KER-BLAM, the Deeze himself! After the reveal, there’s the best shot-music syncopation I’ve seen in a long time. The cuts are so well-timed with the beat I must download that song! Beat beat, Vin Deisel, beat beat, hot chick, beat beat, fire ball, beat beat, awesomeness! Who doesn’t love that?!

Even the little tag line “New Model, Original Parts” made the nostalgia part of my brain go “Whoa!” and fall off its chair. This trailer could easily trick me into seeing this film, if it wasn’t for my conscience tapping me on the shoulder saying, “but you hate these movies!” It’s alright, despite the kick-ass Tokyo Drift trailer, I managed to miss that movie, so I’m sure I can resist seeing Fast & Furious. I’ll just rewatch the trailer.

Rating: ★★★★★☆ 

Also posted in Retrospective – 0 Comments

Twilight (Nov. 21)

Written by
November 14, 2008

[imdb tt1099212]I had heard so much praise about the Twilight series of books, that I admit I wanted to like the movie.  The trailer does present the angsty, action-filly, lovey-dovey story I was expecting.  However, I get dizzy and nauseous just trying to watch the preview.  There are so many scene cuts and fade-to-blacks that my stomach never stops lurching. 

The preview tries to set a nice slow pace in the beginning, symbolizing the mystery and seduction that exudes from…well, his name is Edward…and hers is Bella…although we wouldn’t know that from the preview.  These mysterious cuts, though, turn into action-packed cuts, without really changing the length of the clips, so there is no real difference between the love-story setup and the vampire fight setup; my brain has a hard time wrapping around the story.

The trailer shows some really good examples of the effects in the movie.  I was not distracted by cartoony looking trees or people.  The clip of Edward and another Vampire digging into a hardwood floor looks pretty realistic.  All in all, the trailer presents an interesting story, although it does it in a way that leaves me feeling like I just stepped off a carnival Gravitron.

 

Rating: ★★★☆ 


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