Eric Roberts and Mert's Favorites 2006

Shennanigans for 2006 commence...It’s obvious I love the trailer for 300. I have talked about it at length with the other two splendid writers of this blog; I’ve even misquoted it in my excitement to AD, and he looked at my crazy eyes and refused to contradict me knowing full well that I would rip his fucking arms off and beat his wife with them. Simply: it’s the ultimate trailer. It meets all my superficial requirements.

Visually stunning? Check.
Totally insane? Check. “Spartans, tonight, we dine in Hell!”
Deformed chicks making out? Yup. Have you seen Anne Hathaway in Havoc, sorta the same thing. Except she is made from God, these ladies, God's retarded cousin, Chet.

Most of all, it’s a young boy’s wet dream. As if all the bizarre worlds of your imagination could come to life in one trailer. None of it makes sense, the graphic novel is taken to new, ridiculous levels, but I want it. I want it all, like George Jetson doing Scooby Doo while The Fonze watches. Additionally, it embodies overdone drama – to an hilarious extent – and we should welcome it. In fact, I talk like that at work. “Matt, get me a new draft of that report.” “Sire, sire, if you want one report, you shall meet your demise!” And then I kick him in the chest, into an endless well, only to turn around and see Casey from IT dancing like some erotic, silk-ridden ghost. I have talked too much about this trailer, I just want to see the movie, naked, with my Saddam Hussein t-shirt draped around my balls.

The second trailer of the year – of 2006 – for me is Flannel Pajamas. It’s an arthouse picture, sure, (Grab your berets, cigarettes and theories of Bluto’s existentialist funk) but the ad is perfectly enticing. More perfect, however, is the lack of dialogue. It’s just the smooth, catchy Asobi Seksu song “Thursday” playing over the familiar scenes we all know, and many we all try to forget.



Add to that the star, for me, of Angels in America Justin Kirk, one of the most underrated and underused actors on the bloated, "look at me, I'm from Julliard" scene. The trailer is perfect for what it is: a hipster-fueled romantic dramedy with an awesome soundtrack. The only thing that drags this one down for me is that Kirk is clearly, without-a-doubt, a flaming homosexual. What I love about it is that it is an uncut view of a relationship, from Day 1 to moving in, to great apartments to total dumps to the fights and everything thereafter. You seldom see that – only a great director can depict snipets of a life together that truly captures it, I think Jeff Lipsky has done that.

My last trailer is surely not a suprise: The Fountain. One, it was a fantastic movie. Sure, Hugh Jackman floats in the lotus position in outer space, but haven't we all, in some way or another, been Hugh Jackman floating in outer space? I've written about this too much, it's just damn good and beautiful to witness. Enjoy the trailer, enjoy life - because someday, you too, might get hit by a meteor thrown by Zeus, like Weisz does in this film. Just kidding: horrific brain tumor. What I love about Aronofsky is that he typically (always) shows a male lead misunderstood by the world, struggling through hardship for a percieved "better" end. Isn't that what we all want, as we enter 2007, something better? Isn't that worth fighting for? Isn't that worth blogging for? Indeed. Indeed.

Also, 2006's worst trailers: Eragon. Lucky You, starring Eric "I rape my wife in crappy Munich" Bana. And Rocky Balboa. Add Rocky Balboa to the Live Free or Die Harder trailer. You guys own Planet Hollywood, end it there.

Personal Winners of 2006/2005: District B-13, Brick, The Fountain, Little Children and The Last Southpark Episode of the year (very offensive, very awful). Oh, and Band of Brothers, Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Seth Rogen and Jason Segal and How I Met Your Mother. Also, Santa Clause "Trapped in the Claus-et."

The I'm Right Awards - Spiffae Edition

For the next three posts, AD, Mert, and I will be picking some trailers from the past year (the glorious 2006) and talking about them at length, with footnotes and rich formatting (bold, italic, etc.). This is not necessarily the best trailers, but these are a few trailers that caught our attention for whatever reason, and that now, on the verge of awesome 2007, have remained in mind.

In the style of the late Penny-Arcade "We're Right Awards" - I present to you a number of categories that I will make up on the spot, and some trailers that fit in those.

The "I Saw More Than Enough Of This Movie In The Trailer, But Said Trailer Was Quite Excellent" Award

Sometimes trailers are great, and after watching the trailer you just have no desire at all to see the movie. In the case of most movies it's because they gave away what seem to be the best parts, but every now and then a few movies show you just enough in the trailer that you feel like you've seen the movie - and then the desire to see the movie leaves you. I guess that's not really just enough, is it? That's more like way, way too much. Either way I enjoy those trailers and never see the movie, and if my reaction is not unique, maybe some douche bag trailer maker gets fired.

This year the movie most gulty of this is Babel. Babel advertises a movie that is going to be hard to watch, and they seem to have filtered down each story into its base (miserable) components. I have no desire to see the movie, because I feel like I've seen each part. Brad has a breakdown when Kate dies, or nearly dies. The Japanese girl has a miserable time in Tokyo (how is that possible? I can't imagine.) The kids get stopped at the border, the husband gets thrown into some immigrations interrogation where people are really mean, and then some poor Moroccan kid is probably beaten, and his father is probably killed in front of him. I like that trailer, but I don't need much more. Life is misery, people get screwed over, two minutes and thirty seconds later - check please.

Winner: Babel
Runners up: Drawing Restraint 9, Art School Confidential

The "This Trailer Is So Damn Good It Gives Me Goosebumps" Award

A good trailer gives me goosebumps. The first time I ever remember this happening was with the trailer for The Matrix, but it happened much more memorably for the unbelievable Two Towers trailer (which is astonishingly difficult to locate online!). This year was a good one for chills-inducing trailers, and so picking the best one is difficult. There are your fantasy and sci-fi epics, basically anything with big CG shots, slow motion, and good music. There are a few big dramas that will probably be good, and there is one dark horse that came out of nowhere.

The winner is not a sure-fire goosebumper - in fact, it might not provoke the reaction in you at all - but out of all of them, maybe out of all the trailers this year, this one is the best. This is a great piece of short filmmaking that just happens to be advertising a movie. This is something that I bet the trailer maker felt pretty damn good about after it was made, and I bet that doesn't happen very often. We never talked about it on this blog, and I don't think we really have to. All you have to do is watch it.

Winner: Little Children
Runners Up: Pan's Labyrinth, V for Vendetta, The Namesake, Jarhead (Teaser Trailer)

The "I Like This Trailer (And Movie) Too Much To Talk About It So I Should Probably Mention Here That This Is My Top Trailer This Year In The Title Because I Am Not Going To Write Anything Else Down Below, Just A Link To The Trailer" Award.

Winner: Children Of Men

Blood and Chocolate

This is one of the worst trailers I have ever seen. It has ugly actors saying stupid things and terrible special effects. It is wretched. It is vile. It is so bad that I am at a loss for a simile. “It is as bad as…” that is as far as I can get. Which means that this is the worst thing in the history of history.

And of course, it is for a film about my favorite mythological creature.

What is it about werewolves that does it for me? Who knows? But I will tell you that in my younger and more impressionable years I devoured anything about werewolves. Books, movies, comics, any and all of it. I still love Fright Night and Silver Bullet. I mean jesus, I watched the entire series of She-Wolf Of London multiple times!! If that doesn’t mean anything to you, consider yourself spared from one of the dumbest television shows EVAR.

Now I am older and wiser but there is a childish part of me still hopes for a really well-done werewolf movie. This is not it. That is clear from the first 30 seconds of the trailer. But what really does it for me is the transformation.

(Small gear switch) For all of its flaws, An American Werewolf in London has one of the most amazing special effects sequences ever filmed. Watching the transformation undergone by David Naughton remains one of the most graphic, gut wrenching, and horrifying memories from my childhood. And it was done with prosthetic masks, animatronic limbs, and about nine million strands of fake hair. And it looks real. (Here, you can watch it on youtube)

Nowadays, we have multi-million dollar budgets and special effects that look better than most of the actors. We have the ability to do literally anything on screen, and what does Blood and Chocolate give us for a transformation? A bunch of bare-chested lacrosse players doing flips in the woods.

Seriously weak.

Factory Girl

Lord Vader sings anti-war songs for five decades, yeah, like that's possible through his helmet.

View the trailer here.

To know anything about Edie Sedgwick is to know her as Andy Warhol's muse; the man used her in almost all of his crappy, overrated films of the 1960s and 70s. In many ways, Sienna Miller is perfect for this role. Someone who became famous merely because someone more famous picked her out and turned her into a star, the Warhol here being Jude Law. It would be like if Woody Allen was cast as a paranoid Jew, like shooting fish in a barrel. The name of the film comes from a saying of Warhol's, who told his friend and scriptwriter Ron Tavel that he wanted to make Edie "Queen of the Factory" for his film Factory. The film should be called "Hot Girl Who Got Addicted to Literally Everything, Even Blackface."

What pisses me off about this trailer is the romance between Edie and Bob Dylan, who she met at the Chelsea Hotel (in real life, I haven't a fucking clue how they meet in this tale). "Behind the face everyone recognized is the story that no one ever knew..." and we, The Weinstein Company, have decided to jazz up with false stories about a young drug addict's life. Dylan denies their relationship to this day and he married Sarah Lowndes around the time he and Sedgwick were supposed to have been making babies. Not cool. But I suppose if you make a movie about a sexy woman, she has to have sex with people other than Andy "I Literally am a Eunuch" Warhol. I hate Andy Warhol. I also hate people who dress as Devils on Halloween. I mean, c'mon.

The best thing about the trailer is Bowie's "Life on Mars." Perhaps the greatest song, in my mind, from Bowie. My middle school choir covered it and I played a "sailor fighting in the dance hall." I even smacked my teacher, Mr. Pedelty, in the face as only a brave man can brawl. Guy Pierce seems fantastic, a mix of David Ames in Vanilla Sky and Keith Richards, or Johnny Depp, whatever.

I think the trailer, the movie and the story of Edie Sedgwick all have one thing in common - that quesy feeling one gets moments before an awful accident happens. As if you know some horrific fate will come upon these people, but you're powerless to stop it. Edie Sedgwick died at 28 of an overdose, her life wasted. I hope the film doesn't try to pay tribute to her talent, but rather shows another 15-minutes of fame kid ruined by stardom and Bob Dylan. Everyone is ruined by fucking Bob Dylan.

Letters from Iwo Jima

I'm shocked Spiffae didn't comment on this trailer - I mean, it's right up his alley: Ken Watanabe (the shifty guy from The Last Samurai, remote, dormant-volcanic islands, and World War II. The war which Spiffae dubs, "The Greatest Years for Picking Up Middle Eastern Women of My Remarkable Life." Alas, Clint Eastwood's trailer for the second installment of the Iwo Jima saga is phenomenal. The trailer is crisp and shot in an almost amber filter, adding to the dry horror about to befall these men, and the music is like elevator music on your trip down to hell.

There is something inherent in Japanese culture which I think is undeniable - their sense of honor and grace - it's the culture of the Samurai and the Geisha, who both perform their tasks like ballerinas or a not-drunk me. They're amazing. Yet this movie, like Flags of Our Fathers, portrays the true nature of all men in the heat of battle - we're all remarkably similar and we're all deeply scared to our last breath.

The trailer, from the moment the young soldier gets conscripted, focuses on the realization that each and every one of these men will probably die. When you're confronted with your own mortality how do you react? Do you fight it or do you thank your country for sending you on a death mission? Almost all of the Japanese soldiers served their country in an insane battle (It was the first time in the history of warfare that the Americans sent acapella groups to the front lines of an assault, they annoyed everyone on the opposition side greatly).

Even though the United States denies it and returned control of the island back to the Japanese in 1968, many think they have nuclear arms sitting on the un-populated island. As soon as I push "publish" on this post, I'm traveling by hovercraft to Iwo Jima. I am taking a shovel, a copy of El Topo and my computer (with wireless capabilities). I will find those nukes. I get it, Mr. Eastwood, we will find those nukes and set them free. God, you're a visionary.

Epic Movie

I hate this trailer. This trailer, and the movie it is advertising, is aimed at the lowest common denominator, but maybe you hadn't realized how low that denominator was these days. We are spoofing what here - Narnia? Harry Potter? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Aren't those movies aimed at children? This movie is probably going to get a nice big R-Rating, so the target audiences of the spoofed movies aren't invited - so who is?

Epic Movie is aimed at late-blooming mildly retarded men who are unable to comprehend comedy with a lot of talking, who see children's movies with their mothers and then will see Epic Movie alone, thinking they are being terribly rebellious, who want to make fun of popular movies with their friends, but are not smart enough to come up with their own jokes - and we are not talking about difficult targets here. But then again, these are probably people who won't notice that the actor making fun of the actor playing Superman is British.

So, learning-disabled half-children with weak social skills and weaker senses of humor - enjoy the trailer for Epic Movie, and have fun at the movie too. You won't see me there.

Trailer.

Because I Said So.

We try not to be exclusive here at Trailer Reviews. We try to cover trailers of all genres…but we fail.

This blog is a total sausage-fest. We like movies with blood! And explosions! And Christopher Walken! He is so funny when he pauses when he talks about stuff! We try to say things like he says but we fail! That means he is a Very Good Actor!

But in the interest of diversity, I decided to review Because I Said So.

And I swear by all that is holy I will never review another chick flick.

I began by reading the brief description provided by the Apple Trailers website. I was initially intrigued by the fact that it featured Piper Perabo (Peribeaux). I loved her in Rocky and Bullwinkle and Coyote Ugly, and when I read that she was playing a “sexy and irreverent” character named “Mae” opposite Jessica Simpson and one of the robots from the Gilmore Girls you could have knocked me over with a feather!

So I went ovaries (balls) out. I took the extra 4 minutes and downloaded the high-def, 1080p, THX approved version of the trailer. I popped some fat free popcorn, wrapped myself in an afghan and prepared to laugh and to cry and to menstruate.

And you know what happened?

They showed Diane Keaton’s ASS.

And I blacked out.

So I have no fucking idea what this movie is about. I didn’t watch the rest of the trailer. I couldn’t take that chance.

To recover, I watched the trailer for Hostel: Part 2. This trailer is so good, I think it might be bragging about The Holocaust. Plus, the movie itself probably features at least one instance of genital mutilation. Which I think everyone can appreciate.

So, in summation, we’d like to send a big “Fuck You” to Michael Lehmann, director of Because I said So. Fuck you for making a movie that was edited into a trailer during which I saw Diane Keaton’s ass. I hope you die.

Balls of Fury

Watch the trailer here.

The fact is you could have Christopher Walken talk about "felching" for two hours and I'd go see it - he could debate the Cuban Missile Crisis, talk about the effects of Leukemia, or Ecoli in tacos and I would find each equally hilarious. The guy is insanely funny, intentionally or unintentionally, it doesn't really matter. He could read "Ullysses" to a crowd of angry Somalians and I would be in the dirt, laughing and barfing. He's just funny.

The trailer for Balls of Fury feels all over the show - it's a stupid movie much in the same vein as Dodgeball or BASEketball (sp?) - lets take a second-rate sport and surround it with retarded hijinks, gangsters, international plots of deviance and comedians for two hours - and, furthermore, put in a loose and careless plot driven only by the poor acting capabilities of the leading man, in this case, East Village-based comedian Dan Fogler. (Of course Fogler won a Tony last year, but hey, for the sake of argument, let's say he is a total dud.) What I do find promising in the movie is the writing of Ben Garant of Reno 911 and, originally, a founder of The State. He's talented and bizarre and his humor is really right up my anal alley. He's also quite muscular and I love muscular comedians: Joe Piscopo, Ian Roberts and Rodney Dangerfield. I love muscle. Oh, throw in Tony Danza and Sam Kinnison.

What's good: Def Leppard shirt. Nice touch. That's a band of underdogs that rose to the top and remains there to this day. Not a day goes by that I don't request they change the elevator music at my office to "Let's Get Rocked." Christopher Walken. George Lopez acting like a fatter, older and more insane Tony Montana. The movie will suck, but it will probably suck in a way that appeals to many, many college-aged guys with forties and their equally aloof girlfriends. They will then recommend it to thier parents at some dinner party where they've had too much of Dad's merlot, the parents will buy it, watch it, and then wonder why their kids turned out to be fucking morons. What? I'm just being honest.

Stomp The Yard

Ah, memories. I remember the days when I used to stomp the yard like these young turks. The film renames the college "Truth University" but we all know that this is really a film about my alma mater, Skidmore College. Such fond memories! I remember my first lunch at the dining hall, when a troupe of identically dressed men jumped up from their seats and began to dance, their synchronized movements were so inspiring to a young stepper like myself. I remember when I met my first roommate, who gave me a toilet seat as a housewarming gift. How could I ever forget that time when I asked Mert what was going on one time, and he looked at me and said "They're stompin' the yard - where you from?" Ah Mert, if you only knew how much of a part of my life Stomping the yard would become!

From there it is like a rush of beautiful memories, choosing the yellow-hoodie stomp fraternity over the red track suit stomp fraternity. Almost running a girl over with a ride-on mower, and I will never forget the moment when I told my girlfriend "I don't know if I can [stomp]" and she looked at me and said "Well then [stomp] for your brother."

I will never be as happy as when we were at the international(?) stomp championships, and Mert threw me across the stage on my head - that's brotherhood, that's STOMP. THE YARD.

Relive my life here.

The Aura

Foreign trailers are usually great because there is no easy out for them. They can’t charm you with a snappy one liner or offer you a poignant exchange between two estranged lovers. They must draw you in with visuals alone, because the narration usually sucks.

Case in point, The Aura. It transcends the bad voiceover and ends up looking like a pretty compelling thriller.

And I love that shot at the end with the trees.

Zodiac

Watch the trailer here.

"Based on real events" has never opened such a screaming can of worms for me. Does based on real events mean that Jake Gyllenhal and Robert Downey Jr. will catch the still -in reality - uncaught Zodiac killer? The statute of limitations doesn't apply to murder, so does that mean this film is going to make a conjecture as to who is the killer or killers? My issue with this trailer is the light-and-airy feel it has - as if it's not about a real life murderer and his many, many victims in the 1970s and 60s. I also feel like this movie is totally miscast - what on earth makes people believe Gyllenhal is a decent actor? I know he was in ManMeatTacoSalad-Love Mountain, but he was the worst actor in that film - including Anne Hathaway, who, shockingly, was very, very good. It's like watching the kid in your high school who played "Mercutio" star in a multi-million dollar film. It looks, well, moronic.

It is also a fairly incoherent trailer - at first it's a codebreaking cartoonist, then it turns into a love story with Chloe Sevingy (sp? Oh, wait, I really don't care), and then it turns into Robert Downey Jr. drug tripping on the Golden Gate Bridge. It feels like a comedy trailer, like when Ruffalo says, "Oh Jesus. Squirrels" when he's in the kitchen we're supposed to laugh out loud. It would be like if Oscar Schindler opened up a basement door with Leonard Skinnard playing in the background and said, "Oh, holy moly! (laughter) Juden!!! Ha. Death. Ha. Misery. Ha." Not ha. David Fincher, take yourself seriously, or else no one else will. This trailer sucks 1970s and modern-day penis.

Smokin' Aces

BMW Films meets Domino crossed with Hitman: Blood Money plus Man on Fire, with a dash of The Big Lebowski. Seven hitmen (and women) like a meaner version of The Royal Tennenbaums who got mixed up with Tony Montana and the armorers from Snatch . Ben Affleck is in there, a cross between his characters from Reindeer Games and Dogma, with a little bit of GOB from Arrested Development in the mix. Ray Liotta reprises his role from Narc, but this time he is channeling Bruce Lee, circa Enter the Dragon. Ryan Reynolds is just Ryan Reynolds, because he never needs to be any more than that. Jason Bateman is in there, with cues from Patrick Bateman, and a sore on his lip that looks more like it would be at home on Lindsey Lohan than Michael Bluth.

The trailer is straight Tony Scott, but with the restraint of brother Ridley. We've got rewinding, fast forwarding, and pictures that could have come out of Bad Boys 2, but this is like Michael Bay on speed. The contrast is dialed way up, CSI style, but the pacing is more Run Lola Run. The trailer is worth watching, available in Quicktime, but with the immediacy of WMV. The sound is crisp and sharp, evoking Lost, but without all the nonsense. Download this, like you've been downloading The Pictures of Britney Spears with No Underwear On.

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