The Screengrab : trailer review

Trailer Review: In the Loop

Paul Clark — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

For my final Trailer Review here at Screengrab, I thought it would be nice to go out on an up note. So in lieu of the trailer for something I’m dying to see- what, still nothing from Avatar or Tree of Life out there?- I’m posting one of the best trailers I’ve seen lately, for Armando Iannucci’s political comedy In the Loop. Since the international trailer for this posted earlier this year, I’ve been getting a vibe similar to that of the original British Office, but to my eyes that’s a good thing. And I’m something of a sucker for trailers that don’t just stick to the usual trailer tricks- the style of this one is an homage to Kubrick’s original Clockwork Orange spots, down to the use of the Wendy Carlos sped-up electronic version of the “William Tell Overture.” But what I like most about this is that it doesn’t come right out and tell you everything you know about the premise of the movie, but it puts enough out there in one form or another that one can more or less figure out what’s going on if he’s paying attention. But then, what’s not to love about a trailer that includes a reference to Bugsy Malone- hardly the sort of allusion one generally finds in movies, much less the trailers for them.

Trailer Review: Sherlock Holmes

Paul Clark — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

As I’m sure many of you can guess, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes isn’t exactly at the top of my must-see list for 2009. Really, this trailer is pretty much what I expected from this combination of material and director- wacky camera angles, bare-knuckle boxing matches, and lotsa stuff blowing up. What’s more, the oafish “lad” humor that’s shown up in all of Ritchie’s other films to date is also well in evidence here too, which the frat boys might enjoy but has never really done much for me. So any interest I have in this project comes from the cast, which is actually pretty intriguing to me. Being a Downey fan, I knew he would have fun as Holmes, but I wasn’t sure exactly how he’d take on the character, and it’s nice to see that he’s playing him not as a ninny (like Johnny Depp’s Ichabod Crane, funny as that was), but as a fairly capable if somewhat unorthodox crime-solver. And Jude Law should be entertaining as Watson- I generally like Law better when he’s not the protagonist, which lets him air out his inner character actor usually to good effect. Also, there’s Rachel McAdams in lingerie, which is nice to see- both the lingerie and McAdams in general. Plus I gotta admit- the hammer gag is pretty funny.

Trailer Review: The Road

Paul Clark — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

One of the problems with big-budget post-apocalyptic movies is that most audiences are down with downbeat storylines, preferring to watch movies that make them feel good and don’t remind them of the world’s troubles. Consequently, most movies set in a dystopian future tend to be action-oriented, to make the stories’ hard truths more palatable by adding plenty of chase scenes and shootouts. The most troubling thing about this trailer for The Road is that the Weinsteins look to be selling just that kind of movie when the story doesn’t really call for it. Sure, this approach might get a few more asses in the seats, but the I Am Legend crowd might grow uneasy with the despair and desperation that the story- or at least the original novel by Cormac McCarthy- traffics in, and might feel ripped off. Another really hamfisted tactic this trailer uses is the liberal use of Charlize Theron, who by all rights should be barely in the movie itself, but is portrayed as more or less a co-lead with Viggo Mortensen. Still, I have faith in this movie’s potential- even if Harvey Scissorhands gets his choppers on this one, McCarthy, Mortensen and director John Hillcoat bring enough talent to the party that it should at least be interesting. More interesting than the trailer, anyway.

Trailer Review: Face (International Trailer)

Paul Clark — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

One of my most anticipated films in competition at the currently-in-progress Cannes Film Festival is the latest from the great Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang, which will premiere later this week. Face marks the first time that Tsai has set a story largely outside of Asia, but despite the new setting, this definitely has a Tsai feel to it. More specifically, this feels like the surreal Tsai of movies like The Wayward Cloud, with the trailer highlighting the strange imagery and musical numbers that distinguished that memorable film. In addition, longtime Tsai watchers should appreciate this as the latest installment in the ongoing adventures of Lee Kang-Sheng, in which Tsai’s favorite leading man finds himself transplanted to Paris and into the path of the lovely Laetitia Casta. The super-cool supporting cast of talented French performers- Jean-Pierre Leaud, Fanny Ardant, Jeanne Moreau, Nathalie Baye, Mathieu Amalric- should attract some francophilic moviegoers, which ought to at least get Face the American release that Wayward Cloud deserved but never got.

Trailer Review: Nine

Paul Clark — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

These days, it seems like most of the musicals that Hollywood makes are designed as Oscar bait, made with an eye to raking in Academy Awards in various technical categories if nothing else. So it’s kind of odd watching the trailer for Nine, which boasts a cast as prestigious as any musical ever produced (that’s six Oscar winners in the cast, for those playing along at home), and realizing how little it trumpets its pedigree. If nothing else, I admire this spot for not trying to cover up the fact that it’s a musical, with lots of dancing on display and Fergie belting out a song in the background. Still, the Rob Marshall factor gives me pause. Chicago was a good-looking (and good-sounding) movie, but the jackhammer editing became oppressive long before the end, and the whole enterprise felt fairly impersonal to me, like a reverse-engineered machine designed to rack up awards. But I’m holding out judgment on this project for now, at least until the first full-length trailer, in which one hopes we’ll finally hear Daniel Day-Lewis singing.

Trailer Review: Whatever Works

Paul Clark — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Throughout my college years, I was a fairly rabid Woody Allen fan, watching his movies on video two or three in a row, much to the consternation of my roommates. Since then, his more inconsistent recent output has tempered my enthusiasm somewhat, but I still make sure to watch all of his new films in theatres, partly out of my long-established loyalty, partly out of hope that he’s got another masterpiece in him. Based on this trailer, Whatever Works probably won’t be that masterpiece, seeing as how it’s full of the sorts of easy potshots (particularly at Southern Christians) that mar most of his latter-day movies. Yet at the same time, it’s nice to see him back in New York after his years abroad- one hopes that his European sojourn has awakened a new creativity in him. And like a lot of people, I’m excited to see him working with Larry David, who is possessed of a similarly neurotic and cosmopolitan comic sensibility. If nothing else, David should be one of the better straight-up Allen surrogates to come around in ages. Miles better than Kenneth Branagh, that’s for sure.

Trailer Review: Humpday

Paul Clark — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Up to this point, I could sort of take or leave the indie-film movement that’s become known as “mumblecore.” While I respect the scruffy lo-fi aesthetic of these films, I’ve never quite bought into the “voices of a generation” hype that’s followed such adherents as Andrew Bujalski and the Duplass Brothers. However, ever since I first heard about Lynn Shelton’s Humpday in reports from Sundance this year, I’ve been pretty eagerly anticipating the film. Part of the reason is the premise itself- two straight friends co-starring in an amateur gay porn more or less on a dare. For one thing, I like the twist this premise brings to the usual comedy-of-homoeroticism formula, perhaps because I don’t find it funny when characters are oblivious to the “gayness” of their actions, but hilarious when they acknowledge the homoeroticism, and their feelings about same (the jackass movies have much the same approach, albeit without so much tentativeness). Add to this the fact that the Joshua Leonard character bears an almost uncanny resemblance to an old college friend- the kind of friend who would have been totally down for a stunt like this- and this looks to be right up my alley.

Trailer Review: District 9

Paul Clark — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

If I was really cynical, I would complain about the way this trailer spoils this movie’s big “twist”. But in the world of marketing, there’s a thin line between a twist and a hook, and I dare say that this movie wouldn’t find its intended audience if it there were no aliens to be found in the trailer, to say nothing of the pissed-off arthouse fans who probably wouldn’t enjoy having their docudrama on the issue of illegal immigration suddenly full of extraterrestrials. So instead, I’ll just say the trailer for the Peter Jackson-produced, Neil Blomkamp-directed District 9 is pretty damn cool. For one thing, the idea of flip-flopping the traditional alien-invasion storyline, with the visiting aliens oppressed by the human race, is a solid one. Indeed, the idea of treating making the story’s metaphorical “illegal aliens” into actual ones is so obvious that I’m surprised I’ve never seen it before (feel free to set me straight, commenters). And to set it in present-day South African is an inspiration, since the old wounds from apartheid are still fresh in everyone’s memories, but all humans black and white are still happy to bring down the newcomers. So much for Truth and Reconciliation...

Trailer Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Paul Clark — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

I recently read an interview with G.I. Joe director Stephen Sommers in which he said that this movie would probably the closest he would get to fulfilling his dream of making a James Bond film. To which I can’t help but think… what? Sure, there’s a baddie bent on world destruction and a whole lot of snazzy technology on display. But up until Quantum of Solace anyway, the Bond series was distinguished by a certain amount of wit, and a charismatic hero whose roguish nature and appetite for danger helped him to bring down dozens of villains. Where can you find anything like that in the G.I. Joe trailer? In the ragtag band of buffed-up B-listers who play the titular team? In the wholesale destruction of the Paris skyline’s most recognizable landmark (the 007 adventures use their locations as settings, not simply monuments to be toppled)? One could argue that the brute-force efficiency of the G.I. Joe team is the American equivalent of British sophistication, but if that’s the case, we got the fuzzy end of the lollipop, cinematically speaking. Then again, this is the guy who legitimately thought that Van Helsing was a tribute to classic monster movies, so what the hell does he know?

Trailer Review: Tetro

Paul Clark — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The popular line on Francis Ford Coppola is that after directing four of the most important films of the seventies, his career hit the skids in the wake of his Zoetrope Studios failure, and he’s never quite recovered. But while it’s hard to deny that he’s never lived up to his seventies salad days, he’s still capable of crafting fascinating and beautiful work. Most of his best middle- and late-period films (One From the Heart and Tucker, to name two) are highly stylized films that hearken back to classical Hollywood traditions, and based on this trailer, I’d say that Tetro finds Coppola up to that same game. One thing I particularly love about this trailer is how is introduces the themes of the film while revealing little about the plot, aside from the two brothers (the older one played by Vincent Gallo) and the long shadow cast by their father. Plus, it looks bloody gorgeous. Yeah, it could turn out to be another Youth Without Youth, but I’d rather have the Coppola who made that ambitious mess than the one who made Jack, thank you very much.

Trailer Review: Julie & Julia

Paul Clark — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The “food movie” has been around for years, but it seems like Hollywood has been making more and more of them ever since the Food Network’s popularity went through the roof. Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that we can’t all be gourmet chefs, but the great majority of us have put in time in the kitchen, and we all know the feeling that comes from cooking and/or eating a good meal. Food is a kind of common cultural currency, and that seems to be the central theme of Julie and Julia, which despite my general lack of interest in Nora Ephron films has me intrigued. Sure, there’s plenty of Ephron-style girl talk, but the central idea of the film- that struggling career woman Julie Powell (Amy Adams) forms a bond with the late, great Julia Child (Meryl Streep, staking her claim for nomination #16) by cooking her way through her famous cookbook- is a fairly unconventional idea for a film, especially since it’s impossible that the two will meet. I’m not exactly expecting this to be Big Night or Babette’s Feast in the food movie department, but as long as it’s better than No Reservations that’ll be good enough for me.

Trailer Review: The Hurt Locker

Paul Clark — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

A lot of ink (both literal and figurative) has been spilled by the entertainment media about how American moviegoers don’t much care to see movies about the War in Iraq, no matter how well they’re reviewed or how many big stars appear in them. Alas, it appears that The Hurt Locker will be the latest victim of this trend, despite getting some of the best reviews of any recent war film. It’s a shame, since of all the Iraq War movies to date, this one looks to have the broadest appeal, being sold not as a political statement but as a visceral war thriller. Sure, you say, but does it look any good? You bet it does. Kathryn Bigelow can do hard-R action as well as any filmmaker of either gender, and I’m looking forward to seeing stars Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie anchoring a high-profile movie like this. Besides, it’s much more rewarding for me to watch movies that let me infer my own conclusions about war than it is to have the filmmakers’ opinions rammed down my throat for two-odd hours. And so what if nobody else sees this? It’ll be their loss, I reckon.

Trailer Review: Julia

Paul Clark — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

With her creamy skin and regal bearing, Tilda Swinton is generally associated with chilly, intelligent characters. In other words, she’s not exactly the first actress one would picture in the role of an aging, irresponsible drunk. But then, Swinton has never been interested in resting on her laurels as an actress, which should at least partially explain why followed her Oscar-winning turn in Michael Clayton with this film. Of course, the chance to work with the gifted French filmmaker Erick Zonca surely must’ve played a part in her decision, especially since Zonca hadn’t made a film in nearly a decade and would be working outside France for the first time. As for the trailer itself, I’m of two minds about it. On the one hand, I’m not sure that I like the foregrounding of the kidnapping storyline, which sells the movie primarily as a thriller. But on the other hand, the biggest vibe I get from the trailer is that it doesn’t soft-pedal what a loser its title character really is, and even when we get to the kidnapping stuff, it feels like just something else that Julia got herself into. And of course Swinton looks awesome as usual. So yeah, I’m pretty excited about this one.

Trailer Review: Land of the Lost

Paul Clark — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Last week, the Screengrab brain trust predicted that this big-screen remake of the cheeseball TV series would be summer’s biggest flops. Based on this trailer, it’s not hard to see why. Frankly, for a movie that allegedly cost more than $100 million to produce, this looks really cheap, with second-rate special effects like the T-Rex that menaces star Will Ferrell at the end. Yes, I know that the original series wasn’t exactly a paragon of cutting-edge technology, but if Universal and director Brad Silberling wanted to pay tribute to the Krofft brothers’ rinky-tink effects, they should have gone all out instead of simply turning it into cheap CGI. Plus there’s the presence of Ferrell, whose sense of quality control has never been all that great, trying to lend some marquee value to a movie that’s half camp, half nostalgia piece- never the most bankable of hybrids. Ferrell can be very funny given the chance, but here it looks like he’s just flailing around, reining it in to get the PG-13. Worse yet, Danny McBride barely says anything at all in the trailer, which is never a good sign. Everything about this trailer, down to the title font (which comes straight from the Fast and Furious tetralogy, attests to how shabby and cut-rate this movie will almost certainly be.

Trailer Review: The Girlfriend Experience

Paul Clark — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

One of the most fascinating things about Steven Soderbergh’s career is the way he switches back and forth between ambitious studio fare and smaller-scaled indies, trusting those who care about his work to follow him between the two extremes. Ever since this first screened at Sundance this year, everything about this has intrigued me- the casting of a porn star (Sasha Grey) and a film critic (Screengrab favorite Glenn Kenny) in key roles, the awesome poster that premiered a few weeks ago, and now this trailer. Soderbergh’s films often have cool trailers- the Bubble teaser is a classic of the form- and this is one of Soderbergh’s better trailers thusfar. One thing that’s interesting is that Soderbergh seems to foreground the money aspect of this story rather than the sex- Out of Sight aside, Soderbergh has never had much interest in eroticism, and I’m curious to see his reasons for casting someone like Grey in the lead role. Also, this looks pretty bloody gorgeous- Peter Andrews is just getting better and better as a cinematographer, and if I didn’t know who he was I’d suggest that he work with other filmmakers. I can’t be the only who’d be amused by a film that was shot by Peter Andrews and cut by Roderick Jaynes, can I?

Trailer Review: Antichrist (International Trailer)

Paul Clark — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The official competition slate for Cannes is going to be announced tomorrow morning, and a film most are predicting will be included is this, the latest from galvanizing Dane Lars Von Trier. From the looks of this trailer, I’d say this is at least partly a throwback to Von Trier’s earlier films- the theme of hypnosis runs throughout his first three features, as well as his miniseries The Kingdom, and the rigorous style of the visions early in the trailer hearken back to the visual look he often employed in his pre-Breaking the Waves days. At the same time, his more recent style is in evidence here too, not only in the insistent handheld camera shots but also in the deteriorating psyche of his heroine, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. When I first heard that Von Trier was working on a movie called Antichrist, I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I have a pretty good idea now, and I’m fascinated. If nothing else, this should tide this long-standing Von Trier fan over until he finally gets around to making Wasington.

Trailer Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Final Trailer)

Paul Clark — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Less than three more months, Potter-philes! And if this latest installment’s much-bemoaned delay has forced fans of the series to do without until this summer, at least there have been two more trailers to tide them over in the meantime. As I stated in the previous post, I like that the action has been gradually bleeding more and more out of the world of wizards, and this one story appears to have the most Muggle-world action of any installment to date. I also like that Harry and his friends have begun to fight more of their battles for themselves rather than letting the adults do the heavy work, the idea begin that as we mature we must also take on greater responsibility for our lives. But mostly, this is looking more and more like the biggest big-budget thrill ride of the series to date, a welcome change from the early installments which practically choked on their need to reel in the little kids and prove their fidelity to the original novels. And if the delayed release date was required for Warner and director David Yates to do this right, then it’ll all be for the best.

Trailer Review: Moon

Paul Clark — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

As digital effects become cheaper and more accessible, more independent filmmakers have been able to tackle genre films that would have been unavailable to them a few decades ago. Consider the upcoming film Moon- whereas a big-budget movie about a long-term lunar mission might colonize the titular orb with a crew that spans multiple races and age groups, newcomer Duncan Jones’ film basically tells the story of one man played by Sam Rockwell, alone on the moon with only a robot (voiced by Kevin Spacey) and occasional transmissions from Earth to keep him company. Of course, a role like this requires a particular kind of actor, and Rockwell looks pretty perfect here, being the sort of performer who always begins to start with a screw loose only to gradually lose more as the stories progress. The premise of the film seems to owe something of a debt to Solaris (pick one), but one hopes that Jones will find an interesting wrinkle on it. If nothing else, it looks like Rockwell came to play, which is more than we can say about his bland work in last year’s Frost/Nixon.

Trailer Review: Extract

Paul Clark — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Back in 2007, Mike Judge’s Idiocracy became something of a cause célèbre around these parts following its dumping by Fox’s powers that be. So the good news is that it looks like Judge’s follow-up Extract will be getting a real theatrical release. The bad news is that it doesn’t look to be nearly as much fun as Idiocracy was, partly because it appears to be a whole lot more run-of-the-mill. Despite a funny cast- Jason Bateman still has plenty of Arrested Development goodwill to burn, and Ben Affleck gets points for trying something different- this looks like Judge just moved Office Space a couple of rungs down the economic ladder to address the trials of a factory manager. Also, would’ve been nice to find out what that instantly forgettable title is all about. Of course, Miramax trailers (even in this post-Weinstein era) tend to be pretty bland, and it’s entirely possible that they just want to sell this as yet another time-wasting comedy about work and with plenty of jokes about testicular trauma ("Ow, My Balls!") and smoking weed. But sadly, it’s just as likely that Judge learned an unfortunate lesson from the Idiocracy release debacle, and he’s just trying to keep working. Then again, Office Space's trailer was only mildly amusing, and look how well that worked out.

Trailer Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Paul Clark — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

OK, I’ll admit it- I was one of those fuddy-duddy critics who hated the original Transformers two summers ago, and I was dreading the release of the sequel. Yet watching this trailer, a funny feeling came over me- in short, I didn’t hate it. In fact, I think I was finally able to see what others enjoyed so much about the 2007 blockbuster. This is due in no small part to the fact that I could legitimately see what was happening- in an uncharacteristic move for the infamously antic Michael Bay, there are actually half a dozen or more shots in this trailer in which the audience actually gets the chance to appreciate what’s happening onscreen (and the efforts of the FX team) for several seconds before an edit. The other thing I appreciated about this trailer was the absence of the goony humor that made the non-Transformers scenes in the original such a chore- we don’t see Shia Labeouf riding a pink girl’s bike or have to suffer through still more shots of one of the Transformers “urinating” on John Turturro. Also, Megan Fox’s dialogue is kept to a minimum, almost certainly a good thing. What’s left is basically 2 ½ minutes of wholesale destruction and Transformers action- talk about playing to the director’s strengths. Whether all the lame crap that made me hate the 2007 movie will be present in this one too remains to be seen. But for me, Revenge of the Fallen has gone from a must-skip to a wait-and-see, which I hadn’t imagined possible. So that’s a start.

Trailer Review: The Hangover

Paul Clark — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Maybe it’s just that I wasn’t the binge-drinking type in college (I was more into haunting the local movie theatres), but the comedies of Todd Phillips have never really spoken to me. I know that Old School has plenty of fans, especially among those who love Will Ferrell’s “Frank the Tank”, but personally I just don’t find getting plastered- and the consequences thereof- to be particularly funny. That said, The Hangover doesn’t look too bad as these things go. Sure, it traffics in a pampered frat boy’s fantasy of a bachelor party- plenty of booze, babes, and gambling, paid for by people who probably have more money than they deserve. However, the relatively low-wattage cast gives this a kind of ramshackle feel, and a potential for anything to happen that wouldn’t be there if Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn were top-lining. Besides, this got one more laugh out of me than the Brüno trailer (for the "Holocaust ring" joke, case you're wondering), so that’s something.

Trailer Review: Rudo y Cursi

Paul Clark — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Having collaborated on several films with his brother Carlos, the talented Alfonso Cuaron has returned the favor by producing (with his fellow filmmakers Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu) Carlos’ debut feature. In fact, Rudo y Cursi represents something of a reunion, as the brothers Cuaron have once again cast their Y Tu Mama Tambien leading men, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, as the title characters in this film. While Rudo y Cursi looks decidedly lighter than Y Tu Mama, the easy chemistry the actors had in that movie is just as apparent here, enough to make them perfectly convincing as brothers, especially when they’re fighting. And while I’m not quite sure about the more fanciful touches in the trailer, I’m hoping some of Alfonso’s prodigious filmmaking skills will rub off on his brother. And if nothing else, this should tide me over until Alfonso decides to make a new film.

Trailer Review: Brüno (Red-band)

Paul Clark — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

I believe that Sacha Baron Cohen may be the most talented comic currently working, and that his performance three years ago in Borat is one of my favorite performances of the decade. Which makes this red-band trailer for Baron Cohen’s latest, Brüno, doubly disappointing- despite all the outrageousness on display, I didn’t laugh once the first time I watched it, and just to be sure I wasn’t just in a bad mood, I watched it again the next day, again without a laugh. Of course, it doesn’t help Brüno may be the least funny of the regular characters from Da Ali G Show. Say what you will about Borat being a caricature, but what really sold the character was less the strange situations he got himself into than his seeming over-eagerness to please in spite of it all. Brüno, on the other hand, is mostly just a mincing stereotype who tries to make people uncomfortable with his unmistakable gayness- which is fine, but the joke only goes so far, and I fear that Sacha Baron Cohen may have overextended it. Still, I have high hopes for his future cinematic projects- the guy is seriously talented, and even in other people’s projects he makes a big impression (he’s a scream in Talladega Nights). And I have a feeling that if some adventurous filmmaker found the right semi-dramatic role for him, he could knock that out of the park too.

Trailer Review: Year One

Paul Clark — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

In the history of comedy, few subgenres have been so consistently dire as the caveman laffer. Yet it must be said that, of all the actors in Hollywood, perhaps none is better suited to top-line a new stab at the caveman comedy than Jack Black- although it must be said that Michael Shannon bears a certain resemblance to Eegah! star Richard Kiel. Black’s outsize personality lends itself nicely to the prehistoric setting, but the actor who makes Year One look at least a little promising isn’t Black but costar Michael Cera, who doesn’t exactly look to be stretching himself here (that’ll have to wait, I guess), but whose boyish reluctance ought to provide a nice contrast to Black. Come to think, I sort of wish director Harold Ramis could have made the rest of his characters more boorishly Cro-Magnon, rather than casting the story with bearded veterans of Mr. Show and the Judd Apatow touring company. Still, if it’s at least as good as Caveman- a guilty pleasure of mine- this’ll be better than most movies of the kind. Zug zug!

Trailer Review: Taking Woodstock

Paul Clark — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

After a decade that has taken him from martial arts masters and green behemoths to gay cowboys and resistance fighters, Ang Lee is taking on the widely-acknowledged high water mark of the Flower Power era, Woodstock. Yet for his genre-hopping, I nonetheless sense some pet Lee themes coming through in this story, especially in its story of middle-of-the-road types uneasily dipping their toes into the changing cultural seas that surround them, seen most explicitly in The Ice Storm. Yes, you respond, but how does the movie look? Pretty darn good, I think. Never having seen his television appearances, this is my first exposure to Dimitri Martin, but he looks like a capable center for this story, and Lee surrounds him with an impressive supporting cast, including Imelda Staunton, Emile Hirsch, and the ever-underrated Liev Schreiber. Another thing that intrigues me about this trailer- and the movie itself, of course- is that Lee doesn’t seem to be over-romanticizing the late 1960s the way many American filmmakers do, which is refreshing. And Eugene Levy as Max Yasgur seems strangely right to me.

Trailer Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Paul Clark — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Four years after Spike Jonze began shooting this adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak children’s book, there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel. And despite reports of production difficulties and tension between the filmmakers and the money men, I’ve got to say this looks pretty awesome. Certainly one of the biggest challenges faced by Jonze and his co-screenwriter Dave Eggers was how to adapt a novel that consisted of roughly a dozen sentences into a full-fledged movie while remaining true to the original. And judging by the trailer, it appears that they’ve done so without padding out the story too much. Instead, it looks like they’ve emphasized the scenes between Max (Max Records) and the Wild Things, particularly the adventures and mischief they find together. I had high hopes for this before, but this trailer has only propelled them higher. After all, how can one hate a movie in which James Gandolfini voices a furry, cuddly monster?

Trailer Review, SF Marathon Edition: Alien Trespass

Paul Clark — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Seven years ago, I attended my first Columbus Science Fiction Marathon, and one of the big “premiere” screenings that year was the old-school alien-invasion parody The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. This upcoming weekend’s marathon (tickets still available!) goes back to the SF pastiche well with Alien Trespass, which looks slicker but no less ridiculous. Frankly, I’m of two minds about movies like this. While the filmmakers sometimes get some good gags from the antiquated style (not to mention the occasional good line like Cadavra’s “Aliens? Us? Is this one of your Earth ‘jokes’?”), movies like these seem too easy to me. Having seen my share of bad sci-fi over the years, I’ve found that there are enough funny bad movies that were made in complete sincerity- see Robot Monster, or better yet don’t- that subjecting them to satire seems like an empty gesture. Another questionable element I can see is the glossiness of the project- it’s too good-looking a movie to really lampoon the style of the alien movies of yore, but it could work if director R.W. Godwin intends it as a serious homage. Which will it be? I guess I’ll be finding out this weekend.

Trailer Review: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Paul Clark — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Normally, when I write up my Trailer Reviews, I try to look past the movie’s premises and instead examine the style and performances based on the evidence I see in the trailers. However, sometimes it’s difficult to do so, and such is the case with a trailer like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. I suppose that what rubs me wrong about this trailer-and by extension the movie itself- is the way the protagonist, a committed bachelor played by Matthew McConaughey, is revealed to be a romantic whose heart belongs to one woman. Having known more than a few bachelors, my experience that taught me that stories like this tend to be pure fantasy. Men who sleep with an endless parade of women don’t usually do so because they’re waiting for the right one to emerge- more often than not they do it to assert their masculinity by pursuing women as conquests. Deep down, they like single life, and while they might go after some women harder than others, it’s due less to a romantic longing than a primal hunter-gatherer’s urge to “land the big fish.” Perhaps that’s why the filmmakers had to resort to cribbing the plot structure from Dickens (and enlisting former ladies’ man Michael Douglas to appear as a Robert Evans-styled version of Jacob Marley)- because otherwise, nobody would buy this movie. You know what? I still don’t.

Trailer Review: Away We Go

Paul Clark — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Sam Mendes returns with another drama about married life, and topic he’s approached before, first through the glossy snark of American Beauty, then with the darkly existential Revolutionary Road. Here he looks like he’s taking the quirky route, approaching it from the point of view of a not-quite mainstream couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) as they prepare for the birth of their first child. But while Away We Go marks the first cinematic venture by acclaimed author Dave Eggers, I’m not sure his style is particularly compatible with the big screen. Eggers has made off-kilter observational comedy his stock in trade, but it’s one thing to read it on the page and another to hear it from the mouths of actors. Based on the evidence here, the results are mixed, with Allison Janney’s line-readings in the trailer sounding suffering from an overabundance of actorly “spin.” That said, a supporting cast like this one is hard to ignore, especially the casting of Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara as the parents of either Krasinski or Rudolph (hard to tell from the trailer). If nothing else, Away We Go ought to give me my O’Hara fix until the next time Christopher Guest comes a-calling.

Trailer Review: Tyson

Paul Clark — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Given his ongoing preoccupations with characters who are into drugs, crime, sexual aggressiveness, and stories that cross the lines of race and social class, it was only a matter of time until James Toback made a documentary about his pal and sometime collaborator Mike Tyson. And yet, Toback’s most recent choice of subject matter seems to exemplify what’s lacking in many of his films. In his best work- particularly Fingers and his screenplay for Karel Reisz’s The Gambler- Toback depicts intelligent men who are being torn asunder by their baser impulses. Yet in lesser Toback films such as Black and White and Harvard Man, the more sensationalistic stuff (sex, drugs, crime) dominates the proceedings, leaving little room for Toback’s philosophical or poetic side. I fear that, with Tyson in front of the camera, the same will happen with this latest film, and reviews from last year’s festival scene haven’t exactly laid this fear to rest. That said, I hope I’m wrong- Tyson is one of the most galvanizing sports figures of our time, and his life certainly warrants a cinematic treatment that takes a complex, gloves-off approach. But is Toback the director to give us that film? I have my doubts.