Trailer Blazer: 'Into the Wild,' 'Margot at the Wedding'

Time to look at two new trailers, both of them courtesy of Paramount Vantage, the savvy people behind this past weekend's A Mighty Heart and Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming There Will Be Blood.

First up is Into the Wild, an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's 1996 nonfiction bestseller about Christopher McCandless and his odyssey deep into Alaska. Sean Penn directs, in what the trailer makes clear is an expansive departure from his earlier, smaller-scale movies, The Crossing Guard and The Pledge. Jack Nicholson, unfortunately, is too old to play young, spry McCandless (isn't that a fun word to say?), so Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown) fills in. Man vs. Nature is my favorite kind of conflict: excited for this one. Only dubious note in the whole trailer is the last line of dialogue: "If you want something in life, reach out and grab it." You know, I've tried that; it doesn't always work. Movie comes out in September.

A new movie from Noah Baumbach, after the jump.

And now here's Margot at the Wedding (below), the new film by Squid and the Whale writer/director Noah Baumbach. Jennifer Jason Leigh’s getting married to Jack Black; her sister Margot, played by Nicole Kidman, seems to disapprove. I know a lot of people who hated The Squid and the Whale; they're all wrong. That movie's a new classic. And this movie, out in October, looks like a worthy follow-up. (Biggest hinge, perhaps: can Jack Black not play Jack Black?)  Baumbach's expressed his love for French director Eric Rohmer before, and for that reason it's hard for me to watch this trailer and not think of Claire's Knee. But maybe that's just me. Love this line from Jennifer Jason Leigh: "Margot tried to murder me when we where girls. She put me on a baking sheet, sprinkled me with paprika, and put me in the oven."