Actually, let's not even answer that question! In an era where far too many movie previews give away far too many plot details, I'm kind of elated that The X-Files: I Want to Believe trailer is cryptic at best. Admittedly, the opening sequence plays a little bit like an old episode of Profiler — "She tried to escape, but she couldn't," mutters the older, grayer, decidedly less female Ally Walker — but I'm digging all the creepy imagery: corpses buried in ice, big needles, terrified faces slowly opening horror-filled containers. I'd have preferred a little more Gillian Anderson up in there, but at least that closing bit of dialogue — "So you believe in these kinds of things?" "Let's just say I want to believe." — makes the title seem significantly less lame. Also, I'm not gonna lie: I rewound and paused a half a dozen times trying to see if Mulder and Scully were going in for the kiss. My findings? Inconclusive.
How about you, PopWatchers? What do you think about The X-Files: I Want to Believe trailer? (If you have trouble viewing the player below, click here for the YouTube version.) And will you be seeking out the truth come July 25?
I don't know why, but I'm not feelin' the new trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I do love the look of the animation, and there's plenty of awe-inspiring spectacle, as usual, in the Lucasverse. But I'm not sure if I'm going to care enough about the story. Something about Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine embroiling Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the rest of the Jedi in a war sparked by the kidnapping of Jabba the Hutt's son.* The stakes just don't seem high enough, especially since we know already how this all plays out (the movie takes place during the gap between Episode II — Attack of the Clones and Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. The second half of the trailer is all battle scenes and explosions, and while I'm always up for some lightsaber dueling (Darth Maul may have died in Episode I, but his double-bladed 'saber is apparently still wreaking havoc), I'm worried that the film will consist largely of action sequences meant to distract from busy plotting and thin characterizations.
Not that any of this is going to stop me from lining up to see the movie on Aug. 15, mind you.
Tell me, PopWatchers, am I being overly pessimistic? The Clone Wars TV 'toon was really good, but it came in small doses. Can the feature be as involving? Are you more willing than I am to give the Lucasfilm team the benefit of the doubt, especially after geeking out on this clip? Comment below, my young padawans.
*Um, so how do you kidnap a Hutt-sized creature? And Jabba has a son? Does that mean there's a Mrs. Jabba? How do Hutts reproduce, anyway? And do I really want to know the answer to that question? Ewww.
I'm not fully versed in Stephenie Meyer's world of romantic-but-chaste teenage vampires, but the teaser for Twilight (opening Dec. 12), which debuted in theaters over the weekend and is streaming now at MySpace's Trailer Park, looks pretty darn cool. Hardcore Edward-and-Bella-philes can geek out over at MTV.com, which has a shot-by-shot analysis of the clip. For everyone else, let's just say that Kristen Stewart looks like she'll do fine as the strong-willed mortal Bella; Robert Pattinson seems properly courtly (and toothy) as her bloodsucking beloved Edward; and the action and FX look kinetic enough to dazzle even those who haven't read Meyer's bestsellers. Watch the teaser below, and see if you agree that it makes Twilight look like a movie you could sink your fangs into.
If you went to see Iron Man this past weekend, odds are you saw the full trailers for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight, two sequels I couldn't be more excited to see. But after taking in what I was sure was going to be a double-barrelled shot of unvarnished awesomeness, I came away a little bit — to borrow from Dark Knight's Harvey Dent — of two minds.
The Indy trailer gave me exactly what that first spot failed to: a sense of respect for my love of the character. I didn't need to be reminded who Indiana Jones was, I just needed to see him bring the derring do. This time around, they nailed it — more info about the crystal skull, more Marian, and more running-and-jumping-and-blowing-stuff-up from a spry Harrison Ford. (There were dudes in the theater who applauded after the trailer ended. I was too busy GRINNING.)
On the other hand, The Dark Knight also gave us more--more of the story, more of the cast besides Heath Ledger--but I came away less impressed. It was less evocative than the first trailer; less thematic. I've still got a lot of faith that Christopher Nolan will deliver a splendid flick — Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent looked especially promising (considering that the character had been played previously by both Billy Dee Williams and Tommy Lee Jones, he's got no place to go but up).
But for me, these two were very much a case of one step forward, two steps back. (And, yes, you singing "Opposites Attract" is my own cruel Joker-y parting gift.)
What did you think? Still as jazzed as ever about these movies, or a little more cautious? And which one are you more stoked to see?
I can't say the trailer for Earth, the first feature release from the Disneynature imprint, hypnotized me in quite the same way as that plastic bag did Wes Bentley's character in a certain Oscar-winning film, but I will say it's a rousing reminder that there's so much beauty in the world. (Get the high-def version here.) Seriously, that polar bear making a snow angel, and the baby bird leaping out of his nest, and that herd of antelope plunging into a river… I'm not the only one who's feeling all tingly and exhilarated, right?
p.s. Also, let's be honest: Any documentary featuring a shark and/or killer whale leaping out of the water to capture its prey is totally gonna rule.
p.p.s. Don't you love the way Patrick Stewart pronounces "year" as "yea'h," all classy-like?
A. may cause dry mouth, nausea, and feelings of grimness. B. proves that Dane Cook has gotten the good end of a pact with Satan. C. is a great reminder to watch Overboard/Private Benjamin/Protocol on cable this week. D. makes you want to devote the next twelve hours to drunkenly banging out a cliché-filled romantic comedy script (preferably involving an unlikely "relationship fixer" character and a pratfall-filled wedding scene) which will free you from the drudgery of everyday work life and make you the toast of Hollywood. E. looks freakin' awesome.
What's a girl (Anna Faris) to do when she's kicked out of the Playboy Mansion? Apparently, she becomes the house mother of a sorority, gives the socially awkward sisters (including Katharine McPhee and Rumer Willis) makeovers, and dates Colin Hanks. She also makes me laugh more than Mike Myers did in The Love Guru trailer or Adam Sandler did in the You Don't Mess with the Zohan preview. Am I wrong?
I realize that the trailer for Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman's home-invasion horror flick, The Strangers (below), has been out for a bit, but I just saw it this weekend in front of Smart People and... I totally jumped in my seat. I won't ruin your viewing experience by revealing the shot that made me whimper, but I will ask you to share the trailers that frightened you. What's been the scariest? That's a beautiful thing, if you think about it: The ability to get us that wound up in two minutes...
You know when you're at the movies, and after each trailer you see, you turn to the friend sitting next to you and say either yes, no, or maybe? (Or, is that just my movie buddy Karen and I?) War, Inc. is a definite yes. You've got John Cusack playing a comically morose hitman, a scene-stealing Joan Cusack yelling at him, and a story looking like it delivers: John Cusack, who co-wrote the script, is hired by a private corporation — run by a former U.S. Vice President (Dan Aykroyd) — that has occupied the country of Turaqistan and needs a Middle East oil minister to disappear. Somehow, his cover involves planning the wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff), a Middle Eastern pop star who isn't afraid to put a scorpion down her pants (young-starlet-grows-up alert!), and wooing a journalist (Marisa Tomei).
As a lifelong horse racing fan, I know that it takes more than a first-class pedigree to produce a champion. But the combination of Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal, Danny Glover, Sandra Oh and director Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener, City of God) makes Blindness look like a pretty good bet for my must-see list come this fall.
And while we're on the subject, might I just add that I sometimes wish studios would only release teasers (like the one below), rather than those full-fledged, reveal-90-percent-of-the-plot trailers that inevitably pop up closer to the release date? I mean, really, all I need are hints of plot — the way the happy couple's morning routine is jolted by a sudden illness, shots of men in hazmat suits, that wince-inducing close-up of an eyedrop, Oh uttering the word "containment" — to convince me to shell out $11. Of course, maybe that's just the spoilerphobe in me speaking.
Either way, what's your feeling on the Blindness teaser? Have you seen enough to convince you to go (or not) when it hits theaters on October 3? Holla!
No, it's not "Our Favorite Zombie Strippers," the latest brilliant traffic-driving photo gallery idea from EW.com. This is an actual Robert Englund-Jenna Jameson vehicle that's opening in limited theatrical release from April 18-25 instead of going directly to DVD. You probably won't want to see it because you're reasonable, or because you already saw the vampire version of the same story in From Dusk 'til Dawn. But you can't argue that you're worse off having watched this trailer. And if you try to leave a comment that says so, Jenna Jameson will apppear in your mirror, looking exasperated while pretending to read a book, and have her way with you. (In other words... totally do it?)
A live-action Eddie Murphy movie that looks... funny? The Meet Dave trailer (below) has been floating around for a few days, but I just finally took a look. (It's not coming out till July — why rush?) My thoughts:
1) I wonder if we'll get a tribute to Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask somewhere in here...
2) Is that white suit Eddie sports a way for him to try out wardrobe for the planned Fantasy Island feature? 3) That's arguably the best man-gets-hit-by-car scene since Meet Joe Black. 4) I don't believe in animal abuse, but Murphy kicking that cat = comedy. 5) Gabrielle Union should be a bigger star. 6) Marc Blucas is working! 7) I've seen the little-people-try-not-to-get-trampled-or-run-over thing too many times to find Little Eddie (or any other of the other little people) funny outside of Big Eddie's body.
We've already seen popular ad campaigns (Geico's Cavemen) give birth to woeful TV sitcoms, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a ubiquitous advertising slogan appears to have spawned a big-budget feature film. Still, if the trailer for What Happens in Vegas is any indication, it's time to slap a toe-tag on the Hollywood romantic comedy, and send it down to the basement for cold storage.
Seriously, some insane producer thinks I'm going to shell out $11 to see Ashton Kutcher urinating into a kitchen sink? And, of course, for that price, I'll have to buy that after two hours of huffing and snarling, Cameron Diaz's uptight harpie will realize the Neanderthal who shoves his hands down his pants before reaching into the popcorn bowl is the man of her dreams? I could write another paragraph wondering possessed Queen Latifah to continue wasting her Oscar-nominated talents in yet another low-rent production, but I've decided it's time I channeled my rage into a more productive enterprise. And you can help, after the jump.
I've never been a big fan of filmmaker Harmony Korine and his shock-the-bourgeoisie freakshows (Kids, Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy), and I'm not sure Mister Lonely (due May 2) is going to change my mind. It's about a group of celebrity impersonators who form a commune of sorts in a Scottish castle. But I'm certainly intrigued by the unlikely cast, which includes Y Tu Mamá También's Diego Luna (pictured) as the group's Michael Jackson, Samantha Morton as its Marilyn Monroe, plus such other walking indie oddities as Werner Herzog, David Blaine, and Anita Pallenberg. (All that's missing is Dieter from Sprockets.) Plus, the trailer makes the film look like it actually has a plot, albeit of the sentimental, lovable-misfits, King of Hearts variety. I'm curious enough to check this out. You?
What is it about Deception, the upcoming Hugh Jackman-Ewan McGregor thriller (due April 25), that feels so decidedly early '90s, like it could've been greenlit somewhere after the blockbuster success of Fatal Attraction, but perhaps released a year or two before Basic Instinct? Is it the way Lisa Gay Hamilton (nice to see her in anything, really) layers on the disgust as she snarls the phrase "sex group"? Maybe it's Hugh Jackman's power suit and slick hair? Or the kissing in the rain outside a corner Chinese restaurant?
What I don't quite get is why, in the Internet era, these characters seem all atwitter about a phone-based booty-call network for urban professionals? "No rough stuff and no names"? (Only first initials, apparently!) It's enough to make me blush, not because of the lurid content, but rather, because the whole setup seems so hammy and embarrassing. And because Oscar-nominated Michelle Williams deserves better.
Can any of you see a good reason for checking out Deception? (And don't use the Jackman hotness factor when you can on-demand X2 for a fraction of the price.)
My beef with Ben Stiller (as a director) has always been that he's brilliant at pop culture parodies but not at the parts of his movies (or the old Fox Ben Stiller Show) that are about actual human characters interacting. I fear that's what's going to happen with Tropic Thunder, whose trailer (playing at the film's official website) begins as a dead-on parody of every Vietnam movie trailer you've ever seen before it devolves into standard farce about clueless showbiz egotists. Similarly, the idea of Robert Downey Jr. as an Oscar-winning star who dons blackface to play a role written for a black actor sounds like a bold satirical idea on paper, but seeing it executed here makes me wonder if the joke in its execution is really on target. The only one here bringing the crazy in a way that makes me want to see more of what's up Stiller's sleeve is a hilarious Nick Nolte. Otherwise, I'm afraid Tropic Thunder may turn into precisely the kind of bloated action monstrosity that it's making fun of.
Anyone here think Stiller, Downey, and Co. can pull this off? Or is this Aug. 15 release doomed to flail and sputter out in the late-summer movie jungle?
Unless you've been following the ongoing developments of this crazy little film called The Incredible Hulk — a reboot of Marvel's un-jolly green giant, starring Edward Norton — you might come upon this spot and not know what you're going to get.
Much like the recent trailer for Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy sequel, it doesn't tip its superheroic hand until very late. You could reasonably think that this is simply a mad-science, Fugitive-style thriller about a man with a secret on the run from the Law. That is, until Tim Roth gets injected with something unky and turns into a giant CG abomination, and Norton's Bruce Banner gets tossed out of a chopper (a scene cribbed straight from the comics) and hits the ground as the Hulk. Then it's abundantly clear what kind of movie we're looking at: One in which good actors are, inevitably, relegated to the sidelines as totally fake-looking CG creatures duke it out, destroying New York — again — in the process.
Will I see it? Probably. I am a geek, therefore I must go. But I'm not looking forward to it nearly as much as I am Iron Man. How about you?
Yahoo! Movies has a new teaser trailer for Righteous Kill, in which 50 Cent gets tangled up in the chase between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino (who play bitchin', at-the-top-of-their-game NYC detectives) and a serial killer. I would have loved if right after the all-important on-screen flashes of "DE NIRO" and "PACINO" suddenly came a "CENT." But the rapper doesn't appear that much at all in the new trailer. His biggest moment is a very
brief over-the-shoulder Tyra Special. (Consider it his Best. Shot.)
In any case, the movie isn't out until September 12, which gives Kanye West plenty of time to star in a viral video with Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep and challenge Righteous Kill to some sort of publicity-off. Well, that certainly didn't make any sense. But did it have to?
The trailer for Angelina Jolie's latest, Wanted (opening June 27), has what I like to affectionately call "The Giggle Factor." You know what I mean — when you're watching a movie or a TV show or an American Idol performance, and something so over-the-top awesome/ridiculous happens that you cannot suppress the urge to bust out laughing.
For me, the Wanted trailer can be broken down into a mathematical equation:
That opening sequence with Angelina Jolie's car skidding into/picking up a bewildered James McAvoy + the "bullet rustles Angie's tresses" shot + the artsy slabs of meat = Uncontrollable giggling.
And yes, of course I'm going to go see it! What about you?
Maybe the sight of Justin Timberlake in a stuffed Speedo will really get you howling. Or perhaps you won't be able to resist the sight of Mike Myers pretending Verne Troyer is an Oscar statuette. Then again, it could be Jessica Alba delivering a ''one time in college'' lesbian joke that finally cracks your steely façade. But I didn't manage a single smile, let alone an actual laugh, during this woeful trailer for The Love Guru. If this is the big comedy of Summer 2008, I'm gonna stay at home and watch Overboard on cable. (Oh yeah, of course I provided a link to scenes from the 1987 classic!)
Is that an Iron Man in your pocket, or are you just really happy to see the full trailer?
This is one of the few movies wherein the more I see of it, the more I want to see it. And the comics hordes should be pleased, as Tony Stark is the smug, self-righteous boozer we've all come to know and love. (Or loathe, depending on how you feel about his role in Marvel's big Civil War event.) And Robert Downey Jr. is working it.
What more could you want from a trailer for a big summer action flick? A sense of humor, big superheroic action, and a little Black Sabbath... I'm sold. What about you?
According to our current homepage poll, only 16 percent of you consider Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro the must-see comedy of the spring. But what's your gut telling you about his summer offering Step Brothers (below)? Ferrell and John C. Reilly play new step brothers, forced to share a bedroom and make each others' lives hell until they realize that if they were chicks, they'd both sleep with John Stamos. Then, they're forced to grow up and find jobs because their parents want them out of the house in a month. (That may not be the exact correlation, but you get the point.) The first time I watched the trailer, I thought it was pretty funny. The second time, I remembered that PSA EW did awhile back asking men in Hollywood to grow up already. Have we always had this many ManBoy comedies, or what is it about this generation that makes them tap that well again and again? Discuss.
The full-length Sex and the City movie trailer has hit the web (below), and sent emails flying in our offices. We're not sure whether to trust our eyes: So Big would really leave Carrie at the altar? Charlotte is pregnant? Miranda might have to kick Steve in his testicle for cheating on her? And Samantha is still transfixed by Smith's abs? (Okay, that last one we buy).
While I really want to see how this "anti-fairytale" ends — and experience that moment when I'm proud to be a woman with great friends — am I the only one who's yet to see a reason why this movie had to be on the big screen? I wouldn't be any less excited if it was premiering on HBO, and I got to eavesdrop on their intimate conversations from the comfort of my couch. I wonder if having them in my home helped me feel so close to them in the first place... just asking. Anyway, what about you, PopWatchers? How do you feel about SATC: The Movie?
You may have read about Madonna screening her new feature, Filth and Wisdom, at the Berlin Film Festival this week, and now, Indiewire is screening a three-minute clip from the film (that you might not want to watch at the office, if your co-workers object to salty language and/or images of scantily-clad strippers rehearsing).
I'm not sure if there's enough here to judge if Filth and Wisdom is good, bad, or somewhere in the middle, though I have to say, it's nice to see a scene of a young woman who's not proficient at working the pole. Cinematic depictions of exotic dancers always make it seem like any amateur can just grab hold and spin to her/his heart's content (sometimes upside-down!); seeing a character lose a shoe and come to an awkward thud, well, it's kinda invigorating, as is the moment where the young woman cleans her work station with some Windex.
The dialogue, on the other hand, is not quite as fresh. Somebody tell me the underlying message here isn't "be the best stripper you can be," 'cause I can't make heads or tails of the Madonna interview that accompanies the clip. "Non-judgment and duality"? Blah, blah, blah. I'm gonna go watch the video for "Burning Up" now.
Harrison Ford may be 108 years old, but I'm 14 again, thanks to the release this morning of the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull teaser trailer at Yahoo Movies. It looks pretty dang awesome, even if the clip does waste the first half of its two-minute running time with a retrospective of Indy's past glories. (Wait, he "saved the cradle of civilization"? That's what the Temple of Doom was? I thought civilization started in Iraq or Egypt, not India.) Note to Paramount: we all know who Indiana Jones is; just because it's been 19 years doesn't mean we need a refresher course. We also know that Harrison Ford is, like, old, so we don't need the obligatory quip about his age. (Sidekick Ray WInstone: "This ain't gonna be easy." Indy: "Not as easy as it used to be.") Besides, by the look of things, Ford can still do stunts quite nicely, thank you. (Better quip: Shia LaBeouf: "You're a teacher?" Indy: "Part-time.") Also, I'd have liked to see more than a glimpse or two of Cate Blanchett (coiffed in a nifty Louise Brooks bob) and Karen Allen (back as Marion Ravenwood). But enough quibbling. Still a pretty dang awesome teaser. Watch, and we'll discuss, after the jump.
Kung Fu Panda (June 6). I always get a little worried when DreamWorks Animation opens up the cute talking animal stable. Yes, Madagascar and Over the Hedge worked; Shark Tale and Bee Movie, not so much. I have mixed feelings about this one. Plot looks like The Karate Kid with fur, and it seems to contain some iffy ethnic stereotyping à la Shark Tale (which, like KFP, starred Jack Black as a wuss trying to appear tough). On the other hand, the artwork looks solid, and there's a clever scene where the panda (Black) and his sensei (Dustin Hoffman — no, really) battle with chopsticks over an elusive dumpling. By the way, Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan are in this movie, too — why aren't their voices in the trailer?
Street Kings (April 11). Here's another tale of rule-bending L.A. cops from Training Day scribe David Ayer (in the director's chair this time). Here, it's Keanu Reeves as a supposedly hard-boiled veteran officer who's apparently willing to flout the law in order to avenge his partner's murder. Now, I'm happy to watch Keanu do wire-fu action heroics or express wide-eyed awe ("Whoa."), but hard-boiled he's not. He's not Denzel Washington, either: that is, a usually genial presence with reserves of anger so powerful and astonishing that on the rare occasions when he taps them (Glory, Training Day), it's enough to win him an Oscar. (Forest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie, two much more versatile actors, have what look like thankless supporting roles.) Still, the movie's based on a James Ellroy story, and no one does L.A. crime tales like Ellroy, so it still has to be worth a look, doesn't it?
Sadly, the name Luc Besson doesn't inspire the same cinematic giddiness as it did in the early '90s, when the Frenchman directed the classic existential action thrillers La Femme Nikita and The Professional. But when I saw his name attached — only in a writing-producing capacity — to this Liam Neeson thriller, I was intrigued. And when I saw the trailer, I got a whole lot more intrigued.
There's a great moment in this spot, when Neeson picks up the phone to talk to his daughter's abductors, and you think he's going to be all "worried father please don't hurt my baby," but he starts that speech. Well played. Qui-Gon Jinn as Papa Bad-Ass? Yeah, I'm there. While this director's previous flick, District B13, was a little short on all things script-related, it didn't skimp on the whip-frenzy derring-do. And now, with a real actor at the center of what looks like a pre-revenge thriller... hoo boy.
The Happening (June 13). Say this for M. Night Shyamalan: he makes terrific teasers. This one taps nicely into post-9/11 dread: It's a beautiful day; suddenly, people start dropping dead; and pretty soon they're evacuating New York. Very scary! Don't know if the rest of the movie can live up to it — if Mark Wahlberg's square jaw can save the East Coast from unspecified catastrophe, or if Zooey Deschanel can deliver line readings without irony — but this little clip is certainly promising.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (April 18). Eh, I'm starting to get Apatow fatigue. This one looks like so many other films from Judd's comedy clique: same players (Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd), same sexual embarrassment, same elusive shiksa goddess fetish (here, the blonde hottie is Kristen Bell, pictured with Segel). I'm worried that this revealing trailer (and I do mean revealing; it's pretty NSFW and shows a lot more of Segel than you may want to see) spoils all the best jokes, just as it spoils pretty much the entire plot: Nice schlemiel (Segel, who also wrote the film) gets dumped (by Bell), goes on Hawaiian vacation to forget his ex but keeps running into her anyway, and meets a nice gal (That '70s Show's Mila Kunis) who could and should turn his head. Still, I'm sure Ben Stiller is kicking himself that he's not in this movie.
Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? (Spring 2008). There's only one joke in this trailer — and maybe in the whole movie, I fear — but it's a good one: Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock's Indiana Jones-meets-Michael Moore quest to locate the Al Qaeda leader whom President Bush seems to have lost interest in finding and bringing to justice. "If i've learned anything from big-budget action movies, it's that complicated global problems are best solved by one lonely guy." Heh-heh, good one, Spurlock! Betcha didn't find him, though, didja?
I'm sure you all know that the teaser for J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie unspooled before Cloverfield and is now available online right ovah heah. And while it is short, it's completely effective in stoking the kind of geek awe one needs in order to resuscitate this flagging franchise. After all, love him or hate him, the stoking is one of the things Abrams is best at. (Witness this other site, which offers "security cam" footage of those same workers building the Enterprise.)
But aside from the awesomeness of watching the construction of the ol' NCC-1701, this teaser did raise one big geek question for me: Why would anyone build a starship on Earth itself? Because that's what those welders are doing. I get that it's a cooler image, seeing the grimy faces of the workers as the sparks reflect off their safety goggles — as opposed to dudes floating around in space suits. But it just doesn't make any sense. If a vessel is never going to operate inside the gravity well of a planetary body, then why subject it to the stresses of that same gravity well during construction? And isn't it easier to maneuver the raw materials in a weightless atmosphere? One dude, all by himself, could slide a warp nacelle into position if he was in zero-g orbit. You'd need massive, massive machinery to do the same thing on Earth. Besides, according to Star Trek lore, Starfleet built the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards — in orbit around Mars — expressly for ship construction. Because Starfleet ain't stupid.
Writer-producer Roberto Orci attempts to explain away some of these issues, but I'm not even remotely convinced. What about you? Do you buy it? Or do you not particularly care?
Okay, I'm closing the geek hailing frequencies now. Carry on.
I haven't read The Ruins, Scott Smith's best-selling novel, but watching the trailer (below) for the April movie, I understand what Gillian Flynn says in her review: "Reading Scott Smith is like having a rope tied firmly round your
middle, as you're pulled on protesting tiptoes toward a door marked
DOOM. The horror is in plain sight; there is no doubt things will end badly — the signs are everywhere."
Should I be as frightened of this film as I am? And for those of you who have read the novel, does it look like the movie will do it justice?
There's one moment in this trailer that got me laughing so hard at my desk that people actually poked their heads in to make sure I hadn't snapped and was about to go on a crazed stapler rampage. I think you'll know it when you see it.
That look on Amy Poehler's face, just sitting there... man-oh-Manischewitz. Judging by this trailer, Baby Mama looks like a brave new frontier for chick flicks. It's not a romantic comedy. It's not a "three girls get together and bond over shared bad experiences with dudes" movie. It's not defined by the female reaction to the male presence, or lack of presence. Which is so friggin' refreshing I can't tell you.
Not that I thought the whole trailer was a slam dunk — at this point, there's no such thing as an au courant DMX joke — but it's promising. And it's Tina Fey, who's totally gonna come live with me if my wife and Tina's husband say it's cool.
If you do a little Evel Kneivel over the jump (get it?), there's some more Fey-related baby shenanigans for you.
Take a heaping cup of I Am Legend, add a soupçon of Road Warrior, and then deep-fry that mutha in Escape From New York and you'll have the awesomeness that is Neil Marshall's Doomsday.
This is like the geek equivalent of stuffed french toast: goodness, injected inside of goodness, lathered in goodness. Malcolm McDowell as the Duke of London and Rhona Mitra as Snake Plissken? C'mon! Sure it looks derivative, but it's derivative of stuff that I love: car chases, genetic mutants, beautiful women kicking ass.
Once upon a time, I'd have said that multiple Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster could do anything and sell it to the camera. But after seeing this...
...I think I've gotta revise that statement. There is one thing she can't do: hapless. I'm all for actors realizing that their body of work isn't appropriate for their own kids, and so they make a family film as a result. I'm convinced that's why most of the UK's finest are lining up to be in Harry Potter flicks. But this warmed-over take on Romancing the Stone—timid genre novelist must shed her cloistered life and plunge into the very world she writes about—just feels so forced, so lacking in spirit, that I can't imagine any kid opting for this over, say, braces. And Jodie looks so out of her element it's a little painful to watch. Every character she's ever played has had a sense of command; and despite her mistakes, she's always been the captain of her own fate. But here, she just looks lost at sea...sometimes literally. (And poor Gerard Butler is well on his way to squandering all that goodwill he earned in 300. This and P.S: I Love You are no way to cultivate the crowd that made you a star.)
Granted, I could be wrong—I thought Alvin and the Chipmunks looked like a steaming pile of bad and it made, like, a gazillion dollars and counting—but Nim's could well be the answer to "What if they threw a family film and nobody came?"
Here are some things I observed at a late-night Manhattan screening of Walk Hard over my winter vacation last week:
1) A dude sitting in the audience who looked a lot like Seth Rogen...until he turned all the way around, at which point he ceased to look at all like Seth Rogen.
2) Not one, but two consecutive trailers featuring Borat's Ken Davitian (pictured, right) in bit parts. Sweet! First up was the Get Smart remake (see below), in which Davitian plays a generic baddie opposite Steve Carell.
This one's been out there on the web for a while, but Carell's showdown with Davitian (check it out around 00:50) is still the funniest part by far; the big guy's killer deadpan instincts are intact. I'm sorta half-hoping that the partial scene we see in the trailer devolves into a full-on naked brawl in the final movie, but that's probably just a pipe dream. In the meantime, I'll just hope that Carell, Anne Hathaway, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson don't totally desecrate my childhood memories of watching Get Smart reruns on Nickelodeon.
Speaking of desecration, the second trailer I caught Davitian in at that screening was for Meet the Spartans, the boneheaded 300 parody in which he appears to play a pierced, obese Xerxes-type warlord. I can't find that particular trailer online at the moment, which is probably a good thing, since it looks terrifyingly unfunny. Bear in mind, I would normally be praising this thing to the rooftops just on the grounds that its cast includes Wu-Tang star Method Man in the role of, uh, "Persian Emissary" — so you know it must be awful.
But never mind that. Point is, regardless of the merit of these projects, it was great to see Davitian back in action. He definitely deserves some more work after his star turn as Sacha Baron Cohen's sidekick — especially now that SBC has semi-definitively ruled out any future Borat projects. Next up for Davitian: May I suggest a touching Charlie Chaplin biopic? He sure pulled off the look in Borat's parade scene...
Digital wooly mammoths + impossibly perfect teeth for a pre-dentistry society + a whole lot of Apocalypto = 10,000 BC.
See, it's not that it looks bad, it just looks kind of pointless, especially in a post-Apocalypto world. (If you'll remember, that surprisingly good Mel Gibson film also had a pre-cultural dude who has to save what's left of his tribe from people who hang out in giant temples and think they're akin to gods.) And, while I'm usually okay with the cinematic use of the British accent as a stand-in for every other nationality—including aliens—this is a bit of a stretch, considering that these people barely had language, let alone the upper-crust refinery of our sires across the pond. This oughta sound like Quest for Fire, not RSC tryouts.
The ultimate question, though, is Will I Go See It. The jury's out. Depends if something good is on the Hitler—I mean, History Channel.
In the process of my Mondaily web trawl, I came across a link for The Signal, a movie I'd never heard of. Now, because I love all things Serenity (as well documented)—which revolved around, among other things, the broadcasting of a signal that contained government signals—I clicked through to see what it was all about.
And I found what looks like a smart, unsettling, low-budget reinvention of the zombie flick. (Yes, I know, there have been, like, 48 smart reinventions of the zombie flick in the past five years.) It reminds me of The Ring, with fewer creepy prepubescent girls in need of haircuts and tanning beds crawling out of TVs. The killing here is done by the people closest to you, the people you know and love. That's pretty scary.
Check out the embedded trailer, after the jump. I'm officially intrigued; how about you?
Over the holidays, I chatted with a number of people who, like me, saw the trailer for July’s Mamma Mia! (pictured, right) — the sexy, salty Mediterranean love story scored with vintage ABBA hits. Unlike me, however, most were unenthused — if not baffled by — the thought of Meryl Streep starring in a musical.
But here's the thing. I've always harbored this suspicion about Meryl: She loves to sing! (In character, that is. Though she reportedly studied singing as a child, she suffered acute nerves when asked to perform songs at the Hollywood Bowl while promoting 2006's A Prairie Home Companion.)
You can hear Streep's singing voice making cameos in 1983's Silkwood, 1987's Ironweed, 1990's Postcards from the Edge, 1992's Death Becomes Her, 1998's Dancing in Lughnasa — and she not only played a professional singer in Prairie (left), she danced (uncredited) in a big production number opposite Greg Kinnear in 2003's Stuck on You. As the star of Mother Courage and Her Children in a 2006 production for NYC's Shakespeare in the Park, she belted out Brecht. And I've even heard her sing the blues, while riding in the car with my nephew, on the 2004 children's CD Philadelphia Chickens (fun fact: other singers on the Grammy-nominated album include Natasha Richardson, Eric Stoltz, Scott Bakula, and Kevin Kline). Streep's warbling may be frequently breathy and occasionally faltering, but she can carry a tune, and it's evident she relishes the art of interpreting a song.
After all that dabbling, it may be Streep's finally gotten what may have been her dream all along: the lead in a musical. Meryl and Mamma Mia! may be a better fit than anyone expects — certainly, the quality of the acting can make a musical theater number flop or soar. I'm totally looking forward to a performance which, if not perfectly in tune, will probably be full of joy. Meanwhile, how many of you PopWatchers remember other forgotten examples of Streep singing over the years, in a movie or elsewhere?
Is it me (yes, I'm sure it is, but allow me to pose the question), or is Keira Knightley not all that?
I mean, is she really supposed to be the most fashionable woman on the planet? Is hers the face that could launch a thousand ships? (And is that Sideshow Bob-hair for real?) Your response to this trailer—touting a very plush-looking, if routine, period romance—hangs on how you'd answer these questions.
Me? Even though I kind of liked Atonement—and am a sucker for a good bodice, especially when ripped—wild horses couldn't drag me to this. What about you?
I have no problem with someone being one-note, as long as I like that note. And I'm fine with Will Ferrell making sports spoof after sports spoof as long as they're funny. (See: that mealtime grace scene in Talladega Nights. Do not see: Kicking & Screaming.)
That said, Ferrell's upcoming basketball diary, Semi-Pro (opening Feb. 29), worries me. In the G-rated trailer below, I found great costuming, as always, but only one thing to laugh at (Ferrell on his stomach, calling for the bear).
After the jump, watch the NSFW trailer for the R-rated film. Better? By how much?
The trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian hit the Web a couple weeks ago, and it's so excellent, I'm surprised it hasn't generated more buzz. A dark tone with a real sense of urgency seems to have replaced the lighter, magical quality that marked 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (even though the latter flick tackled themes of death and resurrection). And unlike the book for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I have no real memory of the fourth book in the C.S. Lewis series--hey, I read it a good 20 years ago--which makes me more open to seeing the film, if that's possible. How about you?
Quick! Which sounds more promising: A big summer vehicle for a consistently bankable box-office star whose last three comedies have grossed $119 million, $137 million, and $158 million respectively, or an early February release starring that tabloid-staple Desperate Housewife who (fair or not) never seems to get nominated for anything?
Wait! Don't answer yet. First, let's make this a super scientific study: Grab a pen and a scrap of paper, and watch both trailers (embedded after the jump). Jot down how many times you laugh (slight, bemused exhalations count; horrified gasps do not) while watching each trailer, rendering your subjective opinions irrelevant in the process. Once you're done, post your tallies in the comments section below.
I'll kick things off with my personal laugh count: Over Her Dead Body, 6; You Don't Mess With the Zohan, 0. Be warned: The former features clumsy-heroine-makes-messes clichés; the latter portrays Adam Sandler as an irresistible stud who excites middle-aged women by (among other things) licking their hair. Now click through and press play; I shouldn't have to endure these things by myself.
The smartest thing about this trailer? That for 60 percent of it, you don't know that this is a Hellboy movie.
Don't get me wrong: I really dug the first Hellboy. Smart comics-based entertainment, that was. And, as we all know by now, Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) is one hell of a director. It's just that the key to selling a movie starring a big red dude with a tail and one big fist is to get people hooked on it before they realize said Big Red Dude is in it. Which is just what this spot does. (And it doesn't hurt that some of those creepy crawlies look like they crawled right out of Pan's Labyrinth.)
Because, apparently, I need to lighten up when it comes to reviewing trailers—though I will maintain that my take on The Dark Knight was not a negative one—here's the latest gem from Pixar:
What's to say? There's never been a bad Pixar flick, and it doesn't look like this one—coming next summer—is gonna break that streak. (Okay, if I have to quibble with something, it's that this cute little 'bot looks a little too much like Number Five from Short Circuit—but he's so damned cute I'm gonna pretend that I didn't notice.) But, man, Pixar succeeds where almost every other CG toon house fails: in creating characters with character.
The full, two-minute trailer for season 4 of Lost seems to confirm Doc Jensen's speculations based on the 30-second teaser released last week. There's Jeremy Davies, as one of the new characters from the freighter, telling the Lost-ies that rescuing them wasn't exactly his first priority. There's Locke and Ben and the drowning Charlie, repeating their warnings from last season's finale about the newcomers. And there's the title cards, telling us that some of our heroes aren't going to leave the island. (Does that mean some will choose to stay behind, or be abandoned, or die? Or does that refer to Jack, who we know will leave but who will remain mentally and emotionally trapped there?) Say, was that a glimpse of Naomi, the parachutist apparently slain by Locke, still alive? Lots of tantalizing questions; really can't wait to see how they play out, can you?
On a lighter note, the trailer for Leatherheads, George Clooney's period comedy about the transformation of the 1920s-era National Football League from a barnstorming group of anarchic roughnecks into a professional but much less fun organization, leaves me with mixed feelings. With John Krasinski along for the ride as the strong-but-naive rookie mentored by Clooney's sly veteran, and Renee Zellweger (pictured, with Clooney) as the skeptical reporter who comes between them, it's clear that the movie wants to be another Bull Durham, with a little Seabiscuit/Cinderella Man historical interest thrown in. But it all looks so rote and by-the-playbook. (Also, Office-boy Krasinski seems overmatched by his glamorous old-pro co-stars.) The actual movie is going to have to try a little harder than the familiar tactics suggested by the trailer in order not to fumble at the box office this spring.
He's homeless and drunk, see. But he's got powers, get it? And his life is still screwed up. That's deep.
Here, finally, is the film that will test Will Smith's true box office power: Can he, through sheer force of STAR, make this lame-ass, Blankman-grade superhero satire a hit? Not since Wild Wild West has Smith shown up in a film that carried with it the overwhelming stench of misfire.
And I haven't seen a tossing-of-marine-wildlife gag that good since My Super Ex-Girlfriend. And we all know how that turned out.
And, you know what? I feel a little let down. The problem is, there's no real wiggle room when it comes to interpreting this character. Everyone who's ever played him — from Cesar Romero back in the '60s, to Jack Nicholson (who probably delivered the definitive performance) to Mark Hamill on the Batman animated series — has had to blend mania and hysteria, and top it with a plummy renegade cackle.
Which is exactly what Ledger is doing. Sure, he looks different — that makeup does go a long way towards making him look genuinely scary, as opposed to harlequin silly — and the film seems to be treating him differently, with more heft, than in the past. But that's the job: play this dude like a force of pathological nature.
My favorite shot of the whole thing? It comes early on, with Batman standing atop a skyscraper at dusk, surveying his city. He just looks so...small. The comics offer that image all the time, and he always appears larger than life, as if his wingspan was wide enough to envelop all of Gotham. But here, you really get the Herculean nature of the task Bruce Wayne has set b
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I've never been a big fan of filmmaker Harmony Korine and his shock-the-bourgeoisie freakshows (Kids, Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy), and I'm not sure Mister Lonely (due May 2) is going to change my mind. It's about a group of celebrity impersonators who form a commune of sorts in a Scottish castle. But I'm certainly intrigued by the unlikely cast, which includes Y Tu Mamá También's Diego Luna (pictured) as the group's Michael Jackson, Samantha Morton as its Marilyn Monroe, plus such other walking indie oddities as Werner Herzog, David Blaine, and Anita Pallenberg. (All that's missing is Dieter from Sprockets.) Plus, the 
My beef with Ben Stiller (as a director) has always been that he's brilliant at pop culture parodies but not at the parts of his movies (or the old Fox Ben Stiller Show) that are about actual human characters interacting. I fear that's what's going to happen with Tropic Thunder, whose trailer (playing at the film's 
Yahoo! Movies has a 
I'm sure you all know that the teaser for J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie unspooled before Cloverfield and is now available online 
Here are some things I observed at a late-night Manhattan screening of Walk Hard over my winter vacation last week:
Over the holidays, I chatted with a number of people who, like me, saw the 
Quick! Which sounds more promising: A big summer vehicle for a consistently bankable box-office star whose last three comedies have grossed 
The 