Once upon a time, Peter Jackson was hired by Universal and Fox to oversee Halo, the film version of Microsoft's killer military/sci-fi videogame. Exhausted from shooting the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong, Jackson opted to executive produce. The man he wanted to direct Halo was Neill Blomkamp, who had nary a feature credit to his name but had shot a stunning short called Alive in Joburg, about aliens living a segregated life in South Africa. Halo eventually fell apart: the stated reason was that the budget had spiraled out of control, but underneath that was the fact that no one wanted to spend ungodly sums of money on a Halo movie that Jackson himself didn't direct. No one wanted to be in the Neill Blomkamp business. Something tells me that District 9 might change some minds.
A feature-length faux-verite exploration of the themes Blomkamp touched on in Alive in Joburg -- segregation, alienation, supression -- District also looks like it kicks its fair share of ass. Flamethrowers, mech suits, snatching missiles right out of the air? Hot damn, I'm in.
What about you? And wouldn't you go see a Halo movie done with the same kind of grit? I know I would.
The red-band trailer for the Diablo Cody-penned horror film Jennifer's Body, which stars Megan Fox as a possessed high school cheerleader on a male killing spree, has been released, and it's pretty genius. As a Buffy fan, I perked up when Mamma Mia!'s Amanda Seyfried says, "Jennifer's evil....No, I mean, she's actually evil. Not high school evil." I'm sure others perked up every time Fox looks naked (and that time she references going "both ways").
For me, the only real surprise in the trailer (aside from seeing Amy Sedaris' name in the credits -- awesome) was my reaction when I saw The OC's Adam Brody. He plays the lead singer of a band and wears guyliner. I didn't realize how much I've missed him until that moment, when I thought Please don't kill Adam Brody, even if he is an agent of Satan with a really awesome haircut.
Have you missed Brody? Will you be checking out Jennifer's Body when it hits theaters Sept. 18? (And just in case: "Red band" trailer means NSFW.)
As we blogged last week, the trailer for Ashton Kutcher's racy comedy Spread is kinda lukewarm. But a French trailer for the movie -- wonderfully retitled Toy Boy -- is better in just about every way. Not only do we get to hear Ashton hilariously dubbed en francais, we also get to see more of him. A lot more.
Check out the trailer and then tell us: Does seeing Kutcher sans pants make you want to see the movie more or less?
This morning, I checked out the trailer for the new Vince Vaughn-Jon Favreau comedy Couples Retreat (watch it below). It's got a cast full of familiar faces (including Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, and Jason Bateman), but one stood out from the rest: Malin Akerman. Ever since her big break as the bride from hell in Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid (2007), the Swedish-born blonde has scored plum roles in big-name projects like 27 Dresses, Watchmen, and The Proposal. But so far, she's always played second --- or third, or fourth --- fiddle to the movies' stars. It got me thinking: Is Akerman building momentum or simply having her moment?
Frankly, I'm not a huge fan. Akerman definitely has more than a little Cameron Diaz in her on-screen DNA, but she doesn't have the same easy charm that turned the Mask starlet into a household name. And if The Heartbreak Kid is any indication, she doesn't quite have Diaz's comedic chops either.
Still, it seems to me that Akerman has a decent shot at breaking onto the A-List eventually --- but only if she builds a fanbase. And that's where you come in, PopWatchers. Do you think Akerman deserves to graduate to starring roles? Is she a leading lady in the making? Or would you be happier to see her stick with supporting parts? Let us know in the comments!
The IMDB page for Steven Soderbergh's next film says it's called The Informant. But its new trailer enthusiastically insists it's called The Informant! instead. That's weird. That's weird! It was going to be a drama. Now it's a comedy! Matt Damon plays a top executive for Archer Daniels Midland who is wildly unsuited to perform any task that requires even a shred of stealth.
EXCLAMATION [BULLET] POINTS RE: 'THE INFORMANT!' TRAILER
I could use some more closeups of corn on the cob!
Joel McHale can rock some shellacked Mad Men hair!
But the film actually takes place in the early '90s and is based on this 2000 book!
As if Tony Hale weren't enough to quell our daily Arrested Development craving, Damon's character's tendency to needlessly narrate his experience reminds us of Larry Mittleman, "The Surrogate"!
Stupid exclamation points make it seem like I'm mocking the movie but it actually looks pretty good.
Go ahead and exclaim your own thoughts about the trailer!
As Michael Bay's critic-proof Transformers sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, zoomed past $200 million in its first week in theaters, all eyes were immediately set on what might become the next smash-and-grab, things-go-boom blockbuster. And frankly, the horizon seemed pretty bleak. That is, until we saw the trailer for Roland Emmerich's 2012.
You remember Emmerich as the middlebrow, Hollywood-by-way-of-the-Rhine auteur who brought you such ear-shattering trash spectacles as Independence Day, Godzilla, and The Day After Tomorrow. To be honest, the guy has yet to make what anyone would call a "decent movie." For starters, he doesn't have a subtle bone in his body. But quality and a light touch aren't what's called for with this task. What's required is a staggering amount of money thrown at the screen in an attempt to cause as much digitally-rendered mayhem as humanly possible. And looking at his latest disaster-porn teaser, all signs indicate mission accomplished -- not to mention a huge box-office hit when the thing finally steamrolls into multiplexes in November.
For anyone hip to Emmerich's ouevre, you'll notice some very familiar ingredients here. The global panic and chaos. The presence of a star (in this case John Cusack) whose career won't suffer too much from appearing in such a transparently commercial endeavor. Beloved monuments of the world getting smashed to smithereens (St. Peter's in the Vatican, the Washington Monument). Adorable kids in peril. Stirring speeches about fighting back. A smattering of cryptic sci-fi allusions. And, of course, a bombastic, over-the-top score to goose the bloated thing past the finish line.
In other words, where do we sign up? Check out the trailer and tell us what you think.
I used to be ambivalent toward The September Issue, R.J. Cutler's documentary chronicling scary robot Anna Wintour as she gnaws her way through the hearts and souls of the humans involved with Vogue's September 2008 issue. But the ample use of Ladytron's "Destroy Everything You Touch" in the film's theatrical trailer has changed all of that. What the hell? I suddenly do care about Anna Wintour. I want to hear more constructive criticism like "this type seems so large and pretentious, it looks like it's for blind people" fly out of her mouth. And frankly, I do need to know what we we are supposed to do with feathers this fall. Which I guess means last fall. Unless she was referring to Dancing With the Stars, I have no idea what was done with feathers last fall. I obviously need to see this movie.
The doc will show in limited release on September 11, more than two years after The Devil Wears Prada came out. Do you care, or would you rather take a cue from Wintour and tell PopWatch with a cold, unfeeling stare, "The other things you showed us are more exciting"? Oh, go ahead.
Ricky Gervais is the kind of comedy genius whose work inspires constant confidence: Is there anything he could write that I wouldn't see? Nope, there is not. The trailer for his upcoming movie The Invention of Lying has finally hit the Internet, and while it doesn't exactly set my soul on fire, I remain hopeful.
Gervais, Tina Fey, Louis CK, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Garner, Martin Starr -- with the exception of my parents, is there anyone I love not in this movie?
What do you think, PopWatchers? Are you on board for Lying, or will you just stick to your box sets of The Office and Extras?
The real Amelia Earhart was carefully packaged as a doe-eyed sweetheart -- not altogether unlike the plucky pilot portrayed by Amy Adams in May's Night at the Museum sequel. The trailer for October's biopic, Amelia, starring Hilary Swank, seems to promise a more serious-minded study of the trailblazing feminist who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific in 1937. Call it The Aviatrix.
On paper, Swank seems perfect for the role, but actually seeing her in the role gives me pause. Maybe it’s simply because the actress’ beauty is so angular, in contrast to the freckled, soft facial features of the doomed adventurer. (When I close my eyes and think Amelia Earhart, I still picture Diane Keaton, who played Earhart in a 1994 TV movie.) Maybe it’s the unfortunate chain of hackneyed dialogue in the trailer. Or maybe it’s the lack of heat between Swank and her two leading men. Even the action, the plane crash, seems less than riveting.
Am I way off course here, PopWatchers? Did the trailer send you into the stratosphere? Is this film an Oscar hopeful?
Maybe it's because I think Brian Kinney would've loved the jacket-scarf combo Ashton Kutcher sports at the start of the new trailer for Spread -- the film in which Kutcher stars as a "sexual grifter" who sleeps his way to the finer things in Los Angeles -- but all I kept thinking watching it was, Why aren't you Gale Harold?* I fear that the movie won't be as dark and delicious as I want it to be. Instead, it'll be something Oxygen could play on a Saturday night after A Lot Like Love. Different, but still safe. What do you think? More Anne Heche, right?
* When I wasn't thinking Has Ashton's voice always been that low?, Nikki is sort of a stupid name, and Wow, that looks like the same house he shot that Nikon commercial in.
