Plot: A ragtag group of monsters team up to protect Earth from an alien invasion.
Looks like:The Incredibles meets Monsters Inc.
Verdict: With such obvious debts to two of Pixar’s biggest hits, this save-the-world adventure feels a little stale. Maybe seeing it in 3-D will add another dimension?
The Reader
Plot: A young man (David Kross) in postwar Germany discovers the horrible truth about the woman he loves (Kate Winslet).
Looks like: The most depressing movie ever. In a good way.
Verdict: The story looks riveting, Winslet looks fantastic, and that German boy is giving me weird Michael York flashbacks. I’ll definitely be at this one opening night -- I just might mix some antidepressants in with my Junior Mints.
Plot: Tom Hanks is back to uncover even more quasi-biblical secrets using only his smarts and weirdly lush mane.
Looks like:When Gargoyles Attack
Verdict: Something about the Pope, maybe? Or statues? Or the mysterious “Illuminati”? We’ll have to wait for the movie to find out! Or, I guess, read the book, but who has time for that?
Gran Torino
Plot: A crusty old man (Clint Eastwood) gets on the bad side of the Chinese mob when he protects a neighbor from an assault.
Looks like:Grumpy Old Men with Guns
Verdict: Another feel-good flick from the guy who brought us Million Dollar Baby and Changeling.
Plot: Down-and-out 37-year-old falls off a bridge and magically comes back as a 17-year-old version of himself (Zac Efron). Looks like:Big, but backwards. Verdict: Funny, charming, AND occasionally shirtless -- we'd say Efron is graduating from High School Musical with honors.
Plot: During WWII, three brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell) organize a Jewish resistance group in the forests of Belorussia. Looks like:Robin Hood, Prince of Jews Verdict: The movie's set-up -- based on a true story -- is pretty amazing, and the cast is top-notch. If director Ed Zwick can meld action and drama like he did in Courage Under Fire (instead of muddling them like he did in The Last Samurai), Defiance might just stand up to the Oscar competition later this year.
Plot: A hottie (Odette Yustman) is haunted by the ghost of her unborn twin.
Looks like:Parent Trap: The Exorcism
Verdict: We've got no beef with old-school horror, but this trailer’s like an encyclopedia of scary movie clichés: creepy demon kids, crabwalking ghosts, scantily clad coeds, etc.
Plot: The bedtime stories that a goofy dad (Adam Sandler) tells to his kids magically start happening in real life.
Looks like:Click meets The Princess Bride
Verdict: Another low-brow, high-concept, mass-market, tongue-in-cheek, action-packed, kid-friendly comedy from Sandler? I'm exhausted just writing about it.
Plot: An out-of-work schlub (Dax Shepherd) is tormented by a
wife (Liv Tyler) who wants a baby, and a wack-job mom (Diane Keaton) who
wants to move in with them.
Looks like:Mama’s Boy: The Revenge
Verdict: Enough is enough. Can A&E please schedule an episode of Intervention for Diane Keaton’s career?
Plot: A spunky gal (Isla Fisher) with a weak spot for clothes pads her resume and ends up writing about financial advice at a magazine. Apparently she falls down a lot, too.
Looks like:27,000 Dresses
Verdict: If Fisher is half as funny here as she was in Wedding Crashers, Shopaholic will definitely be a smart purchase.
More sneak peeks -- Soul Men and Nothing Like the Holidays -- after the jump!
Sure, choosing the next leader of the free world is important. But choosing your next trip to the multiplex? Now that's a decision that deserves some thought. Take a look at this crop of candidates, then let us know who you'll vote for when the time comes.
MILK November 26
Plot: The true story of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), who became the first openly gay public official in 1977 when he was elected to San Francisco’s board of city supervisors.
Looks like:Mr. Smith Goes to San Francisco
Verdict: The season’s first wow-inducing trailer boasts a powerhouse performance by Penn that could make Milk an award-show staple. One complaint: Where’s the steamy Franco-Penn canoodling we’ve heard so much about?
With this week's big new releases (Babylon A.D., Disaster Movie) looking particularly bleak, we have to turn to previews to remind ourselves that there are better — or at least, other — things on the horizon. This week's group includes a creepy doomsday thriller (Knowing), a tiny character-driven dramedy (Humboldt County), and a wannabe critics' darling (The Brothers Bloom). Check out the clips, and let us know if any of them look good enough to chase away your end-of-summer blues!
THE BROTHERS BLOOM October 24
Plot: A fraternal pair of con men (Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo) devise a globe-trotting plan to bilk millions from a kooky heiress (Rachel Weisz).
Looks like:Dirty Rotten Scoundrels à la Wes Anderson
Verdict: Despite all the explosions and postcard backdrops, there’s something weirdly small about this trailer. But if anybody can make a lot out of a little, it’s the trio of Weisz, Brody, and Ruffalo, who look like an indie version of the Ocean's 11 crew (in cute hats, no less).
This week's crop of trailers is the strongest in a while, with four movies that look like pretty solid executions of their respective genres: action, caper, drama, and tearjerker. Which ones are you excited to see?
MAX PAYNE October 17
Plot: You don’t get much from this FX-heavy trailer, but the official logline says the movie’s about a rogue cop (Mark Wahlberg) bent on avenging his murdered family. Looks like: Jason Bourne rents an apartment in Sin City. Verdict: Apparently Mr. Payne’s not a big talker. The first third of this eerie trailer has exactly four lines of super-ominous dialogue, and the rest is a word-free collage of shadowy, slo-mo action shots (a few of which feature some kind of winged manbeast thing). Are we really supposed to decide whether or not to see this movie based solely on its lighting? In which case I give it a big fat Maybe.
The eyes of the world are on the Olympics, but the competition is heating up for fall movies, too. This week's previews include a Juno-esque teencom, a horror schlock-shocker, a superhero sequel, and a festival-fave character study.
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
October 3
Plot: Two indie-cool high schoolers (Juno’s Michael Cera and House Bunny’s Kat Dennings) fall for each other over a night of music-filled misadventures in New York City.
Verdict: The title sounds like some kind of butt-numbing experimental film (actual running time is a sub-infinite 95 minutes), but this trailer paints Nick & Norah as a straightforward teen comedy, complete with puppy love, out-all-night hijinks, and plenty of drunk-girl slapstick. It’s nothing new, but the gag-to-chuckle ratio is pretty high. And when has Michael Cera ever let us down?
It’s still mighty toasty outside, but the fall movie season is already revving up with trailers for Oscar bait (Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway, pictured), prestige pics (The Informers), and box-office hopefuls (Quarantine andRole Models, starring Paul Rudd, pictured). Check out the clips and let us know if any of them will get you in the theaters.
THE INFORMERS (Warning: NSFW trailer) November
Plot:
You tell me. Judging by the loosely connected scenes of sex, drugs, and
self-hatred, my guess is it’s a pitch-black ensemble drama. Lookslike:I Loathe the 80’s, Brett Easton Ellis-style. Verdict: It might be set during the Reagan administration, but Informers’
cast is straight out of 1994, with Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder,
Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, and Brad Renfro all sharing the screen.
(My colleague Sean Howe points out that even Chris “Wicked Game”
Isaak has a part, so fingers crossed for an uncredited Heather Graham
cameo). Even so, the promise of bad hair and great New Order tunes is
almost enough to get me in the theater. Almost.
Last week, a friend of mine suggested stopping off for coffee on the way to a movie. But when I said I didn't think we had enough time, her response floored me: "Who cares? We're only going to miss the trailers." Only the trailers? Please. Any good movie fan knows that even if the feature presentation is hit or miss, the trailers never fail. A terrific preview provides the best kind of anticipatory thrill; a dreadful one gives you the pleasure of sneering and jeering, without having to shell out your hard-earned cash to see the whole thing.
In that peanut-throwing spirit, I'd like to present the first installment of PopWatch Previewer, where we'll cover everything from the muck to the masterpieces, focusing on indies, documentaries, and occasional studio offerings (or at least the ones that my colleagues Susman, Bernardin, and Vary don't snag in advance of my Thursday deadline). After the jump, check out previews for The Express (starring Dennis Quaid, left), Flash of Genius (with Greg Kinnear, right), Patti Smith - Dream of Life, and Sex Drive, then let us know if you're going to catch them in the theater—or just chuck M&Ms at your computer screen.
It’s still mighty toasty outside, but the fall movie season is already revving up with trailers for Oscar bait (Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway, pictured), prestige pics (The Informers), and box-office hopefuls (Quarantine and Role Models, starring Paul Rudd, pictured). Check out the clips and let us know if any of them will get you in the theaters.
Last week, a friend of mine suggested stopping off for coffee on the way to a movie. But when I said I didn't think we had enough time, her response floored me: "Who cares? We're only going to miss the trailers." Only the trailers? Please. Any good movie fan knows that even if the feature presentation is hit or miss, the trailers never fail. A terrific preview provides the best kind of anticipatory thrill; a dreadful one gives you the pleasure of sneering and jeering, without having to shell out your hard-earned cash to see the whole thing.
