All Hallow's Eve is approaching once again, and my favorite part of the holiday is all the corresponding movies that turn up on television and in theaters. October is already over a week old, so it's time to get into a Halloween frame of mind. The Unborn When I last saw Odette Yustman she was one of several New Yorkers fleeing for her life from a large beastie with nasty pointy teeth in Cloverfield. The Unborn has her facing a different kind of evil, specifically the spirit of her twin brother who died in the womb, or perhaps it's an evil entity that hoped to enter the world through him (it's a little hard to tell). There are some nightmarish visuals on display here, and the crawling thing with its head twisted around both sticks with me and makes me wonder if it's an homage to the spider walk scene in The Exorcist. The often cool Gary Oldman also stars and the film is written and directed by David S. Goyer, so I think there's something good and creepy here. Just Buried Not a horror flim this one, but rather an extremely dark comedy. Jay Baruchel (who I will always remember as the Led Zeppelin loving nerd fromAlmost Famous) plays a young man named Oliver who has inherited a funeral home troubled by a fierce competitor and a lack of business. The plucky young female mortician in his employ insists he can't shut down the funeral parlor and the two embark upon a path to drum up business and squash the competition by causing a few untimely deaths. Could be a nice slice of morbid fun here. Check out Scott's review of the film. The Uninvited A young woman returns home from a stint at a mental hospital following her mother's untimely death, to find that her father has a new girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks). There's also a ghost who is apparently trying to tell our former mental patient heroine that the girlfriend killed the last family she lived with. This is a much darker role than I'm used to seeing Banks play, and she seems to handle it well. This is a remake of a South Korean film called A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon) which was once recommended to me but has languished in my Netflix queue for several years. The trailer has some creepy moments and I'll probably check this one out. Here's Eric Snider's take on the trailer. Let the Right One In If you're going to attempt a vampire movie these days then you damn well better do something different with the idea, and it looks like the people behind this Swedish bloodsucker opus are clear on that concept. A bullied 12 year old boy finds both friendship and a tool for revenge in his new girlfriend who happens to be a vampire. Scott caught this one at Tribeca and penned a pretty strong recommendation, and the flick will be playing on October 24 in New York City. Sadly, the rest of us are going to have to wait for the eventual DVD release. House No, it's neither that 80s horror flick starring William Katt or that doctor show on the Fox Network. This House is a horror flick in which two couples find themselves trapped in a remote house and stalked by a lunatic calling himself the Tin Man. This one seems to meld classic slasher stuff with elements of slaughterfests like Hostel and Saw, none of which really appeals to me, and the cast isn't particularly interesting. I think I'll let this one slide.
New this week on AOL Moviefone:
Paul Blart: Mall Cop - Kevin James plays a man who finally gets his dream job as a working in mall security. Check out the trailer right here:
The International - Clive Owen plays an interpol agent targeting corruption in the world's largest banking institutions.
Passengers -Anne Hathaway stars as a grief counselor who suspects foul play when the plane crash survivors she is working with begin to disappear.
Valkyrie - Tom Hanks Cruise stars in this historical drama about a plot to assassinate Hitler.
Bonjour! Buenos dias! Whassup! It's diversity week here at the Trailer Park and we're looking at previews for films from our about different cultures.
Dragonball I've seen only a a few episodes of the Japanese cartoon on which this live action film is based, but I'm not seeing a whole lot here that reminds me of the anime. Frankly it reminds me more of Mortal Combat Kombat. Like the original, this is a martial arts fantasy with prophecies, super powers, lots of action and a hero with preposterously spiked hair. Chow Yun Fat is in there to add some action movie cred, but will that be enough? From what I've read the anime fans are not thrilled with this one, and it's not doing a lot for me either. I don't think this one if for me. Amexicano Here's a charming looking indie about a friendship between and Italian American and an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Bruno (Carmine Famiglietti) is behind on his rent and reluctantly goes into the construction business, hiring Mexican day laborers to help him. When he hires Ignacio (Raúl Castillo) the two forge a bond despite the fact that Ignacio does not speak English. I'm looking forward to this one.
Chalk up another number one opener for Shia Labeouf as Eagle Eye took the top spot with Richard Gere's romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe sliding into second. Here's the top five:
We've got a whopping six new releases this week, so let's get started...
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People What's It All About: Simon Pegg stars as a small time gossip journalist from England who joins the staff of a prestigious New York magazine and proceeds to piss off a lot of people. Why It Might Do Well: Dude, it's Simon Pegg. Why It Might Not Do Well: No zombies or cricket bats in sight. Number of Theaters: 1,750 Prediction: $6 million
The first trailer for Will Smith's new flick has just arrived online, and it's called Seven Pounds ... and it was directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness) ... and it definitely looks like one of them tear-jerkers. (For those obsessive, need-it-right-now folks, you can watch the trailer after the jump.) In the film, Smith plays a guy who's feeling guilty about mistakes he's made over the years, and so he decides to help change the lives of seven total strangers. In doing so, he winds up falling in love with one of the aforementioned strangers, played by Rosario Dawson. So here we have a movie about giving to others, it comes out December 19 (right in time for Christmas), and it stars our most precious A-list actor. Mmmm ... makes you just wanna wash it all down with a slice of apple pie.
Seven Pounds marks Big Willie's second trip to the multiplex this year, after first starring in the summer superhero action/adventure Hancock. A quick glance at his previous two films spots a similar pattern of action blockbuster and quiet drama -- and even though Smith will always guarantee you great numbers on opening weekend no matter the genre, one wonders which version of the man you all prefer? For ten bucks, would you rather spend it watching Will Smith kick ass on a $200 million budget, or would you prefer to spend the time with his gentler, Oscar-nominated side? Or, would you rather watch the man star in more straight-up comedies, a la Hitch?
A brand new trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has just arrived online via Apple (head there to view it in brilliant HD). Directed by David Fincher, Benjamin Button stars Brad Pitt as a man who's born old and slowly begins to age backwards. The film tells his life story -- one that follows him through a war and a love story with Cate Blanchett (the two also starred opposite one another in Babel). And in true extended trailer fashion, this one gives us a lot more meat -- snippets of scenes and dialogue from across the entire film. Visually, it looks stunning, and I wouldn't be surprised if this freakish flick hit the radar hard come Oscar time. Check out a few stills from the trailer up top and below, then head over to Apple to view the whole thing.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hits theaters Christmas Day.
Halloween's still a month away, but these films all have some afterlife in them.
The Spirit The second trailer for the highly anticipated adaptation of Will Eisner's classic graphic novel looks a lot like Robert Rodriguez's Sin City. That's not surprising, since comic book great Frank Miller not only co-directed that flick, he also wrote the book it was based on. The Spiritmarks his solo directorial debut, and he's definitely got the film noir thing down. After a rookie cop is brutally murdered, he's resurrected as the title character (Gabriel Macht), a masked crime fighter dedicated to keeping the city streets safe. Of course he has to vanquish a supervillain (Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus) and a couple of femme fatales, first. It's clearly got a dark vibe, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. There's a bunch of one-liners in the trailer. My favorite: "Somebody get me a tie ... and it sure as hell better be red!"
Cinematical has just received this cute and quirky exclusive trailer for The Pleasure of Being Robbed(watch it below), which marks the feature directorial debut of Joshua Safdie, and is a comedy that revolves around a kleptomaniac who touches the lives of everyone she steals from. Eleonore Hendricks stars as the attractive, fearless and stealthy thief, and also co-wrote along with Safdie. Pleasure first debuted back at the SXSW Film Festival before hopping across to Cannes where IFC eventually picked it up, and it's left a trail of great buzz all summer long. The Pleasure of Being Robbedwill enjoy an exclusive theatrical run at the IFC Center in New York City beginning October 3, and will be available On Demand as part of IFC's Festival Direct (which I love, and have used multiple times) on October 22.
Bonus points go to the reader who can name the artist and song in the trailer. (And yes, this is for purely selfish reasons ...) Enjoy.
If there's a number in a film title you've got a sequel, right? Not necessarily, unless Oceans 1 through Oceans 10 came out on some obscure underground label I've never heard of. The trailers are getting all mathematical on our collective ass this week, and each of them (sort of) sports a number in the title.
Four Christmases It happens every year. The first time I see a sign of the coming holiday season I cringe. I like Christmas fine once it gets here, but being forced to think about it in September is asking too much. Anyway, this is actually a TV spot, which is appropriate since it sounds like the plot was lifted from a sitcom.Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are playing a couple who, thanks to a canceled flight to Fiji, are forced to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day. Pretty wacky, huh? This flimsy plot is being held up by an impressive cast which includes Mary Steenburgen, Robert Duval and Sissy Spacek ... but I doubt that will be enough. Note: Link above now pointing to new full-length trailer.
Terminator: Salvation OK, there's actually no number in this title, but we're all mentally planting a "4" after the word Terminator. After Terminator 3 I really didn't care if the series lived or died. Without James Cameron at the helm and Linda Hamilton in the lead we were left with mindless action and none of the compelling elements from the first two films. This is only a teaser, but with Christian Bale taking over the role of John Connor, I'm thinking there may be hope. We get a glimpse of a post-apocalyptic future, and Connor tells us via narration that this is not the future his mother warned him about. Considering how bleak that future was portrayed in the previous films, it's chilling to imagine how it could get worse.
This week, the eyes have it. We're looking at films for which vision is key. Knowing Nicolas Cage has the only new film going into wide release this week withBangkok Dangerous, but frankly this tale of prophetic doom better grabs my attention. Cage plays a school teacher who digs up a time capsule and finds several pages of hand written numbers. He finds dates within those numbers, each of which corresponds to a major disaster that has occurred since the capsule was buried. More importantly the numbers apparently list disasters which have yet to occur. I'd be a little more enthusiastic if Cage's record hadn't been so hit and miss lately. (Ghost Rider? Puh-leeze.) Still the premise sounds kind of cool, despite reminding me of the lackluster The Number 23, and there's a disaster in the trailer that's pretty chilling, especially if you've ever been to Logan Airport in Boston. The preview is pushing the fact that director Alex Proyas helmed I, Robot, but I'm more impressed that he was the man behind the excellent Dark City. Milk This one isn't so much about visions of the future as visions for the future. Gus Van Sant directs and Sean Penn stars in this true story about Harvey Milk, who in 1977 became the first openly gay man to hold public office in the United States. Penn is engaging in the role, and we see him struggle against bigotry and death threats to give a voice to the gay community. I wasn't familiar with Milk's story, but now I'm curious. Here's William's take on the trailer.
It's no secret that Hollywood is sequel crazy, but it's gotten to the point where it's hard to tell at a glance if a movie is a sequel or something new all together. Here are five trailers I had to closely scrutinize before I could determine whether or not sequalization was occurring.
Fast & Furious Yup, this one's definitely a sequel, the fourth installment in the series launched by 2001's The Fast and the Furious. First off I give the whole franchise kudos for having the originality to give each of the films its own title and not just slapping on an escalating series of numbers. Furthermore, despite never having seen any of the others in the series, this trailer piqued my interest. Vin Diesel and co-star Michelle Rodriguez are seen here hijacking a tractor trailer hauling multiple tankers of gasoline, and the action is downright spectacular. Granted, the almost subliminal lesbian make out scene doesn't hurt either, but I could get behind seeing this. Here's what William had to say on the trailer.
Sukyaki Western Django At first glance one might think this was a belated sequel to the 1966 spaghetti western Django. In reality this is an ultra violent homage to the genre with Takashi Miike at the helm and with Quentin Tarantino appearing in a supporting role. I've seen a few of Miike's film's, but the one I remember best is the bizarre and brutal Ichi the Killer, so I'm curious to see how he does with a Western. The preview is a frenetic barrage of action scenes with plot details being of secondary concern, but there's some wild stuff here, including bullets being deflected by samurai swords much in the way a Jedi would deflect a laser blast with his light sabre. The film is shot in English, though according to Jeffrey's review of the film, the mostly Japanese cast's unfamiliarity with the language is a drawback. Still, this looks pretty cool. Sukyaki Western Django goes into limited U.S. release this weekend, so I don't imagine it will be long before it's available on DVD.
Trailers are taking to the air this week as we discuss five previews that make me think of flying.
Up This is a real quick little teaser but it makes me smile every time I watch it, and I'm pretty certain that's Ed Asner voicing the single word used. I suspect this brief bit of film will not even end up in the final flick, but it's already sold me through its ability to be charming as hell. This is Pixar's tenth animated feature, though not having seen Wall-E yet I'm starting to fall behind. In addition to Asner the voice cast includes Christopher Plummer and Pixar mainstay John Ratzenberger, and is described as "a 'coming of old age' story," in which "a seventysomething hero, alongside his clueless wilderness ranger sidekick, travels the globe, fighting beasts and villains, and eating dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon." Fireflies in the Garden If Willem Defoe were my father and he was half as crazed as he looks here I'd be pretty screwed up too. This is a semi-autobiographical feature from director Dennis Lee and deals with a family trying to deal with an unexpected tragedy. Defoe plays the father and presumably the source of much of the dysfunction and Ryan Reynolds is the son publishing his memoirs and stirring up the muck. Julia Roberts is there too, along with Carrie-Anne Moss and Hayden Panetierre. The trailer comes off as fascinating but grim, so if you're looking for the feel good movie of the year you should probably look elsewhere. Here's what Eugene thought.
Music plays a vital role in nearly every film, but for these five it's of particular importance.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Michael Cera has become the go-to guy for filmmakers looking to cast a romantically befuddled teen, and I have to say he's pretty darn good at it. Whether he's mooning over the best friend that he's recently impregnated (Juno) or harboring a forbidden affection for his cousin (Arrested Development), you can't help rooting for the little perv. This time out he's playing an angst ridden kid nursing a broken heart who finds himself falling for his new acquaintance Norah as the two spend a hectic night in New York City trying to find the location of a secret gig their favorite band is playing. The story is only of moderate interest, but Cera's presence has me wanting to check out the movie. Here's William's take on the trailer.
Beer For My Horses The eye-catching title comes from a Toby Keith song. Keith is starring in and co-writing this action comedy about a Texas deputy who has to rescue his girlfriend from a dangerous drug lord. Willie Nelson puts in an appearance, apparently as a Yoda-style adviser to our hero. At first I suspected something along the lines of a Larry the Cable Guy movie, and while this is still no Oscar contender, I can see where it might make for entertaining viewing once it hits DVD. I even found myself chuckling at the "peeing in the coffee" joke despite myself.
Once again we're bouncing around the trailer-verse, finding a preview of interest and letting word association zig us into one trailer before zagging into another. Here we go ...
The Spirit The Spirit teaser made the movie look a bit too much like a Sin City sequel, but this full length trailer seems to give a better look at what it's all about. Tons of bizarre imagery to digest here, with a strong emphasis on The Spirit's love interests, which appears to be pretty much every woman in the cast. I've only read a few Spirit comics over the years so I wasn't sure what to expect. Still, Frank Miller is giving this a major dose of visual style which has me looking forward to the December 25 release date. Here's Elisabeth's take on it. And speaking of all things spiritual... Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Up through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I felt the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's novels improved with each installment. I also liked Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but for the first time I thought too many details from the book were glossed over or left out entirely, making the movie feel more like highlights from the book than a complete adaptation. I'm hoping I don't get that feeling when the Half-Blood Prince hits theaters because I'm liking this trailer. We really get the feel of the series' increasing darkness as we see a flashback of Professor Dumbledore's first meeting with Tom Riddle, the boy who will grow up to become Lord Voldemort. I'm expecting great stuff for Harry's sixth year at Hogwart's. Here's what Erik had to say on the trailer. And speaking of school...
For every hero, heroine, and sidekick, there's a nuisance -- that person who's there to mess things up and foil the plan. This week, we've got a bunch of men who make trouble and quickly become the thorn in someone, or someTHING's side.
Terminator Salvation As if Christian Bale taking on Batman wasn't enough, now he's taking the shoes once filled by ol' Eddie Furlong and becoming John Connor in Terminator Salvation. That's right -- it's the future and Bale wants to bring those metallic jerks down. It's 2018, and John's understanding of the future has been changed by the appearance of a stranger named Marcus Wright. Connor and Wright head for the heart of Skynet and discover "the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind." Bale's being all breathy, there's lots of flashes and demolition, and Connor gets a bit of a surprise from one Hulk-sized machine. Erik thinks it's the perfect teaser trailer. Me, I'm not sold, but I'm not disappointed yet either.
The international trailer for Body of Lies has just arrived online, and the combo of Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio is enticing to say the least. Based on the novel by David Ignatius (and scripted by The Departed's William Monahan), Body of Lies tells of a former journalist (DiCaprio) who's hired by the CIA to track down an Al Qaeda leader in Jordan. The film was directed by Ridley Scott.
Cinematical's Eugene Novikov recently used Body of Lies as part of his From Page to Screen column, and on the book he says: "Body of Lies, the novel, is pitched as a spy thriller informed by the author's extensive experience in the field and knowledge of the way the CIA really operates. (The back cover offers a fawning quote from former CIA director George Tenet, claiming that the book is "fiction but reads like fact.") It's certainly intelligent, plausible, and sometimes exciting." The trailer seems to focus more on that "sometimes exciting" part, showing DiCaprio in all sorts of iffy situations, while his CIA boss (played by an overweight and somewhat unattractive Russell Crowe) rides his ass until something gives. Body of Lies hits theaters on October 10.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
