Trailer Thoughts

Hi there.

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there've been a few movie trailers that really made me want to see the movie's advertised. Which seems obvious, since, really, isn't that the job of a trailer, to create interest. There were three trailers off the top of my head that were really great and made me really excited to see the movies, only to... ah, I was underwhelmed when I finally did get around to seeing them. Not to say they were all bad, but only one of the movies turned out to be that good. One was downright awful. I'll let you, dear reader, figure out which movie was the good one. Actually, if the trailer weren't so darn great the movie would probably seem better for me. By comparison however, it's not as great as the two and a half minute preview.

Enjoy.





Note: Sorry there's only two trailers. Guess it narrows down the process of figuring out which was the good movie, and which was dreck. I was going to include the Daredevil trailer here since I remembered it as being quite good, but... meh, aside from a decent final thirty second montage it isn't that great.

Note #2: Odd they're both Nicholas Cage movies. Even more pecular is that I was considering adding Matchstick Men, but I actually enjoyed that film more than the trailer (which was pretty decent).

 

Fun With Youtube IX

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Been a little busy lately is all. To make up for the absence here's some random junk off Youtube. Enjoy.... ?

 

The Ending to Every 1980's Movie in Four Minutes (with bonus footnotes)

80's Ending
It's funny, because I think I might actually have greater awareness of the clichés demonstrated in this clip because of videos like this one that rip on these clichés.* Not that I haven't seen my fair share of 80s teen comedies and the like ("Revenge of the Nerds", "Just One of the Guys"... ah... when did "If Looks Could Kill" come out?)**, but I was too young to see these movies when they were coming out, and by the time I was a teenager all I could see was the stuff they lampoon here.*** Now I'm actually a little scared at the thought that in ten years someone will dissect "American Pie", "Never Been Kissed", and "She's All That" and all of the teen comedies that came out in my formative years and point out how ridiculous they were, even if they tried to jump the gun on that sort of thing with that "(Fill in the Blank) Movie" spoof they did about a decade ago (which would probably be included in the dissection anyway).****

* Like South Park's "Asspen", which introduced me to the 'regular guy competing against arrogant jock and winning the heart of the dorky-but-hot-girl'.
** Just remembered "Say Anything" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", but they weren't that bad.
*** Being a teenager in the savvy and cynical late-90s, early-00s, as I was.
**** This film being a reflection of my generation's savviness and cynicism toward the genre, because, really we all knew how lousy these movies were as they were coming out but went to see them anyway.

At the Moment...

I'm a too stuffed up at the moment to form much of a coherent thought for an update (my sinuses being as sensitive as they are).

Still, thought I'd stop by to say that I caught "Wolverine" on the weekend and thought it was pretty decent. Not a great film, but pretty enjoyable and fun all the same. Wish Deadpool was a little truer to the comics (at least during his appearance later in the film -- Ryan Reynolds nailed the part during the first bit), but it's a good enough set up for a spin-off film. Not really getting all of the bad press and feedback the movie's been getting, but to each their own I suppose. I'd recommend it.

Anyway, I'm feeling a little too bowling ball-ish to say much else, so I'm going to sign off. See you.

My (Almost) Frustration

Last Friday I decided to get a copy of the first Scott Pilgrim book (Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life), having noticed some of the press surrounding the currently-filming, Edgar Wright-helmed production currently being shot in Toronto. And it was really terrifically well-done -- I burned through it in a few days. A really solid mix of video game surrealism and superbly honest and fully-realized characters.

On Thursday I got the second volume, which I finished today. Realizing how far along I was with the second volume (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World), and not wanting to lose any of my reading-momentum, I got volumes three and four yesterday (Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness and Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together). Which was a wise decision because volume three picks up moments after the end of volume two. In fact, I can't even imagine having to read the volumes with the year-long gap folks had to put up with when the volumes were originally released.

That said, I can't help but feel it's a bit of a kick in the head that I've jumped on the Scott Pilgrim bandwagon at this particular moment. The fifth volume, (Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe), just came out and it'll likely be another year-plus until the sixth (and final) volume is released. And even then, it'll likely be timed to come out with the movie, which, as I've learned today, won't be out until the summer of 2010. And since I've been on a real Scott Pilgrim kick this past week, this is not that good. Still, the books are extremely well done and incredibly entertaining, so it's cool having all that to enjoy. And even if I still have a year to go I still have the fact that my friends have yet to realize how cool the whole thing is, so once they do finally hear about Scott Pilgrim I can act all cool and such because I was aware of it first. Not that I'll be a wiener about it or anything, but it's nice being ahead of the curve.

Thoughts at the Moment

I saw the latest James Bond film a week back and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not the timeliest thing to be blogging about I suppose -- two weeks in release is a lifetime in blog years to finally get around to mentioning it -- but there you go. Curiously I thought of mentioning it after reading a brief review of the film with wrote of it negatively, the criticism having being due to the portrayal of James Bond in the film. Granted I didn't have a problem with it, and actually enjoyed Daniel Craig as Bond quite a bit.

To be honest though, my favorite bits probably had to do with the Quantum group, which seems to be the latest Bond iteration of Spectre, albeit renamed due to rights issues surrounding that name and the Blofeld character. While, as a Bond aficionado (since TBS' 1995 "13 Days of 007", timed to the release of Goldeneye), I'd have preferred Spectre named as the group, Quantum is perfectly serviceable, and world's better than "Octopus", the fill-in name used in the "From Russia With Love" video game, and "SCUM", from James Bond Jr. (which, fittingly, I adored when I was 9 year old and had all of the action figures and vehicles for). Additionally, I find it awfully neat that there's a recurring bad guy in Mr. White, who, if wikipedia is to be trusted, was to have been killed in an alternate ending for the film which was unused to give the filmmakers flexibility for the next film, should they choose not to continue the Quantum storyline.

Anyway...

I put up the Christmas decorations the other day. I always hate having to get the trees out of storage since they're in the far part of the laundry room, tucked way down under one of the shelves. And last year, for some reason, I thought it a good idea to put the trees (yes I have two of them, since my dad wanted to have a second tree because he's a dope) in garbage bags, since the boxes they'd been kept in were falling to pieces. I've resolved to buy plastic bins to keep the trees and ornaments in when it's time to put them away this time, because, naturally, it's going to fall on me to have to deal with all that bloody mess in January.

So, terribly sorry I didn't get back sooner with these scintillating thoughts and anecdotes. I'd hate to think I've let down the folks who've stumbled on my blog, especially since I've shot myself in the foot with that pledge of new content weekly and I'm too lazy to change it. Meh.

Y'anyway.... here's some youtube stuff. Enjoy.

Hi there.

Sorry for the lack of posts but I've been busy. A got a bookcase; I saw one at Staples a little while back and finally got up there to get it. It's pretty sharp, and was on sale too. Not big news, but it's a great looking shelf all the same.

Haven't seen Indiana Jones yet. Might go to see it sometime, but I think I'd have to go with someone else. I've got to be honest, I'm just not feeling the hype about the Indiana Jones movie. Sure I liked Raider of the Lost Ark, I mean, who didn't? And I have fond memories of watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with my Mom as a child. I don't know though... It just doesn't feel like the must-see movie pheomenon that people seem to think it is. But like I said, I'll probably wind up seeing it in theaters, but only if someone else is going to see it.

Former Minnesota governor was on the Colbert Report about a month ago, promoting his new book adorned with the familiar image of him, you know, that whole neatly bald, mustached, pro-wrestler thing.

That was an older picture since he currently has scraggly hair, no mustache, and is looking pretty paunchy and old. The interview wasn't that great either, since he doesn't seem to have a sense of humor, although Colbert was able to get a rise out of him partway through the interview. But anyway, point is, he seemed a little out of touch and nutty. Then I read this quote from him from Thursday night's "Verdict":

"Well, first of all, I made a statement when I was governor and stand by it today. Love is bigger than government. Who the hell are we as a government to tell people who you can fall in love with? I think it‘s absurd that fact it‘s even being debated."

The man might be a little out there, but damned if he isn't right on the mark there. I'd written him off after the Colbert Interview, but I'm rethinking that.

Final Crisis #1 is out tomorrow and I've got to be honest -- not too excited about this storyline, at least not the same kind of excitement I felt for Marvel's summer crossover, Secret Invasion. Probably has more to do with the whole Countdown debacle that dragged on and on and didn't really go anywhere, the deaths of all the New God characters (all of whom, apparently, are returning in Final Crisis), and the fact that there's characters resembling the New God versions from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers thing running around the DC universe which I find totally confusing. I'm hoping the first issue gets me really jazzed on this series, since I'm not feeling it right now. I still plan on checking it out and getting every issue for the Grant Morrison writing and the J.G Jones artwork (even if rumor has it there'll be fill-ins down the line).

That's about everything on my mind at the moment. I'll probably check in someone soon and ramble a bit

A Couple of Things...

Hi there. Saw Iron Man Thursday night with Kerr and Edmond. It was great. Didn't quite have the punch of a Spider-Man or X-Men 2, but it was a really solid film that I wouldn't mind seeing a few more times. Might try to catch it at the show again while the big crowds are going to be there. Don't know what else to say -- the cast was great, the direction was sharp, the action was good, the dialog natural and entertaining. All things said elsewhere and in better words. Two moments of nerdishness were the fact they stayed so close to the comic book origin and the cameo at the end of the film. That was just awesome.


Anyway, apparently the whole point of the fifty cent DC Crisis/Countdown book from last week was to bring Barry Allen back. Which is a really bad move on DC's part. I hate all of this need to strip mine the past and rob earlier stories of their impact by bringing back characters creators remembered fondly as children but ultimately failing to provide any real reason for the character's return. Thankfully Marvel's handled Bucky so well and it wasn't really Captain Marvel back from the dead, so I'm not too angry about the whole thing. That said, I totally missed the whole Barry Allen thing. If anything I assumed the weird glowing figure was, like, Darkseid or something since it resembled his appearance just before "dying" in Countdown.

And another thing -- wasn't this supposed to be a wrap-up for Countdown before leading into Final Crisis. Seemed more like an extended ad made up of short, albeit occasionally interesting vignettes. I also could've sworn that the caption box belonged to Zoom once the lightning bolt showed up with the caption boxes, even if they wouldn't have made much sense that way. I don't know. Seems like a really bad idea to bring Barry Allen back. Wally West is a great character and fills the role of the Flash perfectly and entertainingly. Maybe they'll do great things with Barry Allen this time around, but as it stands there's absolutely no reason DC needs to or should bring Barry Allen back. None at all.

Now that that business is off my chest, I'm going to Quebec this weekend. If anything exciting happens I'll probably write about it here, but I'm expecting a fairly uneventful trip.

Declarative George Sez: No More Voiceovers

Why does it seem like movie trailers are regressing to the way they were made in the 1980s? Not that the last ten years of movie trailers have always been great, but there's been a shift away from telling the audience what the movie's about, to showing them what the movie's about. And for the better, I must say. In fact, the norm has been that any telling is usually done via a text card or two. Granted it's a shame that means less work for your Don LaFontaines, but really, with the exception of trailers directed at children, there's really no need to have to beat your audience over the head with what your movie's about, because, quite frankly, it's not that hard to follow a two minute preview of a movie, and if you don't get it, all the more reason to check the movie out. Right?

The first sign was the "Horton Hears a Who" trailer. I'll concede that, yes, this is a movie aimed at children, so it's fine to spell things out for a five year olds who don't know what's going on. I do have a problem though when the Horton trailer is shown before "Superbad", to an audience presumably smart enough to follow what's going on and why it's going on. I mean, if you're going to advertise Horton before "Superbad", do us all a favor and make a trailer that doesn't seem like it was supposed have been shown before "Bratz". That said, I was fine with it. I mean, "Horton Hears a Who"? Of course they'd want a trailer that makes sure you follow everything. It's a kids movie, right? And because it stars Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, sure you might want to advertise it before "Superbad" because there's probably a lot of folks there who like them too.

The reason why this has become an issue for me stems from another trailer I saw on HD net, on their program that shows new theatrical trailers for an hour or whatever. It's a mixed bag, but some of them are quite good, and they look great in HD. But there were a few, can't remember what they were, that stood out as being... quite frankly, amateurish, which is my way of saying they couldn't tell a story clearly enough on their own so they added a narration. It bugged me, but I don't think I thought much of them because they probably weren't important releases, and, really, they were a couple out of a dozen or so. Not cause for alarm really, but certainly they stood out enough for me to wonder why they had to have a narrator walk you through the synopsis instead of, I don't know, perhaps giving you the synopsis visually. Isn't that the point of film, to convey through visuals? The moving picture, as it were?

At this point I realize I'm harping on this like a little pissant. I mean, trailer narration? Really? How asinine a topic to give even a second thought to, no? But if you're like me, an avid movie-goer who likes to get there early enough to catch the previews and see if there's anything good or at the very least enjoy the surprise of a few minutes of movie that a trailer holds, then you're probably noticing that these throwbacks are a real threat to the modern trailer. And if you doubt me, think back to your favorite trailer, and odds are it didn't have a narrator holding your hand through the two minutes of story.

And in case you think I'm going too far with this, here's a new trailer that I think ably proves my point.



I know if I saw that in theaters I'd be pretty miffed. How about you?