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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Trailer Roundup: Random Edition #1

I don't really have a unifying theme for these, unlike my last entries in this series. They're just trailers that caught my eye that I felt like sharing.

Rubber (in theaters 4/1/11)



Writer/director Quentin Dupieux's newest exercise in the bizarre is a horror film about Robert, a serial killer who's rampaging across the Southwest. Robert, however, is not like other serial killers, namely because he's a rubber tire. As in the kind that are found on cars. I suspect this is Dupieux's commentary on modern horror films, but it does look like a crazy, you-have-to-see-it-to-get-it kind of film, and it obviously looks like its playing up both the horror aspects and the comedy aspects of itself. You definitely can't say that there are any other movies like this out there right now. It'll be strange, but it might be strange fun.

The Hangover Part II (in theaters 5/26/11)



The Hangover was the surprise breakout of 2009, a film that I enjoyed though didn't come near being the best of that year. What made the film work, for me, wasn't the gross-out gags or crazy plot twists, but the believable chemistry between Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifinakis: these are three men that you can believe would be in this situation and would come together in the way that they did. Naturally, this merited a sequel, complete with classy Roman numerals. This is how you make an effective teaser, though: none of the plot is given away in this spot, only enticing audiences with a slow-motion shot of the three leads walking through a Thai street market and promising that "the Wolfpack is back," all set to a Jay-Z song. With those simple words and images, buzz has been built, and all without showing the entire movie in under three minutes. Take note, studios. Bonus points for the establishing shots that make Thailand look like the grimiest anti-paradise imaginable. Would I see it? Probably; I liked the first movie enough, and Helm's Mike Tyson tattoo has me sold.

Prom (in theaters 4/29/11)



And now for something completely different. Disney has taken an interesting chance on this movie, since its not marketed exclusively at kids but rather at the teenagers who have invested just as much in Disney over the years (do you know how many people my age are avid fans of Phineas & Ferb? More than you'd expect.). The film looks like it takes the Love Actually approach to high school proms, focusing on a collection of couples and would-be couples as they prepare for their prom. There's a couple of broad, easy laughs, but there are few things that really caught my eye here. For one, it captures the almost-ridiculous importance that teenagers put on prom night, how its the one night in their lives that's all about them (when really, and this comes from my experience as a teenager, what night - or day, for that matter - isn't all about them?). It also captures the sweet awkwardness of asking someone out to prom, especially if you're using the invitation as an entryway into a relationship. I was surprised by the sweetness in the trailer, and how radically different this seems from Disney's usual live-action fare. I honestly think this could be surprisingly good.

X-Men: First Class (in theaters 6/3/11)



Before we take a trip back to the origins of the X-Men (not like that Wolverine movie), I should mention a few things first. I'm not a major fan of the X-Men. Its just one of those things that I was never able to get into, both the comics and the movies. I saw X-Men: The Last Stand on DVD mostly for Ellen Page, and the others I've seen just to see if they were better than that jumbled crap (they were, for the record), and I never did see Wolverine. So at first, I wasn't all that interested in this film. But a couple of things have changed my mind, such as James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, January Jones and Nicholas Hoult in the cast and Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) as director. Then this trailer came along, with some delightfully weird images (the girl with the dragonfly wings, for example) and a '60s setting that allows us to see soon-to-be Magneto (Fassbender) lift a nuclear submarine (probably Soviet) out of the ocean. I repeat, Michael Fassbender lifts a nuclear submarine out of the ocean. And with that, I'm sold hook, line, and sinker.

So what do you guys think? Any of these trailers catch your interest, or are you now convinced to avoid these films at all costs?

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