Trailer: Zero Dark Thirty


After the success Kathryn Bigelow had with her award-winning film The Hurt Locker it was just part of the norm that people began to wonder what she would do to follow-up the film which gave her the Oscar for Best Director. There was talk of her making an action thriller about the Tri-Border Region in South America that many intelligence agencies consider a major haven for global organized crime and terrorist groups of all kinds. This particular idea bounced around for months then nothing came of it. Then news came about around late-Spring to early Summer 2011 that Bigelow and The Hurt Locker writer and collaborator Mark Boal came upon the idea that would be Bigelow’s follow-up.

The film that the two decided upon would be an action thriller detailing the global manhunt for Osama Bin Laden. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but this decision became even more important once news broke out on May 2, 2011 that the hunt for America’s Most Wanted criminal was finally over and that Operation Neptune Spear was a success with the death of Bin Laden.

Zero Dark Thirtyis the title of Bigelow’s film about the details and backstory which led up to this special operations mission on May 2, 2011. The first trailer for the film has been released by Sony and it’s short on details other than some voice overs over satellite imagery. I’m sure there’ll be more trailers that will open up what this film will truly be about leading up to it’s December release date (just in time for awards season).

It’s going to be interesting how Bigelow will do with this follow-up to The Hurt Locker. If her history is anything to go by then it shouldn’t disappoint even if some of her detractors will be chomping at the bit to see it fail and further see her Best Director Oscar win as a fluke done to keep the award from her ex-husband James Cameron.

Zero Dark Thirty is scheduled for a December 19, 2012 release date…just two days from the end of the world.

Trailer: Skyfall


The Dark Agent Rises.

That’s what some people are already calling the upcoming James Bond film, Skyfall.  Based on the just-released official trailer, you can see why.

Despite the fact that the trailer seems to highlight everything that annoys me about Daniel Craig’s interpretation of James Bond as being a humorless thug (and yes, I know that’s the way he was presented in the original novels but dammit, I don’t care!), I still have to admit that Skyfall looks like it’ll be a more memorable film than Quantum of Solace.  Javier Bardem seems like a perfect choice to play a Bond villain, though I want to slap whoever did that to his hair.

Skyfall will open in the U.S. on my birthday, November 9th.

Trailer: Cloud Atlas (Extended Trailer)


We’ve been getting quite a bit of hype for the fall and holiday releases of 2012 but for some reason one film that should’ve been on more people’s radar seem to have gone unnoticed until this week when an extended trailer for the film was released to the public. It’s the film adaptation of David Mitchell’s epic sci-fi novel Cloud Atlas.

The film is directed by Lana Wachowski (formerly Larry Wachowski), Andy Wachowski and German-filmmaker Tom Tykwer. It’s a film that has a cast which includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess and Susan Sarandon for starters. The story looks to stay faithful to the original novel source which interweaves six different stories spanning time from the 19th-century all the way to a post-apocalyptic far future.

It’s going to be interesting whether the Wachowskis and Tykwer will be able to keep these six stories from becoming too confusing for the general audience to follow. Most important of all will be if these filmmakers will be able to create an entertaining film out of a novel heavy on themes and ideas. One thing the trailer sure points out is that the Wachowskis haven’t lost their touch when it comes to the visual side of filmmaking.

Cloud Atlasis set for an October 26, 2012 release date.

Trailer: The Dark Room


No offense to anyone who read or writes for this site but if I have to choose between watching The Dark Knight and the Room, I’m going to choose the Room every time.  It’s not that I don’t think that Christopher Nolan’s Batman films make for a good trilogy.  I enjoyed all three of the Dark Knight films.  It’s just that The Room is a film that I can watch over and over and over again.  This is largely because The Room is only 90 minutes long whereas the Dark Knight trilogy is closer to 8 hours.

Anyway, for those of you who simply cannot accept The Room’s superiority to the Dark Knight, check out this trailer for The Dark Room.

Trailer: Life of Pi


One of the upcoming films that everyone’s been predicting will be a major Oscar contender is Ang Lee’s Life of Pi.  To a certain extent, I thought some of that hype might be because everyone knows that, even though Lee was named best director,  Crash totally stole the award for best picture from Brokeback Mountain.

(Seriously, even my cousins from South Texas — the majority of whom wear cowboy hats and take the term “real man” quite seriously — have commented to me that Brokeback Mountain was a better film than Crash.  And you know what?  I agree with them but I also think that Capote was a better film than both of them.)

However, I’ve just seen the trailer for Life of Pi was I have to admit that I was blown away and, by the end of it, I was nearly moved to tears.  In many ways, this trailer feels less like an advertisement for a movie and more like a touching and powerful short film that could easily stand alone as a work of art.  After seeing this trailer — despite the fact that, as I’ve probably mentioned before, I’m just a little bit terrified of the water (or, more specifically, drowning in the water) — I can say that Life of Pi is a film that I’m very much looking forward to seeing.

 

Trailer: Man Of Steel (dir. by Zack Snyder)


I have to admit that I don’t really get the appeal of Superman.  From what little I’ve seen of him, he appears to be capable of doing just about anything and therefore, he’s always struck me as being a little bit boring. 

Let’s put it like this — if you’re going to spend all of your time wearing a costume, then you better have some pretty big and sexy issues to deal with.  Just being super isn’t going to cut it.

That said, Zack Snyder’s upcoming Man Of Steel will apparently attempt to do for Superman what the Dark Knight did for Batman.

Personally, I would rather that Snyder devoted his time to making a sequel to his underrated masterpiece, Sucker Punch.

Trailer: The Master (dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson)


Finally!

Following the release of two intriguingly vague teasers, the official trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming film, The Master, has been released!

There’s not another film coming out this fall that I’m looking forward to seeing as much as The Master.  And that’s saying something, considering that the fall is also going to see the release of The Hobbit and Django Unchained.

I’ll just let the trailer speak for itself.

Song of the Day: Black (by Kari Kimmel)


Time for a quick “Song of the Day”. This time the song chosen is courtesy of Kari Kimmel and her country-inspired song “Black”.

The song could be recently heard as part of the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Season 3 trailer for AMC’s The Walking Dead. It begins playing a little past the halfway mark in the trailer as David Morrissey’s character of the governor introduces both Michonne and Andrea to the safe haven that is Woodbury. As fans of the comic book will attest to this town of Woodbury becomes a major player in the original comic book source and should remain as important in the upcoming season.

I’ve never heard of Kari Kimmel until I heard this song played as part of the trailer, but that’s the great thing about music. One never knows when one will discover something great to listen to and the country-blues sound of Kimmel’s song is right up my alley when it comes to what I enjoy listening to.

Black

when everything has turned to black
you don’t know where to go
you need something to justify your soul

silences are broken
confidence is gone
when everything you’re holdin onto falls

(yeah)

every body’s selling truths
on every corner now
they wait until fear has knocked you down

all the rules are changin now
you’re livin in sin
everything around you’s cavin in

and all you hold onto’s slipping
like water through your hands…

BREAK

CHORUS
And you sing- lalala, lalala, lalala

far off in the distance
somewhere you can’t see
allegences have formed your destiny

opposition all around
feedin off your soul
trying hard to swallow up your hope

and demons all around you waiting
for you to sell your soul

CHORUS
they’re singin- lalala, lalala, lalala

SDCC 2012: “Forward Unto Dawn” Trailer (Halo 4 Live-Action Series)


Halo 4 looks to be another mega-blockbuster hit for Microsoft and the Xbox 360. Every sequel in this critically-acclaimed video game franchise has always had some very well-made (award-winning as well) live-action tv spots and trailers to help market each title weeks prior to it’s release. For the 4th sequel to the series things haven’t changed and Microsoft looks to expand on their popular live-action shorts by financing a mini-series of live-action shorts that tells the events that will lead up to the story of Halo 4. The mini-series will also introduce a character that will tie-in to the game.

Forward Unto Dawn is the name of this live-action mini-series and will air weeks before the release of the game on both Machinima.com and Halo Waypoint on the Xbox Live.

It’s one thing to create a couple of live-action trailers, but this latest marketing blitz by Microsoft Game Studios looks to take things to a whole new level. Fans of the franchise are still nursing the disappointment over the cancelled attempt to create a Hollywood blockbuster film-adaptation of the Halo series. A film adaptation that had some major heavy-hitters in its corner from Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp and WETA Studios. Forward Unto Dawn (depending on its overall quality and how well the public receives it) may help bring new interest in finally getting the live-action film-adaptation up and running again.

Trailer: Jack Reacher


So, when Jeff and I went and saw To Rome With Love on Friday, one of the trailers that played before the film was for the upcoming Tom Cruise action film, Jack Reacher.  The audience started snickering the minute that Cruise first showed up in the trailer and was openly laughing by the time Cruise was saying, “Remember, you wanted this.”  I’ll admit that, while I didn’t laugh, I did smirk a little because, seriously, we all know that Cruise has probably said the exact same thing at least once to Katie Holmes. 

On a perhaps more serious note, the laughter highlighted the central question of Tom Cruise’s career right now.  Will audiences continue to take seriously a man who apparently accepts the existence of Evil Lord Xenu and who strikes many people are being just a little bit creepy?  True, it didn’t keep people from seeing the latest Mission Impossible film but then again, that film was sold less as a Tom Cruise film and more as the continuation of an established franchise.

I’ve never read any of the Jack Reacher books but they’ve apparently got a pretty devoted fan base* and, just to judge from some of the comments that I’ve seen online, a lot of that base is not that happy about Cruise playing the title character.  Apparently, the literary Jack Reacher stands 6’5 and Tom Crusie … well, Tom Cruise doesn’t.  In fact, Cruise appears to be the shortest person in this trailer.

Paramount is planning to release Jack Reacher on December 21st, presumably hoping to draw in filmgoers who are looking for an alternative to snooty Oscar contenders.

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*Apparently, Stephen King is a huge Jack Reacher fan which, to be honest, doesn’t fill me with hope.  Just judging from his occasional columns for Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King has terrible taste.