Trailer Tuesday: 127 Hours

By ANDY MORGAN

I’ve been battling the flu for the past two days, so this is another belated Trailer Tuesday post (I still haven’t missed one Trailer Tuesday and I won’t!), but I’ll be back to regular programming next week, I promise. The trailer I’m posting today is for Danny Boyle’s new movie, 127 Hours, starring James Franco, Kate Mara (schwing!), Amber Tamblyn and Lizzy Caplan.

127 Hours is the true story of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber, who amputated his own arm in 2003 when he was trapped for five days in a remote canyon in Southern Utah. Living in Utah, I remember this in the news – particularly Tom Brokaw interviewing Ralston – and always thought it would make a good made-for-TV movie. Apparently Danny Boyle, who won a best director Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, is taking it a step farther.

While I’m not a fan of Slumdog or Franco, I did love Boyle’s Sunshine and Aron Ralston’s story intrigues me. I will definitely catch this movie in theaters. Check out the trailer and let me know your thoughts. Yay or nay?

James Cameron Should Shut His Piehole

By ANDY MORGAN

I’m sure you’ve heard the brouhaha James Grumpypants Cameron started last week by dropping a Cleveland Steamer on the recently released Piranha 3D, whereupon one of the movie’s producers, Mark Canton, responded in kind today with a longwinded email that was equally douchetastic as Cameron’s verbal napalm in his interview with Vanity Fair. And while I’m not impressed with either man’s behavior, I’m going to single out James Cameron because he was the instigator. All of those dives to the bottom of the ocean have caused his brain to forget the time old adage of “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” James, you need to shut your piehole.

Why? Because 3D, whether in your blockbuster Avatar or in the trailer trash Piranha 3D, is absolutely, without question, 100 percent lame. It is all those things you describe in Vanity Fair – cheap, bad, bottom of the barrel and a last gasp. Honestly, James, I don’t know who is buttering your buns in Hollywood, but I challenge you to go sit in a multiplex in Anytown U.S.A where people aren’t vested in your financial success and ask them how much they enjoy 3D. They suffer through this absurd gimmick because their kids laugh and clap when stuff flies in their face. 3D is like letting your kids run wild at the McDonald’s Playland. It smells like pee and cheese, but the kids are having a good time and smiling and that’s enough to make mom and dad happy. Ironcially, kids enjoy 3D, but even they don’t really give a rat’s ass in the end. It’s about story and character and you achieved those with Avatar. Mark my words, James: 3D did not drive the success of Avatar. The story did. Period.

Personally, even though I hate 3D and hope it dies a swift death in the coming years, I can pat the filmmakers of Piranha 3D on the back and give them kudos for actually using 3D in the right way. It’s nothing more than a cheap parlor trick and should be used as such. In fact, because Piranha 3D uses the gimmick of 3D to their advantage, it highlights how insipid and gaudy other films become by adding 3D after the film has been shot. But then, really, why am I surprised? The Almighty Dollar rules Tinsletown as does the unchecked ego, which is what seems to be your problem, James. You are a damn fine filmmaker, Mr. Cameron and are right about a lot of things, but not this. Piranha 3D did it right.

Proof that Twilight is Super Gay

Belated Trailer Tuesday: The Last Exorcism

Normally this time of year I’d say the doldrums of Fall cinema are upon us and then bide my time until the heavyweights appear in November and December, but since the summer was so uneventful and uninspiring (save a handful of movies), I’m actually excited to move on and start screening some of the possible Oscar nominees, namely The American, Lovely, Still, The Town, Let Me In and The Social Network, to name a few.

One movie hitting theaters this weekend, that won’t be an Oscar contender, but could possibly scare the prune sauce from your prunehole, is The Last Exorcism. Directed by German independent filmmaker, Daniel Stramm and produced by Generation X’s godfather of gore, Eli Roth, The Last Exorcism is, in a the simplest terms, the Paranormal Activity/Blair Witch Project of exorcism movies, meaning the story is told with the idea the footage has been “found.”

You can watch the trailer for The Last Exorcism by following this link, but check out the embedded video after the jump – it’s from a viral marketing campaign for the movie where the dregs of society, hoping to catch a glimpse of boobies on the web, find their sphincters shrunk when a titillating girl fails to show her hoots and instead rolls her eyes back and goes full demon.

Thoughts on Zach Snyder’s Sucker Punch Trailer

Apparently I was asleep in a cave when this trailer hit the web, but after watching it tonight, I have conflicting emotions. First and foremost, I want the movie to succeed. I absolutely loved every minute and detail of Zach Snyder’s 300 (2007), but I literally hated almost every minute of Watchmen (2009) and I’m not quite sure what to think of Snyder’s upcoming animated owl movie, Legend of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.  Sucker Punch hits theaters on March 25, 2011 and showcases a near all-female cast, including Vanessa Hudgens (Bandslam), Abbie Cornish (Bright Star), Jamie Chung (Grown Ups), Jena Malone (The Messengers) and Emily Browning (The Uninvited).

Is it just me or does the trailer for Sucker Punch feel like a video game? It’s often said that video game to cinema translations don’t work because games are built on the foundation of spectacle and gameplay, not story. I tend to disagree with that notion, but I wonder if we’re entering an age where certain up and coming filmmakers, many of whom have played video games their entire lives, are now basing their visuals and foundations on some of the otherworldly imagery video games provide. In fact, the entire story of Sucker Punch, from what I can comprehend, seems like the basis for a video game.

Here is how Zach Snyder describes the film:

“Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Baby Doll (Browning), who is trying to hide from the pain caused by her evil stepfather and lobotomy. She ends up in mental institution in Brattleboro, Vermont, and while there she starts to imagine an alternate reality. She plans to escape from that imaginary world but to do that she needs to steal five objects before she is captured by an unknown adversary. She has 5 days to escape before being lobotomized. In order to cope with the situation, she enters the hyper-real world of her imagination, and the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. She is joined with friends who are inmates from the institution. Lessons learned in the said fantasy world could help the girls escape their real-world fate.”

Check out the trailer and let me know your thoughts. This is on my radar, but after getting walloped in the balls by Kick-Ass and let down by Watchmen, I’ll go in extremely guarded.

Rumors Point to Riddler, But What Villain is Right for Batman 3?

I saw Inception last week for the second time and I think it’s high time I admit my man crush on Christopher Nolan. The guy is a genius and he’s on quite the hot streak with his directing. Think about it: Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008) and now, Inception (2010). That’s quite the run of fine films and his Rotten Tomatoes.com ratings speak to his ability. His lowest rating is for The Prestige (75%) and his highest is for Memento (93%). Those numbers might not mean anything to you, but they make me a little nervous. Nobody can stay perfect or on fire forever, and since Nolan’s next movie is the yet-to-be-titled third Batman film, I get a little worried it will be the movie where his fire burns out. I’ve grown so attached to the style and feel of Nolan’s Batman franchise that I absolutely need the (presumably) final movie to be solid gold. In a vapid Hollywood full of banality, Nolan has become my cinematic savior; he is a bright star in grey sky full of unintelligent, uninspired celluloid.

Still, I will admit, after watching Inception, my nervousness has died down somewhat. That movie is a masterpiece, so I trust Nolan and his team of writers, David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan, will hammer out a storyline and characters that will once again send moviegoers flocking to the multiplexes. We know some of what might be coming our way, because we know certain characters will return for the third film. Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) will obviously be a Gotham fixture again in 2012, as will Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Alfred (Michael Caine) and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman). But who will be the villain? Since The Dark Knight’s release in 2008, the Internet is abuzz with everything from Angelina Jolie as Catwoman, Johnny Depp or Joseph Gordon-Leavitt as The Riddler, or even Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin. I won’t pretend to be an expert on Batman baddies, but those choices seem too easy. My gut tells me Nolan will dig a little deeper for a villain. Something tells me, unlike Sam Raimi and Spider-Man 3, that Nolan and Co. will be looking to serve story first, not fanboys.

So, with that said, here is my question to you: Who will be the villain in Batman 3, who would you cast and why? Go!

Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis Get Nasty in The Black Swan

Whether you like Darren Aronofsky’s films or not is entirely a matter of choice, but one thing cannot be debated or argued – Aronofsky is a visionary filmmaker and a cinematic artist. He made waves at the Sundance Film Festival in the late 1990s with his black and white thriller, Pi, and followed that film with the disturbing and haunting Requiem for a Dream, the dreamlike and romantic The Fountain, and the gritty Oscar darling, The Wrestler. His newest picture, The Black Swan, opens in limited release on December 1, 2010 and is scheduled to open the Venice International Film Festival next month.

The Black Swan stars Natalie Portman (Brothers) and Mila Kunis (The Book of Eli) as two ballerinas working for a New York City stage production of Swan Lake.  Portman is the innocent White Swan and Kunis is the sensual Black Swan, and as you can see from watching the trailer, their seemingly tetchy rivalry turns into a bizarre friendship, wherein it seems Portman goes a little nuts. One thing is certain, the look and feel of this preview seems to mirror the bright visual sensation Aronofsky paints in Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain.

I’m interested to see if Aronofsky can follow the success he enjoyed with The Wrestler, and I’m also interested to see the performances of Kunis and Portman. Both are extremely beautiful women, but Portman is a tad overrated in my book and Kunis hasn’t given me anything but a pretty face to be impressed over. What do you think? After watching the trailer, do you have any interest?

Skyline: Contender or Pretender?

Dan alerted me to the trailer for Skyline, a new Schi-Fi film from Brothers Strause (Alien vs. Predator: Requiem), last week and I just got around to watching it yesterday. I say Schi-Fi instead of Sci-Fi, because this appears to be one of those Independence Day-style movies where the shit hits the fan and everyone in Los Angeles receives a stern pruneslam from invading aliens.  It also appears to have me grossly conflicted on whether or not this will be a wonderful, bombastic holiday treat (it hits theaters on November 12, 2010), or a big-screen blast of something better suited for the SyFy Channel . Given that the Brothers Strause got their start in special effects and started their own special effects company (Hydralux), and given the fact the movie stars Eric Balfour and Donald Faison, I don’t hold any hope this movie will do particularly well.

However, before I start digging Skyline’s grave, tell me what you think of the trailer. Perhaps I’m completely wrong and this will picture will be a surprise holiday hit. Based solely on the effects, I’m hoping that’s the case, because I enjoyed the trailer immensely.

Even More Reasons to Hate George Moneybags Lucas

Photos from the set of The Empire Strikes Back have producer Gary Kurtz looking like some bearded, bright-eyed, Tinsletown version of Brigham Young. Sadly, for Star Wars fans, Kurtz and Lucas parted ways after TESB because Kurtz wanted to continue to tell special space stories and Lucas, aka Baron Papanoida, wanted to milk every last drop of golden juice from the toy teat the Star Wars saga had begun to spawn. Specifically, Kurtz and Lucas split after TESB because they couldn’t agree on how to proceed with the third film, 1983’s Return of the Jedi. Kurtz explains in his interview with The Los Angeles Times that he was particularly grouchy about Lucas wanting to bring back the Death Star, as well as the tidy, happy ending with the Ewoks. Kurtz claims Lucas’ thrust was merchandise, so he left and moved on to other, lamer projects, like The Dark Crystal.

Why is this relevant? Well, Kurtz was headed down to Celebration V in Orlando, Florida and decided to get some weighty matters off his chest with the LA Times beforehand. The entire article is fantastic reading, particularly if you feel punched in the soft parts by Lucas’ lame prequels, which Kurtz – surprise, surprise – thought were ok, but not great. Interesting. Kind of like Return of the Jedi.

Click here to read the entire article at the Los Angeles Times.

Trailer Tuesday: How Do You Know

Maybe the smile I’m wearing after watching the trailer for How Do You Know shows that I’m a 36 year-old man in the midst of reevaluating his life and where he is, but from a strict cinematic perspective, there isn’t much in the way of negative coming from this December 17, 2010 release.

Written and directed by James L. Brooks, the genius behind Spanglish, As Good as It Gets, Broadcast News and Terms of Endearment, the movie centers around a love triangle between a professional softball player (Reese Witherspoon), a corporate executive (Paul Rudd) and a professional baseball player (Owen Wilson). It looks like Jack Nicholson shows up as Paul Rudd’s father and that should make for some interesting chemistry.

From what I gather in the trailer, Witherspoon isn’t really sure where her life is taking her and either is Paul Rudd. Like much of Brooks’ writing, a strong theme in the movie will be love and finding the person that makes you happy and that doesn’t always mean a happy ending necessarily. One thing I admire about Brooks’ writing is the honesty and raw, honest characters – full of flaws and problems – he brings to the screen in a charming but uncensored fashion.

This is definitely on my must-see holiday film list.