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.

Trailer Tuesday: The Social Network Trailer Smells of Oscar and Awesome

The trailer for David Fincher’s new film, The Social Network, is dipped in awesome and sprinkled with little bits of gold Oscar flakes. It’s a long way to go until February 2011, but I have a hard time believing this tale about the rise of Facebook and its founders, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, won’t have its due consideration come awards season.  There’s just too much of the fantastic orbiting this picture, starting with director David Fincher (Zodiac), screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson’s War), and actors Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), Andrew Garfield (who was just cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Marc Webb’s franchise reboot) and Max Minghella (Art School Confidential).

Still, I do have to be somewhat leery of a finally wrought trailer giving me goosebumps and the actual film becoming a depantsing and spanking of the highest order. This has happened to me several times. Pay it Forward and Vanilla Sky are two that come to mind almost immediately, as do all of George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels. Put quite simply: These were cases of cinematic blue balls – exciting trailers that pushed the promise of critical and box office success, but then crapped out in hefty fashion.

Let’s hope that’s not the case here. Check out the trailer and give me your thoughts. Also, if you have any blue-ball-trailer experiences, please, speak up and vent your anguish in the comments.

Trailer Tuesday: Let Me In

By ANDY MORGAN

I finally saw Let the Right One In, the Swedish coming-of-age vampire tale, in March of 2009 after the thundering positive buzz had begun to fade, and maybe that’s why I didn’t fall in love with the movie as many before me had. There were elements of the movie I appreciated – the attention to small details, the icy, intense acting and the overall look and feel of the film, but in the final analysis there was nothing that hooked me and made me feel as if I’d witnessed something extraordinary. Frankly, I blame this on the language and culture disconnect that oftentimes occurs, admitted or not, when watching a foreign film. I bring this up, because I’m probably in the minority when I say I welcome the upcoming American remake, directed by Cloverfield helmsman Matt Reeves, aptly titled Let Me In.

Take a peek at the trailer after the jump and let me know your thoughts, especially if you’ve seen Let the Right One In. I’m not too impressed with the preview and I hope the domestic trailer proves more promising, but despite my ambivalence, there are too many positives for Let Me In for me to get discouraged just yet. Reeves love of the material and his work with Cloverfield is the first bonus, and the last, and strongest, are the two leads: Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass). One thing is certain: we’ll find out on October 1, 2010 when Let Me In hits theaters.

Paranormal Activity 2 Trailer Made Me Crap Myself

By ANDY MORGAN

I saw Paranormal Activity three times during its run in theaters last October and it scared the bejeezus out of me every time. Something about an invisible demon dragging a screaming chick down the hallway in her pajamas makes me pee a little in my pants every time. Apparently boatloads of Americans felt the same, because the movie made for $15,000 grossed over $107 million at the box office. I thought the concept was clever and well-executed and I thought the marketing behind the film was brilliant. Still, when a Paranormal Activity sequel was announced and fasttracked, I had to balk and give the finger to Hollywood and its propensity to overzealously hump the hell out of any film that is a surprise success. I immediately thought of The Blair Witch Project and its disastrous sequel.

And then I saw this trailer and changed my mind. Sure, it looks like more of the same, but if that’s the case, then we’re in for some butt-puckering goodness. Take a peek at the trailer after the jump and let me know what you think. As for me, I’m officially anticipating Paranormal Activity 2’s October 22, 2010 release.

Predators Redband Trailer Suggest Oodles of Gore and Lots of Lame

Predators was a movie I was looking forward to watching this July, but somewhere between the vagina-mouthed baddies releasing a heard of the oily dogs from Avatar – this time juiced with rabies and clam cave maws – and the whole The Most Dangerous Game: Alien Style story foundation has my enthusiasm meter scraping rock bottom. Will I see it? You bet your juicy booty I will. This could be good, so I’ll give it a shot, but considering Robert Rodgriguez is a hack living off past glory, I’m guessing this will be a poop flavored package tied with some fangdangled CGI ribbons and bows.

Check out the new redband trailer after the jump and give me your two cents por favor.

Summer will End on a High Note with Piranha 3D

There’s a new poster out for Piranha 3D and the sheer silliness of the artwork makes me giddy for August 20th, and, ironically, the 3D format. Batshit crazy fish with razor sharp teeth jumping off the screen and in my face is what 3D was made for and belays the gimmicky foundation of the technology. I’m excited for this movie and I think the movie should be a nice capstone to the so-so summer of 2010. Check out the full-sized poster after the jump.

… Continue Reading

Trailer Tuesday (Thursday Bonus!): Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

If there’s anything summer 2010 movies have been severely lacking, it’s fun and originality.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (based on the comic of the same name) wants to change all that.

Michael Cera– whose one-note falsetto, whispered shtick is one I’m not quite tired of yet– is Scott Pilgrim, a dude who meets the girl of his dreams and is subsequently tasked with knocking her seven evil exes the crap out… in amplified video game/comic book style. The fact that it’s directed by the comedically capable Edgar Wright (Sean of the Dead and its much better brother, Hot Fuzz) is a bonus.

The new international trailer has arrived filled and overflowing with internationality. If this Prodigy-soaked ode to comic/pixelated geekery doesn’t get your juices flowing, either you’re too old or hate root beer floats, because this sucker is oozing hipster cred and light, frothy fun. Yeah, I strained that analogy, but click here and see for yourself.

Scott Pilgrim and his world of geekery-meets-reality debuts August 13th.

Enough talk. Let’s fight.

Trailer Tuesday: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

I like Nic Cage. I really do. He is definitely one of Hollywood’s most eclectic talents. I also enjoy Jay Baruchel and Alfred Molina. Baruchel’s work in Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder were hilarious and I thought he was solid as the voice of Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon. As for Molina, well, can you think of a better comic book villain (besides Heath Ledger) than his Doc Ock in Spiderman 2? Probably not.

Yet with all The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has going for it, I simply can’t escape the premonition this movie, like the 95 percent of the summer fare so far, is going to be a shoddy, ill-conceived, ill-constructed letdown. In fact, I literally have no desire to see this. Zero interest. I don’t care if Whatshisname, the director, Mister Turtleneck is the brains behind this whiz-bang magic show, I probably won’t make an effort to screen it or pay for it. Call me an a-hole, but Hollywood is letting me down this summer and I’m not going to feed them cash because I’m bored. My bookshelf is full of solutions to movie monotony.

Anyhow, take a peek at the trailer and let me know what you think. Am I wrong?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows MTV Teaser Trailer

If you missed the MTV Movie Awards this past Sunday you missed a kick-ass tribute to Sandra Bullock, more Twilight than anyone should ever have to endure, Lindsay Lohan shaking in her seat from a lack of alcohol and enough f-words to make you think Martin Scorsese was directing the awards telecast. But you also missed this nice clip teasing the November 19, 2010 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.

Click the article title above to see the clip, or click right here.

MTV Movie Awards Exclusive Twilight Eclipse Clip

If you missed the MTV Movie Awards yesterday, then you definitely missed this exclusive Eclipse clip (say that 10 times fast) and that means you also missed some serious Edward/Jacob tension. I’m not a Twilight fan, but The Twilight Saga: Eclipse might be the best film of the soon-to-be quintology.

Click here to see the clip, or click the article headline above.