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?

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: 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.

Trailer Tuesday: Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark

I’ve never seen the 1973 version of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, and I’m not sure how the remake, due in theaters on January 21, 2011, is going to fare, but I do know this: the recently released, gimmicky, see-it-coming-a-mile-away trailer did, in fact, make my netherregions pucker something fierce. My loins went into turtle mode and my bum went to Defcon 1. Something about flashlights under blankets and creepy creatures crawling around in said blankets make me tense. And why shouldn’t it? This remake is written by Guillermo del Toro (and Matthew Robbins), who is no stranger to scaring the bejesus out of theatergoers over the last decade or so. Starring Guy Pearce (The Road) and Katie Holmes (Batman Begins), this movie ought to be a creepy little treat.

Take a peek at the trailer and let me know your impressions. Personally, while this could be decent, I’m banking on this doing poorly critically and financially. How many times have we been told the scary story of a family moving into a haunted house and the kids begin to see ghosts and goalies, while mom and dad are oblivious until it’s too late? Unless del Toro and first-time director Troy Nixey have something surprising and adept planned for movie patrons, this is going to sink. The January release days says as much.

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: The Town

I watched Armageddon on Blu-ray a few weeks ago and even though I will bang the drum for the I Heart Michael Bay fan club, and argue that all his movies, including Pearl Harbor, are entertaining and wonderfully stylistic, I will not champion Ben Affleck for any acting awards any time soon. In fact, with the exception of a few roles, Affleck’s thespian skills deserve a hearty pruneslam. The animal cracker scene in Armageddon and nearly every moment where he’s spraying spittle and snot via his bawling (Haaaaarrrry! Nooooooo! I looooove yoooou!) are cringe-worthy and dry-heave-inducing.

On the other hand, Affleck proved he might be a more attractive and hunky version of Ron Howard with his 2007 directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. If you loved that movie, despite its gritty and sad story, as much as I did (fans of Dennis Lehane should love it), then Affleck’s next project, The Town, might fit the bill. The trailer definitely has that Oscar smell and the cast is a mélange of pretty faces and acting prowess. Affleck is behind and in front of the lens this time around, and he’s joined by Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Blake Lively (Gossip Girl), Chris Cooper (Married Life) and Pete Postlethwaite (Clash of the Titans).

The Town will premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival on September 11 and will release wide on September 17, 2010. Take a look at the trailer and give me your thoughts.

Belated Trailer Tuesday: Due Date

I took a little R&R this past week in Garden City, Utah, so there wasn’t much posting going on. I’ve never missed a Trailer Tuesday, so while this is belated, it’s still valid.

Longtime AATM reader Danny championed the new Due Date trailer last week after I posted the preview for Middle Men, and while he thought it was gut-busting goodness, I’m not that impressed and, subsequently, this makes me kind of pissed off. How can a movie directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and starring Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man 2), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) and Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone) have such a crappy trailer?

I’ll tell you with two words: Jamie Foxx.  I can’t stand him or his acting. The guy is poison. Yeah, I said it. I don’t care if he won an Oscar for playing Ray Charles and I don’t care if he’s BFFs with Kanye West. I think he sucks and is straight up CBO (that’s Chris Bosh Overrated, for the uneducated).

Furthermore, despite the success of The Hangover, let’s also remember Todd Phillips is the man behind Starsky & Hutch and School for Scoundrels, both of which were cinematic turds. So if Due Date bombs at the box office, count me not surprised. Check out the trailer after the jump and give me your opinion.

Trailer Tuesday: Middle Men Redband Trailer

By ANDY MORGAN

The more I see of Middle Men, the more excited I am for its August 6, 2010 release date. And trust me, in this redband trailer, you get to see plenty of boobies and hear the f-word, but this movie is about the dawn of porn on the World Wide Web and the man who stepped in to establish the first online billing company dealing exclusively with adult entertainment, so you knew it was coming anyway.

I hope Middle Men injects some life into Luke Wilson’s career, because ever since he guest starred on The X-Files in 1998, I’ve been a fan. Wilson plays Jack Harris, the architect of the billing system and an overall straight-laced family man. This is most likely the guy you cursed as you tried to download “free” pictures of some busty amateur back in 1997 on your computer sporting the dial-up modem and Pentium II processor. Considering Utah loves pornography, I’m guessing Middle Men ought to pump out some serious cash in Utah County multiplexes.

Middle Men also stars Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar), James Caan (Get Smart), Gabriel Macht (Whiteout), Laura Ramsey (The Ruins), Jacinda Barrett (Poseidon), Kelsey Grammar (Fame), Kevin Pollak (Cop Out) and Robert Forester (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past). Take a look at the trailer after the jump and give me your thoughts.

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.

Trailer Tuesday: Little Fockers Looks Focking Funny

When Little Fockers, the third film in the Meet the Parents series, hits theaters on December 22, 2010, six years will have passed since we last saw Gaylord  “Greg” Focker (Ben Stiller) and his arch nemesis/father-in-law, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), go toe-to-toe on the big screen. Little Fockers is the next logical step in the Focker trilogy and, as the title suggests, the story revolves around Greg and Pam (Teri Polo) trying to raise their five year-old twins.

All the familiar faces are back – Blythe Danner, Barbara Streisand, and Owen Wilson, as well as some seemingly pleasant additions in Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel, Laura Dern and Raven Symone.  The trailer, release last week, isn’t a knock-your-socks-off preview, but it’s funny and after half a decade I welcome a return to Gaylord Focker’s life and look forward to the chemistry Stiller and De Niro share.

Take a peek at the trailer for Little Fockers after the jump and let me know what you think. Yay or nay?