There have been a crapload of trailers released in the past couple of days, so I thought I’d give a quick rundown on my thoughts about a few of them. (You can also check out my take on the Crazy, Stupid, Love trailer – with a bonus mini-career retrospective on Ryan Gosling – here, if you’re so inclined.)
Melancholia
I’ll admit it: I’ve never seen a Lars Von Trier film. But I’m now quite excited for Melancholia, because this trailer is GORGEOUS. I love Charlotte Gainsbourg, and she looks great here, but the standout, surprisingly, is Kirsten Dunst. It’s hard to tell from a trailer, but this looks like quite a demanding and impressive performance from her.
The whole thing intrigues me, from the intimate human drama to the sweeping sci-fi elements. The cinematography looks beautiful, too (between this and The Tree of Life, it seems like film fans will be salivating at the theatre this year). I’ve gotten chills both times I’ve watched this trailer, and it leaves me with a very unsettled feeling by the end.
Anonymous
Consider that Roland Emerich’s last three films were 2012, 10,00BC, and The Day After Tomorrow, I was pretty surprised to hear that his upcoming project is about Shakespeare. Anonymous explores the accusations that William Shakespeare did not actually write his works, which is an interesting concept. I was confused by the modern-day setting at the beginning of the trailer, and not sold at first, but it kind of hooked me by the end. The use of Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place”, while not time period appropriate, is very effective, and this is one of those trailers that will probably end up being more exciting than the film itself. Nonetheless, the fast editing and drama got me.
Warrior
Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton were two of 2010’s breakout actors, so it makes sense that the two buff young actors would play brothers in a film. And it makes even more sense that they’re playing mixed marital art fighters. But unfortunately, it all seems a bit too tidy and predictable in this trailer. Warrior looks like every sports movie ever made, and not an especially great one at that. The dialogue is hammy and the plot is predictable. Edgerton looks really good here, though (I thought he was fantastic in Animal Kingdom), as does Nick Nolte. But to be honest, I’m still not totally sold on Tom Hardy. To be fair, all I’ve seen him in was Inception, and he was charming in that, but I need to be convinced. Maybe I need to check out Bronson from a few years back.
Monte Carlo
I didn’t know much about this film, other than that it stars a few people who do not excite me (Selena Gomez and Leighton Meester) and one that somewhat does (Cory Monteith). And at first while watching the trailer, I thought, “Oh, this looks like a harmless enough little movie about some girls who go to France”. But then the identity-switching started, and I nearly vomited. It looks like The Parent Trap, She’s the Man, and every Shakespeare comedy ever written. Except much, much worse. And to add insult to injury, Cory Monteith was only in the trailer for about two seconds.
Hesher
It seems like I’ve been hearing about Hesher forever (probably because it played at last year’s Sundance), but I guess it’s finally coming out. However, this is a rather strange trailer that tells us virtually nothing about the movie. But hey, Joseph-Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, and Rainn Wilson are in it, so it must be good…right?
Times Like Those 