Friday, March 25, 2011

Trailer Friday: Sucker Punch



Trailer courtesy of Viso Trailers, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures

You could say that me and Zach Snyder have a bit of a complicated relationship.

I thought that 300 was corny as hell, but I also found it really enjoyable for that same reason. I liked Watchmen, although I fully admit it wasn't one hundred percent perfect, and I have a feeling that everyone who saw that movie in the theater was expecting to get let down to some extent. I admire Snyder's passion for a script and story once he really gets working on it, even if the end result isn't quite as satisfactory as one would expect.

That being said, I don't think much of this Sucker Punch trailer. I liked the Silversun Pickups and Led Zeppelin songs they use, I like seeing Emily Browning in a samurai schoolgirl get-up, and I like seeing dragons and robots. But that's the only level on which I like it. I couldn't for the life of me accurately describe what the hell this movie is about from the trailer alone. I couldn't tell you why the girls, who I assume are the protagonists, had their families killed and were put in that asylum, I couldn't tell you how their escape plan is supposed to work...it looks like Inception got mashed together with a slew of unrelated comic book movies. It looks like Style Over Substance: The Movie, as if the very concept of excess itself got turned up to 11.

To put it simply, it looks like a mess. A fun mess, but a mess nonetheless. At least, that's the way this trailer makes it look.

I haven't read many reviews for it yet, but from what I hear it's getting slammed pretty hard. I guess if you like pure, brainless fun, this movie looks pretty good, but I don't know if I'm too interested in it personally. Seriously Zach, what the hell.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Complete update failure

Due to technical difficulties and several other reasons, updates this week have been missed.

I'll see if we can talk about the Sucker Punch trailer tomorrow. I had something in the works for tonight, but it looks like I might have to either save it or scrap it. It's real short anyway.

For now, I think I'm gonna have to seriously reconsider this update schedule.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Trailer...Saturday? I dunno, here's Captain America.

I have to admit, I'm starting to get really weary of superhero movies. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm starting to think they're all awful or something, but while the X-Men movie back in 2000, Spider Man back in 2002, Watchmen, the first Hellboy film and the Nolan directed Batman movies have all been just lovely, a string of releases from Marvel ranging from mediocre to just plain bad, combined with numerous lackluster parodies of the sub genre and a serious lack of output from DC have somewhat made me disenchanted not just with watching superhero movies, but following their production as well. There isn't a whole lot from either comic company catching my interest, and unfortunately due to the harsh nature of the industry right now adaptations of smaller, slightly more interesting comic properties seem less likely in the future.

That being said, there is one superhero related project that I am looking forward to, albeit only somewhat. You may remember seeing this TV spot during the Super Bowl:



Chris Evans looks like he may very well fit into the role, and the much more subdued costume and special effects look pretty good. Some of the lines in this teaser sound a little cliche, but I'm sure that's par for the course by now. Really, the only real reason I have any interest in this is because of Evans, and the fact that they are tying it into the Avengers film coming out later. The idea of a shared universe of films is pretty cool, but I hope Marvel is careful with how they present the story and plot elements because if they screw up even one little thing, that could cause the whole little house of cards they're trying to build to come toppling down.

TV spot courtesy of Marvel Comics and Paramount Pictures.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Aubrey Plaza and Bill Hader in "The Hand Job" (WARNING: kind of NSFW)

OK, so Wednesday's update this week didn't pan out like I thought it would. It was a very busy day, that's all I'm gonna say about it.

This time, though, I have a rather interesting bit of news regarding fans of actress Aubrey Plaza. It turns out she's been cast as the lead in a comedy called "The Hand Job," a sex comedy being scripted and directed by the wife of SNL star Bill Hader, Maggie Carey.

More details about the project are shared in this story written by Ethan Stern of the Onion AV Club:

The film stars Aubrey Plaza as a studious high school valedictorian who decides that she wants to have experiences with boys before she goes off to college, so she makes a bullet list of everything she needs to do—stuff like “hand-job, titty-fuck, blowjob, fingering”—then checks them off one by one.

Starring along with Hader and Plaza are some of the hippest comedians and actors around: Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Alia Shawkat,Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Scott Porter, Connie Britton, D.C. Pierson, and Onion News Network writer Dominic Dierkes.


I can't find any information on whether or not a studio has picked this up or greenlit it yet. I'm hopeful, since Hader seems to be pushing for it pretty hard, and if it does get made I'll be pretty excited to see how it turns out. The premise sounds like solid gold to me, and I love Plaza's sort of cynical, deadpan humor. It's also really nice to see a teen sex comedy with a female lead, especially since that's still kind of a rare thing even now.

The rest of that cast is stellar, too. Donald Glover is probably one of the primary reasons I watch Community on NBC right now, and I'm always up for something with Andy Samberg and/or Mae Whitman in it (especially Whitman, who is kind of underrated in my opinion). I'll try and see if I can get more information on this as it develops.

As for a trailer to talk about...better check back either tomorrow or Saturday. I'll try to find something good. Here's hoping next week is a little more on track.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Trailer Thursday (on Friday, derp)

So, did anyone go see this tonight?



Trailer courtesy of Columbia Pictures and IGN.

I don't know if I'll currently have the time or money to see Battle: LA at the moment, but this trailer really makes me want to. The music they picked for it is awesome, and the acting and editing here are incredibly intense.

I honestly haven't heard a whole lot of news about this movie up until now. Some think it looks like a really generic disaster/war movie, and for all I know it could be. Nevertheless, kudos to whoever cut this trailer for making it look really interesting.

Alright, that's my spiel for now, check back either Tuesday or Wednesday. This time I'm pretty committed to getting an update in.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Ugh, sorry

OK, I know I said to check this Tuesday, but I forgot that I usually go bowling that night. Also, I couldn't decide on a trailer to talk about tonight either.

But don't worry, I found a REALLY good one to talk about for a movie coming out tomorrow. Check back tomorrow night.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

New Schedule

Okay folks, after months of planning, here's what I've decided on:

I'm going to try and stick to a twice a week schedule, maybe upgrading to three times a week but I'm not sure yet. For now, I'm just gonna try for Tuesday and Thursday.

Tuesdays will be either thinking about a current news item, or commenting on a certain movie. Thursdays will be all about trailers, as I'll basically link to a trailer and try to comment on its content.

I may post outside of this for movie reviews, and general musings. It's not exactly super strict or anything. I just figured that I'm gonna try this to at least get some kind of regular update schedule up and running.

So, there you have it. Check back this upcoming Tuesday.