Trailer Park: 'Duplicity,' 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' 'The Wrestler,' 'Gran Torino,' 'Up'

First impressions of upcoming movies, based on trailer (Click on the title to watch the high-resolution trailer: You may need QuickTime for most). Release dates are subject to change. --Ellen

Duplicity (dir. Tony Gilroy): After playing cheating spouses in Closer, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen re-team as ex-spies and ex-lovers for this con film by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton). Given that it also stars Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti, I was all set for a shaky-camera/gritty drama (Gilroy is also the writer of the Bourne films) but halfway through... whoa, it's a comedy! It's like Mr. and Mrs. Smith without blowing up the house! It'll be interesting to see if the wink-wink banter works here, but I'm a believer in Gilroy (not to mention the two pretty leads), so I'll bite. (Mar. 20)

      

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (dir. David Yates): I admit, I can no longer remember what happened in Order of the Phoenix as it was the least memorable book and movie for me. And in an alternate universe where Warner did not push this movie to next summer and opened last weekend as planned, we'd all be talking about it now instead of that one about vampires that would've been opening in another three weeks (Instead it moved into HP's slot). The newest trailer covers less about the story than the first one, just offers more comedic moments, the usual flash of characters and Jim Broadbent as Prof. Horace Slughorn.  (Jul. 17)

The Wrestler (dir. Darren Aronofsky): You may have heard something in the trades linking "Mickey Rourke" and "Oscar" and thought someone was playing a prank. But it's true; after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Aronofsky's tale of a down-on-his-luck wrestler with one more chance at glory is putting Rourke on the Best Actor shortlist with Milk's Sean Penn. And why? Watch the trailer. Watch Rourke's face, once handsome and now weathered and leathered, so vulnerable, pitiful, and hopeful at once, and try not to be moved. (Dec. 17)

Gran Torino (dir. Clint Eastwood): That sneaky Clint Eastwood. Just as he did two years ago making Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima back to back, he's gone and quietly made Gran Torino while everyone was flapping about the Angelina Jolie-starrer Changeling. Here, Eastwood also stars as a racist, grizzled Korean war vet who becomes an unintentional protector to a Hmong family next door who are threatened by a gang. And you can bet, all these decades later, seeing Clint (now 78 years old) squint at you and make a gun with his thumb and forefinger, you're still gonna pee your pants a little. Have they figured out how to clone this guy yet? (Dec. 17)

 

Up (dir. Pete Docter): As a Pixar fan, I am a little tired of new Pixar trailers starting with a lot of clips from all the old Pixar movies. (We get it, you guys rock, move on!) Maybe they just didn't have enough footage to fill out this teaser, which is about an ol' grumpy man (voiced by Ed Asner) who ties thousands of balloons to his home to fulfill his dream of floating to South America. Strangely, this guy is supposed to be 78 years old and looks nothing like Clint Eastwood. (May 29)