Armchair Commentary

Trailer Park: "Carnage" and "The Ides of March"

Roman Polanski's Carnage, opening later this year, is an adaptation of the Broadway play God of Carnage, which is about two sets of parents squabbling over their sons, who have gotten in a school yard fight. The teaser trailer (not an official green band release, so there is profanity for those who want to be properly warned) is like a mash-up of Oscar Gold, and for that alone it's a must-see. Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly play one set of parents, while Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz play the other set. Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet in the same frame? My mind is going to explode.

 

 

 

I had a similar experience watching the trailer for The Ides of March a few weeks ago, directed by and starring George Clooney as a rising Presidential candidate whose press secretary (Ryan Gosling) knows something that could shatter his career. My head-exploding moment? Realizing that on top of the two mildly handsome and talented actors listed above, this also contains both Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the same movie (if this has happened before, and I feel like it should have, please let me know cause it's really bugging me). This is on my must-see list for fall. --Ellen

 

 

Trailer Park: Super Sad but Really Pretty Edition--"Like Crazy"

  I've been left to wonder and wait rather impatiently for the trailer of this year's Sundance Grand Jury prize winner, Like Crazy, to show up online since January.  Here we are in August and it turns out I'm not at all disappointed.  Based on this lovely trailer (which features a beautiful Ingrid Michaelson cover of Can't Help Falling in Love), Like Crazy seems to be most things I love in quiet little indie movies...full of ethereal light and gorgeous cinematography, painfully realistic dialogue and moving, honest performances.  A simple definition: short on plot, long on mood.  The story of two college kids in love who are eventually separated by graduation and a revoked Visa, the whole thing reeks of the thrill, pain and confusion of first love, in the very best possible way.   --Kira

 

 

Trailer Park: "Contagion," "The Thing," "John Carter"

While the internet breathlessly waits for a legit version of The Dark Knight Rises teaser (in which, according to reports, Tom Hardy’s back can briefly be glimpsed), a number of other intriguing trailers have made a pre-Comicon appearance. Start planning your sick days now.

Contagion (dir. by Steven Soderbergh): As distinctly '70s as the Pet Rock or Stretch Armstrong, the disaster movie cycle derived no small amount of guiltless fun from an iron-clad formula: Large-scale bloodless apocalypse at the end of the first reel, followed by a series of over-the-hill, easily recognizable actors biting it in increasingly baroque fashion. (Personal favorite: Henry Fonda shooting himself up with giant killer bee venom—in the name of science!—in The Swarm.) Steven Soderbergh’s all-star viral thriller, however, looks like it veers far, far away from Irwin Allen’s turf, with the cheesy fun of watching, say, Robert Wagner turning into a tux-clad fajita replaced by powerhouse acting and a no-nonsense attitude. While spoiler-hounds may get up in arms about the revealed fates of some of the actors in this trailer, it’s not looking like anyone gets away clean here. (September 9th)

 

The Thing (dir. by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.): Horror fans, meanwhile, can be forgiven for feeling a little queasy about the existence of this prequel to John Carpenter’s 1981 somberly gloppy classic, which focuses on the events at an alien-infested Norwegian camp before Kurt Russell and his massive sombrero make the scene. Thankfully, this trailer looks like the filmmakers have made a genuine effort to replicate Carpenter’s doomy vibe (dig the Ennio Morricone soundtrack lift at the end), while sticking to the practical effects that made the original such a splatter milestone. (That said, the subtle CGI bit involving a guy’s face definitely works.) Keep watching the skies. (October 14th)

 

John Carter (dir. by Andrew Stanton): The first live-action film from Pixar Grand Poobah Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) is an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulp milestone A Princess of Mars. Not that you’d be able to guess the Mars part from this rather opaque trailer, though, which tones down the material’s more baroque elements-–shouldn’t the sand be colored red, at least?--in favor of Conan-style throwdowns.  Still, the director’s track record and the presence of a ridiculously talented supporting cast (including Bryan Cranston, Willem Dafoe, and Samantha Morton) suggest that there may be more magic here than meets the eye. And, hey, how about that song, huh? (March 9th, 2012)

 

 

Trailer Park: "Captain America," "Immortals," "Killer Elite"

Now that Transformers: Dark of the Moon has made its impact crater upon the summer movie season, it’s time to shake off the debris and look ahead to the next wave of red meat cinema. Here’s a few of the contenders looking to put the toot, whistle, plunk and boom back into theaters. --Andrew Wright

Captain America: The First Avenger (dir. by Joe Johnston):  One of the pleasures of the new wave of Marvel Comics films (and, I’d imagine, one of the major headaches for Joss Whedon in trying to meld them all together for his upcoming The Avengers) is how each entry takes on a different style: Woozy Rat Pack improv for Iron Man, cosmic Flash Gordonish excess for Thor, and now this appealingly retro take on the Star-Spangled Avenger. As he showed with The Rocketeer, director Joe Johnston has a knack for period heroics, and the combination of a top tier cast and what appears to be mostly practical effects looks extremely promising …  once you get past that unsettling shrinkydinked effect on Chris Evans, that is. (July 22)

 

Immortals (dir. by Tarsem Singh): Director Tarsem Singh has a bit of a mixed record on film, following up the amazingly pretentious The Cell with the visually dazzling, heartfelt (and yes, still a bit pretentious) The Fall. Hopefully, this ultra-stylized (is that a shish kabob set on that one guy’s helmet?) updating of the Ray Harryhausen universe stays on his good side.  And come on, who doesn’t want to see Mickey Rourke wearing prawn armor? (November 11)

 

Killer Elite (dir. by Gary McKendrie): And now we’re talking. The Scorpions on the soundtrack, Robert De Niro beating up a multitude of dudes, and Jason Statham punching a mustachioed Clive Owen in the place where Clive Owen would least like to be punched.  Ostensibly based on a true story (and bearing no relation to Sam Peckinpah’s film of the same name), this looks like it approaches Testosterone Valhalla. I really hope that chair gets a supporting actor credit, at least. (September 23)

 

 

First Trailer: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

Watch it now!

First Trailer: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2"

It feels like we've been blogging about Harry Potter movie trailers forever, but it's just occurred to me that this the LAST first trailer of a Harry Potter movie we are ever going to talk about. (And this is the only one in 3D.) This is the one everything has been building up to, and we can't believe it's almost over. --Ellen

 

 

Trailer Park: "Priest," "The Help," "Something Borrowed"

Priest (dir. by Scott Charles Stewart): This much we can gather from the three trailers available for this movie. Paul Bettany, Hollywood's go-to Albino-Religious-Action Star (see The Da Vinci Code, Legion, this movie), belongs to an order of priests-slash-kickass-protectors battling vampires. He has a fellow priest buddy (Karl Urban) captured by the vampires and is now an evil vampire cowboy (already wondering if the trailers have revealed too much). Bettany's niece is kidnapped and so he goes out with a gun-toting guy in a bomber jacket (Cam Gigandet) and a fellow kickass priestess (Maggie Q) to rescue her, with an arsenal of cross daggers that do pretty cool things to these weird faceless vampire creatures. (Aside from Urban, the vampires don't appear to be the good-looking ones we know today). All the while Christopher Plummer, a head priest guy, insists nothing is wrong (clearly, he is also evil). (May 13)

The Help (dir. by Tate Taylor): Based on Kathryn Stockett's bestseller, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are perfectly cast as stoic Abilene and feisty Milly, two maids in 1960s Missipppi who dare to tell their stories of life as "the help" and the white women they work for. Emma Stone (Easy A) plays Skeeter, the aspiring journalist who compiles the interviews, and Bryce Dallas Howard is the villanous Hilly, who does her best to uphold segregation. Beloved novel-to-film adaptations have struggled in the last few years (Eat Pray Love, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood), but relative unknown director Tate Taylor is getting his shot, and it's a big one. (Aug. 12)

Something Borrowed (dir. by Luke Greenfield): A popular chick-lit novel, this one by Emily Giffin, follows modest Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) and glamorous Darcy (Kate Hudson), two lifelong best friends with a problem: Rachel's longtime crush Dex (Colin Egglesfield) is engaged to Darcy. Not just that, Rachel sleeps with Dex after one drunken birthday party. Nobody's really the victim here, but regardless of who's side you're on, note that Giffin wrote a follow-up novel, Something Blue, that tells some of the story (and what happens after) from Darcy's perspective. Just from the trailer, Egglesfield needs to turn up the charm a little bit to be worthy of all this feminine attention; John Krasinski (The Office) fills the Confidant role. (May 6) --Ellen

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We took votes, we debated those votes, we butted heads. But in the end, all that's left standing is the Amazon.com Movies & TV editors' picks for the Best of 2011... So Far on DVD, Blu-ray, and Instant Video. (Applies to titles released between Jan. 1 and Apr. 30, 2011). Here's a peek at some of our picks:

Tangled (No. 9 for DVD, No. 6 for Blu-ray): Not everyone expected to be delighted by this hilarious take on Rapunzel, but thanks to great comic timing (courtesy of a horse and an oft-used cast-iron pan) and perfectly cast Mandy Moore as the voice of the captured princess who yearns to know what's outside her sheltered world/tower, Tangled became an indelible part of the Disney lore.

Mad Men: Season Four (No. 3 for DVD, No. 5 for Blu-ray): If there's a year this show deserves the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, it's this season. Jumping off from the previous season's game-changer, the AMC series has reinvigorated itself, and Jon Hamm does his finest acting yet as a man who sinks to his lowest of lows (yet) and makes baby steps toward respecting himself again. (Don't miss the standout episode of the season, "The Suitcase")

Inside Job (No. 8 for DVD): For anyone who knows nothing about economics or real estate, this a documentary that aims to spell out exactly how the financial crisis happened and who's to blame. For anyone who understands economics or real estate, it's like a horror film you can't believe is real.

Piranha 3D (No. 18 in Blu-ray): We're not all highbrow on this list (clearly). Alejandre Aja's remake of the Roger Corman B-movie made the list not just for its Blu-ray 3D effects (much to the chagrin of James Cameron, who decried that films like these are "not what we should be doing" with 3D) but because what it does--deliver cheesetastic gore to the max without pretending to be anything else--it does well.

and finally, our No. 1 pick on DVD and Blu-ray:

The Social Network: We over here think this film deserved Best Picture (Fincher, you wuz robbed!), but no one can argue is that its DVD and Blu-ray features are a Best in Class on how to use your medium. (Not that we considered The King's Speech small beans either; it also made the top 5 in DVD). But between the strength of the film itself; its commentaries by the cast, writer Aaron Sorkin, and director David Fincher; and its feature-length documentary (not to be missed, it's a must for all film buffs); this is the Best DVD or Blu-ray to come out in 2011... So far.

See the rest of our Top 25 on DVD and our Top 25 on Blu-ray, as well as the Top 10 on Instant Video. What are your picks? --Ellen

 

It's already played overseas, but opening December 22 in select U.S. cities is Somewhere, starring Stephen Dorff as a fast-lane Hollywood actor who has to adjust to life with his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning). It's written and directed by Sofia Coppola, who earned an Oscar win (writing) and a nomination (directing) for Lost in Translation, now available on Blu-ray exclusively at Amazon.com. Is Somewhere headed for similar acclaim? It's still early in the awards season, but the National Board of Review named it one of the top 10 independent films of the year, and gave Coppola a Special Filmmaking Achievement Award for writing, directing, and producing it--the same award she won for Lost in Translation in 2003. You can watch the Somewhere trailer below. --David

 

Here's the second TV trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, which opens in theaters on November 19, 2010. Less than four weeks to wait! --David

 

The Best Movies & TV of 2011... So Far

We took votes, we debated those votes, we butted heads. But in the end, all that's left standing is the Amazon.com Movies & TV editors' picks for the Best of 2011... So Far on DVD, Blu-ray, and Instant Video. (Applies to titles released between Jan. 1 and Apr. 30, 2011). Here's a peek at some of our picks:

Tangled (No. 9 for DVD, No. 6 for Blu-ray): Not everyone expected to be delighted by this hilarious take on Rapunzel, but thanks to great comic timing (courtesy of a horse and an oft-used cast-iron pan) and perfectly cast Mandy Moore as the voice of the captured princess who yearns to know what's outside her sheltered world/tower, Tangled became an indelible part of the Disney lore.

Mad Men: Season Four (No. 3 for DVD, No. 5 for Blu-ray): If there's a year this show deserves the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, it's this season. Jumping off from the previous season's game-changer, the AMC series has reinvigorated itself, and Jon Hamm does his finest acting yet as a man who sinks to his lowest of lows (yet) and makes baby steps toward respecting himself again. (Don't miss the standout episode of the season, "The Suitcase")

Inside Job (No. 8 for DVD): For anyone who knows nothing about economics or real estate, this a documentary that aims to spell out exactly how the financial crisis happened and who's to blame. For anyone who understands economics or real estate, it's like a horror film you can't believe is real.

Piranha 3D (No. 18 in Blu-ray): We're not all highbrow on this list (clearly). Alejandre Aja's remake of the Roger Corman B-movie made the list not just for its Blu-ray 3D effects (much to the chagrin of James Cameron, who decried that films like these are "not what we should be doing" with 3D) but because what it does--deliver cheesetastic gore to the max without pretending to be anything else--it does well.

and finally, our No. 1 pick on DVD and Blu-ray:

The Social Network: We over here think this film deserved Best Picture (Fincher, you wuz robbed!), but no one can argue is that its DVD and Blu-ray features are a Best in Class on how to use your medium. (Not that we considered The King's Speech small beans either; it also made the top 5 in DVD). But between the strength of the film itself; its commentaries by the cast, writer Aaron Sorkin, and director David Fincher; and its feature-length documentary (not to be missed, it's a must for all film buffs); this is the Best DVD or Blu-ray to come out in 2011... So far.

See the rest of our Top 25 on DVD and our Top 25 on Blu-ray, as well as the Top 10 on Instant Video. What are your picks? --Ellen

Trailer Park: "Somewhere"

 

It's already played overseas, but opening December 22 in select U.S. cities is Somewhere, starring Stephen Dorff as a fast-lane Hollywood actor who has to adjust to life with his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning). It's written and directed by Sofia Coppola, who earned an Oscar win (writing) and a nomination (directing) for Lost in Translation, now available on Blu-ray exclusively at Amazon.com. Is Somewhere headed for similar acclaim? It's still early in the awards season, but the National Board of Review named it one of the top 10 independent films of the year, and gave Coppola a Special Filmmaking Achievement Award for writing, directing, and producing it--the same award she won for Lost in Translation in 2003. You can watch the Somewhere trailer below. --David

 

TV trailer #2: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

Here's the second TV trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, which opens in theaters on November 19, 2010. Less than four weeks to wait! --David