Comedian
It's all been done before in trailers, right? The makers of Comedian
sure thought so, and their gut-bustlingly funny spot for the Jerry
Seinfeld documentary was one of the funniest things made this year.
The "in a world" style of trailer was already something of a tired
cliché, but the hilarious skewering of trailer language by the very
voice of the same put the nail in the coffin. It really had nothing
to do with the movie, but if you view the trailer as saying, "yeah,
the movie is funny... like this," then it's a huge success.
The top two in this category couldn't be any more different as films
or trailers. In contrast with the simplicity of Comedian is The Lord
of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second film in what is turning into
one of the most important film series of our time. With the
popularity of the first movie, they wouldn't really even need to do
much of a selling job. Fortunately, they bothered to make this
trailer, a complete masterpiece of construction filled with action,
tension and the foreboding music from Requiem For a Dream. A better
trailer could not have been made.
Perhaps it's only appropriate that Spider-Man and Eight Legged Freaks
ended up tied for third since both prominently feature arachnids.
Spider-Man placed strongly in this category last year and managed a
repeat performance based on a trailer that very capably brings the web slinger to
life. Eight Legged Freaks, on the other hand, puts together a
hilarious riff on the B-movie, complete with the clincher of, "Do you
hate spiders? Do you really hate spiders? Well they don't like you
either." Wonderfully funny stuff.
Clearly this gang has an affinity for the over-the-top stuff, as
fifth place went to Kill Bill, the upcoming film from Quentin
Tarantino. There's very little plot-wise and it's mostly a series of
highly stylized fight scenes, but man, oh man, are these some great
looking scenes. Add in a wonderfully funky score and you've got all
the makings of a highly anticipated film.
Just below the top five were a couple of late-year Oscar contenders,
Adaptation and Catch Me if You Can, two trailers which relied
strongly on music to set their moods. "Under Pressure" gave a great
feel to Adaptation while Catch Me If You Can's jazzy riffs set its
period nicely.
We return to some fanboy rooting with The Hulk's teaser coming up
next, although minimal in content, it capitalizes well on the
enthusiasm for this project. Rounding out the top ten are Confessions
of a Dangerous Mind, a miniature movie in itself and The Ring, which
used some very disturbing imagery to entice horror viewers. (Reagen Sulewski/BOP)
Top Ten
|
Position |
Film |
Total Points |
1
|
Comedian
|
102
|
2
|
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
|
85
|
3
|
Spider-Man
|
61
|
4
|
Eight Legged Freaks
|
61
|
5
|
Kill Bill
|
50
|
6
|
Adaptation
|
46
|
7
|
Catch Me If You Can
|
43
|
8
|
The Hulk
|
41
|
9
|
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
|
36
|
10
|
The Ring
|
36
|
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Screenplay
Best Scene
Best Cast
Best Use of Music
Worst Picture
Best DVD
Best Overlooked Film
Return to the 2003 Calvin Awards