Trailer Hitch
By Eric Hughes
February 11, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Gomorrah – Opens February 13th (limited)
Gomorrah, the first Italian film to win the Grand Prix at Cannes since Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, is a mafia drama set in a cruel, yet invented world. The people of Naples and Caserta have no choice but to obey the Camorra, a real-life criminal organization. The film is based on the 2006 book by Roberto Saviano, whose been living under police protection ever since its release.
The trailer's soundtrack reminds me a lot of the music in The Wrestler, with its shaky, slow guitar sounds filling in the background. It's a nice touch with the gritty imagery. Though there's a bit of a mishap at the beginning. I would have chopped off the first 20 seconds or so and skipped to the two graphs of text explaining what inspired the movie. With both parts present, it's as if the trailer has two beginnings.
Grade: B+
Also expected to be released on this date: Confessions of a Shopaholic; The International; Friday the 13th; Miss February; Under the Sea 3D (limited); New York, I Love You (limited); Billo Barber (limited); Two Lovers (limited)
Tokyo! – Opens March 6th (limited)
Tokyo! aims to answer that timeless question we're never quite able to satisfyingly answer. No, not the chicken and the egg thing, but whether we shape cities or if they indeed shape us? From directors Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Leos Carax (The Lovers on the Bridge) and Bong Joon-ho (The Host) is an exciting, albeit creepy looking movie told in three segments: Interior Design, Merde and Shaking Tokyo.
The trailer is juiced up on Tokyo Police Club's "Be Good" and has lotsa craziness going on. A woman has a solid hole through her body (where her heart should be), figures disappear, a man has buttons on his skin that carry out actions, and so on. It's total madness that just begs to be seen. Tokyo!'s trailer is for sure the most unique one I've seen in some time.
Grade: A
Also expected to be released on this date: Watchmen, All About Steve, The Horsemen, Phoebe in Wonderland (limited)
Sugar – Opens April 3rd (limited)
From the minds of writer-director team Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson) comes Sugar, a baseball movie that follows Dominican pitcher Miguel Santos' struggle to make it to the Major Leagues and relieve himself and his family from poverty. For a few reasons – his smoothness with the ladies, his jawdropping curveball – he goes by the name Azucar (or Sugar in Spanish).
The title shows a lot of promise. However, the trailer is inundated by too much text. Thumbs up reviews from critics will always be a plus...much like how positive reinforcement overload will always get annoying. Couple this with the captions at the bottom of the screen and you'll find your eyes are going through quite a workout in just two minutes flat. Sorry, I don't want to work that hard for a preview.
But in regards to the actual product, my interest in the project is quite high.
Grade: B+
Also expected to be released on this date: Fast and Furious, The Ugly Truth, Alien Trespass (limited)
Observe and Report – Opens April 10th
Columbia proved to us a month ago that mall cops can bring in good business with Paul Blart: Mall Cop. (So far, more than $96 million against a $26-million budget). Warner Bros. will attempt to cash in on the new fad with Observe and Report, a comedy whose cast (Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Aziz Ansari and Ray Liotta) is funnier and language is way dirtier. (Watch the recently released red band trailer to get a taste of what I mean).
This time it's not Kevin James, but Rogen who fills the mall security shoes. His bipolar character, Ronnie Barnhardt, is called into action one day when a flasher turns Rogen's mall into his personal show-and-tell stage. While Ronnie goes after the perp, he finds himself falling for one of the peeper's victims, Brandi (Anna Faris).
Grade: B
Also expected to be released on this date: Hannah Montana the Movie, Case 39, Bandslam
The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – Opens May 1st
The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past puts a spin on Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol story by having three women (the ghosts of girlfriends past, present and future) prove to a womanizer, Connor (Matthew McConaughey), that one of his former flames, Jenny (Jennifer Garner), is his one that got away. And the ghosts' keeper, who outlines how the evening will all go down? Michael Douglas.
I had to watch this one a couple time before realizing that New Line may have a solid hit on its hands. The movie looks like sweet, even if I'm not the biggest McConaughey devotee. (Although hey, this project was originally set up at Disney about six years ago with Ben Affleck in the lead role. Then Gigli hit the fan and the project was scrapped). So I'm liking the sound of New Line's changes already.
Grade: B-
Also expected to be released on this date: X-Men Origins: Wolverine