Trailer Hitch
By Eric Hughes
June 3, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Art of Being Straight – Opens Friday
I'm all for characters who question their sexuality and experiment with men, women, whatever they can find. Here you've got women having sex with men, gay and straight, as well as other lady folk. And the reverse is true of the men. But The Art of Being Straight comes off as a tough sell.
Too much of my opinion may be based on this thing's budget, which couldn't have been much... at all. Set dressing is pretty bare bones, and the movie itself looks like it was recorded on home video.
In the end, if the entire movie is about one guy kissing a woman, then a man, then a woman, then a man again, and not being able to decide what's what, then my interest is lost. I need a little more substance.
Grade: D
G-Force – Opens July 24th
Admittedly, when G-Force promo photos surfaced on the Internet of guinea pigs wielding machine guns, I couldn't help but think: "Best. Idea. Ever." Now that I've seen the trailer, I'll slyly take it back. G-Force looks undeniably brainless. The jokes are lame, and the CGI (against a real-life background) could be improved.
On top of all that, Nic Cage is one of the voices. And I just can't have that.
Grade: D+
Shrink – Opens July 24th
In Shrink, Kevin Spacey plays a man who cures movie stars of their evils – even though he suffers from a personal set of demons. I like him in this role. He's good at playing the average Joe who, through personal neglect, has got some severe life management to take care of.
Though the movie, whose trailer sells it as a dramedy, may be a tough sell smack dab in the middle of summer. Its sleek humor and mild melodrama is probably a better fit for the fall.
Grade: B
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. – Opens August 14th
In The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Jeremy Piven stars as a man (Don Ready) who gets it done. (From big business deals to what we see in the trailer: finding a way to legally smoke on an airplane). Don's next big gig is helping a car dealership move some of its lagging merchandise with his crack team of misfits (Ving Rhames, Ed Helms and James Brolin among them).
The Goods looks all right, but isn't anything to get too excited over. It comes from the people behind Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, and appears to recycle the same stupid comedy of its ancestors that a certain comedy niche seems to enjoy.
Grade: C+
Toy Story 3 – Opens June 18th, 2010
I generally don't review teasers. They reveal little and often don't contain an ounce of footage from the actual movie.
With that being said, Toy Story 3 will be released next summer. And this week Pixar promoted it with a teaser trailer that didn't have anything to share from the finished product. But who gives a damn... it's Pixar!
For purely nostalgic reasons, I'm ecstatic for another Toy Story chapter. I was 12-years-old when the last Toy Story was released in theaters, so it'll be nothing short of a treat to have aged another 11 by the time this one reaches audiences. In the preview, Buzz and Woody are still up to their bickering ways as they verbally fight each other over who can create the best Toy Story 3 signage. Nice to see how times haven't changed.
So yeah, you could say I'm slightly anticipating this one. And to Mark, who apparently finds nothing to like in Pixar movies, it's a shame you're totally blind to the most consistently great production company working today.
Grade: A