Trailer Hitch
By Eric Hughes
January 6, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
From Paris With Love – Opens February 5th
John Travolta plays a crazed FBI agent named Charlie Wax in Pierre Morel's action-comedy, From Paris with Love. Seriously, folks, the man's nuts. (The good kind, though). And yet, never have I seen Johnny look so freakin' relaxed. He's blowin' shit up and wreaking havoc at every turn, you'd have reason to think that this just can't be the same guy who signed on for a role in Old Dogs. (Come to think of it, I still haven't forgiven him for Battlefield Earth. And, with the exception of his cameo in Austin Powers in Goldmember, I haven't seen a Travolta movie of any kind since Primary Colors). From Paris with Love may break that 12-year dry spell.
The film stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a young embassy worker who is paired up with Travolta's character while he's busy working on a dangerous, potentially lethal mission in Paris. The two have a bit of chemistry, I guess, but I'm more blown away by Travolta's performance. From Paris With Love looks like an absolute ride.
Grade: A-
Repo Men – Opens April 2nd
Not to be confused with Repo Man – that 1984 cult film starring Emilio Estevez (honestly, the two projects couldn't be any more dissimilar) – Repo Men is a futuristic, sci-fi action thriller set in a world where channels like the Home Shopping Network still exist, but their products have been upgraded to functional, albeit mechanical body parts. (Think that circular power source in the middle of Iron Man's suit). Jude Law and Forest Whitaker star as two employees of a greedy megacorp that sells its needy clients body organs at steep prices, and then sends attractive "repossession" men (I'm looking at you, Jude) to reclaim them when patients fail to pay for their new living devices in full. If you're familiar with Repo! The Genetic Opera, Repo Men is eerily similar to that.
As much as I have been attacking sci-fi lately, I must say this is yet another project that I wouldn't mind checking out. (After finding a lot to like in movies like Avatar and trailers like Daybreakers, perhaps I've turned a corner). The plotline is dark, but the comedy is funny and at times pretty zany. There's something quite Zombieland-like about Repo Men's trailer as you get a bit into it, but I can't quite put my finger on it. So, if in the end the movie fails to be thought provoking, at least it'll be entertaining.
Grade: B
Multiple Sarcasms – Opens TBA
And the award for one of the more tongue-in-cheek movie titles I've come across in quite awhile goes to Multiple Sarcasms, a Brooks Branch-directed drama about a man (Timothy Hutton) who begins writing a play that more or less mirrors his own life. The character molded after his own being examines the relationships that make his real life the way it is. Like what you may have read in Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius or a good Kurt Vonnegut, expect a number of self-referential moments.
The project reminds me a bit of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, a movie that failed to move me – what was up with that burning house?! – like previous Kaufman releases because it was too ambitious for its own good. It tried to do too many things in too little time. (Perhaps, though, that idea could be read as intentional since the lead character faces that very struggle head on about midway through).
Whatever the case, I'm not seeing – from the trailer, of course – what Multiple Sarcasms brings to the table. I'm less excited for it then I was for Synecdoche because it seems like the people in Hutton's life that he uses as characters for the play react negatively to their portrayals – as you'd expect them to. Beyond the bickering, I don't know what else the film is offering here.
Grade: C+
Warlords – Opens April 2nd
The structure of Warlords' trailer is pretty unique; I'll give it that. What you suspect to be just your average Joe, fight for justice period flick takes an interesting turn when the preview's voice-over – which is prevalent in the first quarter or so – fades into the background, allowing for the project's principal actors to engage in combat without distraction. Of course, when your leading man is a dude like Jet Li, the decision to market the film as all action, all the time makes total sense.
Beyond that, though, the trailer is fairly mediocre. Jet Li and two other actors you've likely never heard of play a band of bandits in 1860s China who take an oath to be "blood brothers." That is, until, their situation turns sour due to political deceit and a love triangle involving a beautiful female. If you're a fan of fancy sword work and anything involving the firing of cannonballs, Warlords should be your movie.
Grade: C-
Our Family Wedding – Opens March 19th
Holy lord. Carlos Mencia is in something halfway decent. (Emphasis on halfway). It's not that I despise the man; I just don't find him all that funny. And so when ads come on for this thing or that thing (well, mostly Mind of Mencia) and he's cracking jokes, I'm just not laughing. In Our Family Wedding, Mencia plays the protective father of his Latina daughter, who is engaged to an African-American male. Through the course of the young couple's relationship – and ensuing wedding – the two families learn they must co-exist as one (and respect the customs of the opposite family) if they hope to give the two young lovebirds the wedding that they likely deserve.
What excites me most about the project is its ensemble cast. Beyond Mencia, Forest Whitaker and America Ferrera nabbed leading roles, as well as Regina King, who impressed me late last season in the handful of episodes I saw of Southland's six-episode seasonette on NBC. (The show has since relocated to TNT). Absent from the trailer, but in the movie, are Taye Diggs, Fred Armisen and Charlie Murphy.
Grade: C