New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Welcome to Trailer Hitch, BOP's look at the latest movie trailers to hit the Internet. This week: Sandra Bullock falls for more bland comedy, yet another horror film is resurrected (but with positive results this time) and Nia Vardalos mounts the Acropolis.

Coraline – Opens February 6th

We've got ourselves a curious case of some rather ominous-looking buttons next month in Focus Features' Coraline, a stop-motion horror fantasy film. (Similar to something like, say, The Nightmare Before Christmas).

In it, a young girl named Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) escapes her boring life by unlocking a mysterious door in her home and finding a parallel reality inside. There, everything appears to be normal...only better. The fun and games come to a close, however, when the girl finds herself a prisoner within the new world and, among other things, is forced to sew a pair of black buttons over her eyes like everyone else.

How very strange.

The trailer is a bit hard on the eyes when we're used to seeing more fluid, gorgeous CGI in Pixar's WALL-E or DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda. (Certainly not Delgo, of course). There's something peculiar with stop-motion releases like Coraline in this day and age, when we've got a number of better technologies at our disposal. Yet maybe that's the point – it's a "look".

A note on the release date: Coraline's February 6th debut pits the animated feature against Summit Entertainment's Push, which also conveniently stars kid celeb Dakota Fanning. This could get ugly.

Grade: B-
Also expected to be released on this date: He's Just Not That Into You, The Pink Panther 2, Push

All About Steve – Opens March 6th


What do you know...Sandra Bullock in yet another average-looking movie project! The actress and average practically go hand in hand at this point.

Just two months before co-starring with Ryan Reynolds in The Proposal, Sandra is poised to play Mary Horowitz, a crossword puzzle instructor who becomes infatuated with a news cameraman named Steve (Bradley Cooper) after a blind date. As the news team, led by reporter Hartman Hughes (Thomas Haden Church), covers breaking news across the country, Steve grows increasingly put off by a rather clingy Mary. (Perhaps he's taking a cue from his character in He's Just Not That Into You).

Admittedly, that's got to be one of my worst nightmares, too. A peppy version of Sandra Bullock that just won't...go...away. It'd be like Keanu Reeves calling me at all hours of the day to see if we could be friends.

Grade: C
Also expected to be released on this date: Watchmen, Tokyo!

Fighting – Opens April 24th

Terrence Howard bows out of the Iron Man franchise so he can free up his schedule for movies like Fighting. Ooookay.

The action story focuses on Sean Arthur, played here by the dreamy Channing Tatum (who smartly stows away the dance shoes for this movie). He's a young guy with a lack of motivation, selling counterfeit merchandise on the NYC streets. The man ventures into brand new territory, however, when he encounters famed street-fighting coach Harvey Boarden (Howard), who toughens Sean up and teaches him how to win.

Though the fight sequences look brutal, I can't say I've ever been a fan of watching idiots beat the crap out of each other. UFC fans, of which I am not a part, may find something to like here instead.

Grade: D+
Also expected to be released on this date: The Soloist, Obsessed, The Goods: The Don Ready Story, Whiteout, Vanilla Gorilla

Continued:       1       2