Trailer Hitch
By Eric Hughes
October 7, 2009
Welcome to Trailer Hitch, BOP's look at the latest movie trailers to hit the Internet. This week: Saw makes it six in a row, George Clooney accrues serious air miles and Jason Lee gets his squeakquel on.
Saw VI – Opens October 23rd
We're about two weeks away from the next Saw movie, and still no sign of a feature length trailer. (Not that I'm heartbroken or anything). A second teaser was released a couple of days ago, so I'm assuming that's all we're going to get. But really, does a franchise like Saw even need a full trailer anymore? The expectation is to see people struggle to remain alive while showing off how they landed their respective parts by staging their best screams – and that's basically all you get in the 50-second tease. Well, that and glimpses of the villainous Jigsaw clutching his trusty oxygen mask while narrating why some people die, some people live and all that mess the Saw peeps keep rephrasing in an effort to keep this franchise's "message" fresh. Didn't that fool supposedly die like three or four Saws ago?
Considering both his appearance and confirmed reports that Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) will again be in the movie – even though she, too, died a couple of Saws ago – it goes without saying that the new movie will rely on multiple flashbacks, as per usual.
Grade: D-
Up in the Air – Opens December 4th
Loosely based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Walter Kim, Up in the Air stars George Clooney as a man who essentially does what The Bobs were hired to do in cult classic Office Space. Clooney strictly fires employees for head honchos who are too intimidated to do the dirty work themselves. His work leads him to fly across the country more than 300 days out of the year, which, as expected, inhibits his ability to build relationships with women beyond meaningless sex. This is put to the test when he comes into contact with two different women: Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a female protégé hired by his company and Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), a traveler he meets on one of his journeys. Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons and Zach Galifianakis round out the cast.
Currently batting 1.000 (based on 16 reviews) over at Rotten Tomatoes, Up in the Air shows the promise of being a delightful Clooney dramedy and yet another feather in the cap for director Jason Reitman, whose previous two features include Juno and Thank You for Smoking. (He's also worked on a pair of Office episodes).
Grade: B
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – Opens December 25th
It's unfortunate that with NBC canceling My Name is Earl earlier this year, this shameless sequel – sorry, squeakquel – is what we have to look forward to from one Jason Lee. In fact, he's not really featured in the trailer at all, which probably does wonders for his reputation. Not that he should be anyway, considering 20th Century Fox is calling this one a "squeakquel" for god's sakes). Squeakquel! And there's no denying that they're proud of it, too. Watch the opening seconds of the trailer and you'll see what I'm talking about. Prequels and sequels are SO every other Hollywood studio!
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