Trailer Hitch
By Michael Bentley
March 7, 2007
The Last Mimzy
There are few things more magical in the world of movies than really good children's movies - the ones that adults can appreciate and enjoy as well. I don't want to set the bar too high, but The Last Mimzy looks like it could be one of them. Two siblings, a boy and a girl, discover a magical box of toys one day and this leads to some amazing and fantastic things. The children soon have incredible brain functioning and special telekinetic-type abilities (such as magically moving sugar from its container into a cereal bowl). Of course the adults realize this and begin to get involved. Seemingly at the heart of all this is a stuffed animal named Mimzy . But what do I know? For all I know kids won't end up having any interest in this. Without knowing more I can't imagine that I'll want to see this in the theater, but a DVD rental is looking pretty likely. The pick for Trailer of the Week. A-
Mr. Brooks
You know what? I don't care what anybody else says... I like Kevin Costner. And I'm not just talking about his baseball movies. Sure, he's had a few duds and had a fairly miserable (and egotistical) stretch in the mid-to-late '90s, but he's also been in some excellent movies and he's turned in some very fine performances too. And now that I've seen the trailer for Mr. Brooks, I have hope that this will also be added to the list. He plays the title character, Mr. Brooks, a successful business man with a loving family. And he is also a cold-blooded killer. A very creepy killer, in a nice turnaround from the good guys that Costner typically plays. There is also a detective (Demi Moore - I wondered where she was) and a photographer in this mysterious story. The trailer devolves a little bit in the final minute, going the standard thriller route of perhaps showing a little too much of the story (or maybe not, you never know). But for knowing very little about this movie before, this does a very good job. Scheduled to be released in early June, this one is now on my summer buzz list. A-
Mr. Woodcock
I love Billy Bob Thornton. He is easily one of the finest actors working today, although he is so good at playing the foul-mouthed, obnoxious, otherwise-unlikeable men that he is pretty much being typecast in those sort of roles now. Either that, or he just really likes doing it. Anyway, in Mr. Woodcock he plays a no-nonsense high-school gym teacher who is engaged to the mother (Susan Sarandon) of a young man (Seann William Scott) who he tortured and berated years before. This effectively leads to war. There are some pretty funny moments in the preview, with my favorite being a brief scene where Woodcock attacks the young man with a bat in the dark. "What about when I said 'it's me, John.'" Thornton retorts with his straight-faced wit, "John's a very common name. There could be a burglar named John." Or how about: "You must like getting spanked Farley; I guess it runs in the family." Good stuff. B+
The Nanny Diaries
Forget the easy-going, Disneyfied lifestyle of princesses. These diaries are about the rough, dog-eat-dog world of nannies in upper class Manhattan. Scarlett Johansson stars in this rather physical-looking comedy about a woman who takes a nanny position with a wealthy family, falls in love, and realizes that being a nanny isn't quite as easy as it might appear. The farce has a fairly impressive supporting cast, including Laura Linney, Alicia Keys, Paul Giamatti (although he isn't actually seen in the trailer), and Chris Evans (Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four). It looks like it might be a decent movie, though I am curious to see how well Johansson can handle this type of role. If nothing else, The Nanny Diaries will be an interesting test of her marketability and general box office potential. Can she play the romantic leading lady in a standard Hollywood-style comedy (i.e., not anything independent or artsy like Lost in Translation or Match Point)? B
Next
Based on a short story by renowned sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, Next stars Nicolas Cage as man who can see into his own future (but nobody else). However, the federal government becomes interested in him when they learn of a possible terrorist threat in Las Vegas (possibly playing a little too much Rainbow Six?). Julianne Moore and the lovely Jessica Biel are among the co-stars. There is plenty of action, gunshots, explosions and Cage is in full-on show-me-the-money mode. It even starts out with a scene straight out of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. With the cheesy tagline "you may think you know what the future holds, but nothing can prepare you for what happens next," I actually get a Michael Bay-ish vibe from this trailer. B
Skinwalkers
There are a few shots in the trailer for Skinwalkers that manage to make the horror film look genuinely scary. Alas, there is a fine line, because much of the rest of it is close to being being Uwe Boll-level laughable ("I am *not human... I'm better than that."). Half-man and half-beast, the creatures at the heart of Skinwalkers are werewolves are in the midst of a bloody war. They are addicted to blood. Meanwhile, a young boy is about to be transformed himself, yet he somehow has the "power to end the curse forever." Are you ready for this? Yeah, me neither. Maybe when it shows up on USA or TBS. C
Snow Cake
In the second "snow" movie of the week, Hans Gruber picks up a young female hitchhiker. But in the snowy weather the car flips and the girl dies. Feeling guilty, Gruber (Alan Rickman) seeks out her family, including her mother (Sigourney Weaver, playing an autistic woman, apparently). There is a lot more snow, eating snow, and sex. Including The Matrix' Carrie-Anne Moss being very naughty: "I hate having sex on a full stomach, so can we just skip the main course?" Ho ho ho. It's your standard adult drama. C+
Underdog
This is almost like a MAD or Saturday Night Live parody. It starts off as if it is a preview for a blockbuster superhero film such as Spider-Man or the X-Men, as we fly through the sky with an operatic choir setting the tone and a voiceover that firmly proclaims "your powers have been given to you for a reason... your wisdom, your patience, your loyalty are far more important than you can ever understand... the world needs a hero..." And then swiftly flying through the sky is Underdog - a flying dog with a cape ("and man needs a best friend"). Yes, it's the second trailer this month featuring a super intelligent dog. And it's a tease, as little of the movie is shown other than that. I can't imagine that this will actually be a good movie (other than for families), but I like their style in introducing it to us. B+
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