Trailer Hitch
By Eric Hughes
October 15, 2008
Welcome to Trailer Hitch, BOP's look at the latest movie trailers to hit the Internet. This week: Robert De Niro arrives back in comedy, Tom Cruise plots a conspiracy and Amy Adams cleans up dead bodies.
Tru Loved – Opens October 17th
Tru Loved is the fish-out-of-water story of 16-year-old Tru, who is forced by her lesbian moms to move with them from her comfy lifestyle in San Francisco to a conservative Southern California community. There, Tru befriends a closeted football player, a friendship that becomes strained after she decides to start the school's first Gay-Straight Alliance Club.
The trailer is pretty well put together, aside from the mismatched text that floats into the frame every now and again. And it's refreshing to see such a storyline in theaters, one I at least can relate to (coming from an uber conservative town myself). Largely unknowns have been cast in the lead roles, though Jane Lynch, Bruce Vilanch and others make cameo appearances.
Grade: B Also expected to be released on this date: Max Payne, W., Sex Drive, The Secret Life of Bees, The Elephant King, Filth and Wisdom, Mary, Morning Light, What Just Happened, The 2 Sides of the Bed
What Just Happened – Opens October 17th
Based on Art Linson's novel, What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, the aptly named What Just Happened finds Robert De Niro as a fading producer who must undergo two weeks of Hollywood hell. Take for instance his situation with an overweight Bruce Willis, who here plays himself. Ben (De Niro) needs to figure out a way to make him look thin again or risk being sued for misrepresentation. Other problems on his plate include his struggles to get his new movie made and an impending divorce (Ben's second, in fact).
Strangely, we haven't seen De Niro in a comedy since the actor's second coming as Jack Byrnes in 2004's Meet the Fockers. It's surprising, considering he's so good in them - Meet the Parents, Analyze This (though not That).
Grade: B- Also expected to be released on this date: Max Payne, W., Sex Drive, The Secret Life of Bees, The Elephant King, Filth and Wisdom, Mary, Morning Light, Tru Loved, The 2 Sides of the Bed
Pride and Glory – Opens October 24th
Originally slated for release by New Line in March, Pride and Glory is the story of Ray Tierney (Edward Norton), a New York police officer who investigates a case that involves members of his family, including his older brother (Colin Farrell). The close-to-home case causes those involved to choose between familiar bloodlines and the New York Police Department.
I couldn't help but feel overcome with how generic this one looks, and how uninterested I am in seeing how this one pans out. It's got some good star power (Jon Voight included), but that's pretty much it.
Grade: D Also expected to be released on this date: High School Musical 3: Senior Year; Saw V; Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D; The Changeling; Passengers; Roadside Romeo; Synecdoche, New York; I've Loved You So Long; Family Life; Let the Right One In; The Universe of Keith Haring
Valkyrie – Opens December 26th
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the trailer to Valkyrie surely takes the cake as having the most cuts/fade to blacks in movie industry history. And you wouldn't think it at first, considering the leisurely speed in which they flash across the screen in the beginning. Slowly, however, momentum builds (with a handy ticking clock in the back), until finally the cuts come in rapid (and I mean rapid!) succession.
Based on a true World War II story, Valkyrie stars Tom Cruise (yes, the man is back) as German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a man who joins the country's resistance movement and plays a part the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler, while at the same time taking over the country and making peace with Allies. Stauffenberg not only leads the plan, but also is charged with murdering Hitler himself.
From director Bryan Singer, the thriller also stars Christian Berkel, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin McNally, Carice van Houten and Bill Nighy.
Grade: B Also expected to be released on this date: Revolutionary Road
Sunshine Cleaning – Opens TBA 2008
Sign me up! From the producers of Little Miss Sunshine comes Sunshine Cleaning, a dramedy that shares a few things in common with the beloved Academy Award-winning film from two years ago: the world sunshine in its title, as well as actor Alan Arkin.
The movie is about a single mom, Rose (Amy Adams), and her slacker sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), who decide on going into the crime scene clean-up business to make some quick cash. And what they're doing is exactly as it sounds. The duo goes to the scene of a crime after officials are done fiddling around with it and literally clean up the mess. The mattress that somebody died on? It all needs to go. Though don't trip and fall onto it like Norah does in the trailer.
The trailer is stuffed with a few good laughs, before taking an unexpected dramatic turn by the end (cue Amy Adams tears). But it's the blatant use of The Decemberists in the trailer that has me really excited. Points for that for sure.
Grade: A-
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