In A World...

Imagine yourself in a darkened theater; the scent of popcorn wafting through the air as the projector hums to life, slapping the screen with the MPAA green band (or if you’re naughty, a red band one). For many of us cinephiles, this is the best part of the movie-going experience. For a few minutes we are presented with a few fleeting images from movies we’re anticipating, film’s we’ve yet to hear about, and others we have zero desire to ever see. What often makes these little babies so nifty is how well put together. It’s hard to deny that there is a true art to creating a good, compelling trailer.

In the old days, people not even remotely involved with the finished film were hired by studios to slap together whatever footage they had on hand to create a trailer. The results were mixed. More often than not, the finished two-minute preview showed too much or gave off the wrong tone. However, in this day and age, more and more filmmakers are taking a more hands-on approach with this phase of the process. While the results are still a bit mixed, it’s nice to know that those creating the film are now able to choose what they present and how they present it.

I’m going to share with you a slew of movie trailers, many of these trailers are brilliantly done – some even better than the finished film. And then there are the others… 

Cruising Redux

So...back in the early 80s, William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist, etc.) directed a film called Cruising where Al Pacino plays a cop who goes undercover in the gay S&M scene to track down a serial killer. As this film was released in a post-Stonewall world enlightened by the lectures of the legendary Vito Russo, gay rights groups were up in arms over the fact that this film was yet another example of Hollywood demonizing homosexuality by associating it with deviance, violence and evil. Though Friedkin began his career with the film adaptation of the legendary gay play The Boys in the Band, some activists went so far as to ruin takes by creating loud noises while the film was shooting on public streets. When the film was completed, forty minutes of graphic S&M action had to be removed in order to secure an R rating. Apparently that footage has been lost to the ages. Or so we thought...

A lot has changed in thirty years and now Cruising has come to be seen as a sort of anthropological document of a time and place that no longer exists. And so, James Franco (yes THAT James Franco) and Travis Mathews have gone to great effort to recreate/reimagine that lost footage. A documentary of their effort  (which also seems to deal with some of the original film's exploration of the line between voyeurism and participation) will be premiering this coming January at Sundance. Check out the vaguely NSFW trailer after the cut...

In Theaters September 14th

82 Déjà vu?

Is it too soon to declare 2012 heir apparent to the legendary summer of 1982? Before you answer, remember that in addition to the trailers below, we're also getting new movies from all three of these guys. Oh and don't forget all these artsy-fartsy films debuting at Cannes. It's almost enough to make you forgive the existence of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...almost.

Looper

Sorry McG, Rian Johnson is now officially the best filmmaker to come out of Orange County. I had an inkling that this was to be the case right after I saw his first film (the wonderful high school noir, Brick) but figured I'd hold off judgement just to make sure he wasn't a one-trick pony. Luckily for everyone his follow-up, the delightful heist flick The Brothers Bloom, was another winner. And now we have the trailer for Looper. Three films, each with a completely different genre, look and style of dialogue. Though we will have to wait until the official release on September 28th to make it official, I'm going to start prepping the coronation hall just in case. He did after-all direct one of the best episodes of Breaking Bad ever.

To Rome With Love

Another year, another Woody Allen film. Just like clockwork. After the phenomenal success of Midnight In Paris, this one should have no trouble finding an audience. Well-liked actors, in a beautiful European setting, photographed by Darius Khondji is a recipe for success if I ever saw one. Throw in the fact that it has Woody acting for the first time since 2006 and you have yourself a hit! Mark your calendars for June 22nd!

Resurrecting Tim?

When it was first announced that Tim Burton would be making a feature-length version of his classic short Frankenweenie, there was definitely some trepidation on behalf of us at This Cinematic Life HQ. Burton's recent output (espcially Alice in Wonderland) has been rather by-the-numbers and lifeless. 'Becca'lise even wrote a post lamenting this unfortunate turn in his career.

Well today the first trailer for the animated Frankenweenie "dropped", and while it might still be too early to celebrate, there do appear to be sparks of life!

Action!

In beginning filmmaking and screenwriting classes, "dialogue" is a dirty word. This is a very smart idea. You force the students to think visually. Rather than explaining everything with tedious exposition, they must find a way to tell their stories with images and through action. "Pure Cinema" as they like to say.

Following this line of logic, it would stand to reason that Action Films would be one of the more exalted genres out there. During a big set-piece, minutes can fly by with nary a line uttered. You are left with only breathtaking images to keep you oriented. Yet sadly, Action is often considered to be a "low" or "base" genre with little to no redeeming value.

To this I say: Their loss, our gain. We didn't need their snobby asses cluttering up our theaters anyway!

Whitty

I don't know if you've caught on or not, but this is a pretty personal blog. We aren't a news site so we get to have a biases and we get to play favorites. One such favorite is filmmaker Whit Stillman. In the 90s Stillman banged out an amazing trio of films (Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco) before going unexpectedly MIA in the last decade. Fortunately this industry imposed exile has ended, and it will be only a few months before the Urban Haute Bourgeoisie are once again gracing movie screens. Mark your calendars for April 6th! In the meantime, enjoy this trailer:

Waiting For The End Of The World

What would you do if the world was set to end in a matter of hours, days or weeks? How would you act? What would become important? What would cease to be important? Regardless of  what does or does not happen on December 21st, questions like these are going to be on people's minds this year. We already got to see Lars Von Trier's take on things with last year's Melancholia, now we have the chance to see a slightly lighter (?) take on things with Lorene Scafaria's Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

Expect a lot of theaters to be screening this film come November/December, along with Last Night, Miracle Mile and the aforementioned Melancholia. Let me also go on the record as predicting that R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" will top the UK charts for Christmas. If I'm right you all owe me $1,000,000. I mean it's not like you're gonna have any use for that money after we're killed by a solar flare or whatever right?

How BAD do you want it?

If you weren't already aware, we here at Cinema Nerds love cinema in all of its' various forms. One of our favorite forms is CAMP. The more over-the-top the better. And you can't get much more over-the-top than the Paul Verhoeven/Joe Eszterhas magnum-opus Showgirls...or can you?

Rena Riffel (Penny/Hope from the original Showgirls) has taken it upon herself to write and direct a sequel, Showgirls 2: Penny's From Heaven! Check out the full trailer!

If any of this seems up your alley, may we suggest attending the film's RED CARPET WORLD PREMIERE Wednesday November 9th at the Art Theatre in Long Beach!

Chicken With Plums

For years, media commentators have been declaring/predicting the death of cinematic comic book adaptations. They simply point to this or that superhero film that has bombed at the box office and declare the matter settled. And what do they say 3 months later when a comic book adaptation comes along and sets records? 

Well obviously that was just a fluke. A death spasm if you will.

But when you really think about it, the industry suddenly ceasing to adapt any and all graphic novels would be akin to them suddenly deciding to stop adapting films from novels. 

Oh man The Last Song bombed at the box office! No more adaptations of novels! Only original screenplays from now on!...until one of those flops.

Regardless of source material, every film is a roll of the dice or flip of a coin. The odds are 50/50. Some films will be amazing. Some will be shit.

But our research shows that audiences age 18-24 are sick and tired of Seth Rogen!

Anyway...

The real reason I'm writing this is to show you that the graphic novel is still fertile material for cinema. Don't believe me? Just check out this amazing French trailer (sorry no subtitles) for the live action debut of the team that made Persepolis!

Drive

Though the beautiful and meditative The Tree of Life walked away with the Palm d'or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, it was Danish wunderkind Nicolas Winding Refen who sped off with Best Director. Check out the awesome trailer below for a hint at why:

The Grandmasters

When Wong Kar Wai makes a film, he really takes his time. Famously he doesn't use a script and develops the film day by day from a rough outline. And once shooting is complete, there is still the editing process. As difficult and wasteful as this process sounds, you cannot deny that it yields ASTOUNDING results:

It has been well over 5 years since Wong first announced that he was going to make a film about Yip Man. In the mean time actor Donnie Yen has starred in TWO films about the life of this martial arts master. Thought I may be biased, I have a feeling that The Grandmasters will be the film that goes down as the definitive biopic.

For Your Consideration

It's that time of year. No we're not talking about beaches and barbecues. We're talking about movie trailers!

With the fall/winter fast approaching, it is time for movie studios to begin debuting the trailers for what looks to be a pretty awesome end to 2011! 

So wallet permitting, this is what the remainder of 2011 looks like for a Cinema Nerd, in chronological order of release:

The Help (8/10)

Trailer Double Feature

The Movie Trailer Fairy has chosen to bless us today with the sneak peaks at two of this fall/winter's most eagerly awaited films!

First up we have War Horse, Steven Spielberg's first film since the abysmal Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. Judging purely by the trailer, this seems to be a vast improvement. Maybe even awards bait...

Next up we have the live-action debut of animation director Brad Bird. When it was first announced that the man behind The Incredibles was going to direct the new Mission: Impossible film, many mouths started watering. If the trailer is any indication of the finished product, that drool was justified.

Hopefully this fall/winter will deliver the goods that this summer seems (so far) to be lacking. *fingers crossed*

Brave

Didn't see Cars 2 (still haven't seen the original Cars for that matter). Thankfully the internet has made it so that I can see the new Pixar trailer without having to see the new Pixar film. Isn't it sad that we've come to this point? Well at least this teaser looks like something worth making the effort to see opening day...next year.

A Dangerous Method

David Cronenberg is easily one of the greatest working filmmakers we have. He is a filmmaker who is not afraid to look into the toilet bowl. Sure it's ugly, but if you never take a peak you might not know when something is wrong. And in the world of Cronenberg, there is always plenty wrong.

Check out the trailer for his new film A Dangerous Method about Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Jung (Michael Fassbender) and a very disturbed young woman (Keira Knightley). With its' period setting this could finally be the film that gets him some love from The Academy.

Moneyball

In 2005, Bennett Miller received a Best Director nomination for his film Capote. But as we all know, artistic success doesn't equal a fruitful career. Thus we find ourselves in 2011 finally getting a followup, appropriately titled - Moneyball. Hopefully if this one's a "box office home run" (gag, gag, barf), he won't have to wait as long between films. Fingers crossed.

TRIVIA BONUS: Steven Soderbergh was originally set to direct this film. Everything was ready to go when suddenly the plug was pulled, days before filming was set to start.

The Descendents

Sometimes it's easy to follow up a hit, Sometimes it's hard. There's a lot to live up to. Well it's been seven years since everyone was told to hate Merlot via the film Sideways and finally we're getting a new Alexander Payne film. It's a very tiny clip but Payne has yet to disappointed so why should this be any exception. It stars George Clooney and was co-written by the guy who plays the Dean on Community!