t r a i l e r s - h y p e

Hollywood has a way with hype during the holidays or big events. Whether it's releasing teasers during the Super Bowl or bombarding and repeating trailers everywhere during the July 4th. It seems that this winter holidays we are treated to next year's 'must see' sequels, prequels & adaptation blockbusters. From 'Prometheus' to 'The Dark Knight Rises'.

It seems that these 'event-trailers' are tied to films that don't belong to the same studios. As in, 20th Century Fox's 'Prometheus' with Sony Pictures' 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' & Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight Rises (trailer 1) is the opening act to Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Even the 6-8 minute prologue is screened before the IMAX version of Mission: Impossible. Which is reasonable, seeing how 'Mission' is the only film to open in the IMAX format this month and The Dark Knight Rises has portions of the film shot in the same format.

Non-Spoiler-
The 6 to 8 minute prologue which gives us a taste of The Dark Knight Rises, includes a scene that I think belongs somewhere in the first 20 minutes of the film. Afterwards it just gives us brief glimpses of thrilling scenes from the film, some not in trailer no.1. Where the montage of clips failed for the prologue actually succeeded in the actual trailer. In trailer no. 1, the clips are voiced over with Ann Hathaway's Selina Kyle confronting Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) of what's to come to the 1% (there seems to be heavy references to Occupy Wall Street.)

This comes in the style of most Christopher Nolan films, where dialogue is placed over a dramatic montage. A device he uses at the end of 'The Dark Knight', 'The Prestige', 'Memento', etc. Unfortunately, trailer no. 1 falls into the traps of big Hollywood action/comic book movie trailers. Apparently, it's protocol for these genre trailers to include an epic CGI effects laden scene. Where footballer Hines Ward runs through the field not realizing his playmates tumble into a massive crater that is formed in a series of explosions.



The trailer for Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' will open before his co-production with Steven Spielberg of 'The Adventures of TinTin'. The trailer seems to be a warm reminder of what 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy looked like and how the next two movies in the world of Tolkien's Hobbits will be. Returning are Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm & Ian McKellen.

This trailer works because it is familiar with it's fan base and it doesn't exclude newcomers to the world of the One Ring mythology because this is the prequel to 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. The trailer starts with Ian Holm's Bilbo Baggins explaining to Frodo that he hasn't told him the full story of his adventures with Gandalf. Then the trailer proceeds to flashback to the young Bilbo Baggins this time played by Martin Freeman (The Office UK, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.) Gandalf introduces us to new characters that will join in their party, cut to a scene of the only human singing and the rest follows, then a montage of their journey (just like old times.)



Ridley Scott's highly anticipated return to science fiction since 'Blade Runner' with 'Prometheus' has been cleverly teased throughout this past week, with daily countdown teasers and twitter tweets of images from the film. Although the film has not debuted online yet (it is said to go online today), it has already screened in front of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' since December 20th. I'm planning to catch the film tonight, so I will be posting an update on my review of the trailer.


Courtesy of Coming Soon.net


Other trailers that have all the hype following them are 'Clash of the Titans' sequel 'Wrath of the Titans' , Adam Shankman's film adaptation of Broadway hit 'Rock of Ages', Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones' return in Men in Black 3 & Dwanye 'The Rock' Johnson's turn in 'G.I. Joe - Retaliation'. These trailers don't offer anything special, they feature your typical spectacle of action, movie stars and over the top music. One thing is clear from all of this, next year promises to be bigger than the one before it. Hopefully, we won't feel bloated from all the camp.

UPDATE: 'Prometheus' Teaser

So having seen the teaser to Ridley Scott's widely speculated Prequel/Not Prequel of 'Alien', 'Prometheus' seems to be one exciting science fiction film of 2012. There is many evidence in the teaser the points to it being at the very most related to the Alien films. The trailer starts with the eponymous string of lines that as the teaser progresses forms the film's title, there are also clips of familiar set pieces such as the crescent shaped space craft, a field of jars (?) that resemble the field of Alien eggs and a scene of one of the crew attacked through their helmet and possibly burning from acid (?) Even the unmistakable Jerry Goldsmith score with it's various plucking of strings comes from the first Alien film.

So maybe the film won't directly link itself to the Alien series, but it certainly comes from that world. The teaser does an excellent job in "teasing" the audience, each clip is shown for now more than three seconds each. Even the premise as revealed in the title cards are compelling, "They went looking for our beginning, What they found could be our end."Almost reminiscent of the 1970s kitschy marketing with 'Alien' with the tagline, "In space, no one can hear you scream."

Best of Director Tsui Hark

So, I've been away from blogger world for a bit and now I've come back with some stuff to share.

I've recently made a short playlist of videos that culminates the best work of Hong Kong action film director Tsui Hark. Considered to be the Steven Spielberg of Hong Kong cinema, he brought action, comedy and dazzling visual effects to the films of the 1980s. He has produced and directed many staple Hong Kong films such as A Chinese Ghost Story, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Iron Monkey. He's produced for "Gun-Fu" Director John Woo (both of which famously had a falling out) and famed Action coordinator Yuen Woo-Ping.

His directing efforts has been few compared to other prolific Hong Kong filmmakers. He's best known for the Once Upon a Time in China series with Jet Li, based on an actual historical Chinese figure Wong Fei Hung (a physician/martial artist). They were made in a time where Hong Kong was still occupied by the British and national identity seemed to be at a crisis. Peking Opera Blues is a kind of Charlie's Angels set in early 20th century China, Twin Dragons was his first project with Jackie Chan and Seven Swords was Tsui Hark's 'Lord of the Rings' big adaptation.

The playlist was inspired by a recent Facebook posting by a friend who posted the trailer of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Tsui Hark's latest film starring Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs I, II & III), Tony Leung Kar-Fai (Election I & II) and Carina Lau (Days of Being Wild, 2046). I felt that Detective Dee was not Tsui Hark's strongest film, it had the well intention of being a period mystery thriller, but bad screenwriting, sloppy cinematography and underwhelming CGI made the film campy. The film will be released on September 2nd in select theaters around the nation.

So I put together a short list of films that I think best represents Tsui Hark's body of work.

Watch my playlist here:



Coming out at the end of the year is Tsui Hark's second attempt at the Dragon Inn story, working with Jet Li again but this time in 3D. Here is the teaser trailer of their latest effort.



Update (7/31):
Catch the chance to see one of Tsui Hark's early special effects heavy film, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain on the big screen at BAM in Brooklyn, NY on August 8th. The film stars Bridgette Lin (Ashes of Time), Yuen Biao (Once Upon a Time in China) and Sammo Hung (Project A).

for more info click here.

t r a i l e r s, p t. 7 [The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: G r e e n B a n d V.S. R e d B a n d ]

In the United States, Entertainment has been subject to careful censorship since the late 1920s. During the time of prohibition, rich conservative Christian groups banned alcohol because they thought it was the reason for society's depravity and crimes. People started looking at films and found that there were material cause enough to form a censorship group. The Motion Picture Commission, which oversaw all films before they were exhibited in theaters and cut out any material that didn't fit into Christian morality such as nudity, violent deaths, etc.

Today we have the Motion Picture Association of America. You might be familiar with their name from those green place cards in front of every trailer that is shown. They're simple notification for the audience to let them know that what they're about to see is deemed 'appropriate' by the MPAA for anyone who watches them. Those trailers are called green band trailers.

trailers, pt. 5

The Artist

Starring Jean Dujardin, Missi Pyle, John Goodman and James Cromwell.

French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius is a man of tribute. His previous films with star Jean Dujardin "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" and "OSS 117: Lost in Rio" are tributes to the James Bond films of the 60s and 70s. With every aspect of the films created as they would have been at the time from script to cinematography.

Here we have their new film "The Artist" which opened to great fare at the 64th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. This time paying tribute to the films of the early 1930s, where sound was being introduced and genres such as musicals, gangsters and adventure were thriving. The film seems to be a great companion for Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain", where in that film it is also about a movie star who finds his true love in one of his fans.

Note: This film is produced by Warner Brothers, which also happens to produce most of those famous sound era musicals and gangster pics like "The Jazz Singer" (1927) and "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938)

The Art of Getting By

Starring Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts is quickly becoming one of my favorite young actresses. She is pretty and she has a face of a girl who can't be fooled easily. Her project selection as of late has been very smart, after her big introduction into Hollywood with failed franchise starter "Nancy Drew" she quickly saved herself with hip independent fares such as "Lymelife", "Twelve" and last years "It's Kind of a Funny Story". She also starred in this year's famous horror franchise "Scream 4" for Wes Craven. Although the film tanked, her role in the film shows that she has range to play different parts.

CUFF '11 Week

So the short films that I worked on for Columbia University thesis have premiered over the past three nights. I have to say, I'm proud of all the work and I'm glad that I got to be a part of this amazing group of talents. Thursday evening at IFC Center will be showing the last batch of shorts that were made in the past year. I will be there and I hope to see some readers there as well. Tickets are still available at the box office or online and if you get a ticket, there is an offer of Buy 1 Get 1 free drink when you present your ticket stub at 'the Dove Parlour' on Thompson Street between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets. Meet the filmmakers and enjoy excellent entertainment!

CUFF 2011 Official Trailer from CUFF 2011 on Vimeo.

Films to watch, pt. 2

One film that I have the most anticipation for is Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff. Starring Michelle Williams, Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. Reichardt's previous film Wendy & Lucy, also starred Ms. Williams and that was one of the best independent film I've seen in the past few years. Very meditative and natural in terms of performances, editing and camerawork. I cannot wait to see how the director and actors handle a period piece, and it seems interesting to me that the filmmakers decide to choose the 4-by-3 format to compose their frames. I want to see the reason behind that decision.

Upcoming documentary on fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, titled Bill Cunningham New York

I'm always interested in discovering famous photographers, I love Henri-Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank and William Eggleston, and I discover them through museum trips and trips to the photography section at the Strand Bookstore. Rarely would I chance upon a documentary about them and from what I've seen of the trailer, Mr. Cunningham looks like an exciting figure.

I have a love/hate relationship with Gus Van Sant's films. They're photographed beautifully and the acting and direction is minimal. My problem is that sometimes his films can be a little boring, they meditate too long on its characters or the thought doesn't come through clearly. Examples can be found of Elephant, Gerry and Paranoid Park. Don't get me wrong, I love those films, but they're just a tad bit too long for my tastes. Van Sant is an interesting director in that he studies characters and styles, and he gives off an obsessive quality to his work which makes me respect him.

Restless appears to be a small attempt by the director to make a quirky independent film, like that of Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. This film could've easily been picked up by Fox Searchlight, famous for turning aforementioned indie films into Award winners and Box Office champions. But Sony Pictures got to it first and hopefully they can turn out a smart marketing plan just as Searchlight would.