What’s With All the Lame Trailers? - Part II

Dream House – to be released Sept. 30

Christ how many times have we seen this movie? Haunted house, mistaken identity/lapsed personality; it’s the same old song, expect now with better actors and an acclaimed director.  Which is what I most take issue with.  After a string of modern classics (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, In America) Jim Sheridan has been seriously striking out.  His choice to helm Get Rich or Die Tryin’ still has me scratching my head and Brothers was a complete waste of time, despite some solid performances.  Here’s his take on The Madman Must Be Sane.

Haywire – to be released Jan. 20

Okay, this looks like a perfectly decent, clichéd action thriller with a great cast, but much like Contagion, the Haywire trailer reveals the presumed death of a main character.  Gwyneth Paltrow I can take, but offing Michael Fassbender in the trailer!?  What gives?  And just listen to that Lem Dobbs dialogue:

“Hmm, I don’t think so.”

“Is the divorce final?”

“I haven’t shut my eyes since you were born.”

To be fair, this is Steven Soderbergh, which means I’ll be in the theatre regardless.  And... Gina Carano does look pretty badass.

The Amazing Spider-Man – to be released July 3, 2012

Am I the only person who laughed their ass off when they first saw this?  Everything was going fine – the talented cast, the dark photography – until 1:43, when an extended POV sequence made my jaw drop in stunned humiliation.  This is aiming to be one of the biggest movies of 2012 but it looks like the filmmakers have completed their special effects using PowerPoint motion graphics. 

I’ll be the first to admit that the shot is unique, but the execution is laughable.  I’ve seen better graphics from most video game systems made today.  Hopefully, they’re doing what the original Spider-Man trailer did: shooting something specifically for the preview, and not including it in the final film.

Loyal readers were fired up about my initial post, in which I lambasted a slew of new trailers.  Many agreed with me, many thought I was being too harsh.  So in closing, I’d like to offer two superb trailers for two upcoming big budget movies.  The first makes me interested in a movie I could care less about; the second makes me count the days until Dec. 21.  The feel bad movie of Christmas?  See you there.