I’m really behind in sharing trailers that have intrigued me lately. Or, to put it more accurately, to share trailers for films that have been intriguing me as I’ve been waiting for the release of their trailers. Here are a few, just in case there are those out there actually getting their trailer fixes from me.
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Gangster Squad
The cast is outstanding, but I’m a little underwhelmed by the trailer. I was hoping that once the premier trailer hit I would be super-excited for this one. So far, I’m in more because of my hopes for the cast, and because I know how terrible trailers can be at times.
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The Campaign
Again, the trailer isn’t quite as good as I was expecting. Still, let’s be honest… I’m going to see this movie.
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Killer Joe
It could be one of those films that’s so obsessed with being edgy, troubling, and violent that it forgets to tell a compelling story, or be otherwise interesting. Or, it could be like Drive, in that I can’t help but love it in spite of the troubling violence. History seems to be in favor of the former, but only time will tell.
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The Possession
Scary, ‘kid possessed by a demon’ movie. Normally, these films are uninspired drivel, but the inclusion of Sam Raimi gives me reason to hope it will be a smarter, better crafted addition to the sub-genre.
The new Michel Gondry movies looks like the opposite of most Michel Gondry movies, departing from the heady fever dreams for stark realism. One afternoon/evening on a public bus with a bunch of kids on the last day of school.
I think the Oscars are stupid. There, I wrote it down for all the world to see.
I’ve hidden this fact for a long time, but over the last few months I’ve decided to be a little more vocal about it. The list of reasons why I believe the Oscars are remarkably overrated, especially in terms of actually pointing out what films and filmmakers carry historic significance that will outlive the present, is quite long. Among the most compelling of these reasons is that Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar for Best Director, and only one of his films won Best Picture. That film is Rebecca. More on that in a moment, but seriously, try to come up with directors who had a greater impact on film history and film-craft in their careers than Hitchcock did. Yet, he never won Best Director, and he only won Best Picture once.
He is still emulated, if you can even call it emulation. Most just call it ‘Directing.’ Hitchcock pioneered so many methods of filming to increase emotional investment in a film. He was a master at imagining and improving on ways to use the camera to heighten dramatic tension, fear, empathy, and to tell a story visually. Now, most of his methods are taken for granted. Borrowing from Hitchcock isn’t even thought of as borrowing from Hitchcock, it’s just referred to as ‘making a movie.’ Saying he is one of the most important directors of all time isn’t an opinion, it’s just fact. You can have the opinion that you don’t like his movies, but you can’t say he wasn’t important, because 99 out of 100 filmmakers you do like would say they draw from Hitchcock, and the other one would do it without realizing it.
He made films for over 50 years! He is responsible for some of the most beloved and influential films in history. Yet, if you were going to use the Oscars as a gauge, you would think he was a flash in the pan who made one great movie in 1940. Forget the fact that he didn’t even peak until the 1950’s. He hadn’t even begun to peak. And when he did, all of Philadelphia felt it. (Sorry, I had an It’s Always Sunny moment).
Here is just a small smattering of Hitchcock films that didn’t win either award.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Notorious (1946), Rope (1948), Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963).
Also, Vertigo lost to Gigi. Case closed. I’ve never seen Gigi, and I’m sure it’s a lovely film…. but better than Vertigo?!? Are you fucking joking? How often do you see Gigi on any director, critic or film scholar’s top ten list of greatest and most important films of all time? Vertigo is on a staggering percentage of them. This includes the list of some nobody named Roger Ebert. What does he know about film history, right? Probably nothing.
This happens a lot, where you look back to see if some of the most important movies ever won Best Picture or Director, only to discover they lost to something no one even remembers. Anyway, Oscar rant over. Up with Hitchcock!!
So, Rebecca.
It’s the story of a young woman who falls in love and marries an enigmatic widower, moves into his famous England estate, Manderley, and discovers that the shadow of his late wife may be too overwhelming for her to bear.
The story opens strong, with a long, eerie single cut dream sequence. We enter through a gate and into the woods, through an overgrown driveway, settling onto the moonlit shell of a massive mansion. All the while, a narrator provides voice-over, beginning with the iconic opening line of the novel on which the film is based: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Once we got through that part, it took a downward turn for me because I thought the emotional cues seemed a little off. However, once it gets rolling, and the unexpected noirish mystery and intrigue starts unfolding, it gets much more interesting and entertaining.
Even in the moments I didn’t care for early on, it was still worth seeing the visual flairs of Hitchcock. Then, once the story grew more engaging, it was Hitchcock in all his glory. Approaching a door through the eyes of our protagonist, seeing what she sees as she hesitantly moves forward, seeing her hand as our hand as it reaches up and slowly opens the door. Or, the ghostly appearance of the late Lady De Winter’s bedroom. Just two of the visual delights the film offers. I can’t really offer more without spoiling plot points, which is something I don’t like doing.
I read an article with Kevin Feige recently, where he said that people in the film industry said he should come work for another studio. He’d had a good run with comic movies, they said. Yet, they were at the tail end, he was told, it couldn’t last forever. He knew they had no idea what they were saying, as is usually the case with people in the film industry. With this year’s Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man, it’s only getting bigger, and better.
Here’s today’s brand new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man.
Finally, finally, finally! This trailer has been a long time coming. Lots of buzz about this film since Sundance in January.
Keith Simanton actually wrote that he thinks some will “cite it as an influential, if not THE influential film for them, the one that flipped the switch.” I desperately want to see this movie. I hope it comes out in Seattle as part of its limited release.
For those, like Vulture, who seem confused that Catwoman seems to be at least partly on Batman’s side, that’s completely normal. That’s the way its been in comics for some time. Catwoman is still a thief, but there is an alliance of sorts between her and Batman much of the time. Nolan isn’t breaking any ground here, or pulling anything out of his ass. That much, at least, is canonical.
Sukiyaki Western Django is the marriage of two of my favorite things, samurai films and westerns. Well, I suppose I love good westerns, I’ve seen some pretty awesome ones, but I’ve also seen some really terrible ones. Anyway, the two have always been close cousins from different continents, with the most iconic spaghetti westerns: The Dollar Trilogy, featuring The Man with No Name (whose giant poster sits watching over my right shoulder as I write this), based on the most iconic samurai film, Yojimbo (whose smaller image also looks over my right shoulder as I write this).
Well, in a twist that would make George Michael Bluth swoon, Takashi Miike brought the cousin genres together, merging them into one entity. Conventional wisdom says that the spawn of two cousins is a really bad idea, but in this case it was a great idea.
Weird scenes featuring Quentin Tarantino aside, this movie was a frenetic, weird, quickly paced joy-ride. Beautifully shot, the film is full of a colorful and engaging marriage of popular samurai and western imagery.
I mean, seriously, I think I might redo my entire house to mirror the decor of the small western samurai town in the movie. If you see me tomorrow walking around wearing a samurai sword and a six-shooter, don’t be surprised.
The primary narrative for the story is set against the backdrop of a faux mix of The War of the Roses (just like Game of Thrones) and the “the historical rivalry between the Genji and Heike clans.” Like Tarantino’s own films, this film has no desire to hide the huge mash-up of homages and influences that make up the whole. This means critics either love it or hate it. I love it. I love watching homages to my favorite scenes unfold, seeing the way Miike crafted scenes mirroring his favorite moments from films like Django, Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dollars, Pale Rider, Shane and especially Yojimbo, lots of Yojimbo, all the way down to the duel between one guy with a gun while another only has a samurai sword. Sheesh, just writing that sentence makes me want to watch every one of those movies again. Except Django, I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Django.
The only downside (aside from the ill-advised Tarantino-as-actor scenes) was that the actors all spoke english, with affected ‘western’ accents. The result was that much of the time I didn’t understand what they were saying, but this was easily solved by throwing on the sub-titles, which I’d expected to do before realizing the dialogue was in english anyway.
As far as Eastern Westerns from the last few years go, it wasn’t as unique, beautiful, and awe-inspiring as Jee-woon Kim’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird, but it was still a really fun way to spend two hours.
And, in other Django related news. I was pretty fricking excited last week when my friend Josué sent me the link to the first images, via Entertainment Weekly, from Tarantino’s Django Unchained. So many exciting movies coming later this year!
