Movie Trailer Review, Episode 18
I went and saw Southland Tales, don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. Do.not.see.Southland.Tales. Aaron will want a rebuttal, and I welcome that however Aaron has never been more wrong about anything. Ever. Do not believe Aaron if he says the movie was good. Anyway, onward with the trailers.
Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
This is the highly anticipated feature from Tim Burton. The trailer has lots of blacks gothic style and Johnny Depp. It’s based on a 19th century legend of a man who is banished from the city only to return as a barber… with vengeance! Oh, did I mention it’s a musical? Cuz it totally is! The trailer for the film doesn’t really highlight that until about half way though…. and then it get’s pretty awkward. All in all I thought the trailer was pretty bad, mostly because the musical aspect seemed really out of place. Based on this trailer I probably will not see this film.
Persepolis
This is an animated film based on a graphic novel of the same name. It is about a young girl in Iran in the late ’70s early ’80s during the Islamic revolution. I have read the graphic novel and it’s fantastic, I fully expect the movie to be as good/better. The trailer for the film is great too, it get’s the plot across with a lot of interesting topics and some humor. Did I mention that the film is in Persian? Cuz it totally is! And it’s also won a bunch of award blah blah blah, I can’t wait to see this.
Blade Runner
Yeah, that’s right, Blade Runner, wanna fight about it? The revolutionary 1982 Ridley Scott film is being re-released as a directors cut with so many minutes of new footage and a shiney new boxed set.
Juno
I would have paid $8.50 just to see this trailer. The film is about a young girl who get’s knocked up and then puts the kid up for adoption. It was written and directed by Jason Reitman who directed the 2005 sleeper Thank You for Smoking. My two favorite things about the film are Michael Cera as the guy that knocks the girl up and Jason Bateman as the prospective adoptive father. J.K. Simmons and Rainn Wilson also have supporting rolls in the film. This is one of the best trailers I have seen this year and I can’t wait to see more.
-Josh
Posted on November 17th, 2007 by schalicto
Filed under: Movie Trailer Reviews
Warning: Aaron’s rebuttal lies beyond the end of this statement.
Southland Tales was a very confusing movie about the end days. This movie is especially confusing if you view it as a single story. It’s not a single story, it is three stories that are linked to three other stories that where released in a graphic novel weeks before the film released. Every character has a plot line, a sub plot, and a whimsical speech of some sort about something. Minor characters are turned into major characters and major characters are dropped to the background to support them. Surprisingly with the number of comedians in this film it isn’t that funny. The acting is weak and without direction. When it is all over you’re not quite sure what just happened. So, why did I like it?
I enjoyed letting Richard Kelly show me how his world ends. This movie is his rendition of the book of Revelations. I have seen countless doomsday films where it is all averted in the end by our hero. This film is different you are thrown into a strange and chaotic world spinning out of control into self-destruction and there really isn’t anything that can be done but find out how it all happens. Our hero doesn’t save the day, he wants to but can’t. He accepts this and then the world ends. When it ends you sit back and wonder what just happened. That is the way Richard Kelly’s world ends and I thank him for showing it.
I am not put off by the fact it was confusing. I have seen confusing films before and will likely see others again in the future.
It’s the terrible script, awful acting, and unfocused direction of the film that bothered me the most.
Richard Kelly seems to think that he is John Carpenter, David Lynch and Kevin Smith while the truth is that he is none of them, he is only Richard Kelly, director of Donny Darko.
He should have gotten a few more films under his belt before he tried to tackle this one.
Perhaps he bit off more than he could chew with this film. I still enjoyed watching the story unfold before me. SO what if he wants to be John Carpenter, David Lynch and Kevin Smith all at once. That is the style he is trying to carve out for himself. I would consider this film to be his first real failure. I also enjoyed 1941 and that was Speilburgs first failure.