TRAILERS: 4 New or Notable Glimpses of Upcoming Movies
I love movie trailers. Some people think they’re annoying, or misleading, but I actively seek them out online – often watching ten or more in a sitting. Why? I find they’re a great way to get an insight into the movies set for release in the coming months. Often, trailers are cut in a way that gives away all the best stuff, but sometimes you come across a real gem that gets you super excited for the film. Today on Professionally Incoherent, I’m bringing you a roundup of a few of the notable trailers available online this week – as well as my thoughts on why the associated movies might be worth checking out, or avoiding altogether!
First off, a bit of a disclaimer: I find the majority of trailers I watch on the iTunes Trailers site. It might make me seem like an Apple fanboy, but I find that the iTunes site offers the best selection of both mainstream and independent trailers, and their video player rivals that of YouTube in terms of streaming quality. The embedded versions here are from YouTube, but I encourage you to check out the site, because there are lots of other great trailers posted there every week!
The first trailer I’m going to talk about is for the film The Future, a drama directed by Miranda July. This one is VERY confusing, at least on a first viewing. The film follows the story of a thirty-something couple who decide to adopt a cat. Simple, right? Nope! That decision apparently leads the couple to “change their perspective on life, literally altering the course of time and testing their faith in each other and themselves.” (I got that from the synopsis below the trailer).
-Check out the trailer here-
It's an independent film, which means the director had more creative control than a studio-backed picture. Usually that’s a good thing, but here we have a trailer that includes (among other things) a human personification of the Man in the Moon, partial narration by the cat (represented in tight shots by weirdly human puppet paws) and emotionally drained performances by the two leads. It all makes for a very surreal experience, so I’m guessing The Future won’t make it into wide release. The film seems freaky, but might still be worth checking out!
The next trailer is for The Trip, a theatrical version of a BBC TV show of the same name. I haven’t seen the show, but I’ve watched clips from it on YouTube, and it looks absolutely hilarious. The story follows fictionalized versions of the British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, who go on a road trip together to eat at a number of expensive British restaurants and review them for a magazine.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq-I_e_KXg]
While the two are friends, they like to spend most of their time irritating each other – to much comic effect. Much of the trailer is devoted to a recurring joke from the TV show: that both men are talented impressionists, and they love to duel over who’s better at imitating one person or another (Check out this clip of them comparing their impressions of Michael Caine. Brilliant). I hope this movie makes it into wide release in Canada – it looks fantastic. A must-see for fans of British comedy.
I posted about this next trailer on Facebook a while back, but I thought I’d bring it to wider attention here. It’s for The Big Bang, directed by Tony Krantz and starring Antonio Banderas as a gritty private investigator tasked with finding the missing girlfriend of a paroled Russian boxer. The plot also involves $30 million in diamonds, and an eccentric billionaire (played by Sam Elliott) with an underground desert lair. There’s also a number of references to black holes and particle physics (quirky but very cool).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwntbsRIYNs]
The trailer does a good job of setting everything up without giving it all away – I’m genuinely interested in seeing this, despite the seemingly incongruous story elements. It’s all done in a neo-noir style, but incorporates science fiction, which almost always grabs my attention. Once again, I’m hoping this makes it to wide release, but if not, it’s a definite DVD rental/download!
The trailer for the comedy/thriller The Scenesters popped up on the iTunes site a few days ago, and honestly, I have no idea of what to expect here. It follows a group of young-ish hipsters who all seem to work in industries related to crime-scene clean-up and documentation. The main characters are trying to film a documentary about a hipster type who works for a clean-up business.While cleaning, he has started finding clues to solving the murders in the eclectic indie music collections of the victims (who all happen to be hipsters, naturally).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A8HfD1b6tM]
The premise sounds intriguing and funny (if only because hipsters are being murdered and more hipsters are trying to solve the cases) but the trailer is cut in a way that makes it difficult to determine if the premise will be properly handled. I love laughing at hipster subculture, but much like hipsters’ tastes and quirks, this trailer is bit all over the place in how it tries to set up the story. I think we need to see at least one more trailer before I can be sure exactly what is going on here. At least I can claim that I knew about this movie before it was cool (Yes, I went there).
What do you think about these trailers? Excited to see the films? Have any others I should check out? Post even your most trivial thoughts in the comments below!