“The Tree Of Life” Trailer Is Preeettyy!

There were so many images I could have used for this post’s header photo, but I went with the comparatively boring title card.

I’m not really sure what The Tree of Life, from director Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) is all about, but I do know that this is one of the most beautiful trailers I’ve seen–well, ever. Please watch it. Even if you have no interest in the film, just watch the trailer.

Luckily, Fox Searchlight provided this plot synopsis:

From Terrence Malick, the acclaimed director of such classic films as Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950’s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

There you have it, I suppose. The Tree of Life hits theaters May 27th, 2011.

“Hanna”: Girl Assassin!

Oh, Joe Wright. You directed the Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, and The Soloist, and if Hanna were included in that set as part of a “which one doesn’t belong” quiz, the latter would definitely be the odd one out. The movie tells the story of, well, Hanna (Saoirse Ronan), a young girl trained to become an assassin by her father (Eric Bana). When agents are dispatched out to the snowy woodland area to find the dad, they come across Hanna, chase her across Europe, and (this is just a wild guess) she kills them all. (A scene where she kills the female agent is especially stomach-churning.)

The only flaw in the trailer? The wording they use on their title cards (“There was a very special girl”? Really?, and the main title is way too in-your-face. Gotta love that blood-red Focus Features card, however.

 

 

“Limitless” Trailer: Wait, Bradley Cooper Knows Drugs Are Bad, Right?…Uh-oh.

You’ve often heard the adage, “We only use 10% of our brain.” Well, then Bradley Cooper is definitely more different than the rest of us. In Limitless, he learns that he can use all 100% of his brain without his head exploding somehow.

The question is, how does he discover this awesome power? Why drugs, of course! You see, he’s a writer (and he honestly really looks it, too), but he’s running out of ideas for his book. So his buddy hands him a small pill that holds the key to UNLOCKING HIS ENTIRE MIND!!

The lighting changes from dull grays to bright, shiny golds once he’s on the stuff, and there’s one simple reason: Now that he has a new (addictive) outlook on the world, he’s livin’ the high life. His book is finished. He’s great at math, which makes him really rich. In one scene, we pan up to the top of a building, where Bradley Cooper is standing on the ledge, looking down on the city below, and in movies, that can only mean one thing: You possess Ultimate Power™.

Oh, and then there’s something about hit men trying to kill him and Robert De Niro. But who cares? When you’ve got Ultimate Power™, you don’t need to worry if you’re gonna die!

…because you can see fifty scenarios instead of just one.

Could Kanye West also have too much Ultimate Power™? In this music video for his song “Power”, featured in the trailer, all we see is him standing in front of…what is that? Anyway, he and Bradley Cooper could be best buddies someday.

“Real Steel” Is Basically CGI Rock’em Sock’em Robots

I am not kidding. It’s almost as if some DreamWorks studio head picked up a box of the plastic battling bots and said, “We NEED to make a movie out of this.”

What we get is Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman. See, we humans are picky about our sports. In the future, the time in which this film is set, we’ve become bored with our ordinary wrestling, so we’ve done away with the people and we’re bringing in giant robots. We’re that desperate. I guess the Transformers got tired of saving the world.

The description for this video explains it a bit more clearly, saying that the film is “a boxing drama set in the near-future where 2,000-pound robots that look like humans do battle”.

*looks up at screenshot*

*blinks*

That looks nothing like a human.

Also, “boxing drama”? Seriously? This looks more like an action-y popcorn flick.

If you’re the type of person who wants to see “steel get real”, check out Real Steel when it hits (get it? hits? like boxing?) theaters in October.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”: The Pirates are Back! (Kinda.)

Pandora queued up “Down Under” by Men at Work while I was starting this post. What a perfect song, especially in the sense of this film.

We’ve got a new director, two of the original cast members (Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom) are gone, but Disney’s ever-popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise sails on with their next installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and unlike the previous movies (especially the bizarre third chapter), this one might actually have a storyline! How do I know this? Also unlike the previous films’ trailers, this one tells us in the first few seconds. There’s hope for the franchise after all.

Rob Marshall takes the helm on this installment, and although it’s a fresh face and a new style, I think I’m going to miss previous director Gore Verbinski and his strange, Tim Burton-esque sea warriors (like Davy Jones) that were so famous in the last adventures.

Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane also star, with Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones as Captain Jack Sparrow’s father (who also appeared in PotC: At World’s End.) The movie, which will be in 3D, comes out on May 20th.

Epic Summer Movies Part 2: “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

Interested in a warrior with a giant hammer? (It’s better than that makes it sound.) Check out Part 1 of this mini-series.

If you’ve seen 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you know one thing:

It sucked. Now I know why Peter Travers hates Michael Bay.

So here’s a new trailer for the next adventure, Transformers: Dark Side…sorry. It’s actually called Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and I actually had to will myself to not type “side”.

The trailer gives us some back story, and, yes, we’re on the moon for almost the whole thing. It’s another crazy conspiracy theory, this time asking the question, “What if there was a Transformer hidden on the moon, and the US knew about it?” Well, then we’d know about the bot in the first movie, wouldn’t we? /Film’s Germain Lussier notes some continuity issues:

My problem is, if they found Transformers on Mars in the first movie, that obviously happened way after the Moon landing. So just from a space exploration perspective, it doesn’t make much sense for a Moon movie to be AFTER a Mars movie. That would lead us to believe the government had interaction with Transformers before Sam crossed paths with Optimus Prime in addition to the whole Megatron, Hoover Dam operation. Those guys acted like they’d never seen a Transformer alive before and this trailer seems to go against that.

Good point, Lussier. I’ll go over the trailer and some parts I think were important, and then leave you to watch.

There’s a scene where the NASA control team turns off the recording equipment connected to Apollo 11 so that Neil Armstrong can explore (and find the bot), which was interesting. Along with the idea of a Transformer on the moon, I like the whole “ha ha oops, we ‘lost our signal'” cover-up.

The scene where we enter the Transformer’s eye is kinda cliche, but at least it finishes the trailer off with a bang and gives us our title card.

I’ll admit it; I’m kinda excited. Not “first-in-line-at-the-midnight-showing” excited, but I’ll enjoy it if Michael Bay doesn’t colossally screw it up like he did with Transformers 2. Michael: Less of your trademark explosions, less stoned mom, less crude humor (you others don’t want to know), and it’s a hit!

Trailers for Epic Summer Movies: Part 1: “Thor”

Two trailers for two of next summer’s biggest movies debuted within a day of each other, so instead of my one usual post, I’m going to write up two separate posts so I can examine each trailer individually. First up: Marvel’s Thor.

Rain, lightning (not shown), and giant stone letters. It’s a trifecta of title card tremendousness.

Now, I’m not familiar with any of the comic book universes, so I don’t really know exactly what’s going on here, and I’m not too sure just what the hammer of Thor is all about–maybe a comic book aficionado could tell me? 🙂

Luckily, Paramount provides this synopsis for all us laypersons. (or is it laypeople?)

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, “Thor,” which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Works for me, I guess. The trailer makes it look better. Natalie Portman’s nice, and I like the idea of an ancient warrior being exiled to modern times by his father.

Enough babble. Watch the trailer for Thor, and keep an eye out for my next review of another epic summer movie.

Not A Review of the Teaser Trailer for “Arthur Christmas”

It’s a giant red flying saucer/Santa’s sleigh. ‘Nuff said.

I often wonder what goes through the minds of studio execs who release trailers for their movies a year or more before they actually hit theaters. What makes their movie so special that they have to tease us this early?

If you’re Sony Pictures, you know that almost all your films are this big, and require that the public be noticed right now! That’s probably why they released not one, not two, but three of these kinds of trailers.

This one, for Arthur Christmas, is probably the best-looking of the three. Not only does it not feature annoying music and a misleading intro, it actually features something humorous.

The movie tells the story of the title character, Santa’s son, who must deliver all the presents by Christmastime. The teaser doesn’t really tell us much; it’s basically a little elf trying to deny the fact that we’re even watching a trailer.

A nice touch: The film’s website, ArthurChristmas.com, continues the joke presented in the video (with a small variation: that you’re not on any website for any movie.)

Arthur Christmas comes out in, well, 2011. A year from now. (WHY SO EARLY?!)

 

 

“Jumping the Broom”: A Wedding Comedy

(I couldn’t think of anything else for the title.)

Jumping the Broom tells the story of Sabrina, who one day finally decides to get married in Martha’s Vineyard. Her family and the groom’s family converge for the wedding, and, being from different lifestyles (one family is uptight and the other family is laid-back), they’ll have to learn to love each other and celebrate their differences. The plot seems cheesy, but it looks okay.

If you watch Modern Family (and you probably should, it’s hilarious), you’ll recognize Julie Bowen as the white wedding planner. Jumping the Broom hits theaters on Mother’s Day.