“Jumping The Broom”: A Second Trailer Promises A DECENT Romantic Comedy?!

Judging by this trailer, it appears that Jumping the Broom appears to be an actually decent rom-com, and in comparison to another romantic comedy called Something Borrowed, it could be the funniest romantic film ever. Something Borrowed is about a cliche love triangle, which means that Kate Hudson stars. Of course.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Jumping the Broom is about a woman who falls in love with a man (in, albeit, an awkward  meet cute) and their families converge in Martha’s Vineyard for the wedding. The Watsons are high-society and very rich, and the Taylors are down-home.

Contrived as it sounds, the trailer actually made me chuckle. The scene in which a woman speaks French provides an (unintentional?) non sequitur, and Loretta Devine’s facial expression when the same woman says she is “looking for Barack and Michelle” after seeing where the wedding takes place never fails to make me laugh. And, of course, JULIE BOWEN! From “Modern Family“!

See what I’m saying? Decent rom-com!

Jumping the Broom hits theaters on May 6th…the same weekend as… *sigh* Something Borrowed. Great timing, Sony. Nice one.

 

“The Hangover Part II” Teaser Sends You A Reminderrrr

If 2009’s The Hangover didn’t satisfy your craving for drunken “What the hell happened?” debauchery, get ready for The Hangover: Part II, the teaser trailer for which will definitely whet your appetite. This time, the craziness comes to Thailand.

“Thor” Pits a Norse Mythological Superhero Against A GIANT ROBOT

Here’s a second trailer for Thor, Paramount’s upcoming superhero(?) fantasy movie. Now, as I’ve said before, I’m not a comic book guy, but this trailer–combined with the first one–gives me a good idea as to what the story’s about. From what the trailers show, Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) is a Norse warrior. He’s strong, but also pretty arrogant–I think he thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips. Unfortunately, he’s, as my eighth grade algebra teacher once said, just the bag of chips. As it turns out, however, this bag of chips might just save the human race.

Anyway, Thor disses his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), so he gets pretty pissed and he sends Thor to Earth to live amongst us mortals. Odin’s not the type to forgive so easily, so he does what any miffed Norse god would do: send a giant metal robot/walking incinerator, aptly named “Destroyer”, down to Earth to kill us all, and let’s hope Thor can fight him off with his giant hammer.

I put a question mark after “superhero” earlier because, even from this trailer, Thor doesn’t seem like the superhero type. Sure, he has the humongous metal hammer, but what can he use it for other than to bludgeon things to death? Good luck using that on Destroyer, Thor. The only other superpower he really exhibits is the ability to eat a box of Pop-Tarts and not get incredibly sick and still be hungry.

Thor hits theaters on May 6th, in 3D. Watch out for the hammer.

“Insidious”: A Haunted Kid Horror Flick That Seems Different From the Rest

Dictionary.com defines insidious as “intended to trap or beguile: an insidious plan”, but the trailer for Insidious, from the maker of Paranormal Activity and the writing-directing team of Saw, doesn’t do that much explaining. “Insidious is insidious”, it says, which is understandable one moment and makes no sense the next.

The movie tells the story of a family who moves to find that evil demons have taken over their home. Their son has fallen into a coma, so it can’t possibly be him, right?! They move again only to discover that, yes, the creepiness is a result of their haunted son. I know what you’re thinking, “Arrrgh! This is just like The Haunting in Connecticut!” but I’m here to prove you wrong. Maybe it’s the fact that the movie is relatively indie (it’s distributed by a company called FilmDistrict) or that, according to one YouTuber’s comment stating that the film received rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival, but this horror film seems a bit different–dare I say less formulaic and better-looking–than the rest.

The bad news? Insidious happens to have the unfortunate release date of April 1st. This better not be a joke.

 

Valentine’s Day: Viral Video Film School

Happy Valentine’s Day! Instead of posting a movie trailer, here’s a video tribute to V-Day from the geniuses at Current TV‘s infoMania. In the Age of YouTube, sure, you can send a paper card, but why not send your Valentine a cheesy video set to Patsy Cline, or a long self-indulgent video about your love? infoMania’s Brett Erlich explains more in “Viral Video Film School”.

“Hop” Trailer: You’ll Never Think of Jelly Beans The Same Way Again

There are so many things wrong with this trailer for Hop that I don’t know where to start. The movie is another of those CGi-live action kid’s movies being inflicted on us–and it’s from the studio that made Despicable Me, one of the few (if any) great non-Pixar CGI films. What happened?

If you’re wondering, the bunny in the picture is the Easter Bunny’s teenage son, E.B. (Because initials are hip and cool, totally rad, yo! *end sarcasm*) He’s voiced by Russell Brand.  Ring any bells? Get Him to the Greek? Yep. That Russell Brand. Glad we’ve got that out of the way.

Hop tells the story of E.B., who doesn’t want to become the Easter Bunny. Instead, he wants to play drums in a rock ‘n’ roll band. So he travels to Hollywood and almost gets hit by a car (driven by James Marsden) and feigns injury. Marsden has no choice but to take him in and care for him until he “gets better”.

…and that’s really all this trailer, which is narrated by your grandpa, tells us. The rest is just a compilation of clips from the movie: We learn that E.B. poops jelly beans, Marsden is in love with the girl from Big Bang Theory, and that the bunny auditions for a talent show judged by David Hasselhoff. The love thing I can excuse, because that’s something that can happen in real life, but the other two…whyyy?!

Crapping jelly beans…eww, but it serves for even more disgusting jokes that I’ll leave you to see. The Hoff seems to be in the movie only for the purpose of inevitable “Look, it’s David Hasselhoff!” gags.

One last point: the movie’s web address is IWantCandy.com. Guess which sucky ’60s rock song this trailer uses?!

 

 

 

 

“Madea’s Big Happy Family” Trailer is The First (and Hopefully Last) Karaoke Movie Trailer

Remember those follow-the-bouncing-ball sing-along songs that kids’ movies used to have? They’re back in the trailer for Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family. (Tyler, you can attach your name to any of your other movies; but don’t do it with a title that already has an apostrophe. The double possessive gets really annoying.)

This trailer is just a teaser for the film, so the karaoke is really all we get–but the lyrics might suggest a new idea for the government. Just look at the words to the song.

“People had enough,
Low pay, high rents
Kids actin’ like they
Just ain’t got no sense
That’s why there’s Madea!”

“Wherever you go,
Stupid got there first
Turn on the news
Just makes it worse
That’s why there’s Madeaaa!”

Wait, so Madea (played by Tyler Perry in drag) can whip our kids into shape (literally) AND fix our world economy? President Obama, why haven’t you tapped THIS woman for your Cabinet?!

Government decisions aside, this has to be the weirdest or the most creative teaser trailer ever. Once you’re done watching, you can buy the song “M.A. to the D.E.A” on iTunes! (I’m not kidding.)

Madea “comes for you this Easter”. RUN.

 

My Favorite Superbowl XLV Commercials

Yesh, yesh, I know it’s technically not about movies…but who doesn’t love Super Bowl commercials? Here are my favorites this year and the reasons I liked ’em.

NFL — “Best. Fans. Ever.”
Why I liked it: Although everyone featured is on some sort of TV show or sitcom, it’s nice to know that fictional people watch the Super Bowl too. (Even if the NFL changed the clips.)

Cellular South — “Samsung Galaxy S”
Why I liked it: We finally get to see what happens when someone hijacks the Super Bowl–with an adorable sneezing bear!

Doritos — “Pug Attack” (Part of their Crash the Super Bowl ad campaign, in which regular folks submitted advertisements in hopes of getting onto the game.)
Why I liked it: ‘Cause it was filmed in my hometown! (Also, dog pwns man.)

Bud Light — “Hack Job”
Why I liked it: “The landscapers are here!”

Audi — “Release the Hounds”
Why I liked it: The whole idea of a luxury prison is so creative. I’m sure we’d have a lot more criminals in the slammer if those things existed.

Kia — “One Epic Ride”
Why I liked it: The title says it all. This is the car commercial to end all car commercials.

Pepsi MAX — “Love Hurts”
Why I liked it: This commercial, again created by ordinary folk for the Crash the Super Bowl campaign, is pretty much the perfect Super Bowl ad. Why? It gives us information about the product while still making us laugh, and while I usually don’t enjoy physical comedy, I laughed out loud when this came on. Props to whoever was involved in the making of this commercial.

CarMax — “Gas Station”
Why I liked it: Gas jockeys? Milkmen? One thing is clear: you’re stuck in a ’60’s gas station. (Creative ad.)

Paramount Pictures — Captain America: The First Avenger
Why I liked it: The retro feel combined with a superhero movie? Count me in.

CarMax — “Kid in a Candy Store”
Why I liked it: I feel like a guy who really likes this commercial. (…and the circle of  “I feel like a ____ in a ____” continues. Another creative ad.)

Groupon — “Tibet”
Why I liked it: This commercial caused a bit of controversy here in America by using the old bait-and-switch–it’s clearly an ad for a Tibetan relief fund…or is it? I think it’s actually pretty funny. Lighten up, guys.

Pepsi MAX — “First Date”
Why I liked it: Oh, the sharp contrast of thoughts going on in this first date! Another Crash the Super Bowl winner. Pepsi, I want you to have this contest again next year.

“The X Factor” on FOX
Why I liked it: Great teaser ad. It’ll be interesting to see the shift from London to the USA.

Chrysler — “Imported From Detroit”
Why I liked it: This ad is almost 2 minutes long. If you can sit through it, it’s pretty powerful.

Chevy Camaro — “Miss Evelyn”
Why I liked it: This commercial puts us right into the middle of the making of a Chevy Camaro commercial. Surprise ending WIN!

Motorola — “Empower the People”
Why I liked it: This ad puts a modern 2011 spin on that Apple “1984” ad.

Doritos — “House Sitting”
Why I liked it: Doritos have the power…TO BRING BACK THE DEAD!!! Another Crash the Super Bowl winner.

Chevy Silverado — “Tommy”
Why I liked it: No, it’s not that song by The Who. It’s yet another modern version of everyone’s favorite life-saving pet, Lassie.

Snickers — “Logging”
Why I liked it: Because Roseanne Barr deserves what she gets. Mwuhahahaha!

Volkswagen — “The Force”
Why I liked it: 6-year-old Darth Vader. ‘Nuff said.

Chevy — “Al’s Chevrolet”
Why I liked it: A local car dealership ad quickly turns into a battle between Transformers and us puny humans. Didn’t expect the ending.

Paramount Pictures — Super 8
Why I liked it: The spot for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming film feels very Spielberg-ish–probably because he’s a producer on the movie. Brings back memories of E.T., don’t it?

Sony Pictures — Battle: Los Angeles
Why I liked it: The trailer for the upcoming alien invasion film, condensed into a 30-second bite-size portion. Yum!

Paramount Pictures — Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Why I liked it: Yesss! Michael Bay is awesome again! Please, please, Michael, don’t screw this up like you did Transformers 2. (There’s no Meagan Fox this time–that makes it 50 times better already.)

The “Win Win” Trailer Features My Alma Mater (Kind Of)

The only bad thing about the trailer for Win Win is that it seems like another one of those indie movies about how it’s hard to be part of a family. The movie stars Paul Giamatti as Mike Flaherty, an attorney whose practice is going down the drain, but he also has another job as a wrestling coach–and that’s where the indieness starts.

Driving home, he sees a teenager sitting on his grandfather’s doorstep. Turns out  that the kid’s mom has left, and his grandpa is all he has. Mike knows he has to help out–both with the family problems and to fine-tune his wrestling skills.

After all, it’s what any lonely character written into a charming, sweet independent drama film –uh, I mean Good Samaritan, would do.