Here it is folks! From the great Teaser Trailer that got us curious with the first Moon landing tie in, to that crazy :30spot of Chicago being torn to shit. Today the Official Theatrical Trailer to Transformers: Dark of the Moon is online.
No one's PROM is like this. Seriously. Here I'll prove it.
My Prom was started off good; got the school to pay for the ticket of my date and I, was rocking a stone cold zoot suit, danced, she won Prom Queen, I didn't win Prom King (awkward). THEN on the way home I get locked in a gas station because some guy is arguing over ten cents and gupta behind the counter gets all freaked out, electronically locks the door and calls the cops. Finally I got out, jump the expressway and as I'm paying a toll the toll booth guy asks if I just got married. Why not right? So I told him yea and he let me go for free through the toll. Went home and went to bed.
SEE!!
When I see trailers like this that are released by Disney I often wonder if the execs get handed the script, look at it and say, "well its not great, but we have Cars 2 coming out this summer and we really need some extra cash cause we are remodeling the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. OH! also that Star Tours revamp wasn't cheap either. You know what greenlight it. Pixar will keep us on track". This is by far one of the laziest movies that Disney has put out. This looks like it would have faired better on the actual Disney channel as a made for TV movie.
PROM looks like a feel good movie and the time its being released is perfect because it is around the actual Prom season, so I'm sure a lot of suburban high schools can relate. I think the trailer tries to follow to many characters, the dialogue is a clear sign of that. Its very flat, obvious and uninventive. Also there is nothing new being done with this concept. I argue that the movie 10 Things I Hate About You which is based off of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew is a far better representation of the ritual of Prom, than, well the PROM TRAILER.
Disney also likes to live in this fantasy world that is oh so tiring. The hotties are still blond. The bad boys are the people with long hair, some scruff and wear leather jackets. The nerds have no confidence and are slightly big 'round the midsection and sweat profusely. And there also has to be this "Bring it on" tension between the white hottie and the black girl. ENOUGH!!!! This is 2011, why is there no sign of it in here?
SIDENOTE: Ok so half way through the trailer the white girl tells the black girl that they crown the Prom King and Queen at as certain time, so don't be late. Was that some racial profiling insinuating that black people are always late? Yea I knew you caught that. #CPT
The movie is directed by Joe Nussbaum, whose last movies were Sydney White and American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile. I haven't seen either of those movies for obvious reasons but Mr. Nussbaum is most famous for, in my book, directing the short George Lucas in Love. If you have not seen this short, you are not a true Star Wars fan. There is a wit and cleverness within this short that is amazing! However those same traits are absent from this trailer.
Now there was a show on ABC, which is owned by Disney, called My Generation. This show had a documentary crew following a group of high schoolers through prom, graduation, etc. Then catches up with them ten years later to see what's changed and so forth. Sounds like an interesting drama right? While it did get cancelled, I would have challenged executives to go back to the drawing board, find the holes in why the show didn't work and taylor a movie about Prom using the documentary style. I know it might not have helped anymore than what we have now, but in terms of caring for the characters, it could have made somewhat of a difference.
I would personally stay away from PROM, yes it looks cute and cuddly, but I predict a lot of eye rolling and sigh's while watching this movie. Oh and someone needs to let the studio's know that they are really over using "Firework" by Katy Perry. It has to stop.
Well the final review of this movie will happen when someone (not me) sees the credits roll and house lights go up.
Prom asks you to Prom April 29th, 2011
If you curious in seeing George Lucas in Love, I've embedded it below
This movie looks crazy, ridiculous, but dammit if I'm not ready to blow 15 bucks on an IMAX ticket to see it!
The Fast and Furious franchise has had it's ups and downs (2Fast,2Furious), but had a slight resurgence with it's third installment Tokyo Drift, mostly because it abandoned the title characters and followed an entirely different group of characters and style of driving. At the end of that movie Vin Diesel makes a cameo that brought us the fourth film, simply titled Fast and Furious and now, Fast Five.
FF4 brought back all the original characters from the first movie and was by far the strongest of the series. Although it had a cliche villain in the form of a drug trafficker, the story was solid based on the characters history with each other and the loss of a key player, Michelle Rodriguez's "Letty". A moment of silence please.
Director Justin Lin has definitely pumped some much needed NOS back into the series that started with FF:Tokyo Drift. Much like what Len Wiseman accomplished with the 4th Die Hard, Lin has gone the route of good ol' fashion stunt work in complex action sequences, which has made the series more fun to watch in my opinion. He's also made this potentially one-time cast into a modern day Magnificent Seven-esque group of sorts. Not to mention giving us the coolest edition to the group into the form of Han, a drifter in Tokyo Drift.
I know it's been nothing but a constant praise for the series and Fast Five, but here are my bones that need a pickin'.
Fast Five collects characters from all four movies before it, to give us a Marvel-team up kind of adventure. The trailer was rockin' until I saw Tyrese and Ludacris.
Tyrese returns as Roman Pierce, whose wanna-be gangster attitude from 2Fast2Furious was one of the most annoying additions to the series. Perhaps under the care of Justin Lin that will change but I'm not holding my breath. Also, Ludacris, who was in the same basterd movie, made mention that his character doesn't even race anymore because of a previous accident. So why is he here?
I honestly would have loved to have seen Lucas Black and Bow Wow from Tokyo Drift.
We now come to the paradox of the character Han who sadly died in Tokyo Drift. But was in the opening action sequence in FF4 which in the FF timeline was revealed to be a prequel to Drift, so it made sense that he was there and now is part of Fast Five. I cringe at what the explanation will be for his resurrection but I hope it's not a lame one.
Another pitfall this trailer falls into is simply showing us way to much in the form of action. It looks like there are two different action sequences that we get too much of a preview of. A movie franchise as successful as this one could most definitely have gotten away with a teaser trailer. One of those scenes has Paul Walker and Vin Diesel going "car diving", which looks so 'effin cool, but should have cut away sooner from going off the cliff. I hope there is something even bigger than that sequence in this movie cause if thats it, then it blows that I've already seen it.
Second to last, the title of this movie sounds like a porno. No one can argue how terrible this title is. Some personal suggestions of mine are; FURIOUS, FURIOUSLY FAST, VROOOM!!, FAST to the 5th POWER, or FAST AND FURIOUS 5.
Lastly, the wild card;THE ROCK! I simply love that he's in this and that we are going to see a throw down between him and the Diesel. It's kinda nuts and a little corny that he's in this movie but what are the FF movies but nuts and corny fun.
Overall, Fast Five looks like the fun, over the top, tagline spewing, car crashing, money stealing, half naked girl wearing action movie that sometimes you just need to see. This is definitely an opening weekend movie for me. I've heard rumblings of a 6th and 7th movie, and although these are fun movies; how long can this really go on for?
The final review will be when the credits roll and the house lights go up.
Fast Five runs the red light to IMAX and regular theaters near you on April 29th, 2011
To preface I have not see the original movie that this remake is based off.
So lets break this trailer down. At its core its a movie about a guy not wanting to have an arranged marriage and trying to prove to his family and potentially himself that he can have a life separate from his wealthy lifestyle and be happy. This is obviously a plot line we are familiar with. Arthur looks funny, but more and more it looks very tiring. I like Russell Brand, he's unpredictable and funny, but only in small doses. The potential upside to this movies is that it ends up like the other Brand vehicle Get Him to the Greek. Greek was received well critically because it was more of a dissection of his character, Aldous Snow, than just a big, sex, party and drug movie. I mean it was "that movie" at times but the story, in the best way, was definitely more the main focus.
The supporting cast consists of Jennifer Garner as Arthur's arranged wife, who looks like she's trying really hard to be Isla Fischer from the movie Wedding Crashers. Fischer does a better job, for now. Luis Guzman plays the limo driver, which seems like a really reserved character for him. Guzman is usually seen as a more loud and punch line character but I'm hoping that his subtle comedy gets to due time in the spotlight. Lastly, we have Helen Mirren who gives this movie its biggest credibility. Mirren, who is Arthur's nanny and naturally the only one who believes in him I'm sure will make the most of the scenes between her and Arthur. I'm hoping she brings a very sweet and deeper subtext to said scenes.
Arthur seems like it will just be gags, massive amounts of pop culture references and crazy antics all the way through, then about halfway through he'll meet a girl he really cares for, lose her at some point, win her back and then his mom will let him be with whoever he wants cause she's seen a great change in lifestyle. Movies done, I just saved you $10 bucks.
I don't think this is an opening weekend movie for me, personally I'm hoping Hanna wins the weekend.
As always the final review of this movie will be when the credits roll and the house lights go up.
Arthur tries to prove to you that he's worth our time on April 8th, 2011
Director Joe Wright whose past work includes Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, and The Soloist; directs this story about a small girl trained by her father to be an assassin and from the looks of it go after a CIA agent played by Cate Blanchett. The juxtaposition in the opening words, the lullaby-like music and scenes of actress Saoirse Ronan as Hanna screaming like a viking and viciously attacking Eric Bana, her father, are just surreal. There's also a really nice color palette that go throughout the trailer. For example, those opening scenes start out in the snow; the stark, white, dream-like environment represents an innocence and the purity that we the audience should feel for the young girl. Which then shifts to very vast colors of blues, reds, and grays. Even Cate Blanchett's hair, RED, makes her more a villain. Aside from the action, drama, CGI and "entertainment" in movies trailers; colors, play a huge part.
What I find most interesting about this movie is its similarities to the movie Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn. When Vaughn was shopping around the script for Kick-Ass there was an 11 year old girl who was cutting off people's arms and legs with samurai swords and brutally murdering bad guys. Studios only request was that they up the age of the girl to 19 or 20. Long story short, Vaughn didn't cave and Kick-Ass became a huge hit because of that young assassin.
Hanna, while it looks really good, is Hollywood's answer to Kick-Ass; A PG-13 movie with a small child assassin. PG-13, in a movie that looks this visceral really turns me off, because I get the feeling that the movie will be restricted by its rating and not reach its fully crazy, assassin like potential. Granted there are movies rated PG-13, like Taken, with Liam Neeson that still "bring the pain" as it were. But then there are movies like the Angelina Jolie vehicle Salt, that was really affected by its PG-13 rating and turn out to be very unoriginal as a result.
I'm not really a fan of Hollywood doing such things because once again we reach the reality of Hollywood not having anymore any original ideas. But at the same time all movies are inspired by something else. It shouldn't impair your judgement of a movie but its definitely something to look at when you see movies.
Personally, I'm going to be there opening weekend to see Hanna, I think Saoirse Ronan looks fantastic as the title character and I'm really curious at what the McGuffin in this movie, which is some sort of DNA revelation about Hanna. Test tube baby? Alien? Perhaps she was created from the DNA of the finest Judges in Megacity...oh wait sorry that was Judge Dredd.
Anyway the final review of this movie will be when the credits roll and the house lights go up.
Hanna screams its way into theaters on April 8th 2011.
Dueces, StuntmanBob
oops almost forgot to mention, the score is done by the Chemical Brothers!!! Oh yea!
