Knight and Day Trailer Review

"No one follows us or I kill myself and then her"

This single quote alone, from the new movie Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, does a very good job at explaining the ridiculous, awkward, and outrageousness of this movie.

Forever burned into this generations pop culture is the day Tom Cruise decided to jump on a couch and profess his love for Katie Holmes. The media really did a number on Cruise after all the questionable appearances on television and basically portrayed him as this "crazy person". But through those tough times Cruise has been slowly making a comeback. First with Mission Impossible 3, courtesy of J.J. and company and his amazing comedic work in Tropic Thunder, where he played Les Grossman, an oversized, foul mouthed producer, funding a film that was already in debt three days into shooting.

(The latter has just earned Cruise a spin-off film.)

Now comes his latest; Knight and Day.

My first gut reaction to this trailer is that it really shouldn't work, I really thought Cruise was trying way to hard to be funny, where as it came so naturally in Tropic Thunder, this is just a little embarrassing. But as more full length trailers, like the one above, came to fruition I began to read into the story and characters more and came to the realization or maybe speculation of this movie being an allegory for the up hill battle Cruise is fighting to get back to being a powerhouse actor and box office champ.

I like that Cruise is taking "that crazy person" persona, the media tagged him with and is creating a character out of it, in Knight and Day. In the trailer Cruise plays, Roy Miller, a spy (actor) whose agency claims was one of their best agents (actors) until he had a full blown break with reality. Does this sound familiar to anyone? As such the agency (paparazzi) is now hunting Miller in the hopes of capturing, ruining and or ending his life as a spy (an actor). Does this sound like the paparazzi...oops sorry, I mean,... familiar to anyone...again?

The last time Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz where in a movie together was in Vanilla Sky, and while I liked the pairing there, I don't really see Cameron Diaz as a believable action star. I mean I played along with it in Charlie's Angel's but that was Charlie's Angel's.

James Mangold directs and his past work includes Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma. I would question why someone like Mangold would take a movie like this that at first, But if you look at both Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma, its clear he has a good eye for action and a good eye for duo's on screen that look like they are not a good match at first, but soon realize that they can't exist without one another.

Some of you may have already written this movie off, which of course your allowed to. Although this trailer review seems some what positive, my hopes are not that high for this movie. But I for one am looking forward to seeing the return of Tom Cruise and if he's gotta make fun of himself to get back there, well then kudos to you sir. Its a very ballsy move for a ballsy actor.

Knight and Day opens June 23, 2010

Dueces!
StuntmanBob

Jonah Hex Trailer Review

(sigh)
Jonah Hex, which opens June 18th 2010, stars Josh Brolin as a brutally scarred/former confederate soldier/demon looking cowboy, who is an assassin for hire and is out for revenge against the men who murdered his family and turned his face into spaghetti. (sigh). Pretty simple revenge tale but at first glance I am not really holding my expectations at a high level.

Its seems as though that since a lot of the mainstream comic super hero's have gotten their time in the limelight, Hollywood is looking towards lesser known characters to bring to the big screen. Hex comes from DC Universe and from what I've heard and researched, its never been a super popular character but the comic is still around and doing very well.

My first introduction to the character of Jonah Hex is when I was a little kid watching Batman: The Animated Series and I vaguely remember there being an episode where Jonah Hex made an appearance. I just remember wanting to string that piece of skin hanging off his face like a banjo. Give me a break I was like 10 or something. Anyway, he looked creepy. I've never read any of the comics of Jonah Hex, so for those of you have and are looking forward to this movie, I apologize, If I "just don't get it".

The movie is written by Neveldine and Taylor. The ADHD minds behind the Crank films and Gamer. Originally they were tapped to direct, which to be honest, I would have liked to have seen their style taylored to a supernatural western.

Now let me indulged you with talk of the cast.

ACTORS:

Josh Brolin: I think Josh Brolin is a solid actor, the last movie I saw him in was "W", directed by Oliver Stone in which he eerily played former President George Dub-ya Bush. Didn't really think much of the movie it self but his acting was great. I'm glad to see that he's getting into the comic book game. For the most part, in this trailer, his portrayal of Hex is kinda of, Clint Eastwood meets The Man without of Face. If you expected more, than your hopeless. Anyway I really wish they would have gotten a bit more gritty and graphic with his make up. I mean Hex was scary looking! SCARY, being the keyword here. In the trailer he just looks like a cheap version of Two-Face.

Megan Fox: Who ever thought that Megan Fox could be a linguist should be shot! Her western accent in this trailer and the delivery of her lines through stints of breath annoy this shit out of me. I know Ms. Fox gets a lot of flack for being a dud, but I'd like to believe there is more behind the curtain. I just find it kind of annoying that she's cast as the whore like girlfriend to Jonah Hex. If your going to make a western but add this absurdity to it, like crows coming out of peoples mouths and machine guns on horses, then why not mess around with the roles of women and other norms of the time. Could Megan have been another awesome assassin type henchmen of Quentin Turnball; John Malkovich's character?.... Maybe. OR...dare I say it, Hex's wife, who I'm assuming gets killed? She coulda been the Steven Seagal of this Executive Decision*.

John Malkovich: I love it when Malkovich plays these villainous types, he's really good at them, but after a while everything starts feeling like his role in Con-Air; Cyrus the Virus. I'm expecting to see a deleted scene on the Blu ray to this movie where Malkovich actually holds up a bunny and threatens to shoot it, if anybody moves. He's also rockin some hardcore mutton chops which look pretty badass on him. If anything Malkovich's absurtity in this role will be a saving grace of the movie.

MIchael Fassbender: "Paris when it sizzles", If you haven't seen Inglorious Basterds, stop reading, and watch that shit! NOW! I've seen Fassbender in two movies; Basterds and Hunger. He was brilliant in both and if I have any reason to see this movie its cause of him. He plays an explosives obsessed, knife throwing henchmen of John Malkovich's character; Quentin Turnball. While I wish his villainous debut was in a more better looking movie. I anxiously await to see what he turns out.

The animated movie Horton Hears a Who was Director, Jimmy Hayward's first theatrical release and while I haven't seen it, the fact that he's making the jump from animation to live action is very very intriguing to me. I'm not familiar with much of his work but I'm interested how he'll do. Just recently I've heard that Brad Bird, the director of The Incredibles and The Iron Giant will be directing the fourth installment of the Mission Impossible series. So, I mean, its pretty cool to see directors of mainly animation movies getting their turn at the live action films.

Its obvious that this movie has action and one-liners but I hope there is more to the story than just that. I mean they lightly touch on Hex being something supernatural, but then, never really address it again in the trailer. He can bring people back to life but still needs guns to kill people? While I'm not looking to run out and see this movie, I will eventually go and check it out in the hopes that there is something redeeming about it.



*Steven Seagal was in a movie called Executive Decision, in which about 20-30min. into the movie he willing dies for the team. One of the greatest roles he's ever held.


Dueces!
StuntmanBob

The Ol' Switch 'o rue!

" The Losers looks like a better version of the The A-Team" , those were the words that I said to Dorian, my partner in movie crime, when both the trailers to those movies came out. Today is the day that I've seen the A-Team for the second time! And I must say that The A-Team whipped The Losers' ass!

Now for a quick message about The A-Team. Having only seen a few episodes of the original series, I can truly say that director Joe Carnahan has crafted a film worthy of the word, ACTION! The movie opens perfectly as a mini origin story of how the team got together. Thank you Joe, cast, crew, crafty, and PA's for not making us sit through a 2 hour origin story and then at the end showing us how B.A. "gets the Mohawk". There are some movies that work as full on origin stories, a la Batman Begins, but I don't need another Ang Lee HULK*. You feel me? The movie wastes no time, as my my lady friend ;), who I saw the movie with, said, "this is why you go to the movies". You immediately get lost in all the crazy antics and camaraderie that Hannibal, B.A., Murdock, and Face have between them. The action, though ridiculous, is so fun and works for the simplicity of the story that you don't even notice the sometimes, ok, CGI.

So anyways, go see it, duh!.

So back to the show; When The Losers came out to theaters I was there opening weekend and the movie sadly was very unfulfilling, it had its moments and the only thing working for it was the believability in its characters, much like The A-Team. It felt like they had known each other for as long as Rusty and Danny Ocean had, from the Ocean's 11 series. The villain in The Losers was trying to hard and the main story line just didn't have enough believability to it. Yes, even for a comic book movie. Now as you all know I was very excited for this movie and gave a very positive review on its trailer but sad to say the outcome was less than thrilling. The A-Team was what I wanted and hoped The Losers would be.

This brings me to my point. Trailers, although entertaining, can be so deceptive, and even one such as I, can be deceived. I know right? Calm down no one is perfect. But in any case this is one of the reasons why Dorian and myself critique the trailers because so much can come from them! And you should too! Just because the trailer looks good doesn't me the movie will be phenomenal. I take this experience as a lesson learned. I love discovering things like this, when I think something is gonna be this and it turns out to be that. For me as a filmmaker, film lover and filmgoer it makes it all worth it.

If anybody has thoughts on the A-Team or The Losers hit us up at guysonthecouch@gmail.com



*I did enjoy Ang Lee's HULK on a completely artistic level. Don't Hate, but if you must, I understand.

Dueces!
Bobby

Trailer Review: The Losers

"Outstanding"
-Clay from "The Losers"

"The Losers" is directed by Sylvain White and will be in theaters on April 23, 2010 and I'll say it, it looks pretty Outstanding.

Sylvain White's most recent film as a director is 2007's "Stomp the Yard", which aside from Fraternity aspect of it, its probably one of the better dance films out there. I say this because although a major part of the film is about dance or stepping there is a good balance of focus on the characters and their development as well as the stepping, which when directing an ensemble piece like "The Losers", is what you want.

"The Losers" is written by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt. Peter Berg is a writer/ director whose writing credits include the movies "Friday Night Lights" and "The Losers". He's also directed "Hancock", "Friday Night Lights", "The Rundown", and "The Kingdom". James Vangerbilt's writing credits include "Zodiac", "The Rundown", "Basic" and the as yet untitled "Spiderman Reboot"

Its obvious these two artists like to work together which is already a good sign. Vanderbilt's very smart and calculated scripts "Zodiac" and "Basic", not to mention his Spiderman Re-boot being chosen as the new direction to go for the series and Berg's grittiness and action savvy mindset tell me that this property was researched very thoroughly and that the action and characters will live up to what we've seen in the graphic novel.

As mentioned before this is a movie based off a graphic novel and stars Jeffery Dean Morgan, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Chris Evans, Oscar Jaenada, and Jason Patric. Personally I love that Hollywood is recognizing the awesome stories is these relatively unknown graphic novels and I'm glad to see a cast that is filled with most actors we've seen in "that movie". Much like "Watchmen", its nice to see a group of actors chosen for their skill as an actor or actress and not just their name.

As you can already tell I'm really hoping this movie does well. I've read the graphic novel which is excellent and believe me when I say that almost most of the tag-lines from the trailer are actual lines from the book. Very good sign. Now this story is very similar to another movie coming out called "The A-Team", now I've already been talking a lot anyways but all I'll say is that when you compare both trailers, "The Losers" handles the action and comedy in a more realistic way and in "The A-Team" it just feels very very forced.

Based off the trailer I'm definitely going to see this movie because it looks action packed, smart, funny and all round fun. I say go out and read the graphic novel to get a bit of a background on the property, trust me you won't be disappointed.

dueces!
Bobby

Trailer Review: Death at a Funeral

"Its like someone telling you a joke and then another person telling you the same joke and it just doesn't deliver".


So lets just say it, "This is One Sad TRAILER"! Death at a Funeral is a remake of a 2007 British black comedy of the same name. The original being directed by Frank Oz and the remake directed by Neil LaBute. The basic plot of the movie as you've already seen is the father of this family has died and during the wake crazy shit happens.

Neil LaBute's filmography includes more recently "Lakeview Terrace", "The Wicker Man" and "Nurse Betty". Yup! Haven't seen any of 'em. So it is definitely safe to say that, that streak will continue with "Death at a Funeral". The film is written by Dean Craig who also wrote the original. Already I'm very very upset.

The cast of this movie is...a lot. Chris Rock, who serves as a producer, Martin Lawrence, Danny Glover, Tracy Morgan, Kevin Hart, Uhura..oops sorry I mean Zoe Saldana, Keith David, Luck Wilson, James Marsden, Columbus Short and Peter Dinklage, who plays the same role he did in the original.

I listened to a Podcast today on the art of making a good trailer; who to market it to, how much to include, etc. I LIVE to see trailers! GOOD TRAILERS! So I'm glad that some people/studios actually take pride in taking the time to make good ones. This is not one of them. My curiosity for this one is, did anyone watch the original trailer to the original movie, because its almost exactly, frame for frame, the same thing!!!! I'm sure at some point Chris Rock saw the original and because he doesn't have any original ideas of his own said to himself, "wow this would be more funny if it was an African American family", wave the magical wand and poof! Add a few jokes about how all Asians look the same and you've got yourself a hit on your hands! Right?

Is this really where the remake has gotten to? To not even attempt and make the movie unique and the actors and filmmakers own, is just a pure lazy-ness. And I'm sure you might be asking; "Bobby! How do you know its not different?" If you've watched both trailers you'll realize what I'm talking about. There are even exact lines that are the same in both trailers!!

Anyways my final thoughts on this movie are just that its sad. Stay away from this movie at all costs and take the money you would have spent on seeing the movie and go treat yourself to renting the original on DVD. Now I know the possible reason for the remake might be that, there may not be a whole bunch of people who have never A. Heard of British Comedy or B. Have simply never seen it. Well take this opportunity to expose yourself to something new and open your mind to a different kind of comedy and stay away from this remake that sticks to the same old thing and doesn't even attempt to be original aside from changing the color of skin.

Normally this would be the part where I would determine how much money this movie will make opening weekend but I'm so enraged that I'm hoping that it makes no money! Again guys thanks for reading and....


dueces!
Bobby

(down here)


Here is the trailer to the original movie.

Is It Fair to Rate A Movie on its Trailers?

Hello to all Couch Potato's! Yes I know that was lame, but just go with it. Well I would like to give a thank you to everyone reading the posts here and supporting the show. It is greatly appreciated. At present we have episode 2 of the show on youtube.com and facebook. So make sure you check it out.

Today I was talking with a good friend of mine and he asked me a question that was quite interesting. "Is It Fair to Rate a Movie on its Trailers" I thought this would be good fodder for a blog post.

So...is it? I'd be dumb to say no, but I think it is absolutely o.k. to rate a movie based off the trailer! Trailers are the first time we are getting a taste of the mood/style of said movie that we are possibly planning to see. Sometimes, just sometimes a poorly put together trailer to an amazing movie can put people off and then that movie loses out on some people because of how that trailer was cut. That's why I get excited to see a trailer, cause to me it can definitely tip the scales. Take for example the trailers to "The A-Team" and "The Losers"(which will have their trailer reviewed in full on the show or here), both of those movies have the same plot line or at least basic plot line. Personally to me "The Losers" looks like a better version of "The A-Team" and a bit more enjoyable at that, in terms of how the trailer is cut. Check both of those trailer out so you get a better idea of what I'm saying. Also my review for "Valentine's Day" is reason enough to rate movies based off their trailers. :)

Now as for our show. We review movies based off their trailer. But just because we say "this" or "that" about how its put together and what we think, doesn't mean that it will be completely terrible or that you should stay away from it. If your interested, I'd say go ahead and see it! Maybe wait for a matinee or something but check it out. Who knows there may be something in the movie that grabs you and it makes that trip to the movies worth it.

In any case this is a question that I'd like to hear what you think. please email us at guysonthecouch@gmail.com and let us know what you think. Is it Fair to Rate Movies based off its Trailers?

Dueces!
Bobby

Brooklyn's Finest Trailer Review

Welcome back Wesley Snipes!

Brooklyn's Finest is out March 5th 2010 and is directed by Antonie Fuqua, whose past works include Training Day, King Arthur, and Shooter. Fuqua to me has made some very solid and watchable movies. Training Day alone should lead to you believe that as cliche as the stories lines in this trailer look, nothing is what it seems with this material in the hands of this director.

The cast for this movie is top notch and everybody seems to fit perfectly into their respective roles. Personally I've been on a little bit of an Ethan Hawke-high. Having watched Daybreakers, Gattaca, and his performance as a smooth talking, sexually open writer in the film compilation New York, I Love You, has made me realize how much I like him as an actor. The reality and intensity he brings to his characters, is one of the reasons I look forward to seeing this movie. Don Cheadle and Richard Gere fill the card as tortured cops counting the days till they are released from the duties, respectively. But I feel the real story here is....Wesley Snipes. I REALLY like him in this trailer. I got flashbacks of movies like New Jack City and Sugar Hill. I hope this is the movie that brings him back to doing Hollywood films and not just straight to dvd releases. Although they were entertaining, the Blade movies were bringing him down and I'm happy they didn't continue them any further. The dichotomy between Wesley Snipes' gangster character and Don Cheadle remind me of a another good cop drama called In Too Deep. The story of an undercover cop struggling to keep his eye on catching the bad guy, but struggles when he's "in too deep" and becomes the closest and most trusted person to this bad guy. I suggest if you haven't seen that movie to check it out. But you can tell from the trailer that the relationship is doomed as Don Cheadle struggles to decide which side he's really on.

So many cop movies have come out and are coming out, your probably asking what makes this one so different and why am I praising this one in particular? It's all in the execution. When I first watched this trailer I was immediately reminded of another cop drama called Pride and Glory, which starred Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, as two brothers who get wrapped up in an investigation that hits close to home. The actions that took place in the movie, mostly the violence, just seemed real unecessary and actually overshadowed the character drama that was supposed to be, I'm assuming, the main focus of the movie. The same could also be said about the movie Max Payne, with Mark Wahlberg, whose over use of in-camera slow motion was only the real decent thing to watch in that entire movie.

There are a lot of things in this trailer that we've seen before. Normally the adding of a song like Jay-Z's "Run this Town" and the prayer to St. Michael that Ethan Hawke's character recites would bother me cause they are in some instances really tacky. But in the execution of the trailer, they don't seem to overshadow the characters or single out just one of them. I could believe that Wesley's gangster persona and Ethan's desperate cop, even though they may have different story lines in the movie, could say that same prayer every day of their lives. So in that one feature we are given a deeper sense of the characters, their motives, and what they could or are going through. Which makes for a successful trailer all around for me.



Box office Prediction- 20 million

Dueces!
Bobby