Trailer tales

Disclaimer: I will get back to a more regular posting schedule, I promise. Just a bit busy right now.

I am a big fan of Apple's trailer website, especially now with the incredibly gorgeous high-definition trailer coming out. I check it probably three times a week. And as deceptive as trailers can be, I do obviously form an opinion about them, and they do affect how much I want to see a movie.

Or how much I'll make sure to avoid a movie...Take the trailer for the upcoming Tristan and Isolde, probably greenlighted back when King Arthur still looked like a good idea. James Franco, I'm all for (I truly believe in his acting talent, though he hasn't exactly chosen films that display it lately), and the story I devoured as a kid, fascinated by the inevitable tragedy (and well, I thought the living clandestinely together in the woods thing was, ahem, interesting). But as soon as I heard the Evanescence music underscoring the trailer, I said to myself, nope, sorry, I'll pass. It's not that I don't like Evanescence, though I'm not a big fan, it's mostly that it reflects the way the filmmakers are going with this, and I won't be going along.

Other trailers have the faculty of making you interested in a film you might not have thought about much before. Case in point: Inside man, with Clive Owen and Denzel Washington. I'll watch anything with Clive in it, of course (although, come to think about it, nothing will convince me to see Guinevere in a leather bikini, maybe it's just the Arthurian thing I'd rather keep in books), but a hostage negotiating thing mixed with a bank robbery sounds like a rental. The trailer makes it look good though. Oh, and look next to Denzel? Yep, it's the Operative, aka. Chiwetel Ejiofor. I'm glad to see this guy getting more and more success, he truly is a great actor, his performance in Dirty Pretty Things was amazing. Back to the topic, Inside Man, from this trailer, looks tight and twisty, suspenseful, and worth a look.

Then there are of course the trailer for films you already want to see and that frustrate you because you want to see the film now, right away, and not " somewhere in 2006". I must have watched the trailer for The Fountain twenty times already. trying to get as many details as possible from those few images, and everytime it gets me excited all over again, and frustrated that there isn't even a US release date yet. Hugh Jackman, Darren Aronovski, and well, it just looks pretty damn cool, too.


Finally, there are the trailers that tell you absolutely nothing about the quality of the final product. Yes, the "announcement trailer" for X3 is cool, shown all the characters, offers glimpses of the story, Jean Grey is back (as Phoenix?) and kicking ass, but with Brett Ratner directing, it isn't enough to convince me it won't suck. Also, I'm not quite sure I agree with the backing music and the whole action angle: what made X1 and especially X2 great was that next to terrific action pieces, Bryan Singer infused these stories, these characters with a heart. I'm not quite sure Brett Ratner can do the same, seeing as I've seen no evidence of him actually having a heart yet.

How these movies will end up? How indicative the trailers were? I'll tell you if and when I see them.

H.