We dig trailers and hope to bring you a regular selection that are either highly anticipated, interesting for discussion, or simply look awesome to us. The intent here at Cinapse isn’t to bring the newest, quickest, most hot-off-the-presses stuff, but simply to highlight what has come out recently (whether large or small) and to discuss what we’re digging and not digging. On top of that, unlike much of the (often soul-crushing) marketing machine that grinds on and on in Hollywood, the trailer is one of the only promotional tools that can be art in and of itself. Let us know what you think about these trailers in the comments section below!
It has been WAY too long since I’ve been able to crank out a Trailer Roundup, and for that reason I’ve completely dispensed with any pretext of timeliness and will just be highlighting some trailers from the last few weeks that I simply want to talk about. You won’t find any breaking news here! These are also kind of in order of how badly I want to talk about them, which isn’t a reflection of their potential quality in any way.
Bong Joon-ho’s (The Host, Memories of Murder, Mother) English language debut looks absolutely bonkers. The setting and concept of the story is so unlike anything else we are normally getting in grand sci-fi action cinema. I mean, how many post-apocalyptic political revolution onboard of a perpetual motion train movies have you ever seen? He seems to have created a world-class international cast featuring Chris Evans as a leading man, Tilda Swinton as what can only be the villain, Song Kang-ho from every Korean movie you’ve probably ever seen, and even Octavia Spencer appears to be slappin’ fools with a crowbar at one point. Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, and John Hurt round out the cast, too:
I’m not anticipating this to be Bong Joon-ho’s best film. But I’d love if it were. That said, I’ve been intrigued by this film from the first bit of news I heard on it. The world-building is just so nuts I can’t help but love the audacity of it all. Snowpiercer is based on a French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige.
I don’t believe that Snowpiercer has a North American release date set yet, but correct me if I’m wrong.
So… what isn’t there to like about John Travolta and Robert De Niro trying to kill each other out in the woods? I generally love movies about dudes trying to kill each other in the wilderness, and there is a long history of these types of films. I’m thinking more recent, such as The Edge or Seraphim Falls (underseen/underrated) or even The Hunter with Willem DaFoe. But if you go back a ways Death Hunt will give you Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson trying to kill each other out in the wilderness. The lists could go on. And Killing Season looks to add to that fine tradition of stripped down savagery:
John Travolta’s Serbian accent and Amish beard are questionable, De Niro’s age shows, and both of them get to shoot arrows at each other. If we aren’t going to be getting a ton of great De Niro performances from this point forward, I’d at least like to get arrow-shooting De Niro, am I right?
Killing Season hits theaters and VOC/On Demand July 12th.
Redemption
Just this past week or so we’ve run an editorial here on Cinapse about The Statham Problem, and then I was made aware of a great post by Patton Oswalt about The Statham Guarantee, and/or “Gaytham For Statham.” So while our own Mr. Pryor seems to think Statham has fallen into a rut, Patton Oswalt would claim that Statham films are the opposite of boring.
Myself, I’ve been yearning for Statham to delve back into his real roots, the British Crime Film:
Directed by Steven Knight, writer of Eastern Promises, I’m looking forward to giving this film a shot. It was originally titled Hummingbird, which is a remarkably better title than Redemption. I don’t know what the final quality-level of this project will be, but I do know this is exactly the kind of thing I’d like to see Statham doing in between big screen action extravaganzas. Oh, and he should do some straight up comedies, too. His comedic work under Guy Ritchie was always great!
Redemption hits On Demand and in theaters June 28th.
The Spectacular Now
And, for a little variety, how about a film trailer that isn’t action/crime related? I got a chance to see The Spectacular Now at SXSW this year and continue to think about it and appreciate it more as time goes on. I really look forward to a second watch because after all the processing I’ve done on this film, I know I’ll like it even more on round 2, but let’s see what you think:
The trailer really can’t do justice to the power of the film. You get a sense of lead actor Miles Teller’s verve and brilliance (he is destined to be a star), but you don’t see the depth of the film here in the trailer. And I find it a little odd that the film hinges on the idea of Shailene Woodley’s character being the “unattractive girl,” but if you can get past that you’ll see Woodley building the foundations of what should be a long career. Sure, the movie is a coming-of-age story and a teen comedy, but prepare yourself for something a little more profound and original than that. Directed by James Ponsoldt who also brought us Smashed, do yourself a favor and catch The Spectacular Now when it hits your town.
The Spectacular Now hits theaters in limited release on August 2nd.
And I’m Out.