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The TrailerMan reports in with a bevy of trailers looked at!
The Trailer Man has written in with a look at many of the new trailers coming in this weekend and ya know... Cool. But the one trailer I'm curious about is THE GREEN MILE. When is Warner gonna start pushing this. I've seen the poster... It looks nice, but when is the trailer gonna hit? Inquiring minds like mine wanna know! Here's Trailer Man
It never occurred to me that your readers would have an interest in
trailers, which I can tell you there are about 62 currently active for
theatrical exhibition. And many wonder why they're watching 5 or 6
prior to a film......a lot of studios/producers want their pending film
exposed during this very hot boxoffice season (there will be more films
to pass the 100 million mark this Summer than ever before you just
watch). So while there are butts-in-seats, studios want to expose future
releases and capitalize on the huge numbers to increase awareness.
Trailers are still the number one tool in marketing virtually any given
film, and as evidenced by the frequency of opinion in TALK BACK,
solicited or not, is a passionate subject.
New one's to look for this weekend:
THREE KINGS (WB) If anyone wants a lesson in how a trailer can be
reworked to convey infinitely more depth and deliver far more compelling
results check out the difference of the version that went with (yikes)
WILD WILD WEST and this newer version now available for placements on
other films. Seemingly running the same length, sure the irreverence a
la "MASH in Desert Storm", cocky American brio, and "why are we here" is
about the same, but timing of dialogue is noticeably better (ie
Clooney's "No this isn't the bouillon you make with chicken soup"
actually has a punch rather than flaccidly dropped in the first
version), far more shots of large production scale, but the main thing
is a fully realized subtext of humanity and compassion with regard to
the price of any war (ok police action). Night and day difference and
now it looks like an off -kilter, fresh offering for Fall line up.
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (INDEPENDENT) The trippiest, most far-fetched,
head scratching concept film starring a hapless John Cusack who stumbles
somehow on a small hallway that leads into John Malkovich's brain. This
trailer spins as well as can be imagined in two mins, this bizarre
premise and seemingly make it accessible to more that the specialty/art
crowd. Of course an individual is going to know instantly, whether this
floats his boat or not.....kudos though for going out on a limb, and
having confidence that there are moviegoers who want more that just
mindless fluff.
AMERICAN BEAUTY (DREAMWORKS) I think there was a big push for this
trailer to be on prints of RUNAWAY BRIDE so there in lies a serious
conundrum for the "I won't ever go see Gere " crowd. Nevertheless, this
is the longest trailer in current field inventory at 3:00 minutes and it
flies by. Simply introducing with a series of establishing shots of
suburban life a title card then pops up that reads (and voiced over)
"look closer". Next scenes with Kevin Spacey challenging his boss
during a one-on-one office meeting about what down sizing really means
to junior level employees, shots of his daughter flirting with boy next
door, mom (Annette Benning) being pro active with her daughter at school
and then again "look closer" pops up. Ok a lengthy trailer but so very
successfully conveys initially a "perfect American family" in the first
minute or so. Then the dysfunction of Spacey's family and married life
is alluded to quickly in montage, as well as allusion to a handgun
tragedy. The "all is not what it seems approach" works as the drama.
crisis, pitch, and curious dark humor is played out to quite an impact.
American Beauty is a type of rose and to that end a fantasy sequence
with the daughter flailing in these red rose petals in quick MTV like
shots is juxtaposed with many other intriguing The one-sheet is that of
a young woman's torso with a long stemmed American Beauty rose set
vertically along side the naval. Smart incorporation of these elements,
metaphors I suspect that create a continuity from trailer... to one
sheet.. to title thus easier for recall for moviegoers. Sophisticated
fare, most likely a turnoff for average moviegoers but certainly
different, therefore intriguing for the more discriminating taste.
SUPERSTAR (Paramount) is like a hybrid of WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE,
SHE'S ALL THAT and a too long Saturday Night Live skit of a dweeb in
high school fantasizing of being a music sensation, getting the best
looking jock on campus and other cliched high school priorities.
uh...ouch..no.
STORY OF US (Universal) exactly as described in this weeks report by
CallerFromLa's review and the others attending same screening. As a
marketing tool the trailer smoothly conveys the plot of 15 years of
marriage slowly disintegrating, did not appear as shrill or whiny as
some had countered, more like Harry And Sally 12 Years Later .
Definitely for the tweed and deck shoe crowd trickling down to the mid
thirties demo......the ONE FINE DAY audience with hopefully a dash more
star power with Willis especially if he weathers SIXTH SENSE detractors
and it becomes a medium sized hit.
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (PARAMOUNT) Take the Will Smith subplot of
posing as Sidney Poitier's son in SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION then slowly
turn up the suspense/creepy quotient and that begins to convey what was
a very surprising and effective trailer for this movie by the director
of THE ENGLISH PATIENT. Matt Damon is clearly shown to be hustling and
scamming his way at a luxury coastal resort by pretending to be an old
school buddy from Princeton of Jude Law who is with Gwynnith Paltrow on
holiday. Of course he has no recall, but Damon is persistent and fast
on his feet with recollections since he has some personal effects from
an actual classmate. Damon, begins (convincingly) to show a darker
side, Law and Paltrow freaking, and trailer ends with a really effective
reflection of Damon sitting in a hotel room in front of mirrored doors
that slowly close causing his reflection to disappear leaving an
arresting side shot of him that is quite menacing. Trailer really drops
in the Academy Award pedigrees that when it hit Cate Blanchette as a
nominee it almost detracted still and all compelling.
Others out there are JAKOB THE LIAR (SONY), so similar in feel to
Roberto Begnini's LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL where Robin Williams is a bearer of
hope in a concentration camp to the emotionally wrought and terrified by
relaying information from outside the barricades allegedly through
radio ( I think) but all fabricated to ease the horrors. (presumably,
kids with cancer and a clown nose did not fully realize his martyrdom).
MUSIC OF THE HEART (Miramax) Used to be "50 Violins"
with Madonna set to star but now a full out performance by Meryl Streep
as the trailer builds a Mr. Hollands Opus like scenario of a recently
separated and disillusioned woman who moves to the tough neighborhoods
in NYC to teach inner city kids the violin and then take on the school
system when budget cuts eviscerated her music programs. Has Gloria
Estefan as a mother of one of her students (passable line readings) and
Angela Bassett as a well meaning and tough superintendent. Well then
shots of tough rallies and "where gonna take this to the top and of
course the last shot looks to be a concert in Carnegie Hall so hello,
did I just see the whole movie? Ready......Wes Craven directs. THE
BONE COLLECTOR based on a best seller (it says so) and stars Denzel
Washington who is shown to be a tough detective then oops a paraplegic
but still on a case for a viscious serial killer by enlisting a
curvaceous co-star as his legs, hands and eyes through audio/video
transmissions to his bed where he coaches her through the terrors.
Slick trailer but its still IRONSIDE no?
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+ Expand All
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who's playing the girl?
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Did I hear you correctly? Robin Williams is bringing hope to children in concentration camps? Maybe the Red Cross had him brought in so that the prospect of the gas chamber won't seem so bad in comparison. And I agree with this review of the MUSIC OF THE HEART trailer -- the movie may or may not be any good (it's Wes Craven's "dream project" that he's finally getting to make), but the trailer makes it look incredibly sappy, not to mention detailing 100% of the plot. The other current trailer that falls into that category is the one for the new Claire Danes film, BROKEDOWN PALACE -- instead of trying to build suspense about the movie's plot, it wearily slogged through each and every crucial scene and plot point, until I began to feel like I HAD seen the movie.
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I've seen 'em both, and, IMO, they're both enormous misfires. What is it with Warners marketing department consistently sabotaging their most promising films with lackluster trailers (e.g. the famously ineffective L.A. CONFIDENTIAL campaign, and THE IRON GIANT, which is only now getting a decent push.) A quick suggestion: drop the Public Enemy song, which always draws snickers, and try to maintain the comedic anarchy that marks the first part of trailer. By all accounts, this is a very good movie, and deserves better than the usual, leaden, Warners touch. Of course, if all else fails, you could pull a Jon Peters and add a giant spider.
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Most of these films will not be any fun to watch because of the trailers. There should be a rule that in a film's trailer, you cannot show any footage beyond the film's 30 minute mark. Can anyone imagine how much more fun the experience would be when the element of surprise is added. When you have a great memory like me and many film lovers, you remember stuff from the trailer while watching the movie and all of a sudden, the scene has no suspense. Still, without trailers so many films, like that piece of turd The Haunting, would not be huge box office successes because hacks like Jan De Bont put in so much CGI just so they could show most of it in the trailer and then when you see it, you find out there is nothing new. Now, if I ever saw Brokedown Palace, the whole first part of the movie is meaningless because I know the girls are sent to jail. Arlington Road would've been so great if I didn't already know that buliding would explode at the end. What am I talking about? Nobody will ever care!
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The teaser to `5th Element' The teaser to Luc Besson's `Joan of Arc'. The teaser to Tim Burton's `batman'. The teaser to John Woo's `Face off'. The museum teaser to 'Godzilla'. The teaser to `Saving private Ryan'. These were great. They show you nothing from the film yet keep you in complete suspence as to what the film is. Studios should not show any footage from the film they are releasing, instead, they should take a lesson from these, and rely on the director to sell the film to an audience with suspence.
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I'm sure your WB payroll check is in the mail. Man..... only a studio stooge (if, indeed, that is what you are) would invoke the holy name of Godard and misuse it in such a spectacularly stupid fashion. How in the hell does lifting "He Got Game," which is, itself, a reworking of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," reflect anything that Godard did in his career? If you can come up with a valid example, I'll be rendered truly BREATHLESS instead of holding utter CONTEMPT for your prior post (oh, don't worry..... I'm wincing at that last sentence, too.)
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I know the Lion's gate thing isnt finalized yet but dogma is only 2 months and 2 weeks away from release. I know all of us geeks are drooling to see this film but alot of my non geek friends ae like what when I first tell them about it. THIS FILM NEEDS A TRAILER ASAP.
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Why eat a full course meal when you can have a TV dinner? Why drink spring water when you have toilet sludge? Why read a comment like this when you can just read a subject heading with an intellegent heading saying "Man, Trailer's Sucks."
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Have you ever woken from a dream and said that was the trippiest most far fetched dream i have ever had. Well thats what Being John Malkovich looks like, everything from the entirely creative concept to the fully realized bizzaro style makes this film look like something out of a dream, one of those dreams that seems to make sense when you were having it but when you woke up you couldn't believe what you had just believed. If you haven't seen the trailer for this film, go see it, it is just too weird to explain.
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... Man on the Moon?
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This movie started filming in January of this year and not one thing has been shown on it. Talk about ULTRA TOP SECRET. DETOX is suposed to be one hell of a suspence action/thriller with more emphesis (sp) on the words SUSPENCE and THRILLS. Can't wait. Stallone has a winner.
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dont worry, dude, i totally feel your pain. trailers suck ass. i hate them. they give away EVERYTHING!(which these days is endless digital effects that look like cartoons not unlike Roger Rabbit but thats just me) i think thart movie studios *spit* should, just for once, believe the LAW OF FILM (ok, so its true only 99% of the time) that states that less is more. this is especially rtrue with trailers. the greatets trailer ever was the Godzilla trailer with the man and the dock. that one trailer made me say "ill be there opening night." alas, the movie blew and good trailers didnt catch on. the blair witch project has good trailers, but that whole movie is less is more (and its kicking box office ass--taking notes WB?). the eyes wide shut trailer rocked (but is was severe mismarketing TANGENT!: eyes wide shut is a film about jealousy and commitment, NOT sex! TIME WARNER's desicion to put tom and nicole naked on the cover of time with the headline SEXIEST MOVIE EVER was the worst marketing ever (at least, i think it was TIME that had that headline...) because it set the public up for a letdown. they should have expected an art film and enjoyed the sex as pure gravy. they expected a porn, and what they got was an extremely slow-paced (but well-paced) psychodrama. no fucking shit the dumbass critcs hated it! they were disappointed along with the rest of the perverts! END TANGET (scroll up to see what the hell i was talking about--oh yeah)...the trailers should show a miniscule section of the film (either a short scene early in the film or a single shot anywhere in the film) and present it with an intriguing tag. blair witch's eeire music prior to that girl saying "im sooo sorry!" was enough, i dont need to see the rest of the film (like that terrible THREE KINGS trailer, thanks for ruining the movie assholes! greely, youre an idiot). look at the WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH trailer. how many shots of bond moving away from an explosion with camera in front of him are there? a dozen? christ, it looks worse than TOMORROW NEVER DIES! that was the worst bond movie ever. Cineman, wez gots ta stick tagether.
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but it makes me gleam with pride that ice cube is now reguarded as a actual actor and not just another rap crossover, there is only a list of few who have done that: ll cool j, will, smith, the late and great tupac and ice cube
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I saw three movies today, and in each case there was one or two trailers that really intrigued me. First of all, what's up with The Minus Man trailer? There's a fine line between teasing, and totally leading the audience astray, leaving them stranding with little relevant information about said movie on which to make a viewing decision. That said, I laughed out loud at that trailer. Having not been out of the house in a while, today was my first viewing of both the Stir of Echoes and Stigmata trailers, both of which I thought did a pretty good job. Actually saw two versions of Stir of Echoes, and the hacked-up one wasn't nearly as compelling as the longer one, so I'm not sure that length of trailer is a factor, so much as depth of movie it plumbs. I was VERY intrigued by American Beauty, having heard nothing about this film. Overall, I thought the trailers with Blair Witch, which I saw in wide release today, worked just terrifically with the film, really targeting the audience. And to be honest, the most interesting trailer I've seen in weeks was on a movie rental the other day, something about someone named Sebastian Coe with a transsexual, possibly dad. Anyone know anything about this film? Sorry to go on, but I movie-viewed all day by myself, and haven't been able to hash out my experiences with sleeping husband yet.
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...which would be Martin Scorsese's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD trailer.
It hit me so fast when I saw it at Mann's Chinese; I was hardly expecting it! But it is there, and for you Scorsese fans, it looks like he is going back to the basics once again (Paul Schrader script--it seems to have a Taxi Driver feel). Oh, and for those of you worrying about Nic Cage, he appears to be in a Leaving Las Vegas/Moonstruck mode. I can't wait!! -
Jul 31, 1999 12:28:11 AM CDT
I saw the best preview i've ever seen in my life today...
by billy idol
Today, in front of Blair Witch, i saw THE BEST trailer I've ever seen in my life for a movie called Minus Man. I don't want to go into detail because it will ruin the trailer (i know this sounds strange but trust me... and if you've seen this trailer then you know what i'm talking about). But just thought i'd make a quick little post to let everyone know to PAY ATTENTION when this trailer comes on, because at first it's kinda slow. Billy Idol out.
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Have to agree with Billy Idol. The trailer for "The Minus Man" is hands down the coolest I've seen all year.
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Um, Denzel plays something a bit more than a parapalegic, poor guy was a top forensics detective who, thru a large beam fallin' on him (in a flashback/dream sequence) becomes quashed. The poor guy can only move his head, right shoulder and left index finger and suffers from seizures which could render him a virtual vegetable at anytime and he wants to end it a la kervorkian, but before he can, his buddies come to him and ask for help on a case which Angeline Jolie (a cop bucking for a cushier job workin' with juveniles) stumbles upon and happens to have taken great care in securing the crime scene. Denzel then has her work as his eyes/ears in solving the mysteries behind 'Seven' styled serial killings, they're pretty brutal. It's not a bad movie overall, somewhere between Seven and Kiss the Girls. Take it for what it's worth. I guess not too many people are interested in this since it's been tested two times that I know of, I was lucky to catch one of those.
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Besides, I think it was Martin Scorsese who said you should never have your music commenting on the action of a particular scene. It's a commonly held view; hardly a new technique for films, or trailers (take a look at the pop song Miramax used to push SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, or the modern techno-esque music in the RAVENOUS trailer,) and, in regards to this particular song, only serves to show how unhip the marketers are (or, if he really did have that much input, sadly, Mr. O. Russell, who's work I greatly admire.) They should definitely go back to the drawing board on this one, because, as it stands, WB is succeeding brilliantly at alienating all audiences. Most white audiences groan when they see Ice Cube, most black audiences snicker when they hear Public Enemy nowadays, and the net effect is the entire theater booing the trailer. That's quite a tone to set. I'll table the Godard discussion. If you can't even respect the work, there's nothing to talk about.
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American Beauty: This was a great trailer. I am a huge Kevin Spacey fan and this looks like (and I have heard from a few people) to be one of his best films. Also noteowrthy is director Sam Mendes who directed the broadway play "The Blue Room" (famous for showing Nicole Kidman's rear for a few seconds). Looks very good, and come October 1 I will "look closer."
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I can understand some folks not wanting the trailer to reveal too much about the film that might spoil the suspense. But please, Joan of Arc? What about this story will leave any one in suspense no matter what the trailer shows? SPOILER ALERT: Joan is burned at the stake in the end! Gee, did I ruin the story for you? It's like watching North & South and being surprised that the South loses. How many people watched Gettysberg and were in suspense thinking that Pickett just might make it? A trailer should SELL the film. It's advertising. Some trailers do show too much. Some trailers show all the best scenes, because there are only about 2 minutes of "best" scenes in the entire film. But if your going to select examples of trailers that don't give away the story, pick ones that have a lesser known story.
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THE INSIDER got a pretty good reaction- everyone paused in awe when they saw Pacino. BRINGING OUT THE DEAD was crazy and utterly fun. Some people didn't know what to think of it, and others (including myself) loved it to death, but everyone responded in someway. a campaign getting a lot of talk is for FIGHT CLUB. I cannot wait, and Fincher's style really shows in the ads. This one might be really special. I've only seen the 60 second teaser which was more often then not attached to the Fox combo trailer in front of Star Wars, and a longer version B. But I heard there are more, even crazyier trailers- including ones with Pitt and Norton giving public service announcent like speeches only to catch the audience totally off gaurd and end by saying something like "urine is sterile- you could drink it." THE BEACH had slightly negative responces- easy to understand because of the anti-Leo thing and the fact that the trailer is pretty much gratuitous shots of people jumping off cliffs several times and Leo in skimpy clothes along with a girl in even skimpier clothes. But it's a Danny Boyle movie, which usualy means something good is in store. Fox should focus more on the director's style and the story instead of trying to captialize on Leo in the next trailer they make for that film. The Boyle/Hodge formula is there- a judgement reflected by the monologue Leo gives through the trailer, reminicent of Shallow Grave and Trainspotting.
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Aug 01, 1999 11:05:28 PM CDT
FIGHT CLUB trailer is great and I actually might go see THE BEAC
by tall_boy
even though Leo gives me a rash like any other guy out there, I love Trainspotting ahd Shallow Grave. Hell, what self-respecting cinema geek doesn't?
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