When Wes Anderson releases a new film, you should pay attention.  He’s one of the few American directors out there with a unique style and sense towards story and directing in film. When you see a Wes Anderson film, you know it, even if you never see his name on the credits.  On May 25th, his latest venture into quirk will be released. Moonrise Kingdom stars Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray and more in what looks to be a welcome throwback to the sweetness of Rushmore.

One problem. Is this TOO Wes Anderson-ey? In other words, is it so quirky that it walks the fine line of Anderson satirizing himself? We went down this route with another defined filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino. Death Proof was TOO much QT. You could almost feel him in the background clapping at everyone one of his scripted lines. Let’s hope not. This cast, this idea, this sepia toned cinematography has too much potential.

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.

Check out the trailer after the jump!

Share this:

I’ll probably lose the one ounce of credibility I have left here in speaking the truth on a very important subject matter. Tom Cruise is a great actor. And more importantly, he’s usually in good movies.

Say whatever you want about the man — Crazy, Annoying, Over Acting, Scientologist — I’m 100% all in on Team Cruise. Say what you want about his supposed fake marriage (ridiculous), sexual identity (who cares), or his acting chops (you’re wrong), Tom Cruise is the man.  Name another actor that can match up to this body of work:  The Outsiders, Top Gun, The Color of Money, Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, Mission Impossible franchise, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, and Minority Report. And that’s without even mentioning a few of his classics Risky Business and Cocktail.  Find your favorite actor/actress and check their movies on IMDB. NO ONE matches up to Mr. Cruise. No one. I’m not saying he’s the best actor, I’m just saying that he knows how to pick the right films. Even with his occasional duds, he always swings for the fences.

This is exactly why I don’t automatically dismiss a fourth film from the dying Mission:Impossible franchise. A few other reasons you should be interested:

• Brad Bird (director of the wonderful Iron Giant and The Incredibles) is making his live action debut as a director
• Jeremy Renner is the co-star
• Tom Cruise performed most of his own stunts. Want to see him jump out of the tallest skyscraper in the world (over a mile and a half UP)? I don’t care how much safety gear you have on, this man is crazy.  Check out the behind the scenes nuttery right HERE.

Now that you have been fully convinced WHY this movie has potential, check out the great trailer after the jump. Sometimes dumb action is good — especially when Tom Cruise is performing it. Watch Tom outrun an explosion. Watch him outrun a tornado looking thing. Watch him outrun Usain Bolt.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Release Date:  December 21st, 2011

Share this:

I’ve known for a few weeks that today, October 11th, was the day we’d get the first real teaser trailer for next summer’s blockbuster The Avengers.  And ever since I’ve known this, I’ve been wanting to hate everything that I saw. Thor gave me a sour taste in this franchise. Captain America was good, but instantly forgettable. And let’s not talk about how terrible the last Iron Man movie was. But The Avengers is everyone together — including The Hulk and Hawkeye. It’s the Dream Team of superhero movies. It’s Lebron/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh. It’s Jay-Z/Kanye watchin’ the throne. The whole gang is together as one unstoppable force. Yay!

Did I hate it? No. Did it get me excited for the film? Not at all.

First off — fire whoever had final say on the music used here. Terrible.  And while lots of stuff be explodin’ and jokes be flyin’ around — something seems completely ho-hum about it all. Robert Downey Jr. is always good — so his lines worked. But something is off about this trailer. Maybe it’s the fact that Thor is a God working alongside a bunch of gadgets. Why would he need these humans? He has the hammer.  Maybe it’s the fact that Samuel L. looks like he’s just phoning it in — reading lines, not acting. Or possibly it’s my most hated move in action movies. The land on one knee and hand while slowly raising your head move that Scarlett Johansson pulls at the 1:24 mark.

After the jump, decide for yourself. Are you ready to assemble? Or are you ready for something fresh and new?

Share this:

Early buzz around this film promises this one to be darker and edgier than Reitman’s previous three films, but still stays true to his impressive slate. This trailer does a great job of introducing the characters, while promising much more under the surface.  In my opinion, Reitman has gone 3 for 3 in directing. I’ve loved all of them equally for vastly different reasons.  If Diablo Cody reels in her Diablo-ness (see: every piece of dialogue in Juno), this could be another hit (and Oscar nod) for her. I’m predicting this one hits it out of the park and gets the Best Picture & Best Director Oscar nominations — at the very least. You heard it here first. Ka-BOOM!

Check out the trailer after the jump.

Academy Award(R) winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.

Young Adult

Release Date: December 19th

Share this:

I’m a huge fan of Mad Men. I love Boardwalk Empire. And my all time favorite TV Series is The Wire. Now that I have a 15 month old son — Don Draper, Nucky, and Omar no longer dominate my television. Instead of violence and a whole lotta philandering, the character on my TV represents nothin’ but love. That’s right, I’m talking about Elmo. Love him or hate him, Elmo has become the face of Sesame Street for the past decade plus.

But who is the hand and voice behind the iconic puppet? Look no further than a documentary I’ve been waiting on for some time, Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey. The film has been a crowd pleaser at the festival circuit (it premiered at Sundance at the beginning of the year). The film is about the unexpected rise of Kevin Clash, the voice behind Elmo. It also has a parallel focus on the man that dominated (and still dominates) our childhood, Jim Henson. It’s rare to see behind the scenes of Muppets or Sesame Street puppets. Even if you hate the thought of children or hated your childhood, you have to admit that the world of children’s television is full of intrigue. What really is the story behind these people that have our children so happy and intrigued?

I’ve heard many great things about the film. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll have a better appreciation for the street we call Sesame.

After the jump, check out the first trailer.

Release Date: November 4th

Share this:

His next film, Alps, is set for an October date and is promised to be “darker, stranger, and funnier” than Dogtooth.  Stranger, huh? The synopsis:

A Nurse, a Paramedic, a Gymnast and her Coach have formed a service for hire. They stand in for dead people by appointment, hired by the relatives, friends, or colleagues of the deceased. The company is called Alps while their leader, the Paramedic, calls himself Mont Blanc. Although the Alps members operate under a discipline regime demanded by their leader, the Nurse doesn’t.

The teaser after the jump is great. Without the above synopsis, you have no clue what you are seeing. On the surface, it’s a bunch of nonsense. The music played is “O Fortuna”, which has dominated MANY film trailers (Waterworld, A Clockwork Orange, and more) and films (The Doors, The Hunt For Red October, and more) of the past and present. It’s essentially an awards bait tune. And this trailer thumbs it’s nose with a great sense of humorous parody.

Check out the head scratching trailer after the jump. And if you haven’t seen Dogtooth yet, do yourself a favor and disturb yourself this weekend. Queue it up on Netflix — you can also stream it!

To further push the strange, the press kit for the film also includes the “Rules of the Alps.”

THE 15 RULES OF THE ALPS
Alps members:

• 1. Must declare in advance the things they are unwilling to do by filling out Form (e.g. kissing, lifting weights, travelling etc.)
• 2. Must declare in advance the things they are good at by filling out Form (e.g. dancing, waterskiing, discussing etc.)
• 3. Must have some basic knowledge of psychology and sociology.
• 4. Are obliged to support, under all circumstances, the interests of the Alps group.
• 5. Must respect each other.
• 6. Have the right to change their nickname only twice. They cannot choose a nickname belonging to another Alps member. The nickname must strictly be the name of a mountain in the Alps, and not something general or irrelevant (e.g. Blonde, Master, Dragon etc.)
• 7. Can never talk about Alps activities with non-Alps members.
• 8. Are obliged to take the Gymnastics Club Test, if necessary.
• 9. Must be over 14 years of age.
• 10. Should always be smart, clean, punctual, and in complete control.
• 11. Must never get emotionally involved with clients, or have intimate relations with them.
• 12. Cannot change their physical appearance without the Leader’s permission (e.g. dye hair, lose or gain weight, wear coloured contact lenses etc.)
• 13. Must be able to make convincing facial expressions (sadness, happiness, despair etc.)
• 14. Must honour the title of their membership, and be ready to kill or die for it.
• 15. Must never attack one another, and must believe in teamwork.

Mont Blanc, Leader of the Alps group
January 2008

Share this:

One of my most anticipated movies of the year is so far under the radar right now, you’ve probably never heard of it. Drive, boasts the solid cast of Ryan Gosling, Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks. If that doesn’t whet your cinematic appetite, it’s also directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson) who just happened to win Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for this film. If you still don’t care, move along.

After the jump, you’ll see what looks to be a unique spin on the common heist movie. Old school car chases, bad guys being bad, a reluctant hero, and a bit of romance thrown in.  What more can you ask for? Add the gritty “in your face” direction of Refn and this could be one of the best of the year. Positive buzz from the film festival circuit was heavy around this one. I, for one, cannot wait.

Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Release Date: September 16, 2011

You’ll find the redband trailer at the top of the page after the jump…

Share this:

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer from Batman-News.com on Vimeo.

The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer is finally upon us.

Most of this trailer is made of footage from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (Bruce Wayne walking up to Ra’s village, the bats around him in the cave, smashing of the bat signal, etc.) but for the first time in a Dark Knight teaser trailer, we actually get real footage. That’s Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon) mumbling something about that fact that they need Batman to come back (I get that he’s hurting and in a hospital bed, but cmon! Can barely understand what the hell he’s saying). And we get a glimpse of Tom Hardy as Bane.   This is the film to see in 2012. It’s the final Christopher Nolan Batman movie. It might be THE event film of the decade. That’s right.

At the end of the trailer, we get a quick glimpse at Batman squaring off against Bane (Hardy). Check out Tom Hardy in Bronson HERE. I think we can all agree Batman has no chance.

The Dark Knight Rises

Release Date: July 20th, 2012

Check out the trailer after the jump.

Share this:

You’ll get a Herbie the Love Bug joke and Charlie Day being Charlie Day (which is all one should need).  Did I mention a Herbie the Love Bug joke? Where else are you gonna find that?

Please note: As I mentioned, Jennifer Aniston is in this movie. The chances of it actually a) being good and b) succeeding – are very slim. Look at her track record. Just sayin’.  I do not want to take responsibility for this one. This trailer looks great — but be cautious. ButtaFace Aniston is a movie curse.

Horrible Bosses

Release Date: July 8th, 2011

Share this:

The Muppets movie has taken this opportunity to unleash another parody trailer. This time Green Lantern is their target.  And it looks so much better than the power ring movie.  They have done a great job of walking the fine line of parody and self-awareness in all of these teaser trailers so far. After the jump, see the real man of Green: Kermit D. Frog.

Share this:

Karen O wails + Trent Reznor beats = Remake of Led Zepplins’ “Immigrant Song.”

Daniel Craig + Rooney Mara + David Fincher = A grim, bloody, nail biter.

And that’s just the trailer.

After the jump – check out the best trailer I’ve seen in awhile. Turn up the sound and enjoy.

Share this:

OK, regardless of what you’d think…check out the trailer after the jump. It’s easily one of my most anticipated of 2011.

After the jump, you’ll be green with envy. And “Like” the Green With Envy Facebook page HERE.

Share this: