Topic: Trailer Recap

Trailer Recap: Young Adult

Last week, we posted the trailer for Young Adult, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody‘s new flick starring Charlize Theron. We’ve watched the teaser several times since then and decided it needed more analysis. Hence:

Young Adult tells the story of a woman named Mavis Gary who escapes New York City for a trip back to her little off-the-map hometown. Charlize Theron’s Mavis is a leather-clad stunner of a woman who swills whiskey like it’s coconut water. She is a Young Adult novelist. My own mother is a also Young Adult novelist, and sometimes her Yong Adult novelist friends will come over for get-togethers. They wear those rainbow-colored toe socks and are plastered after half a glass of Shiraz. More »

Trailer Recap: Machine Gun Preacher

There exists the story of an American man who found Christ, renounced his degenerate ways, and opened a Sudanese orphanage where three hundred war victims currently live. Hollywood distilled that story down to two hours, and this trailer compressed those two hours into three minutes.

This man to whom the story belongs is named Sam Childers, but I’m going to call him Gerard Butler because of the fact that here, he is played by Gerard Butler. The trailer opens on a motorcycle so that we can instantly understand the rebellious nature of Gerard Butler, who, in slicked-back hair and an earring, walks through glass doors basked in the halo-like glow of $200,000 worth of studio lights. In voice over, he says, “I’ve done a lot of things that I ain’t proud of.” More »

Trailer Recap: ‘Like Crazy’

Our new Trailer Recap feature gives attention to movie trailers we think warrant in-depth analysis. This time, we address Like Crazy, the upcoming Sundance darling that stars Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin.

This video is either the trailer for a romantic film about young people or a viral ad for an antidepressant; it’s impossible to be sure. We begin on Young People Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin, who appear to be in the throes of the particular type of romance that blossoms in dining halls and library tables and twin-size beds. They both seem the dreamy sort. Anton asks, “Would you mind reading me something?” More »

Trailer Recap: ‘Jack and Jill’

I posted the trailer for the upcoming Adam Sandler vehicle Jack and Jill a little while ago, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how ridiculous it is, and I decided it needed a more in-depth examination.

I’ve decided this movie should be titled Tyler Perry Regifts: Jack and Jill, so let’s all call it that from now on, okay? Terrific. And how does this delightful trailer start? As a documentary about Adam Sandler who has a fancy Hollywood job and a big house and a beautiful wife, played by Katie Holmes and her thetans. But pretty soon, the video devolves into fiction: Adam’s character must pick up his sister at the airport. Adam Sandler has never picked anyone up from the airport in his life! (Okay, okay, maybe one time he picked someone up from Burbank, maybe, but this definitely looks like a miserable, traffic-filled LAX trip to me.) More »