Posted Nov 22nd 2008 12:02PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash, Family Films, Trailers and Clips

Trailers? Oh yeah, we got your trailers here.
Star Trek Like a lot of people, I got my first glimpse of this one when it played with
Quantam of Solace last weekend. While this will obviously play hell with
Star Trek continuity, I am one Trek geek who is looking forward to the J.J. Abrams take on the franchise. It opens on May 8.
Astro Boy Here's a teaser for the CGI animated adaptation of the classic anime about a robot boy built by a scientist to replace the son he lost. The trailer doesn't give us much to go on, but the impressive voice cast includes
Freddie Highmore,
Nicolas Cage,
Kristen Bell,
Donald Sutherland,
Eugene Levy, and
Nathan Lane. Things get cosmic on October 23.
CoralineI find it odd that Neil Gaiman's name isn't mentioned in the trailer, since the film is based on his novella. Gaiman isn't a household name but I would have figured he was well enough known to catch a few people's attention. Nevertheless, this stop-motion animated feature from
Henry Selick, the director of
A Nightmare Before Christmas and
James and the Giant Peach, deals with a young girl who finds a pathway to a parallel world in which duplicates of her parents sport buttons for eyes. This deliciously creepy looking film will be in theaters on February 6.
Ice Age: Dawn of the DinosaursAll of our favorite characters return for this third installment of the series, and this time it's in 3-D. The only one we see in this new trailer is Scrat, on the trail of not just another acorn but apparently romance as well. The one hits on July 1.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Wrestling With The Truth About Trek
Posted Nov 19th 2008 6:02PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Horror, Romance, Trailer Trash, Family Films
This past weekend marked the biggest opening in history for a James Bond film and Daniel Craig proved that his successful reimagining of the character in
Casino Royale was no fluke. Here's the top five:
1. Quantum of Solace: $67.5 million
2. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: $35 million
3. Role Models: $11.1 million
4. High School Musical 3: Senior Year: $5.6 million
5. Changeling: $4.3 millionTwo new releases this week, including an animated comedy and a teen romance with a hint of horror.
BoltWhat's It All About: Animated family feature from Disney about a canine actor who doesn't realize the amazing feats he performs on television are really just special effects. Featuring the voices of
John Travolta,
Miley Cyrus, and
Malcom McDowell.
Why It Might Do Well: The trailer is appealing and slapping Miley Cyrus's name on anything geared at kids is like having a license to print money. Combine that with an 85% fresh rating at
Rottentomatoes.com, and this one should open to impressive numbers.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The
Madagascar sequel is still out, so it may siphon off some of the audience
Bolt is shooting for.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $42 million
Twilight
What's It All About: A teenage girl moves to Washington state to live with her father and soon falls in love with a local boy. Her new heartthrob, however, has no heart beat as he and his family are vampires.
Why It Might Do Well: Twilight is based on a best-selling series of novels with an ardent fan following ensuring that come this Friday theaters will be filled with goth-tinged teen angst both on an off screen.
Why It Might Not Do Well: I don't see that happening. In fact I think this will be the number one flick.
Number of Theaters: 3,200
Prediction: $44 million
The big question is how well
Quantam of Solace is going to do in its second week. I'm betting that both of the new releases will outdo Mr. Bond, leaving him shaken but not stirred. Here's my prediction.
1. Twilight
2. Bolt
3. Quantum of Solace
4. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
5. Role Models
Continue reading Box Office: Twilight Arrives
Posted Nov 17th 2008 1:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips

Over the weekend, the new full-length
Star Trek trailer debuted in front of
Quantum of Solace, as well as in
shoddy bootlegged form over on YouTube. Thankfully, Paramount has finally debuted that sucker online in glorious HD, and you can
check it out over on Apple right now. Go ahead ... we'll wait here.
Since I've never been a hardcore
Trek fan (or Trekkie, or Trekker, or TrekWTF), I can't pinpoint all the little things this trailer either gets right or wrong regarding the
Trek mythology. I will say, though, that it looks to have all the makings of a big, exciting summer blockbuster and I'm sure audiences will devour it come May. Later on this evening,
Cinematical will be joining
Trek director
J.J. Abrams for a very special presentation of footage from the new film, so we'll definitely be back to let you know how it looks, feels, sounds, etc ... And if there's anything specific you'd like us to try to ask Abrams, let us know in the comments.
In the meantime, feel free to sound off on the new trailer below. Is this what you expected? And are you more excited or less excited about the film after watching this preview?
Star Trek arrives in theaters on May 8, 2009.
Posted Nov 14th 2008 12:20PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
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Potter and Pixar magic, a new
Watchmen trailer and Roland Emmerich courts the apocalypse once again. Here's what's happening in trailers:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceNot to be outdone by those vampires over in
Twilight land, Warner Bros. has released a brand new, full-length trailer for
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which, of course, should satisfy those Potter fanatics who were pissed the release date was pushed back from next week to this July. Check it out below:
2012If
Roland Emmerich hadn't chosen the career of film maker, I suspect he would have become a super villain as this film marks his third attempt to destroy the world
(after
Independence Day and
The Day After Tomorrow) -- and fourth if you count
Godzilla, though the big lizard confined the devastation to New York City. Evidence as to what can happen when a dripping faucet gets out of control, this teaser looks pretty darn spectacular. Whether or not the film has any soul to back up the effects remains to be seen, but it opens on July 10.
UpThis preview spends a fair amount of time reminding us of all the hits Pixar has had before giving us a glimpse of this newest effort. We meet Carl Fredricksen (
Ed Asner), a grumpy old man who devises a unique plan for dealing with urban sprawl that's encroaching upon his home. Still just a teaser here, so story info is light, but I'm betting Pixar has another winner on its hands when the flick arrives in theaters on May 29, 2009.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Harry Potter, Armageddon and Pixar
Posted Nov 7th 2008 9:03PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Trailer Trash, Family Films

We've got another bushel or so of trailers for films just over the horizon. How promising are they? You tell us.
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Dreamworks latest animated feature has a group of terrestrial monsters (a blob, a fish man, a giant bug, a human-sized cockroach/mad scientist and a very tall woman named Susan) fighting off an alien attack. This homage to 1950s sci fi features the voices of
Seth Rogen,
Will Arnet,
Paul Rudd,
Hugh Laurie,
Reese Witherspoon,
Kiefer Sutherland,
Rainn Wilson,
Stephen Colbert and looks flat out awesome. It opens on March 27 but I really want to see it NOW.
Pink Panther 2
While it's hard for me to work up much enthusiasm for a sequel to a remake I didn't see which was based on a series that had pretty much run out of steam by the end,
Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau does have an endearing charm and I found myself hoping the damn fool doesn't get himself killed falling down stairs, impersonating the pope and brawling with eight year old karate students. Also, this time Inspector Dreyfus is played by
John Cleese who I think is one of the funniest guys on the planet.
Pink Panther 2 hits theaters on February 6.
Cadillac Records
Set in 1950s Chicago, this one follows the lives of musical legends such as Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf and Elvis Presley, with a cast that includes
Beyonce Knowles,
Adrien Brody and
Mos Def.
Cadillac Records comes out on December 5.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Monsters, Panthers and Fanboys
Posted Oct 31st 2008 9:02PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

Another gaggle of fresh previews this week featuring wizards, robots, and French school teachers. Here we go:
Angels and Demons -
Tom Hanks returns to the role of Robert Langdon in this prequel to
The Da Vinci Code based on the novel by Dan Brown. This time he is on the trail of an ancient secret organization called The Illuminati in an attempt to prevent a terrorist act against The Vatican. This teaser trailer doesn't give much to go on, but I'm sure fans of the books are getting all tingly.
The Class -
Francois Begaudeau, who wrote the screenplay and the novel on which this film is based, also stars in this French-language film as a teacher trying to reach a group of mult-ethnic students in a Parisian high school. Comparisons to
To Sir With Love seem inevitable, but this looks like it could be worth a look.
The Day the Earth Stood Still - (extended international trailer) - More
Keanu, more devastation and more Gort in this extended trailer. I'm torn here by the fact that this remake doesn't seem to get the idea of the 1951 original but still manages to look pretty cool on its own.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Angels, Hotels and Hogwarts
Posted Oct 25th 2008 9:32AM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash

We've got a pack of new trailers this week, and this being the Halloween season it's not surprising that quite a few are for horror flicks. We've also got super heroes, introspective middle aged men and angsty teens (as pictured above). Let's dive in, shall we?
Friday the 13th
The first trailer for the new
Friday the 13th remake arrived online during the week before Halloween. Kids. Screaming. You get it. Just as modern audiences seem to prefer the fast zombies of Zach Snyder's
Dawn of the Dead, Jason is much more nimble here than I remember him being.
Notorious
The first trailer for the much-hyped Notorious B.I.G. biopic
introduced itself to to us the other day. The film tells the life (and eventual death) story of the famous rapper from Brooklyn. Jamal Woolard stars as B.I.G. and Derek Luke does his best P. Diddy. This one is set for January 19.
Trick r Treat
Scott
first posted about a trailer for this cool looking horror anthology back in July of 2007. This looks great and word from a recent press screening is extremely positive, but unfortunately Warner Bros. doesn't know what the hell to do with it. Hopefully the new hype will convince them to chuck it out in a few theaters and give it to us on DVD sooner rather than later.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Tricks, Treats and Trailers
Posted Oct 18th 2008 5:02PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Horror, Music & Musicals, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash

This week I'm taking a look at trailers chosen purely on the basis of how much they caught my eye.
Marley and Me What caught my attention here was the idea that
Owen Wilson is yet again playing a man wrestling with his inability to grow up, kind of like he did in
Wedding Crashers and
You Me and Dupree. Is this a groove or a rut? This time out Wilson is playing a married man who is unsure about whether or not he's ready to be a father, so he and his wife (played by
Jennifer Aniston) test the parental waters by getting a dog. There's lots of cute doggie hijinx on display here, but between the
Beethoven flashbacks and the fact that I've yet to see a really good Jennifer Aniston movie, I think I'll be passing on this one.
Sunshine Cleaning In this indie comedy, two down on their luck sisters launch a business in which they clean up after crime scenes and untimely deaths. It's no one's dream job, but I can see there being a market for it. This is being touted as coming from the producers of
Little Miss Sunshine, and one of that film's stars (
Alan Arkin) appears here as the sisters' father. We've got some laughs and endearing characters here and there's a scene with
Amy Adams lounging fetchingly in her underwear. I'll be watching for this one. Check out
Kim's review of the film.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Standing Out in the Crowd
Posted Oct 11th 2008 10:03AM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Trailer Trash

All Hallow's Eve is approaching once again, and my favorite part of the holiday is all the corresponding movies that turn up on television and in theaters. October is already over a week old, so it's time to get into a Halloween frame of mind.
The Unborn
When I last saw
Odette Yustman she was one of several New Yorkers fleeing for her life from a large beastie with nasty pointy teeth in
Cloverfield.
The Unborn has her facing a different kind of evil, specifically the spirit of her twin brother who died in the womb, or perhaps it's an evil entity that hoped to enter the world through him (it's a little hard to tell). There are some nightmarish visuals on display here, and the crawling thing with its head twisted around both sticks with me and makes me wonder if it's an homage to the spider walk scene in
The Exorcist. The often cool
Gary Oldman also stars and the film is written and directed by
David S. Goyer, so I think there's something good and creepy here.
Just Buried
Not a horror flim this one, but rather an extremely dark comedy.
Jay Baruchel (who I will always remember as the Led Zeppelin loving nerd from
Almost Famous) plays a young man named Oliver who has inherited a funeral home troubled by a fierce competitor and a lack of business. The plucky young female mortician in his employ insists he can't shut down the funeral parlor and the two embark upon a path to drum up business and squash the competition by causing a few untimely deaths. Could be a nice slice of morbid fun here. Check out
Scott's review of the film.
The Uninvited
A young woman returns home from a stint at a mental hospital following her mother's untimely death, to find that her father has a new girlfriend (
Elizabeth Banks). There's also a ghost who is apparently trying to tell our former mental patient heroine that the girlfriend killed the last family she lived with. This is a much darker role than I'm used to seeing Banks play, and she seems to handle it well. This is a remake of a South Korean film called
A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon) which was once recommended to me but has languished in my Netflix queue for several years. The trailer has some creepy moments and I'll probably check this one out. Here's
Eric Snider's take on the trailer.
Let the Right One In
If you're going to attempt a vampire movie these days then you damn well better do something different with the idea, and it looks like the people behind this Swedish bloodsucker opus are clear on that concept. A bullied 12 year old boy finds both friendship and a tool for revenge in his new girlfriend who happens to be a vampire. Scott caught this one at Tribeca and penned a
pretty strong recommendation, and the flick will be playing on October 24 in New York City. Sadly, the rest of us are going to have to wait for the eventual DVD release.
House
No, it's neither that 80s horror flick starring William Katt or that doctor show on the Fox Network. This
House is a horror flick in which two couples find themselves trapped in a remote house and stalked by a lunatic calling himself the Tin Man. This one seems to meld classic slasher stuff with elements of slaughterfests like
Hostel and
Saw, none of which really appeals to me, and the cast isn't particularly interesting. I think I'll let this one slide.
New this week on AOL Moviefone:
Posted Oct 3rd 2008 12:03PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash

Bonjour! Buenos dias! Whassup! It's diversity week here at the Trailer Park and we're looking at previews for films from our about different cultures.
Dragonball
I've seen only a a few episodes of the Japanese cartoon on which this live action film is based, but I'm not seeing a whole lot here that reminds me of the anime. Frankly it reminds me more of
Mortal Combat Kombat. Like the original, this is a martial arts fantasy with prophecies, super powers, lots of action and a hero with preposterously spiked hair.
Chow Yun Fat is in there to add some action movie cred, but will that be enough? From what I've read the anime fans are not thrilled with this one, and it's not doing a lot for me either. I don't think this one if for me.
Amexicano
Here's a charming looking indie about a friendship between and Italian American and an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Bruno (
Carmine Famiglietti) is behind on his rent and reluctantly goes into the construction business, hiring Mexican day laborers to help him. When he hires Ignacio (Raúl Castillo) the two forge a bond despite the fact that Ignacio does not speak English. I'm looking forward to this one.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Diversity Edition
Posted Sep 29th 2008 10:45AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Monday Morning Poll, Trailers and Clips
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The first trailer for
Will Smith's new flick has just arrived online, and it's called
Seven Pounds ... and it was directed by Gabriele Muccino (
The Pursuit of Happyness) ... and it definitely looks like one of them tear-jerkers. (For those obsessive, need-it-right-now folks, you can watch the trailer after the jump.) In the film, Smith plays a guy who's feeling guilty about mistakes he's made over the years, and so he decides to help change the lives of seven total strangers. In doing so, he winds up falling in love with one of the aforementioned strangers, played by
Rosario Dawson. So here we have a movie about giving to others, it comes out December 19 (right in time for Christmas), and it stars our most precious A-list actor. Mmmm ... makes you just wanna wash it all down with a slice of apple pie.
Seven Pounds marks Big Willie's second trip to the multiplex this year, after first starring in the summer superhero action/adventure
Hancock. A quick glance at his previous two films spots a similar pattern of action blockbuster and quiet drama -- and even though Smith will always guarantee you great numbers on opening weekend no matter the genre, one wonders which version of the man you all prefer? For ten bucks, would you rather spend it watching Will Smith kick ass on a $200 million budget, or would you prefer to spend the time with his gentler, Oscar-nominated side? Or, would you rather watch the man star in more straight-up comedies, a la
Hitch?
How do you like your Will Smith?
Related: Fan Rant: Will Smith Needs to Play a VillainContinue reading Monday Morning Poll: Will Smith vs. Will Smith
Posted Sep 26th 2008 7:30PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Fandom, Trailer Trash, Brad Pitt, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
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A brand new trailer for
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has just arrived online via Apple (
head there to view it in brilliant HD). Directed by David Fincher,
Benjamin Button stars
Brad Pitt as a man who's born old and slowly begins to age backwards. The film tells his life story -- one that follows him through a war and a love story with Cate Blanchett (the two also starred opposite one another in
Babel). And in true extended trailer fashion, this one gives us a lot more meat -- snippets of scenes and dialogue from across the entire film. Visually, it looks stunning, and I wouldn't be surprised if this freakish flick hit the radar hard come Oscar time. Check out a few stills from the trailer up top and below, then
head over to Apple to view the whole thing.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hits theaters Christmas Day.
Whaddya think?
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Posted Sep 26th 2008 4:32PM by Raven Snook
Filed under: Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Halloween's still a month away, but these films all have some afterlife in them.
The Spirit The second trailer for the highly anticipated adaptation of Will Eisner's classic graphic novel looks a lot like Robert Rodriguez's
Sin City. That's not surprising, since comic book great
Frank Miller not only co-directed that flick, he also wrote the book it was based on.
The Spirit marks his solo directorial debut, and he's definitely got the film noir thing down. After a rookie cop is brutally murdered, he's resurrected as the title character (
Gabriel Macht), a masked crime fighter dedicated to keeping the city streets safe. Of course he has to vanquish a supervillain (
Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus) and a couple of femme fatales, first. It's clearly got a dark vibe, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. There's a bunch of one-liners in the trailer. My favorite: "Somebody get me a tie ... and it sure as hell better be red!"
Continue reading Trailer Park: Deadly Tales
Posted Sep 25th 2008 3:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, SXSW, Cannes, IFC, Fandom, Trailer Trash, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Cinematical has just received this cute and quirky exclusive trailer for
The Pleasure of Being Robbed (watch it below), which marks the feature directorial debut of Joshua Safdie, and is a comedy that revolves around a kleptomaniac who touches the lives of everyone she steals from. Eleonore Hendricks stars as the attractive, fearless and stealthy thief, and also co-wrote along with Safdie.
Pleasure first debuted back at the SXSW Film Festival before hopping across to Cannes where IFC eventually picked it up, and it's left a trail of great buzz all summer long.
The Pleasure of Being Robbed will enjoy an exclusive theatrical run at the IFC Center in New York City beginning October 3, and will be available On Demand as part of IFC's Festival Direct (which I love, and have used multiple times) on October 22.
Bonus points go to the reader who can name the artist and song in the trailer. (And yes, this is for purely selfish reasons ...) Enjoy.
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