In Contention

Tag: trailers

  • ‘Black Swan’ trailer

    There are two films I’m most looking forward to in 2010: the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” and Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” The trailer for the latter has just hit the web courtesy of Apple and it looks like an absolute stunner.  I’m hearing, awards wise, that it’s probably more of a Best Actress play for Natalie Portman than a Best Picture possibility, but we’ll know all of that sooner or later.  The trailer certainly reveals the film as a showcase for Portman, but Barbara Hershey also could be someone to watch for in supporting.  Check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • ‘I’m Still Here’ trailer

    In case you’re interested in the Casey Affleck documentary about his brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix’s attempt at a rap career and either serious-as-cancer or totally put-on downward spiral, the trailer for “I’m Still Here” has landed at Yaho0! Movies.  But is it just me or is this whole thing all a bit stale already?  How long ago was the Letterman appearance, anyway?  And the weird red carpet interview?  Oh well, check out the trailer by clicking the image below or watch the embed after the jump.

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  • ‘Avatar: Special Edition’ trailer

    You didn’t think you were out of the 2009 awards season woods yet, did you?  No way.  James Cameron and 20th Century Fox are gonna squeeze the “Avatar” cash cow until the milk stops flowing, surely.  And with a big junket for “Avatar: Special Edition” in Los Angeles yesterday, and a new just-released trailer, it seems August 27 is the new “Avatar Day” with the theatrical re-release, including more footage, set to bow.  Check out the teaser trailer on the jump.

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  • ‘Love & Other Drugs’ trailer

    Sure enough, not long after posting that Entertainment Tonight first look at Edward Zwick’s “Love & Other Drugs,” the trailer has launched via Apple.  I stand by what I said in the original post and may even been anticipating it a bit more now.  Check out the trailer by clicking on the image below or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • ‘How Do You Know’ trailer

    It’s difficult to discount someone from the Oscar race when he has a 60% track record with the Academy.  Then again, James L. Brooks has only directed five films to date and his last, 2004’s “Spanglish” (which, full disclosure, I’ve always quite liked) went nowhere.  His sixth is set to hit theaters this fall from Columbia Pictures and may be a return to awards season form or not, but a new trailer from Yahoo! Movies reveals it as frothy and harmless with a fun performance from Paul Rudd, if nothing else.  Click on the image below to have a look or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • ‘Monsters’ poster and trailer

    A smart little horror-romance-road movie hybrid, and an eye-catching debut for British writer-director-DP-production-designer-FX-creator Gareth Edwards, “Monsters” was one of my top finds of June’s Edinburgh Film Festival, where it deservedly won the New Directors Award. Judging from this new poster and UK trailer, the film’s marketers are obviously feeding off the comparisons that have already been made to “District 9” — and though Edwards’s film is very much its own beast, it’s easy to see why they sense similar indie-genre-crossover potential. Keep an eye on this one. Poster (via IMDb) and trailer after the jump; read my review of the film here.

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  • ‘Tamara Drewe’ trailer

    This trailer has been hanging around for a few days, but since Stephen Frears’s countryside romp was recently tapped for the Toronto Film Festival, it seems appropriate to feature it now. I reviewed the film out of Cannes and found it singularly strained and irritating — the kind of thing described as “quintessentially English” by those who think “That’s Amore” quintessentially Italian. Nonetheless, it found a number of credible admirers on the Croisette, and will likely continue to do so in Toronto. See what you think. Click on the image below to check it out at Momentum Pictures, or watch the embed after the cut.

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  • ‘Certified Copy’ trailer

    Those who followed my Cannes coverage will know that “Certified Copy,” Abbas Kiarostami’s first film shot outside his native Iran, was comfortably my favorite film of the festival — and one of my favorites of the year, period. The Guardian posted the British trailer yesterday; they’re claiming an “exclusive,” though it’s actually been in UK cinemas since last week. I hesitated before posting this, and not only because a crisp embed has yet to emerge: the trailer doesn’t serve the film terribly well, though it’s admittedly a talky piece that’s tricky to market. It should, however, give you an inkling of why Juliette Binoche took well-deserved gold at Cannes — in a fair world, she’d be right in the thick of the Best Actress discussion. Click on the image to check it out at The Guardian, or watch the (slightly fuzzy) embed after the cut.

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  • ‘Sucker Punch’ trailer

    Warner Bros. turned quite a few heads with its presentation of “Sucker Punch” at Comic-Con.  The crowd was treated to an extended trailer featuring Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks,” which, of course, won’t likely ever be seen outside those walls given the rights issues with such a track.  But the new trailer has been released and it kind of gives you a vibe, but I still don’t get what the hell’s going on.  Intrigued, but confused. Click on the image below to check it out via Appple, or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • COMIC-CON: ‘Let Me In’ trailer

    I’m back from San Diego and will wrap things up throughout the afternoon, but this trailer for “Let Me In” hit during the convention and it goes a long way toward explaining my new-found excitement over the remake.  Head on over to MTV by clicking the image below or check out the embed (and yet another poster) on the jump.

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  • COMIC-CON: Red band ‘Machete’ trailer

    In all the back and forth and panel coverage, I’ve been trying to find time to post tid-bits like this.  With a few minutes’ rest before Marvel comes into Hall H and owns the joint, I figured I’d finally get to the recently released red band “Machete” trailer, courtesy of IGN.  Robert Rodriguez was here Thursday with some of his cast members serving tacos in downtown San Diego.  It was a modest but, I think, effective presence.  And now we get more blood and guts.  Click the image below to take a look or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • ‘The Company Men’ trailer

    The debut feature of director John Wells (best known for his TV work on such series as “ER” and “The West Wing”) garnered fairly reserved reviews at Sundance in January. The trailer, which hit yesterday via Yahoo! Movies, does play a little on the beige side, but the story is topical, the cast excellent (always nice to see Rosemarie DeWitt getting work) and The Weinstein Company is putting it out in the prime real estate of late October. Maybe there’s something here. Maybe not. Judge for yourself by by clicking the link below, or watch the embed on the jump.

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  • Edinburgh fest kicks off with ‘The Illusionist’

    Last year’s Edinburgh Film Festival served me rather well, giving me my first look at “Antichrist,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Fish Tank,” “35 Shots of Rum,” “Mary and Max” and “London River,” all of which wound up in my Top 20 of 2009. (It was also where a little film called “The Secret of Kells” made its first awards bow, more than seven months before Hollywood cottoned on to it.)

    This year’s edition begins today; unfortunately, I’m unable to cover the entire fest this time, though I will be there for five days next week. Thanks to my other festival exploits this year, however, I am already acquainted with tonight’s opening film, “The Illusionist.”

    I reviewed Sylvain Chomet’s sublime beyond-the-grave Jacques Tati collaboration out of Berlin in February, and the film still sits comfortably atop my Best of 2010 list. Tonight’s Edinburgh premiere should be a sweet one, given how besotted the film is with that very city.

    More on the film, including a new trailer, after the cut.

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  • Kate Hudson sings in new ‘Nine ‘trailer

    The song “Cinema Italiano,” by the way, is one of the film’s original compositions vying for Oscar glory. Based on this snippet, I think some melody wouldn’t have gone amiss. But that’s me.

  • British critics fall hard for ‘The White Ribbon’

    Bianca Mey and Mika Ahrens in The White RibbonAmerican audiences will have to wait until 30 December to see Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner “The White Ribbon,” but today marks the film’s UK release — and critically, at least, it’s off to a flying start.

    The film has received unanimously glowing notices in the four major British broadsheets, with the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw and the Telegraph’s Sukhdev Sandhu both affording it five-star reviews. This reception should position the film well for the BAFTAs, whose foreign-language category has few rules and restrictions than the Academy’s, and tend to go for titles with the greatest balance of publicity and acclaim.

    Bradshaw gushes:

    It has chilling brilliance and icy exactitude, filmed in black and white with the lustre of liquid nitrogen, and its director, Michael Haneke, achieves a new refinement of mastery and audacity. He has created a film whose superb technical finish and closure seems to me in contrast to its status as an “open” text, a work which resists clear interpretation … This is a profoundly disquieting movie, superbly acted and directed. Its sinister riddle glitters more fiercely each time I watch it.

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  • Same-but-different ‘A Single Man’ trailer

    Well, they may have buggered up the poster, but they knew better than to mess with the gorgeous trailer we saw back in September. The Weinsteins’ first official trailer for Tom Ford’s startling debut replays the lush, wordless montage of the original, with a couple of Oscar-chasing quotes inserted for effect. (And not subtly, either: “There is already Oscar buzz for Julianne Moore” isn’t a critical endorsement, it’s a non-statement.)

    Regardless, it’s still neck-and-neck with “A Serious Man” (don’t tell me you’re still hazy on those titles) for the ‘trailer of the year’ distinction.

  • Same-but-different trailer for ‘It’s Complicated’

    Handily coinciding with its two male stars’ big news this week, the second trailer for Nancy Meyers’ romcom mostly overlaps with the first, with a few added flourishes.

    Despite having never liked a Meyers confection before, something about this one is working for me. Steve Pond has a mole who says the film is “absolutely terrific,” though of course that means little. Either way, mature audiences are going to turn out in droves for this.

  • French trailer for ‘A Prophet’

    I love it. Kris loves it. Anne Thompson loves it. And hey, Anjelica Huston loves it too.

    If you’re a little curious as to what the fuss is about, here is a subtitle-free glimpse of Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet,” handily the finest foreign-language Oscar contender I’ve seen so far. (Not that I’ve seen many. But this’ll take some beating.)