Happy Trail-ers

Remember the days before the internet when you could actually see a trailer for the first time in theaters? That magical moment where you get your first glimpse of a new movie and those butterflies that erupted in your tummy. These days, trailers are posted to the internet almost simultaneously or even weeks before they are attached to film, totally negating the experience of taking in a film's first unveiling on the sexy silver screen.

Admittedly, I watch most trailers for the first time online so I don't have that opportunity to take it in on a big screen. Now you may ask, "Well, why don't you just wait until you see the trailer in theatres?" to which I'd reply "That would require self-discipline, which my ample thighs can corroborate I have none." But in any case, I'm happy to say that we are in a golden age of trailers. You may have some clunkers here and there, but the Inception teaser is evidence alone of a trailer done right. Sure it’s easy to throw a deep voice across some killer shots and lace it with an epic soundtrack. Still, there is that precarious balance a trailer seeks between showing too much or showing too little. Like a woman's skirt, it should be short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the essentials. A good trailer captures the tone and gives you a taste of what to expect from the movie. So let me unveil 5 of what I think are the most enticing trailers in the last couple of years.

5. Cloverfield (2008)

In one of the most entertaining viral campaigns in ages, Cloverfield's trailer gave us what is truly a rarity these days, a surprise. Originally entitled 1-18-08, the trailer debuted in front of Transformers to a big "huh?" to everyone who saw it. J.J. Abrams and crew did an awesome job of keeping this trailer under wraps in a time where it is increasingly difficult to keep a movie secret with the 24-hour news cycle. This trailer kinda simmers for the first 30 seconds, establishing the hero at his going away party. Things are pretty ordinary; that is until the lights go out and the sky falls. For the element of surprise and seeing the Statue of Liberty's head torn off and thrown into a Manhattan neighborhood, you've got to give it up to Cloverfield for sparking some serious interest. 

4. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Featuring the song "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire, this trailer surely upped the amount of itunes downloads as soon as it debuted.  It's such a delight to see movies that find a song that really "gets" what they are talking about. And the trailer uses the song beautifully. In first couple seconds where Max rides the back of Carol, you're immediately transported into another world. And those graphic cuts at 1:29 just provide the short with a new life going so perfectly to the song. It has this sort of jaunty, upbeat feel that really calls up feelings of being a kid. The trailer certainly taps into the feelings of nostalgeia we all had in reading this book and the trailer takes advantage, not in a sleazy way though.

3. The Incredibles (2005)

Pixar does something pretty awesome with their trailers. They usually make footage expressly for their teaser and release it before the preceding movie; so you always have something to look forward to for next year. This teaser is a little one note, but expressly captures the themes the film deals with. Nostalgeia. Feeling over-the hill. Recapturing youth. They meld it all into this funny little short, where Mr. Incredible receives a call to defeat the evil-doers of the world. But first he has to get on his belt. Again, Pixar I tip my hat.

2. The Dark Knight (2008)

So The Dark Knight. Yep. Yes it is a modern classic. The trailer perfectly primes you for the main attraction of the film, Heath Ledger's Joker. By the time this trailer was released, people were fiending for a taste of his performance. And they were not disappointed. I can't tell you how many times I watched it in the 14 billion months it took for it to come out. Supported by his lip-smacking voice-over, the reveal at :33 is just an excellent to show The Joker in all his creepiness.

1. Up in the Air (2009)

I don't have much to say about this one. The silhouettes. The overhead shots of lonely cities. The cloudy long shots. And George Clooney's voice over provides an introspective introduction to the film's ideas about lonleiness and human contact. The song "Genova" just sets this mellow, yet gloomy rhythm. Again, it just kinda works. The movie is awesome too by the way.

Honorable mentions go out to The Social Network, Watchmen, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Happy Trails...

Pixar Dust?

Pixar's brillance is well-known. The studio has released 10 consecutive critically acclaimed and successful box-office hits that put the rest of the industry to shame. Probably the only thing more envied about this studio is their painstaking, critical, creative process. They take one movie at a time and work on it for 4-5 years, constantly reworking story, characters, and running each tiny element and shot through the gauntlet. The "Brain-Trust" is perhaps the most interesting element of Pixar's moviemaking. The "Brain-Trust" is a collection of Pixar's Godfathers, if you will, composed of Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton, John Lasseter, and Lee Unkrich to name a few. It's a collection of Pixar's most successful directors responsible for Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and my personal favorire The Incredibles. Each movies is pitched frequently to this group of story geniuses and have their movies ripped to shreds, telling what's working, what will work better, and what should never see the light of day.

So it seems now, Disney is recognizing how legit Pixar is and entreating their help for some in-house story consulting. Both The Muppets movie and Tron met with the Pixar Brain Trust in order to glean some achievement from these guys. Though they are still pretty much under the Disney umbrella, it's cool that they enlisted Pixar, who in all right is running animation these days. Sure Dreamworks makes more money, but they certainly don't wow (I haven't seen How to Train Your Dragon). Anyway, I hope it sparks a trend actually. It reminds me of the early days (for me) during the 90's of the string of musicals where they had a similar story contribution format. A sort of free-flowing contribution of ideas that really contributed to the brilliance of that time. Personally, I'm not that into Tron or The Muppet Movie. But after hearing this news I can be persuaded. Here's hoping a little Pixar dust works on these movies.

Moist Dreams

If you’ve been following my blog lately, you know how moist I’ve been for Inception. The teaser was easily the best trailer I’ve seen in years— rivaling that of Cloverfield in 2008—and it instantly whetted my appetite. Christopher Nolan follows up The Dark Knight inspiring a fervent amount of hype and hullabaloo with probably the most ambitious and improbable summer film in years. I say ambitious because the film is an original screenplay; I say improbable because Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures (who also produced The Dark Knight) actually ponied up the 160 million dollars to fund such an idea (the-numbers.com). If you haven’t done your research, Inception follows Dom Cobb, a thief who invades the dreams of his targets to extract dreams as he undertakes his greatest challenge of inception, planting an idea into the human mind. I'm going to tell you why I'm still moist from the experience.

Leonardo Dicaprio gives another fine performance as Cobb. He’s tasked with bringing a sense of heaviness as Cobb is simultaneously tormented by the death of his wife and his separation from his children. Shutter Island was a little more inspired admittedly, but I found his Cobb interesting. He's a man given little choices who must test his own abilities, stubbornly tabling his own faults in order to control his destiny. The cast of characters equally give delightful turns rounding out Cobb’s squad of idea stealers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt impresses again, playing Cobb’s right-hand man, holding his own against a mammoth actor like Leo. Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, and Tom Hardy are also bright spots rounding out the cast of fellow dream invaders. There is just enough color in the characters to enjoy seeing them, but not enough for you to need to know their life story. It’s Cobb’s movie and they play their role.



Tonally, the film definitely is sweeping. Each scene pushes into the next not giving a lot of time to catch your breath. This isn’t a knock by any means especially considering that it is an action film. And like a true action film, Nolan has a swift touch in pushing the film’s pace, a heady task considering how complex the world is. Yet here lies one of the film’s faults. The film disseminates exposition quite well considering how complex the film is; however, it may feel at times the characters are holding your hand and taking you aside to tell you why and how things happen in this world. I don’t knock the film too hard because this is an interesting and complex world that deserves some time to explain itself. Nolan covers some of it well with some conflict, and rarely does it hamper the film’s pace or detract from the experience.

Another common criticism is the film’s lack of emotional core. I can’t quite see this movie as being completely hollow and devoid of stakes. The film is grounded in Cobb’s attempt to get back to his children and the anguish he feels over his wife’s suicide. Nolan uses that throughline to explore human consciousness and our ability to root gnawing guilt and sadness deep down in our heads. The film deals with how our feelings and emotions pervade uncontrollably in the things we do and what we try to accomplish, like planting an idea in someone’s head. The story does a fine job of engaging and appealing intellectually to the viewer. If you can take the ride, it will give you some ideas to ponder on the ride home. Leaving the theatre, I heard scores of different conversation pontificating on the film’s ending, the logic of the universe, and generally how awesome the movie was. The last 40 minutes of the film involves some great intricate storytelling. I don’t want to give too much away (and truly I can’t because it’d take 20 minutes to tell you the logic of the world) but the third act is a masterful juggling act of storylines across several layers of consciousness.



I can say, visually, it definitely did not disappoint. Wally Pfister and Nolan have again succeeded in creating a beautiful film, mixing handheld action scenes with high-speed photography. The cinematography creates distinct looks for each setting that the film’s characters interact in. No matter where you are, whether, Paris, Mobassa, or Calgary, the film delineates its settings in an appropriate manner. Pfister stated in an interview with Variety that he gave each scene a distinctive color to ground the viewer in each setting. This strategy worked aesthetically, but also within the context of the narratives dreamy subjective landscape. Also, the action sequences are, forgive me for geeking out, fucking phenomenal. One set piece, teased in the trailer, in which Joey Gordon-Levitt shows off some acrobatics in a tumbles along a spinning hotel hallway in an effective and jaw-dropping action sequence. It was an impressive feat, and I can’t wait for the DVD explaining how they did it.

The Elixir: Inception is far from a perfect movie. In fact, bloggers have already descended like vultures to tear the film’s logic apart. Personally, I’ll wait to watch it again before I jump even harder on this movie’s nuts. Nonetheless, Inception was a welcome and an inspiring anomaly in today’s summer film market. Visually breathtaking, Inception engages your eyes as well as your brain in a grand scale. These are the types of movie’s remind me why I want to make movies. I can only hope that good word of mouth propels it forward and inspires similar endeavors.

High Concept, now in 3-D

In Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Robert Altman criticizes the state of the movie industry. He states, “Last summer trying to find a picture to see, I went to the two multiplexes in Beverly Hills. Every single screen was playing Lost World, Con Air, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Face/Off….It’s just become one big amusement park. It’s the death of film.” Bear in mind, that book came out in 1998. It’s a saddening reality that he could have said this last summer (except for the fact that he’s dead now).

I’m sure you’ve experienced it. Whether watching television or sitting in a theater, you can’t avoid being bombarded with advertisements of the year’s supposed event pic, the one everyone will be talking about Monday morning. But the big actioner or action rom-com often turns out to be little more than insipid, trivialized, drivel. Simple duds that wind up at Best Buy in three weeks after they open and on HBO in 9 months. So let’s get to the root of this thing. And why the only thing I have to look forward to for the rest of the summer is Inception.




The term high concept describes a film’s plot where usually the plot is succinct and easily digestible. Think for a minute. What’s the draw for Transformers? Go see robots that transform into cars, or other awesome things. How about Snakes on a Plane? It’s right in the title. Hollywood loves films like this. Why? They are easy to market, easy to explain. The more time you spend explaining what a movies is, the less time you have for telling me why to go see it. That doesn’t quite make sense. Let me explain. Time is money; it’s a pretty universal concept. If I can get you to recognize things that you already like and smush ‘em together into a mediocre hour and a half film, I don’t need to explain to you what it is and why you’re watching it. Movies like these are a boon for Hollywood agents and production companies looking for surefire hits. It’s a Burger King philosophy. Have it your way. Fry up a clichéd story beats, localize it to a specific protagonist, and plopping it down with a side of fries. So how did we to the unenviable position of such movies like Dance Flick? Two men are responsible: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.



You can’t talk about high concept summer blockbusters without two of the Granddaddies: Star Wars and Jaws. Jaws (1975) is recognized as the first perennial blockbuster. Universal Studios unleashed, what was in those days, a mammoth campaign and the first wide-release to fill the theatres to see the movie. Although early pictures like Gone With the Wind created a similar atmosphere, the summer event picture in its current iteration began with Jaws. Grossing 7 million dollars in its first weekend, it would eventually be the first movie to reach 100 million dollars (Boxofficemojo.com). And if Jaws wasn’t enough to convince Hollywood Star Wars cemented the legacy of the blockbuster, which grossed a staggering 122 million dollars in less than three months of its release (boxofficemojo.com).

It’s important to take a look at the consequences of the films’ glorious box office success and how today’s current climate of popcorn entertainment has hit a fever trough. The fact that the May-August months have regressed to a wasteland of oversimplified premises is a symptom of what can happen when the film industry gets a hold of a good idea. Yes, I think these films succeeded in creating a culture that I very much enjoy. These movies emphasized the importance and rightful place of escapist films that overwhelm you visually with action and excitement, giving the viewer enough to chew on thematically, but not taking itself too seriously. There is as much a need for bombastic mindless fun as high brow arty films. Jaws certainly captured a nice medium of the two.



But this method of moviemaking and distribution has evolved, or devolved, into the demographically specific content that we see today. Piranhas 3-D and Cats and Dogs: the Revenge of Kitty Galore owe their very specific audience targeting and simple premises to more than 30 years of movie marketing, explosive box office weekends, and market testing. Producers get lax thinking of the next big sensation. So they turn to tried and true ideas or research into features. It’s like reading the Cliff’s Notes before a big test or researching a paper on Wikipedia. So the quality of the big tentpole diminishes over the summers and we wind up with uninspired drawl that composes the summer of 2010. B movies earn the coveted spots of Memorial Day Weekend and July 4th. And don’t get me started on comic book adaptations.
Now there are some examples of solid concepts like 2009’s The Hangover. The Hangover was a movie itching to be made. The audience for a film like that is probably college-age to just out of college. You can’t get more of a dunk shot than making a movie about a hangover than that! Today, it’s a modern classic. I’ll even mention Talladega Nights. Of course, that came out in 2006 back when Will Ferrell was funny. But it was born out of an idea that was a slam dunk. In last week’s Entertainment Weekly in Summer Must Issue, he talks about how he leveraged a bidding war out of the idea of him driving a NASCAR. Cool,right?



So let’s not damn the whole idea of these movies because there is potential for some fun ideas. The issue is the sparseness of the movies. Simplicity isn’t the problem; it’s creativity and effort. The only course of action I suppose to vote with your dollars. Please people. Don’t cuddle up to movies during the night that you’ll just hate yourself for watching in the morning. Vote with your dollars people. And go see Inception; it’s going to be awesome, and we need more films like this during the summer.

The Wire...an honor and a pleaure

I don’t find it vital to discuss TV much since most of it is drivel. I can’t find a lot to recommend these as unfortunately. But about 3 months ago, I started on a journey through Baltimore that I do feel it quite vital to share with the world. The Wire is an hour long HBO drama widely hailed as THE best series of all time. It is also quite possibly THE most slept on show I've had the deep pain to try to advocate for. I finished it about 2 weeks ago and have just recently been able to let it sink in enough to share my feelings on it. I'm not going to try to spoil anything, but some thematic discussion may sour the experience or at least tip a few things that deserve to be surprises so be warned.

As simple as it is complex. As wide-reaching as it is intimate. The minds behind this show present a fictionalized Baltimore city from just about every narratively and dramatically interesting viewpoint focusing on the more depressing facets of our so called American Dream. Capturing an unflinching, unyieldingly truthful perspective on the American city, The Wire lets no one off the hook.



The Wire is much more than a simple crime show. This is not your regular cops and bad guys procedural with "ripped from the headlines" storylines. You can't describe it as anything less than an immersive, detailed, uncompromising experience focused on one bleakly disparate theme: The Game is the Game. One of the series' most recurrent character Omar repeats this notion reminding the characters and the audience that we've created a system in which transformation and transcendence is difficult, nigh impossible. Characters constantly engage their surroundings pushing and pulling grow. Hoppers are hoppers. Drug dealers are drug dealers. Muscle is Muscle.


America runs on a system. This system resists change and men and women who try to redefine themselves or challenge the system are chewed up and spat out. The brilliance of the show comes from the series’ ability to create a moral economy in which characters must abide. Characters try to work the rules to their benefit, but few find success in getting out. If they step out of what the world expects them to be, the consequences are fatal. Characters such as the beloved Stringer Bell and Wallace from season 1 are evidence of how our society resists change. Both of these characters find adversity in trying to improve their circumstances or deviate from the expectations put upon them.



The Wire examines at every level, the streets the courtrooms, the classrooms, how we are entrenched in a battle of poverty and fading values in which the corruption and ruthless govern. It never ceases...just keeps on going. It's a never-ending game in which the soldiers who blindly or even knowingly indoctrinate themselves into its rules survive. They prove this disparaging fact time and time again as the detectives, hoppers, and kingpins move in this concerted systematic program of routine busts, court hearings, slayed witnesses, and drug trials.



This TV show is more of a call to action than a simple Sunday entertainment choice. By no means am I saying that, The Wire isn’t entertaining. I just feel it’s necessary to point out that this show has more to offer than pure bland enjoyment that most networks offer. It reminds me of something I heard on the Taxi Driver DVD. Schrader, the screenwriter of Taxi Driver, discusses how some films, or more broadly entertainment, as being pure narcotic. He’s referring to fiction that lulls you into a soft state of complacency, giving you exactly what you want exactly how you want it. That is about the most contrary to The Wire. It’s a show that cannot be appreciated without assiduous attention, mental provocation, and an open mind in which to receive. The minds behind this show are speaking to America, holding a mirror to us and saying, “The Game is rigged.” I wish more television shows had the balls to take a stance on things, but I suppose they have their function. But in any case after an emotionally draining journey with the creators of The Wire it is with a serious and deep heart that I implore you to watch by any means necessary.

Medicine for My Melancholy

In the daze that shall be my summer of 2010, I'm thankful for the time i have to catch up on the movies that have been staring me in my face for the last couple months. One of which I am privileged to drop some praise upon entitled Medicine for Melancholy. MFM is a 2008 drama based in San Francisco picking up after the salacious one night stand of two black 20 somethings.



The guy, Micah, (played by the very talented Wyatt Cenac) is a racially conscious or more obsessed indie who loves San Fran, but is conspicuously not in love. The girl, Jo, (played by Tracy Heggins) enjoys the "now" more than she spends time thinking about the "later". But the films is more than the slowly unraveling, dawdling nothing narratives of the current times. MFM provides an underrepresented take on what it means to be black in today's society. Barry Jenkins' film works as a strong exploration of two young souls growing to understand and battle with each others views against a gorgeous urban back drop.



Barry Jenkins visual style is arresting as he favors these close intimate shots with the main characters. Somehow he trades from this intimacy to these epic shots of San Fran giving the film its meditative scope. Also, his purposeful shallow focus aesthetic builds upon the subject matter beautifully as the Micah and Jo attempt delve deeper into their relationship and the sometimes superficiality of society. Some may be turned off by the pervasive aesthetic,calling it heavyhanded, but it creates a unique visual voice for the film that I feel Jenkins and James Lipton (D.P.) capture brilliantly.



The visual style is supported, by the overall feel Jenkins creates. The moments aren't rushed; he allows the conflicts to develop and fester without cutting the scene. At the same time, Micah and Jo are given these moments in which they feel like kids in a playground examining life. Jenkins is successful in creating a frozen moment in time in which neither tomorrow or yesterday exist. Every scene holds together supporting this tryst in which these characters anger, discuss, challenge, and love each other.

I can emphatically suggest this movie for whatever means you use to watch movies. It plays extremely calm and smooth. It just feels good like a glass of juice in the morning.

Most Anticipated of Summer of '10

I lucking fove summer. If you've been reading along, you know how much I love the popcorn season complete with its high concept drudgery, ridiculous comic book heroes, and the talking dog comedies. (actually fuck the last one I hate those talking dog comedies....any talking animal really) But regardless the gems of summer are what I love about cinema. Those big enormous pictures are why I fell in love with film. I'm a simple man I guess. It is with great pleasure that I present my most anticipated movies of summer. (Click the name of the movie for the trailer) Btw sorry about the posters...they got panned and scanned...



5) Babies - Do I want to see it precisely because there are babies? Ok maybe a little, but I do carry a bit of caution with this pick for that reason alone. It's about babies, but I think it'd be an interesting exercise to see the human species and how we raise our young'uns. This pic is based solely on concept...hopefully execution will legitimate (used as verb) it.



4) Salt - Angelina Jolie is badass. 'Nuff said. But since I have some more space I'll tell you about how Salt was supposed to be played by Tom Cruise, but he turned it down because he thought it felt too much like Mission Impossible. Tom Cruise's leftovers? Maybe a tiny bit, but Salt looks like a classy beat 'em up action thriller. It's nice to see a female stepping into this testosterone filled genre. Again, cool concept.



3) Ironman 2 - Ironman was fun. It catches a lot of shit for mid-grade cgi and an underwhelming finale, but Robert Downey Jr's performance more than elevates its shortcomings. Tell me what other superhero film has a main character with that much charisma and presence. Exactly! Though it is getting some lukewarm reviews, I'm on board. Downey's performance is worth the price of admission.



2) Toy Story 3 - I recently went back and saw Toy Story and Toy Story 2. I hadn't seen Toy Story in friggin ages and can only remember tiny bits of Toy Story 2. I can't think of a better adjective to describe their detailed, whimsical, and goregeously plotted opus besides brillant. Pixar is so fuckin on it's ridiculous. I have no idea why they wanted to do a third movie, but I've learned in the last 15 years to not question pixar. Just watch and get ready to have your mind blown.



1) Inception - Leo, Nolan, Juno. What else do you need? I love mindbenders and the idea of having a blockbusting summer picture in which the premise involves a team of idea stealers. The sheer imagery of the trailer with the glass of water and the gravity defying settings just look breathtaking. The only things I'll hate about watching this is the feeling after watching the last frame of it, knowing I can never experience it for the first time again.