Where do you even begin with the first trailer for Bad Lieutenant, Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage's re-envisioning of Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult classic? Only unearthed on Wednesday despite having been on YouTube for several weeks now, the NSFW spot hums along fairly blandly until right around the one-minute mark, at which point everything goes nuts and you can start making your real judgments as to whether, as Ferrara insisted, these people should "die in Hell." It kind of looks like they already have. The video is after the jump.
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It's not too difficult to figure out the reasoning behind Paramount's decision to finally release Carriers, a pandemic thriller with Chris Pine shot way back in 2006. For starters, Pine is now a huge star, launched into the stratosphere by J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. Furthermore, the entire planet was just going pigshit a few weeks ago over something called swine flu. So it seems a no-brainer, right, to blow the dust off Pastor brothers Àlex and David's 28 Days Later-ish movie about an avian flu outbreak, toss it into theaters, and see if it floats. (It opens early September.)
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On today's edition of Two-Minute Verdict, we take a first look at HBO's new series, Hung. (The cable network announced today it would debut the first of the show's ten episodes on June 28th at 10 p.m.) Directed by Alexander Payne, the trailer -- culled from what I assume are scenes from the pilot -- sets up the series' premise of a massively endowed high school basketball coach who resorts to pimping out his studding services to make ends meet. He's no Paul Giamatti, but flopped helplessly onto his belly for a proctology exam, Thomas Jane's Ray makes a nice addition to Payne's curiosity cabinet of impotent, shlemiel protagonists.
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Last night's American Idol finale featured a deep, wide range of scene-stealers, from showstopper Norman Gentle to Katrina "Bikini Girl" Darrell's new twins. But for sheer, paralyzing drama, only one moment truly rivaled Kris Allen's Idol coronation. The footage is after the jump -- and as usual, we can thank Jerry Bruckheimer.
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The first trailer for Sherlock Holmes made its way online last night, finally offering viewers a look at Robert Downey Jr.'s shabby take on the venerable British detective. And while you won't see Guy Ritchie's name anywhere in the clip, it might be the director's quick-cut, slo-mo pulp stylings that leave the most lasting impression in advance of the film's holiday-season release. Which, for once, might not be such a bad thing.
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Stop us if you've heard this one before: Paris Hilton isn't actually an airhead -- in reality, she's a savvy businesswoman in charge of her own brand! This is a true fact, if by "savvy businesswoman," one means, "stumbles into meeting hungover, texts up a storm while marketing team presents business plan they worked so hard on, gives dismissive wave of her hand when someone gently asks, 'Paris, your thoughts?' and finally answers, 'Hmm? Uh, OK. Whatever. Lovesit.'" Now, finally we have a trailer for Paris, Not France, the dumbly controversial documentary that purports to set the record straight on what it's like to be Hilton.
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Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a journo-political thriller poised for an early fall release, where it will kick off Hollywood's prestige season with a steady, flatulent trumpeting sound. Before you watch the trailer, however, you'll need to take several leaps of faith.
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Let's say you've got a violent, bone-bleak survival drama starring Viggo Mortensen. When it comes to cutting a trailer that'll draw an audience for such a film, a little advertising sleight-of-hand is to be expected. But have the Weinsteins gone too far in their attempt to sell The Road?
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The first trailer for Rob Marshall's Nine debuted online this morning, and it seems to fulfill the promise of its development-phase hype: Flash, music, skin, bombast, set pieces, and a cross-section of Oscar-caliber talent going back almost 50 years. But does it make any sense? Does it even need to?
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Though Sundance sensation Precious (formerly Push) is currently in the middle of a Lionsgate/Weinstein Co. custody battle, that hasn't stopped Lionsgate from proceeding with its note-perfect plans for release. Its current placement at Cannes will help add a patina of awards luster, and while its teaser poster is admirably arty, it's not any more "beyond" than the early one-sheets regularly put out by producer Tyler Perry. Oh, and the trailer premiere? Is on Oprah.com, people. Can this campaign manage to sell a tough movie about abuse that many Sundance wags dubbed "uncommercial"? Let's have a look.
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Finally exhumed after more than year in Lionsgate's climate-controlled junk drawer, Gamer will finally make its way to theaters this fall. And now, a week after its poster debut and a couple months after its overseas trailer was leaked (and yanked) from the Web, the studio finally seems ready to show audiences what they have to look forward to with Gerald Butler's mind-control shoot-'em-up. Hint: Less mind, more shooting.
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Woody Allen's latest, Whatever Works, had already stumbled out of the gate at the Summer Marketing Derby before its first trailer was introduced today. Sadly, this latest injury might be the one that sends it off to pasture for good.
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We here at Movieline support all kinds of filmmaking, from big budget space spectacles like Star Trek (a must see!) to esoteric art house fair to insanely involved Michael Bay spoofs that must have taken eight zillion hours to make and involve spraypainted, actual ponies galloping through a high school corridor. As such, for our latest installment of The 2-Minute Verdict, we present My Little Pony: Reign of Buttercup Sprinkles, in which the planet is overrun by an alien species of hostile dwarf equines. Only through the courageous intervention of a Megan Fox-type, polishing a motorcycle with her ass hiked up in the air, can we hope to survive. This blows Tommy and the Cool Mule out of the water.
PETA Verdict: Arrest these people.
Our Verdict: Giddeeeeeeeyup!
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It only looks like Zach Galifianakis Day at Movieline, where the comic's interviewing techniques are complemented here with glimpses of his turn in the forthcoming comedy The Hangover. But there's something far more essential about the NSFW teaser following the jump -- something that transcends Galifianakis and comedy and, really, pretty much all of cinema preceding it: Mike Tyson sings.
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One of the better films to hit the acquisitions jackpot this year at Sundance, Humpday turns the bromance genre on its ear by actually introducing sex into the fraternal equation. Or at least the prospect of sex, which, as the film's new trailer suggests, even the most cutting-edge indie comedy might not quite be ready for.
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