Trailer Hitch

By Eric Hughes

June 18, 2008

It's those damned robots in disguise again, and they're on another killing spree.

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Welcome to Trailer Hitch, BOP's look at the latest movie trailers to hit the Internet. This week: Angelina Jolie finally puts adopting on hold to star in a summer action flick, Anna Faris steers clear of the Scary Movie franchise and Bill Murray adds a major blemish to an otherwise fine movie track record.

Wanted – Opens June 27th

For a summer actioner with the potential to be something big, why oh why has advertising on Universal's Wanted been so...mum? And pitted against Pixar's sure-to-be-behemoth WALL-E, this Angelina Jolie vehicle looks like it may never get the chance to take off the ground, even if the trailer proves this one could be a breathtaking and fun-to-watch action film. In Wanted, James McAvoy stars as a young man who is given the opportunity to seek revenge for his father's murder by being recruited into his dad's former assassination organization by Sloan (Morgan Freeman) and eventual mentor, Fox (Jolie). Call it a Matrix rip-off if you must - especially in its slow-motion action sequences - but the special effects still look marvelous. And seeing Jolie in a film like this is awfully refreshing. We haven't seen anything similar since 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Grade: B-
Also expected to be released on this date: WALL-E, The Last Mistress

Bottle Shock – Opens August 8th

If 2004's Sideways proved that a great movie could be had that makes casual references to a week-long experiment in wine touring, then Bottle Shock assuredly is out there to prove that a film focused entirely on an infamous event in wine's illustrious history can pack the movie houses, too. Based on a true story, Bottle Shock details the moment in 1976 (and the events leading up to it) where a small American winery beat out the best French wines at the famous "Judgment of Paris" tastings, flipping the wine industry on its head and finally putting California wines on the map. Taking a leave from all that Harry Potter business, Alan Rickman plays the British wine shop owner who sponsors the competition, while Bill Pullman portrays a former real estate attorney who tries to hand-craft a perfect chardonnay. All that appears to be missing is Paul Giamatti demanding that he not drink any friggin' Merlot!

Grade: A-
Also expected to be released on this date: The Pineapple Express, Fly Me to the Moon, Elegy




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The House Bunny – Opens August 22nd

To follow up life after Legally Blonde - since Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde kind of killed the franchise - scribes Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz literally trade in one blonde, Reese Witherspoon, for another, Anna Faris. The result: The House Bunny, a comedy about a Playboy Bunny who gets booted out of the Playboy Mansion and relocates to a college campus, where the Bunny "educates" a socially clueless sorority in dire need of new recruits. Though the plot sounds like nothing extraordinary, the trailer admittedly makes the film look comical (in the way that Legally Blonde was comical). And kudos to Faris, who is finally doing something that doesn't have Scary Movie in the title.

Grade: C+
Also expected to be released on this date: Death Race 3000, The Longshots, Crossing Over, Bangkok Dangerous, The Accidental Husband, I Served the King of England, Hamlet 2


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