Trailer Hitch

By Eric Hughes

September 3, 2008

Cue the Deliverance banjos.

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Welcome to Trailer Hitch, BOP's look at the latest movie trailers to hit the Internet. This week: Frances Conroy smokes pot, Queen Latifah makes honey and Randy Quaid transitions from Cousin Eddie to hit man.

Humboldt County – Opens September 26th

Thanks to Showtime's Weeds, we have movies like Humboldt County, which appears to be a winner from Magnolia Pictures. Pegged as a dramedy, though the dramatics are laid on pretty thick as seen in the latter half of the film's trailer (alongside excellent music accompaniment of Earlimart's "Happy Alone"), Humboldt County is about a down-and-out medical student, Peter (Jeremy Strong), who stumbles upon a community of counterculture pot growers in Northern California.

Though eccentric, the family - played by Frances Conroy, Fairuza Balk, Chris Messina, Brad Dourif and newbie Madison Davenport - is also quite warm, turning the place into an unexpected site of serenity in Peter's search for happiness. Humboldt County joins the growing list of fall movies - Burn After Reading; Towelhead; Synecdoche, New York - that I can't wait to see.

Grade: A-
Also expected to be released on this date: Miracle at St. Anna, Nights in Rodanthe, The Lucky Ones, Forever Strong, Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot, Choke, Fireproof, Smother, Hank and Mike, Johnny Got His Gun, Whaledreamers




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The Lucky Ones – Opens September 26th

From Illusionist writer-director Neil Burger comes The Lucky Ones, a drama featuring a strong core of actors – Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, Michael Pena – all starring in a movie that should be more moving than its trailer makes it out to be. Set after returning home from Iraq, the film follows three soldiers who find out that life back at home has moved on without them, leading the vets to take an unexpected road trip with one another while catching up with what they have missed.

Kudos to McAdams for taking on a challenging role alongside the more seasoned Robbins, but I can't say I'm a big fan of her Southern bell character, Collee. It's disappointing, considering I usually take a liking to her characters. Another mistake? Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You," which begins playing around the trailer's midpoint and doesn't let up until the end. It just comes off as way too commercial for a movie that I'm expecting was made to tug at your heartstrings (which this song certainly does, but here merely felt out of place).

Grade: C
Also expected to be released on this date: Miracle at St. Anna, Nights in Rodanthe, Humboldt County, Forever Strong, Trainwreck: My Life as an Idiot, Choke, Fireproof, Smother, Hank and Mike, Johnny Got His Gun, Whaledreamers


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