Trailer Hitch
By Jim Van Nest
October 11, 2005
Welcome to Trailer Hitch, your weekly look at the latest movie trailers to hit the Internet.
Like this EVER needed to happen.
Cheaper By The Dozen 2
And the latest entry in the "needless sequel" directory is Cheaper By The Dozen 2. Yes, the entire cast is back, and why wouldn't they be? This time around, the Baker clan is vacationing in the woods. Apparently, they run in to the richer, more competitive, more successful family from across the lake and a pissing contest ensues between Steve Martin and Eugene Levy. The only bit of this that even looks remotely interesting is seeing if Levy can pull off cool, confident and suave. Otherwise, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 looks like your typical sequel that will go way too far over the edge to try to improve on the original. Watch at your own risk.
Can you ever just be, like, whelmed?
Punk's Not Dead
I don't know if it's just that I'm old now, or if it's that I don't know where to look anymore, but I would tend to disagree with the title of this film. As a huge fan of the Pistols, Black Flag and The Ramones, I loved punk music. I loved the "F* the Establishment" attitude of it. Sadly, I think that part has died and I think that bands will only be "punk" if they can be successful at it. Well, just as I'm showing my age, along comes Punk's Not Dead, a documentary that's coming out to set the record straight and to declare that the punk music scene is alive and well, despite what we fogies think. The trailer really shows very little and one can only assume we'll see lots of band interviews and concert footage while new punk blares as the soundtrack. Again, I'm probably just showing my age, but I'm not all that interested in hearing about it. I think I'll just listen to London Calling again and call it a night.
OK, I'm intrigued
The President's Last Bang
Director Im Sangsoo brings us the story of one 24-hour period that changed South Korea. In The President's Last Bang, the head of the Korean CIA assassinates the president. According to one of the ads in the trailer, this is a political satire that rivals Dr. Strangelove. As I watched the trailer, all I could think was Tarantino. The trailer had a vibe that would have fit right in with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. This looks like it will be a violent film that will have you chuckling in all the wrong places and thinking in all the right ones.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Written by Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros and 21 Grams) and marking the feature film directorial debut of Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada has the makings of a great film. Jones also stars, along with January Jones, Barry Pepper and Dwight Yoakum, in the story of a rancher who makes a promise to his best friend. That promise is to see him buried in his hometown in Mexico. The problem is his friend is murdered and quickly buried to cover it up. The body is found and then moved to a cemetery in the US, which leads Jones to have the body dug up again to take it to Mexico. With several parts disturbing and a little violence thrown in, I'm really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, I may have to wait awhile as it seems to be getting an Oscar release with a wider release in 2006. But store this one away; when it comes to town, I have a feeling it'll be a good one.
Curious George
Frankly, I'm amazed this film is just now being made. Curious George has been a kiddie classic for decades and will be making his first movie appearance early next year. With Will Ferrell along as the Man in the Yellow Hat and featuring the voices of Drew Barrymore, Joan Plowright, Dick Van Dyke and Eugene Levy, Curious George looks to be everything the kid in me hoped it would be. First of all, it's animated. After mediocre live action versions of Scooby-Doo and Garfield, it's refreshing to see a cartoon character as, well...a cartoon. The trailer shows every aspect of George you'd expect, George getting into trouble, the Man in the Yellow Hat getting in trouble because of George and more mischief than you can possibly imagine. My inner child is very excited, let me just tell you that.
I'm counting down the days.
Romance and Cigarettes (Trailer of the Week)
When I hear names like Gandolfini, Buscemi, Walken, Turturro and Winslet...only one word comes to mind. Musical! Huh? From writer/director John Turturro comes this "Savage Musical" about a working class family man (James Gandolfini) who ends up on the wrong track in a passionate affair with a sexy redhead (Kate Winslet). Apparently, when just talking about things isn't enough, the characters will break into song. Susan Sarandon is the jilted wife and Steve Buscemi is the co-worker who's closer to the devil than the angel on Gandolfini's shoulder. Throw in Christopher Walken, Mary Louise Parker, Eddie Izzard and Elaine Stritch and you have what appears to be a hilarious new take on the tired musical. I can't wait for this one.
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