The Eternal Trailer Discussion (Griping) thread

Jason Seaver · 08-25-2001, 11:50 PM

First, let's give a hand to trailers which don't suck:

The Royal Tenenbaums - Lays out the basic premise of the movie, gives off a quirky vibe, and really works to create curiosity.

40 Days And 40 Nights - I really like this one. It works like a good poster, showing you the star, and encapsulating the story in one simple image. Amazing, considering it's from Miramax (see below).

Iron Monkey - Sure, it's a "good lord, don't let the figure out they're not speaking English" trailer. But... zounds. Just jumped up my priority list for the Boston Film Festival.

No Such Thing - Sarah Polley in an adult role? Things that look bizarre. Hal Hartley apparently getting studio distribution. You know, between this, The Claim, Ghost World, and the good buzz on Jeepers Creepers, it looks like Francis Ford Coppola is doing something I thought would be impossible a year ago, and somehow getting quality, original movies out of MGM/UA by making UA their boutique label.

However, Miramax's marketing department should burn in hell for Serendipity. Why not just hand out scripts?

And, Sony is starting a practice which is out-and-out deceptive - I saw the trailer for Time And Tide after the movie, and could have sworn that the trailer contained English-language dialogue for scenes where the spoken language was Cantonese. But, since there were multiple languages in that one, I wasn't sure. I've got similar hazy memories of the trailer for The Princess And The Warrior.

But the trailer for The Crimson Rivers... As with the others, it's only single words or brief snatches of dialogue. But it's enough to make me pretty sure Sony is trying for a bait-and-switch here - audience that wouldn't go to movie en francais on a bet sees a pretty mainstream-looking trailer, comes to see it, and hopefully doesn't demand their money back. Understand, The Crimson Rivers looks like a great movie, but isn't the kind of deceptive?

Alex Spindler · 08-26-2001, 02:34 AM

Hear hear about Serendipity. Did they think that the trailer for What Lies Beneath was a little too ambiguous? I wish they would at least try to leave some of the basic plot structure out of it.

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Sam Hatch · 08-26-2001, 04:53 AM

I'm on the other side of the fence regarding the trailer for
'Forty Days and Forty Nights'. My girlfriend and I immediately wrote that one off. She enjoys sex comedies a la 'American Pie', but we both turned to each other and said 'That's gonna suck' at the end of the trailer.

The problem being that the only thing they give you is a)the concept and b)a look at the hunky young lead and some actress who may/may not be in the actual film. The concept is pretty uninteresting - 'The Contest' was funny on Seinfeld, but that was merely thirty minutes, not ninety. A shot of the actor doesn't work for me, so the only thing that can save it is to show scenes and other characters from the film.

I'm sure that this was just a 'teaser' trailer and that a longer one will follow, but on its own it didn't do the job.
Movie posters are easy to write off - often when I see a bit of the finished project in a trailer, it can change my mind on something I had poo-poohed because of the poster.

'Zoolander' on the other hand, had me hook line and sinker!

Is it true that they're not going to dub 'Iron Monkey'? I assumed it being Disneymax they would be showing a dub, and the lack of dialogue in the trailer was hiding the mediocre
voiceovers, not Cantonese voices. Either way, that trailer worked on my girlfriend - so I told her we would watch it tonight. 'Iron Monkey' rocks!

Oh yeah, I also think the trailer for 'The Musketeer' was well done. Not too much information spilled, reasonable amount of eye candy. Whether or not it will be any good remains to be seen.

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Jason Seaver · 08-26-2001, 09:52 AM

Don't know how I missed mentioning Zoolander, seeing as it seems joined to The Royal Tenenbaums at the hip. That is one funny two minutes of film, looking like it might be a funny ninety.

Sam Hatch · 08-27-2001, 03:24 AM

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing Ben Stiller unleashed. It's nice to see that someone let him get behind the camera again.

*looks around sheepishly* Don't tell anyone, but I saw 'The Cable Guy' FOUR times in the theaters!

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Derek Miner · 08-27-2001, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Iron Monkey - Sure, it's a "good lord, don't let the figure out they're not speaking English" trailer. But... zounds. Just jumped up my priority list for the Boston Film Festival.

Yeah, but it's called Iron Monkey! At the sneak preview for Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, people were laughing at the trailer because the approach of the trailer and the title together seem like a joke, until you realize half-way through that oh, this is real!

= Derek =

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Chauncey_G · 08-27-2001, 03:45 PM

One that really annoyed me was "Ransom"... (SPOILER AHEAD!)

THE big plot twist, his decision to offer the ransom as a bounty, gets shown in all it's glory on the trailer. This movie was OK, I think I would have liked it better had the twist come out of nowhere.

Jason Whyte · 08-29-2001, 02:02 PM

The latest laughable trailer is the teeny-bopper "On The Line" featuring one of the guys from N'Sync and the lovely Emanuelle Chiquri in a goofy looking story about a guy who falls for a girl on a Chicago L-train but they part without getting contact info, then the guy spends the rest of the movie searching for her by posting up ads

This 2.5 minute trailer shows basically the entire film, from the setup, the story arc, shows every step in the storyline then gives away the entire ending, where (spoilers), N'Sync boy finds Chiquri and they kiss over the L-train. So, basically I've seen the film in a short form, I hate it, and may just add it to my 2001 Film List without even seeing the expanded 90 minute version of the trailer.

My trailer of the moment, agreeing with Mr. Seaver, is The Royal Tennebaums. Wonderful setup, music, and one of the best cast listings I've seen in a while. I almost wanted to applaud when I saw Owen Wilson's credit come up the way it did.

Jason

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Kristian · 07-20-2004, 10:39 PM

Since the following trailer hardly deserves its own thread, I thought I'd gripe about it here:

Paparazzi

I saw this in front of I, Robot and I was absolutely shocked by how horrible it was. This has to be the worst idea for a thriller in years. It doesn't look like a film ready to be released in theaters, it looks like a film destined for late-night HBO hell. And to add to the horror, the trailer spoils the entire movie! I had hoped the studios had learned their lesson, since it had been awhile since the last super-spoiler trailer.

I wish I could think of a really good trailer to offset this, but there aren't that many memorable ones out there right now.

Scott Weinberg · 07-20-2004, 10:52 PM

Cool thread.

I also saw the Paparazzi trailer and it had me snorting nasally and uncontrollably. Funny stuff!