Amph The Trailer Park: The Three Stooges (2012)

I think it's a good trailer. It sets up the central plot of the film, but doesn't really show you anything at all of the main focus (ie. the 1969 stuff) except the briefest of teases. Tommy Lee Jones does a great delivery of the line, "I promised you the secrets of the universe. Nothing more." And Josh Brolin looks absolutely fantastic. I do think the 1969 thing could be interesting; it gives them some neat ways to open up the MiB universe a bit and take the film in a different direction.

Now, to the bad. I found the first MiB only sporadically amusing and the second was absolutely awful. Josh Brolin's genius aside, the absence of the real Tommy Lee Jones is not a good thing. I have always found Smith to be somewhat obnoxious and this trailer does not reassure me. "He smiles like this." *glowers fiercely* Wait, was that supposed to be funny?

Final verdict? I doubt I'll be seeing it.

 

I don't think there's any doubt from that trailer that Sonnenfeld intends to give the audience
exactly what it wants...more of the same...and plenty of Will Smith. Men in Black 3, just on
name recognition alone will probably have a huge opening weekend. And I'll bet Will Smith is
gonna be on so many talk shows promoting it you're gonna get sick of seeing him.

Moving right along, I think it's interesting that even though the Johnny Depp-Tim Burton film
Dark Shadows is only (!) 4 months away, I can't find a trailer for it online. Does that strike
anyone else as odd? YES I know there are still photos out there, but why no trailer?
If you can find one, let me know.

To make it even odder, there IS a trailer out for a new Tim Burton film that opens on October 5th.
It's called Frankenweenie, it's stop motion animation (like Nightmare Before Christmas and The
Corpse Bride) and it's an expanded version of a live action short Burton did for Disney when he
was not yet "the" Tim Burton back in 1984. He's always wanted to expand it to a feature, and
when Disney wanted him to direct Alice in Wonderland, I'll bet anything he made it a conditon.
"If you want me to do Alice, you have to let me re-do Frankenweenie." And so, there you go.

Now - get a load of this - it's in 3 D AND Black and White! I think the last time Disney
released a black and white feature film was...Tim Burton's Ed Wood in 1994!!!! I'm not sure of
that though, but since this is the internet, I know if I'm wrong, I will be corrected.

Frankenweenie(2012)

I'm kind of amazed by what Tim got to do: Stop Motion, Black and White AND 3 D!!!

Win or Fail?

 

Meh. The original Frankenweenie was cute, but I have trouble imagining the concept inflated to feature-length. And Tim Burton, to be quite honest, has not made a good film in quite some time, and is nowhere near the stop-motion genius that Henry Selick is.

 

Sweeney Todd was a good movie, Alice in Wonderland not so much but it wasn't bad.



Given that the public shy away from films such as The Artist largely based on the fact they are black & white or have no dialogue/have subtitles I'm not sure a black & white movie is going to get good initial success, Burton's name notwithstanding. I remember people coming out of Sweeney Todd and being confused as to why there was lots of singing in it then demanding refunds

That being said, if it's a movie for kids then whether it is colour or not won't really matter.

 

I'm excited for this, since it seems like the first Tim Burton project that is legitimately driven by him in a long time.

 

That is some of the smoothest, most fluid stop motion I've ever seen.

 

Exactly. I got a great vibe from that trailer. It legitimately felt like the old Burton, the guy from Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice. I think it looks great. I loved the little sheet covered form being ominously raised to the roof, I actually felt a legitimate emotion when the kid hugged the dog and then the tail started to wag and I think this could be a lot of fun. That dog looks amazing to be stop motion. Very realistic movements. Great scoring to the trailer too. I just can't get over the actual emotion I felt when the kind thought he'd failed and hugged the dog. Oh, man, real emotion? In a trailer? They don't even have that in most movies these days. I'm sold.

 

My initial reaction when I heard of this was, wow, Disney is just indulging Tim Burton so he will
do their big blockbuster literary classic with Johnny Depp. A very expensive self-indulgent
vanity project. Now I see it may actually be a worthwhile movie.

 

Real emotion in a trailer is exactly what I thought.

If this works, there's a dog I want to resurrect.

 

Isn't that the reason this movie may actually work? Because we all have a dog we'd like to bring back?

 

Absolutely.

 

Wow, I'm impressed with the emotional pull of the trailer.

That people-pet connection may pull in a lot people. We all love
our pets, especially our dogs.

 

I like a lot of things about the trailer. One it screams vintage Burton. I can see Ed Wood and Beetlejuice in there and I am ecstatic about it. Looking at the credits too I see no Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter and that is so refreshing.

But the whole plot seems a little morbid for me. I too see the universality of the theme of the loss of childhood in the death of a pet but I think this kind of plot will be a hard sell as a straight Disney children's film. I think Burton can do it but I fear that the movie will be ideologically schizophrenic because of Disney and will probably burn Burton's bridges with Disney.

 

It depends who has the power in the relationship.

 

I fear that the movie will be ideologically schizophrenic because of Disney and will probably burn Burton's bridges with Disney

Drac, this scenario you are describing is basically what happened in 1984. When Burton did the live action short film of Frankenweenie and spent over half a million dollars, Disney (the regime at the time anyway) was upset it was too dark and not suitable to play prior to a children's feature film, which is what they'd planned to do with it.

However, that was long before Burton became a household name and virtually a genre/brand name unto himself. That was before Nightmare Before Christmas made them a lot of money and became a classic of sorts. Everyone now knows pretty much what to expect from Tim Burton now, including Disney. Burton directed Alice in Wonderland to a one billion dollar plus gross, so I think they're very happy with him and glad to indulge him.

 

I still think even with Burton Disney is going to have a really hard time selling this to children but then again Disney is kind of evolving and that might not be their full intent. I get the feeling Alice was viewed more by teenagers and Burton goth fans.

 

Now, a classic film that has grown on me over the years to the point where it's my favorite
Hitchcock, which is really saying something.

Vertigo(1958)

I'm assuming most of you have seen the entire film. So is the trailer a Win or Fail?

 

The one you posted wouldn't open, so I tried another on the 'net.

The one that starts with the dictionery definition of vertigo.

The voice-over is corny, but look of the film is not.

 

Well I tried my link, and it did open (for me), though it was preceded by a remarkably sexy commercial
for Victoria's Secret. Always a plus, though you've pointed out before it's a shame to have to watch
a commercial to reach a trailer which is, in essence, a commercial itself. But this time, I have no complaints.

The one you watched was the same one, it opened with the dictionary definition.

The narration is a bit overblown. Very standard for the era though. That same announcer must have done a
million of those.

It's well-known Vertigo was not a commercial success upon initial release. Considering the trailer that
promoted it, I can see why. It's pretty mediocre. The film's look is one of it's strongest points and
I'd agree the trailer at least got that right.

 

It doesn't have the tremendous wit of some of Hitchcock's trailers. But then, "Vertigo" is a remarkably serious film, especially for him.

As a trailer, though, I think this fails. It doesn't really give you a coherent account of the film and why you should see it. The distinctive look of the film is there, yes; but that voice-over sort of distorts it.

(It prolly won't work 'cause I'm in Canada. Lots of things don't. Hulu for one.)

 

I appreciate the nostalgia for promotions for films like that from that era, so even though it's cheesy, I don't think it's that bad.

My father took me to see it at the theater when they remasterd, recoloured, and stretched the print to a 70mm angle. It was probably one of my top five filmgoing experiences in my life. I's also my favourite Hitch film.

Trailer for the re-release...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU1tOILkIP4

 

The comments say that is a fan trailer...it's a really good one, too.

 

This next one is pretty artsy. See what you think.

Starring Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh.

Directed by John Frankenheimer.

The Manchurian Candidate(1962)

Win or Fail?

And now Jonathan Demme's version from 2004.

The Manchurian Candidate(2004)

Win or Fail?