trailer sunday

When Did You Last See Your Father? (TBD)
What is it about me that makes me crave British movies about sad families all the time? Unless maybe it's just Colin Firth luring me in. I don't know, this particular movie doesn't look any different than any other one about the same thing, but after having watched Distant Voices / Still Lives, it's nice to get back to convention. Anyway, it's directed by Anand Tucker, who made Shopgirl and Hilary and Jackie, two movies I really appreciate, and has a proven cast, so maybe there is something special here to be surprised by!


Saawariya (November 9)
So, apparently this has already come out, but I only just heard of it. The first Bollywood film to be distributed by a Hollywood company, even the trailer gives this film a different look than most of the Bollywood films I've seen. My first thought was, "Baz Luhrmann, on sedatives, makes a Bollywood movie." Now, I just really want Baz Luhrmann to make a Bollywood movie. Actually, Saawariya is the latest adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's short story "White Nights." I'm sure I'll rent this one.


There Will Be Blood (December 26)
Paul Thomas Anderson. Daniel Day Lewis. Paul Dano, of Lifetime Original Movie Too Young to Be a Dad fame. Adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! I think the last time a collection of factoids about a movie made me this excited was when I heard, "Jake Gyllenhaal Heath Ledger gay cowboys" back at girls' school. And this time, I'm excited about the movie, not just the possible ramifications on the slash fan fiction market. It will be very interesting to see what PTA does with someone else's source material, for a change. I'm more than curious. Same goes with Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which looks like it's going to buck all of his conventions except for casting! You know I'm all over ensembles that stick together, as with these two directors and, say, Christopher Guest. So it's very exciting when they veer away from formula.


Cloverfield (January 18)
So, buzz has been buzzing about this JJ Abrams project for some time now, and I must say that I thought the teaser trailer that came out a few months ago was quite a bit scarier than the extended one we have now, but I'm still looking forward to this. I'm generally into the apocalyptic type of horror film, and from what I've seen online, the monsters here are supposed to be particularly terrifying. I'm interested to see how a big budget and a reliance on "handheld-looking" camera work will play out, as I think we've moved far past the motion sick times of Blair Witch. Also, I hope the Smoke Monster gets a cameo.


Harold and Kumar 2 (April 25)
A couple of months ago, needing something mindless to watch while sick in bed, I watched a really crappy bootleg of Harold and Kumar on TVLinks (RIP). I was expecting something awful, as I've never been a fan of those gross-out movies that teen boys love but are otherwise completely stupid, but ever since Grandma's Boy hit me like a ton of bricks, I thought I'd give it a chance. H&K was a lot funnier than I was expecting, and I don't know why no one had ever told me about the hilarious commentary on racial perceptions! There were plenty of pointless sequences in the movie, but I guess they had to suck in their target audience of stoner preteens somehow. The sequel looks like it will provide a lot more of what I enjoyed about the first one, and I just hope it can make fun of current events without reminding anyone of Delta Farce (having even referenced it makes me want to throw up).