Take a look at the new digs!

By the way, we’ve updated the nursery considerably since then. Take a look.

So, a while ago I was gonna do this post on the rise of the red band trailer, you know, the ones that are all naughty and used to show once in a blue moon before R-rated (or worse) flicks and now seem to be popping up more and more online. But a couple of bloggers have already done the topic justice here and here.

Still, I thought I might share my own memory of the first time I saw a red band trailer, just because it’s so damn obscure. Spring break ‘88 I decided I would spend my free time watching one movie a day in the theater. It was slim pickings that March (I remember Masquerade was one of the titles) but I was particularly psyched to see Off Limits, part of the wave of post-Platoon Vietnam zeitgeist flicks.

This one was really a buddy cop film in which Willem Dafoe (you just couldn’t take him out of Southeast Asia could you?) and Gregory Hines were two MPs or something investigating a dead prostitute or prostitutes in Saigon. Kind of a forgettable film, except for the fact that beforehand there was a trailer with a big red screen before it for a film called Bad Dreams.

Now some of you might remember Bad Dreams as a Freddy Kruger knock-off. Some of you might even know that its director and co-writer, Andrew Fleming went on to helm the rather improbable slew of Threesome, The Craft, Dick, The In-Laws (remake), Nancy Drew and Hamlet 2.

But all I remember is that at the end of that trailer, the voiceover says “Take a stab at it!” and you see a guy’s hand get stabbed. And then I thought, “Holy shit! That guys hand just got stabbed! They can’t show that in a trailer!”

And that’s how I found out what a red-band trailer was.

Here it is, with the rather obvious caveat that it’s kind of gross.

(Funny that I remembered the hand stabbing but not the dismembered hand or the horribly disfigured killer.)

Oh, and if you read that first article and you’re wondering what the hell a yellow band trailer is, it’s this…

Happy Thanksgiving!

Overestimated Bolt. Underestimated Twilight. Big time. I think I was fooled by the not-so-jaw-dropping performance of High School Musical 3 and assumed that Twilight’s demo would be similarly tween-limited. Not so much.

I’ve heard meh things about the flick itself, but if a likely $200+ million final take means that female directors get taken more seriously in Hollywood, awesome. (Whether or not that will actually happen is another kettle of myopia. Look at the huge explosion of female directors after Mimi Leder’s Deep Impact. Oh, right.)

11/26

Wide

TRANSPORTER 3

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
T-Bag hires Transporter to do some shit.

WILL IT SUCK?
Luc Besson reteams with his frequent writing partner (including the previous two Transporters) Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid) on this installment. Seems they’ve added an element (if Transporter leaves a 75 foot radius of his car, he gets blowed up) that will ensure the action stays around the car, which is probably a good idea.

I’m one of the few folks who actually liked Transporter 2 better, so I don’t really know what to expect. Although the trailer pretty much tells you the whole movie from beginning to end. What I’m actually psyched for, though, is the addition of Robert Knepper (the aforementioned T-Bag from Prison Break) to the cast. He’s how villainy is done.

Early buzz is mixed.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I think it’s actually a very smart move to open a mid-level action franchise installment over a major holiday weekend. It’s counterprogramming to all the romcom/family-friendly/dramatic shit that’s around. Although I feel this was as much a strategy to keep this film as far away as possible from Quantum of Solace. Nothing really to fear from the Punisher reboot the following week. $59mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
No. But who else wants to see a Driving Miss Daisy remake with Statham at the wheel?

FOUR CHRISTMASES

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Meet the Parents Individually

WILL IT SUCK?
I would have never guessed in a million years that this would be the follow-up project for King of Kong director Seth Gordon, but now that I know, I’m a little more interested. Of the four writers, little is known except that two wrote Rebound. That cancels out Kong, I think.

Early buzz is crap.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Australia causes a bit of friction but I think this has the bigger stars and the better genre. Between Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughan you’ll pack ‘em in. $72mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
No. But who else wants Vince to host the Oscars drunk?

AUSTRALIA

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Sprawling romantic epic set in the title with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

WILL IT SUCK?
I’ve been pretty happy with writer/director Baz Luhrman’s work so far (Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom), and his co-writers have done stuff like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Pirates of the Caribbean. That having been said, the only thing I like about the trailer is the old school Casablanca font on the titles.

Early buzz is of the beautiful-but-empty variety.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Bloom is off the rose for Kidman and Four Christmases will get the vote of more of the guys in couples looking to see something romantic. $44mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
Nobody thought Moulin Rouge had a shot when it burst on the scene, and that garnered eight nods and two wins, and this flick is even more in the Academy’s wheelhouse. But the buzz better improve.

Limited

MILK

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Bio-pic about the legendary gay activist and politician Harvey Milk.

WILL IT SUCK?
Sean Penn plays Milk, and the rest of the cast ain’t too shabby either, with Diego Luna, Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Josh Brolin as Milk’s assassin, Dan White. Writer did a bunch of Big Love’s and the director is noneother than Gus Van Sant.

Early buzz is solid.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Frost/Nixon is a pretty serious contender the following week, but it’s got this week all to itself. Also, it’s unfortunately more relevant after Election Day. $12mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
With the quickly thinning field, chances are even better for this to be up for most awards, including Picture, Director, Screenplay, Penn for Actor and any of a host of actors for Supporting, including Brolin, who could see himself up for Supporting and Lead in the same year (depending upon W.’s fortunes, but I wouldn’t hold my breath).

Next Week: Spoiler Alert! Nixon lied.

Let’s begin with the obvious. Saw these next two before Bond. Nice double whammy…

Star Trek

Sometimes it’s nice to watch a trailer in the theater because you don’t know what the trailer’s for. The reveal at the beginning of this trailer works much better that way.

Watchmen

This is the trailer that gives you a little more of the plot and, more importantly, has a kick-ass Muse song. That’s the second Muse song I’ve downloaded based on a trailer. Here’s the first.

Frost/Nixon

Gives a bit too much away, in my opinion. Not that we don’t know how it turned out, but the film clearly has some gotcha moments and you don’t want to diminish them.

The Wrestler

Doesn’t look like an Aaronofsky film. And that, I think, is the magic.

2012

I have to admit, this is a good teaser.

By the way, when I googled 2012, the first result I got was a news story about the NCAA. This teaser would make for one fucked up basketball movie.

Monsters Vs. Aliens

Most animated films have crappy trailers. This is an exception.

In my never ending quest to resolve popular taste with critical concensus, I’ve decided to take a look at Oscar-winners vs. box office champs. One of the common explanations given for declining Oscar ratings is the idea that the Academy is out of touch with the common man. Regardless of whether or not that’s to blame for the fall in ratings (it’s not) let’s look at the statement itself. Do films that win Best Picture bear any relation to the popular taste?

To get a little bit of insight into this, I decided to ask a simple question: How many Best Pictures have also been the highest grosser for their particular year?

It happened more often than I expected. 19 out of 80 times, or almost 25%. It also happened more frequently in the past. Often three times a decade (minus the 40’s) peaking at four times in the 70’s and then dropping to an all time low of only once in the 80’s, then twice in the 90’s, then only once so far this decade.

So I can kind of see where people might get that impression.

Anyway, here’s the list. Where possible, I’ve tried to account for films that had multiple releases, only counting them as top-grossers if they made enough in their initial run to outperform the next highest contender. Also, the year mentioned is the year the movie came out, so it would have won the Oscar the following year.

{Note: The very first Oscar winner, The Broadway Melody (1929), may be the top earner for 1929, or it may not. See, there’s a lot of sources that say Gold Diggers of Broadway holds that title. Since the evidence weighs in favor of Gold Diggers, I’m going to leave Broadway Melody off the list.}

1. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
2. You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
3. Gone With the Wind (1939)
4. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
5. Going My Way (1944)
6. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
   
7. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
8. Ben Hur (1959)
9. West Side Story (1961)
10. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
11. The Sound of Music (1965)
12. The French Connection (1971)
13. The Godfather (1972)
14. Rocky (1976)
15. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
16. Rain Man (1988)
17. Forrest Gump (1994)
18. Titanic (1997)
19. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

I knew Quantum of Solace would do well, but da-yum! Lookin’ at over $200 million when all is said and done, and that’s just domestic. It’s already north of $300 million worldwide. And Slumdog Millionaire looks like it’s going to be huuuuge as well.

11/21

Wide

BOLT

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Animated tale in which a celebrity dog, convinced he has the superpowers of the character he plays, must fend for himself in NYC.

WILL IT SUCK?
First time directors but the writers (one of whom directs) have worked on stuff like Cars and The Emporer’s New Groove, so there’s hope. Oh and the voice cast includes James Lipton and Randy “Macho Man” Savage, and all I can say is, it’s about freakin’ time we got those two together. Right?

Early buzz is good.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Let’s see, Miley Cyrus is one of the voices and there’s a talking dog. Twilight may have a fight on its hands. $125mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
If the reviews hold up, it could make it into the final three.

TWILIGHT

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The CW Presents True Blood

WILL IT SUCK?
Director Catherine Hardwicke’s work gets increasingly bland as you go from Thirteen to Lords of Dogtown to The Nativity Story, so I’m not as psyched to see her at the helm as I would have been in 2004. Melissa Rosenberg, who adapts the best-selling tween sensation, has scripted her fair share of Dexter eps, but she’s also written a few Birds of Prey as well, and this is much more in the latter category. But, hey, it’s got Peter Facinelli (from the Best. Show. Ever.), so what am I worried about?

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Summit just made their first blockbuster. $128mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
Biggest Beneficiary of Harry Potter Switching Release Dates

Limited

SPECIAL

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
A man in a pharmaceutical trial (Michael Rappaport) believes he’s developing superpowers.

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is great. A festival fave. Rappaport is supposed to be outstanding.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Buzz should carry it through a fairly light weekend. $2mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
Probably won’t make it onto the radar. But if it did, I’d look at Rappaport.

Next Week: A movie that, sadly, got ten times more relevant on Election Day.

Went to BarCamp Philly last weekend and had a great time. Gave a talk on my failed attempt to revolutionize the online interview. Attended some cool sessions on social networking for offline communities and career transitions between independent and corporate environments.

Also met some folks from Wharton and the rather sizable Comcast contingent that participated and reconnected with standards guru Kim Blessing, whom I hadn’t seen since SXSW 2003.

My favorite part was the fact that, at the beginning of the day, everyone wrote down the sessions they wanted to give on index cards and posted them to an actual physical bulletin board (see above). Only then did a guy post them online. I dont know if this was the most efficient way to do it, but there was something refreshingly low tech about the method.

Russel Mulcahy defined the modern music video as a cinematic experience. At least, he did for me. I grew up on his videos without even knowing it. At the time, MTV didn’t advertise the name of the director in the little lower left blurb, so I had no idea the same man directed The Wild Boys and Pressure (although the preponderance of people being bound to things while forced to watch a large screen television might have tipped me off). Mulcahy’s grand yet surreal imagery (excessive, cheesy, but somehow kind of brilliant) informs my own warped filmmaking aesthetic. Most videos these days seem lazy by comparison.

“Video Killed the Radio Star” - The Buggles

That’s right. He directed the first video to air on MTV.

“Hungry Like the Wolf” - Duran Duran

The best Mulcahy videos look like they belong to a larger feature. Hollywood should stop making movies out of old movies, and start making them out of old music videos.

“The Wild Boys” - Duran Duran

Here Mulcahy came up with the idea for the song itself, which was to be part of a soundtrack to an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead. All I know is they spent a million dollars to strap Simon Le Bon to a windmill and it. is. awesome.

“I’m Still Standing” - Elton John

You get the feeling Elton told Russell, “I really like what you did with the ‘Rio’ video.”

“Bette Davis Eyes” - Kim Carnes

Even with a minimal set, Mulcahy can still bring the WTF: “Okay. The choreography for this scene is just slap the shit out of each other.”

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” - Bonnie Tyler

It only makes sense. Mulcahy really is the Jim Steinman of music video directors. And, no, I don’t know what part of this song screams, “Fucked Up Boarding School!” but Mulcahy sure does. He also finds the absolute creepiest way to visually represent the line, “Turn around bright eyes.”

“Vienna” - Ultravox

See, this is why Mulcahy is awesome. “Okay, in this scene we’re at a classy dinner party. Oh, and you over there, put this spider on your face.”

“Pressure” - Billy Joel

Mulcahy’s surrealism really gets to come out and play here. Probably my favorite.

Now, Mulcahy did (and still does) get into the movie game, directing the highly celebrated (except by me) Highlander, among other things, but my fondness for his work will always rest with his incredible run of early 80’s music videos.

Nailed Madagascar. Overestimated Soul Men. Underestimated Role Models, which I could tell waiting in line for Zack and Miri this weekend (not Smith’s best, but still very, very good). Half the crowd was there for Paul and Sean.

Another little detail about that Zack outing. The Un-fortunate back-to-back juxtaposition of the trailers for two January titles.

Trailer the first.

Trailer the second.

See if you can tell any difference between the two.

11/14

Wide

QUANTUM OF SOLACE

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
James Bond vs. raised expectations.

WILL IT SUCK?
Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Stranger Than Fiction) is a good director, but is he a good action director? The trailers seem to indicate yes, but there’s a big difference between a great shot and a great sequence. I have no doubt he can handle the dramatic elements. The same writing team from Royale returns. And Mathieu Amalric as the villain may be what I’m looking forward to the most.

Early buzz isn’t as impressed with it as with Royale, but it is impressed.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
With the departure of Harry Potter, this is the premiere action event of the fall. Of course, with the $160 million it’s already made overseas, does it really matter? $168mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
If any action film gets Academy love this year, it’ll be The Dark Knight.

Limited

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Kid from the streets of Mumbai tries to make it big on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is fawning. Won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto. And this is Danny Boyle directing, son. One of the most underrated directors of our time.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
This is one of the most anticipated indies of the season, and it’s got a strong rep as a crowd pleaser. And Fox Searchlight knows how to market crowd pleasers, which is probably why they snatched it from the jaws of Warner Independent’s demise. $15mil.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
The Academy buzz for this is only growing, and the variety of films jumping ship (The Soloist, The Road) means slots are opening up. Where I might have only pegged this for Screenplay before, I now think Director and maybe even Actor or Picture is a realistic possibility, too.

A CHRISTMAS TALE

WHAT’S THE PITCH?
One of them there family reunion Christmas flicks, but, you know, in French.

WILL IT SUCK?
Reunites Matheiu Amalric and Anne Consigny from Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Roussilson from Kings and Queen, one of writer/director Arnaud Desplechin’s previous efforts. This is, in fact, his highest rated film on IMDB. Early buzz elsewhere is equally enthusiastic. And, personally, I can’t wait to see Amalric play the drunk sheep of the family.

HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Kind of a crowded time for something like this to get noticed. $500,000.

WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
With the French submission for Best Foreign going to The Class, it’s unlikely.

Next Week: Seriously, have you ever seen a vampire with better hair?

Michael Crichton has passed. I didn’t even know he was sick.

I hadn’t followed him as closely as I used to. I’d heard bad things about Next and didn’t even read it. I read State of Fear and liked it, even though I ultimately disagreed with it.

And that was one of the things I respected about the man. He always showed his work. Even though I don’t come to the same conclusions about global warming as he does in that book, in that book I can see every single reference, every single study, every single article he cites in coming to his conclusions. That kind of discipline and honesty in argument is rare these days.

I’ve read almost all of his books. He’s one of the few authors where I actually looked forward to his next book coming out. He’s one of the few authors whose books I’ve read more than once.

I think two things kept me coming back to his work. I always felt like I was learning something when I read a Crichton book. He’s one of the few fiction writers that gave me the same thrill as a non-fiction writer like Malcolm Gladwell.

And then there’s his sense of narrative. At his best, he kept to a very simple but effective puzzle structure, laying out all the clues you’d need in a pattern that you could not recognize until the most powerful moment.

The best example of this can be found in my favorite Crichton novel, Sphere. I still remember the sensation of reading the plot point that occurs about 3/4 of the way through. My jaw literally dropped. And it was a plot point that answered the unanswerable questions that came before it with elegance and teeth.

That skill - to set up the seemingly inexplicable and get your audience to ponder that and engage with it until you finally pull the rug out from under them with the hidden reality of the world or situation you’ve created - is something that sets a bar for me as a storyteller.

Film adaptations of his work were inconsistent at best, although if you look at the early ones (The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man) you’ll be more impressed than you will with the second wave that came after the success of Jurassic Park.

And then there’s his own film work (Looker, Runaway, Westworld) which I always enjoyed with a bit of camp flavor in retrospect, but still engaged me with interesting concepts (I mean how cool were the heat-signature-seeking bullets in Runaway, seriously?)

But ultimately it’s Crichton the novelist that I celebrate. He helped me fall in love with writing and with books, and you can’t ask for much more than that from an author.