Hey! I remembered that I’m supposed to do this trailer thing every week now. And on time, too! Go me.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The ball got rolling on David Fincher’s follow-up to “The Social Network,” the first in a presumed trilogy based on Stieg Larsson’s blockbuster “Millenium” book series (a.k.a. the “Girl with the Blah Blah Blah” franchise), with a shaky in-theater recording of red-band trailer that was “leaked” last week. I’m almost positive the leak was intentional; a rough home video of an edgy red-band trailer was a perfect way to get the marketing campaign going for such a grungy film. The green-band trailer is pretty much exactly the same, simply expunged of a few racier images. Whoever is putting together the trailers for Fincher’s films is certainly on a roll; after last year’s EMO-winning “Social Network” spot, this “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” teaser is first-rate. Throbbing music, suitably murky imagery, a perfectly mesmerizing rhythm to the editing, and a great in-your-face tag-line (“The feel-bad movie of Christmas”). Considering how generally unexcited I was about this film, this trailer has definitely kicked my interest back up a notch, even if it does sill look, well, really, really similar to the original Swedish films. Rooney Mara has got some big shoes to fill, after Noomi Rapace leant the Swedish originals pretty much all of their spark. Still not sure what the big deal about this franchise is in general, but I’m down with Fincher returning to his staple genre of murder and mayhem.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
I’m unsure whether this film is meant to be a prequel to the 1968 original or the 2001 Tim Burton remake (or, God forbid, it represents an attempt to completely reboot the franchise again). Either way, one has to wonder: who the F cares how Earth turned into the Planet of the Apes? Not the point, guys. Also, where’s the suspense in this film? We know who wins. You pretty much even admit as much in the title of the film. Though as far as I can tell from this trailer, we get to just blame James Franco for everything, which is all right by me. Way to go, James Franco. In your attempt to add “renowned research scientist” to your growing list of split personalities, you clearly brought about the downfall of mankind at the hand of computer-generated chimpanzees. Let that be a lesson to you.
The Best Films of Our Lives 