Craig's MovieBlog

The Dark Knight Trailer

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain," Harvey Dent.

Hmmm....

Batman Trailers

I had seen this floating around over the last few days but avoided watching it for some reason until today.  Now, I'm sorry I waited because I'm blown away by the comparison.  Seriously...watch this.  It's worth it:

 

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

I Spoke Too Soon - New Hancock Trailer

It seems like just yesterday when I assessed that Hancock might be Will Smith's first true box office disappointment (I'm ignoring Wild Wild West for some reason), but this was based on the trailers that I had seen up to that point.

The karmic nature of the universe is obviously getting even as a new trailer was released, and (whoa!) this is a whole different ball of kick ass.  It starts out pretty much the same, but then by fleshing out the story more (he goes to jail as part of a publicity stunt to repair his image), and then a 3rd act where he doesn't even know how to be a stereotypical comic book hero (even though he's trying too hard), they hooked me. 

Suddenly, I went from "meh" to "holycrapican'twait!!!"

But I'm fickle like that.

Haven't I Heard This Somewhere Before? (The Spirit Teaser Trailer)

Unfortunately, I couldn't have been less impressed by the new teaser for The Spirit.  The visuals don't seem to bring anything new to the table, using what seems to be exactly the same technology that Sin City used, and the music... well, didn't anyone else see The Untouchables?

I mean, I understand that movie is now (gasp) over 20 years old, but as someone who has seen it no less than a dozen times throughout my life, that music absolutely cannot be used anywhere else.  And in this trailer, it was incredibly distracting, to say the least.

A War, Inc. Trailer Sighting!

I'm pretty sure I wrote about this about 27 years ago, and that's usually a bad sign.  Nevertheless, after seeing the trailer today, I still desperately want me some more of this "definitely not a sequel to Grosse Pointe Blank, nope, never."

Meet Dave Trailer

I don't know how to say this... but from all I've seen in the past, I know that deep down, the Internet is a warm, caring, loving place.  This is a safe haven for me to admit something, right?  Of course it is.  Here goes...

I laughed at this trailer for Meet Dave.

Multiple times.

I don't know why it happened.  Instinct, I guess, more than anything else.  I think I need an intervention.  Is there a place I can go to rehab my sense of humor?  My sense of taste and class?  Does anyone have any advice for me?  A 12 step program perhaps?

Please know that I do hate myself for this, but out of respect for you, my faithful readers, I had to be honest.  I trust that you'll understand.

Disney Update: Wall-E Trailer

Bob Iger spoke yesterday about a range of topics, including Disney's purchase of Pixar in January 2006... that $7.2 billion purchase.

"No, we didn't overpay," he said, in response to a question. "It was clearly fully priced," he added, jokingly. "Maybe that's a euphemism.

Can we all agree that buying Pixar for the innovation-less Disney was completely, totally, unambiguously worth it?  It put Steve Jobs on their board, made gabillions in merchandising from Cars alone, (he even announced rolling out a MMO video game environment based on the Cars universe), and the stock is up 9 points since he took over. 

Oh, and Pixar happens to make incredible movies.  Not only do they have a deal for Toy Story 3, but here's the newest Wall-E trailer.  Can't wait.

He also discussed something else that caught a few eyes around the industry.

Iger said that since hooking up with Apple's iTunes a year and a half ago, consumers have downloaded 40 million-50 million episodes of Disney-generated TV shows and 4 million movies.

Now, most journalists just say, "whoa... those are big numbers," and leave it at that.  I like to call that lazy journalism.  Silicon Alley Insider, however, decided to do some homework... and I quote:

• Pali Research's Rich Greenfield estimates that Disney (DIS) is getting about $14.50 for each movie sold through Apple (AAPL). 4 million x $14.50 = $58 million.
• We estimate that Disney gets about $1.44 for each video it sells. 45 million x $1.44 = $64.8 million
• Grand total: $122.8 million: In other words, a little less than 10% of the $1 billion digital revenue goal Iger has laid out for his company this year -- and a rounding error for a company that generated $35 billion in sales last year.

Now... $123 million is truly nothing for a company of Disney's size, but it is all incremental revenue, as SAI reports.  The net is that digital sales of TV and movies aren't going to be moneymakers anytime soon.  I am curious though... how much does a Comcast make from VOD sales?  Is it dramatically more than this... or generally on par?

New Speed Racer and The Incredible Hulk Trailers

Yesterday, the internets brought us the new trailers for two potential franchises, Speed Racer and The Incredible Hulk.

I don't know what to think about the Hulk.  Ed Norton always, always does powerful work, and as you know I'm a big fan of putting "real" actors into superhero roles (Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr.).  But this trailer really didn't bring anything terribly interesting to the table.  There are lots of reports of trouble in the editing suite on this one, and anyone who is surprised by this hasn't been reading about Norton's involvement on past films.  I'm gonna wait for the next trailer before raising my expectations.

As for Speed Racer, I just think it looks unbelievable.  Yes, it's cartoony and video gamish, but that's exactly what they're going for, albeit in an incredibly fresh, creative way.  Just awesome stuff.

New Wanted Trailer

Angelina Jolie is very bendy. 

Wanted just looks incredible.  I have nothing else to add.  Enjoy the new trailer in HD here.

The Love Guru Trailer

Meh...  I don't know.  Haven't we seen all of these jokes before from Mike Meyers?  Or maybe that's the point... like the midget gag.  Anyway, here's the trailer for The Love Guru.

More importantly though, how did they dig up this old picture of me from high school?

"Yeah... I Can Fly" - New Iron Man Trailer

I caught the abridged version of this trailer on Lost last night (the first episode this season that didn't actually move the story along at all), but MySpace is hosting the full version of the new Iron Man trailer. 

Here's my fear though... Robert Downey Jr. is so good, so funny, so absolutely freaking perfect as Tony Stark, that he'll overshadow any of the Iron Man action scenes when he's in costume.  I hope I'm wrong, and both parts of the movie can hold their own.

When You Set Your Expectations Low...

... you get pleasantly surprised!

I was not optimistic about Get Smart (Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway) due to Peter Segal's non-impressive resume, but the trailer actually made me laugh.  It's really coming across as a Michael Scott as James Bond adventure, which just might work.

Then, I can't tell you how disinterested I was in Step Brothers.  I just don't find John C. Reilly funny, and I think audiences agreed based on the box office take of Walk Hard.  But... the trailer is hilarious.  I couldn't be more stunned.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

Does anything else need to be said?  Go watch it.

The Dark Knight Trailer and Joker Pictures

I just want to say two things about this new trailer for The Dark Knight.

First, let's just call it a genius casting move by giving Heath Ledger the role of The Joker.  I love that he and director Chris Nolan have decided not to play it for laughs, but going the "dangerously deranged" route.  I'm including my favorite pics below.

Secondly, why is no one talking about the fact that Katie Holmes literally got fired from this enormous franchise?  Is it because she stunk and we're so relieved to have Maggie Gyllenhaal there instead?  Because we're not allowed to speak ill of Mrs. Tom Cruise?  Because we're still in love with her from her Dawson's Creek days? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Semi-Pro Trailer

Is the tank running low on Will Ferrell sports comedies yet?  I hope not, but this trailer for Semi-Pro doesn't seem promising...

Didn't he just wrestle a cougar in Talledega Nights?  Now it's a bear in this one, so... genius.  I guess.