Blog @ Canadian Geek

The most obvious purpose of a movie trailer is to entice you to want to watch the movie. I doubt there’s a single trailer out there that didn’t entice at least one person you knew to go watch it, regardless of how horrible the movie may have looked to you. This is their purpose, and they are successful; but, of course, what often happens is the trailer contains the best parts of the movie, and you wonder why you saw the movie at all. Or the trailer actually manages to complete mislead you as to what the movie was actually about.

What? It could happen.

But what happens if a movie trailer is so fantastically, utterly impressive unto itself; what if it sets new levels of the mystery and suspense involved in watching a trailer; if it cannot live up to the standard that it is creating, because once the mystery is solved … you wish you were still left in the dark. The greatest example of “success” in this category, of course, is Blair Witch. They released a trailer (along with a large amount of viral marketing) that took hold of the world of entertainment for longer then most, grabbed a bunch of people, and threw them into theaters where they proceed to throw up. Well, some people did. It’s true!

But Blair Witch succeeded not because of the marketing, or the trailer, but because the movie DID NOT REVEAL what was chasing them. It stayed permanently in the unknown, and that was absolutely for the best. Blair Witch was a success. It SUCKED ASS, but it was a success. (Blair Witch 2, on the other hand, rocked my socks. Go figure. I am so in the minority on this.)

The trailer for Cloverfield is impressive. The teaser was also impressive. It has people talking, wondering, speculating: What IS it?

Setting aside the obvious answer that everyone is so inclined to put forth (me not excluded), is there ANY answer that would impress anyone? Just like, when the “monster” on LOST (also produced and created by JJ Abrams) is revealed, is there even the remotest chance that it will satisfy what anybody had in their mind?

Or will they go the Blair Godzilla route, and simply not reveal Godzilla at all.

Er, I mean… whatever the creature is.

Regardless. I enjoyed the trailer, you will too. Speculate away!

VIEW THE HIGH DEFINITION VERSION HERE

Late by a day, but this is SO worth it. SO worth it. I am joygazm’ing. And by all rights, if you aren’t by the time this trailer is done, there is something really, fundamentally, wrong with you. (That or you’re one of those strange people that thought Wanted was a self-indulgent over-violent pile of dung — in which case there’s still something fundamentally wrong with you. :P)

There doesn’t appear to be a YouTube version of it available yet, so zip on over to Yahoo! and watch this. In my eyes, it is very well done. Wesley looks just about as pathetic as I would expect him to, and Angelina.. well, who can complain about her? And I had no idea Morgan Freeman was going to be in the movie. Joy joy!

My faith in this film is at fantastically renewed. Keep watching to see if they screw it up.

VIEW THE TRAILER HERE

Every once in a while, when things get rough and you’re not sure how to carry on, that something comes out of the blue and entirely reminds you why you do what you do. In this case, of course, it’s post and semi-review trailers. I get to share links to trailers I think are good (or in some cases, very bad), and give you an idea of why I think it’s good, or, why the movie based on the trailer is going to kick ass.

Things have been, and kind of are, rough for me right now. But this first trailer here … swear, I have watched it 100 times. Over and over. It is flat out incredible.

I hope you agree, and I hope it gives you reason to continue visiting The Trailer Park.

JUMPER

This trailer is flat out the single best trailer I have ever watched. No kidding. I went in with absolutely zero expectations, having never even remotely heard of the movie or the book (books?) it is based on. I didn’t even know what it was about. After watching it for the first time, I watched it again. And then again. And then again. Like I said, probably 100 times by now. I shared it with the people at work, just because I’m that astounded by it.

In a nutshell, there are people in the world that are “Jumpers”. They can teleport at will. Short-range, long-range. Any distance, they can cover it in the blink of an eye. But there are repercussions to it, and so some people are sort of “policing” the Jumpers, with weapons that are suited to them. The trailer doesn’t actually _explain_ a lot; after about 30 seconds, the trailer basically jumps into uber-fast paced mode and you just have to sit back and enjoy it.

It is amazing. And I should stop talking, and let you enjoy this.

VIEW THE HD VERSION HERE!

Good evening!

I know I missed another couple of weeks. There’s no excuse. My life took a header, spun a little out of control, but now I am fully back on track. I quit my job, and I’m finally settled in to my new one. And it’s going extraordinarily well. That I didn’t leave my previous job earlier — by, oh, the 2nd day I was there — is a matter of huge confusion for my brain.

But I’m here. The Trailer Park is back on a weekly schedule. And good thing, because there’s two interesting trailers for me to talk about.

Enchanted

Disney has been … I would like to say Hit & Miss, just to go with that standard phrase ‘n all, but there has been one hell of a lot more misses then there has been hits lately. They’re churning out sequels at a greater pace then ever — some, to movies that are decades old. Who actually wanted Bambi 2? Or Pocahontas 2? Even their original films as of late have been huge stinkers — so much so, that I can’t even think of the titles of them. They were that bad.

And then Enchanted comes along. And it’s the strangest mixture of an original movie and a nostalgic sequel. The basic premise is … the fairy princess and the handsome prince leave the animated 2d sing to the birds world, and enter.. ours. I didn’t think it would appeal to me, but it made me chuckle more then once.

It’s proof that Disney may still have it. That at the very least, makes it worth checking out.

VIEW THE HIGH DEFINITION VERSION HERE

SOUTHLAND TALES

This is going to be an amazing movie.

It’s going to be confusing. Strange. Odd. Weird. Hard to follow perhaps.

But it’s going to be amazing. I know this for a fact. And how do I know this? What divine intervention allows me to see into the future and know without the slightest shred of doubt that this movie will burn itself into your brain and leave an impression that lasts for years if not decades; will inspire conversations with friends and strangers; will be questioned, torn apart, and all-around blow the minds of everyone who partakes in the pleasure of watching this?

You get your answer in 25 seconds.

That is all.

VIEW THE HIGH DEFINITION VERSION HERE

I have a cold, or the flu, or something. My brain is rather mushy and my body isn’t that far behind. So I figured this week I’d post a trailer that is mush. Horrible. This trailer is just about everything that shouldn’t be done in a trailer.

HITMAN

First thing, I have never played the video game that the movie is based on. I do vaguely know what it’s about — I mean, it’s kind of obvious. It’s about a Hitman. Got that. But seeing as I know nothing about the game, the trailer should work extra hard to inform me, to draw me into the world of the movie .. and it fails MISERABLY.

I haven’t been this bored watching a trailer since Shindler’s List.

The first half of the trailer features (and wow, do I ever use that word lightly) some of the worst exposition I could handle. Then when you figure they’ll actually get into the action, they play this slow operatic crap that does nothing to get your blood pumping like an action film should. And the scenes they show .. these days if you wanna do an action film, you gotta give us something that hasn’t been seen before.

This? I could barely contain the yawns.

VIEW THE HIGH DEFINITION VERSION HERE

(Or, y’know.. don’t. Because it’s that bad. I’m afraid your eyes will singe out.)

Just as I was about to write the blog up this week, there was about 4 more trailers posted that I haven’t had a chance to look at. So I’m just going to go forward with the ones I had planned, and hope that you enjoy them — I surely did.

Both play up the mysterious, something I enjoy very much in a trailer. And, really, if you’re going to play anything up in a trailer, mystery is going to be it. You’re teasing the audience, so, mystery is sort of automatic. Except maybe with comedies. But then, comedies are the exception to a lot of things. Which neither of these are.

THE NINES

I’ll just come right out and admit it. I have a huge man-crush on Ryan Reynolds. He is a severely under-rated actor (plagued, I think, by his (actually very well -acted-) Van Wilder days) who, in my opinion, comes out on top in every movie he’s in. He’s got an incredible wit, he’s certainly buff enough to do action, and …. well, perhaps here we’ll find out how he does in a dramatic situation.

This movie looks _weird_. But it is produced by the creators of American Beauty, one of THE single best movies of all time, so I’m trusting in them to deliver. Ryan plays a character who is seeing other versions of himself, if only briefly. Not weird enough? About half way through the trailer, it gets weirder. Think.. the 13th floor.

Watch the HD Version Here!

Right At Your Door

How often do independent films get it right? And how many of those get noticed? I’m far from a expert on the matter, but, if it’s anything like … anything else in pop-culture, if you’re an independent, it’s a long hard road. And just like indy comics, you don’t get a wide distribution. It’s a sad thing to realize when you watch a trailer this amazing — I think it’s an absolutely amazing premise and I’m saddened to think I may never get to see it in theaters.

However! I do still recommend watching this. It’s creepy. It affects you on a number of levels; in part due to the subject matter (Dirty Bombs), the separation of the family. And then … the mystery. After everything that’s happened, and someone comes to save you … what if they aren’t really there to save you? How can you really be sure?

Makes me wish this had been picked up by a mainstream distributor — but then .. they probably would’ve screwed it up. Catch-22, ain’t it?

Watch the HD Version Here!

See you all next week! Let me know what you think. Too short? Too long? Not enough reviews? Not even a review? Let me know!