The Best Part of That 'Our Brand Is Crisis' Trailer

Glenn here, asking if you have watched the trailer for Our Brand is Crisis? It's the new Sandra Bullock movie that was meant to be the new George Clooney movie that, somewhat infamously, came to be after the gender was flipped on the lead character. Bullock plays a political strategist who gets hired to spearhead the campaign of a contender in the 2002 Bolivian government elections and finds herself battling against both rival Billy Bob Thornton and the native language. What a predicament!

The film is based on a 2005 documentary of the same name and is directed by David Gordon Green who, let's be honest, is peculiar. His whole career is made up of peculiar choices so we'll go with it for now.

The trailer is... interesting. It certainly presents as being in the same vein as Argo, a movie that is quite largely name-checked, albeit perhaps a bit more overtly comedic in tone. It's also got more than a hint of the "nice white lady" routine that made Bullock's 2009 Oscar-winning vehicle The Blind Side such a lightning rod. It is great to see the likes of Anthony Mackie and Ann Dowd with such (apparently) prominent roles, although I would have preferred more than just a passing glance of my beloved Scoot McNairy (he's there at the one-minute mark).

Consider this another BYOYNMS (remember, we introduced that new blog acronym last week) and pipe up in the comments about what you think.

I did, however, want to make mention of what is clearly the best moment in the trailer. It comes right at the start and actually made me scream with glee. Can you pick it by watching the trailer?

Why yes, they have used an old screenshot of The Net to represent Bullock's character in the '90s as a whiz! The Net! The 1995 Irwin Winkler-directed cyberspace thriller starring Sandra Bullock that is, just quietly, one of the most pleasurable of guilty pleasures. Mozart's Ghost, man! Pi! Praetorian! Mainframes and the world wibe web! I'd recognize that shot of Bullock frantically reaching for her floppy disc as she hacks anywhere.

How deliciously ridiculous. We should all see Our Brand is Crisis just because they were inspired enough to include that in the trailer.

'you okay?'

Yeah, I just bit into a pepper."

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Box Office Fault Lines

I didn't see the latest disaster epic this weekend - but maybe you did? How many people did The Rock save with his giant arms and helicopters and diving (the three techniques he used from the trailer - I'm just guessing). San Andreas the movie may have killed off Californians but it was spectacle enough to attract the nation at large with a $50+ million opening weekend which makes this his biggest opening weekend outside of the Mummy and Fast & Furious franchises.

WIDE RELEASE
May 29-31 Weekend
01 San Andreas NEW $53.2
02 Pitch Perfect 2 $14.8 (cum. $147.5) Review
03 Tomorrowland $13.8 (cum. $63.1) Review
04 Mad Max Fury Road $13.6 (cum. $115.9) Review & Podcast
05 Age of Ultron  $10.9 (cum. $427) Review & Marathon & Podcast
06 Aloha NEW $10 Review
07 Poltergeist $7.8 (cum. $38.2)
08 Far From The Madding Crowd $1.4 (cum. $8.3) Review 
09 Hot Pursuit $1.3 (cum. $32.3) Review
10 Home $1.1 (cum. $170.4) 

Meanwhile Aloha, Cameron Crowe's latest had a dismal $10 million opening (That's a dismal opening when you've got three mostly bankable A list stars) and terrible reviews - many critics calling it his worst yet. I was curious to see it despite the reviews until I heard that Emma Stone was playing a character that was meant to be half Asian American and then I was like...'you know what Hollywood? Just not doing this anymore. ENOUGH.'

In better news Mad Max and Far From The Madding Crowd (the two we're rooting for at the moment from genre quality and "make more movies like this" concerns) held fairly well in their third and fifth weekends respectively. Fury Road's exorbitant price tag isn't going to make it one of the most profitable films of the year but at least it will eventually make its money back! I had the laziest weekend ever as you probably sensed from the unusually quiet blogging... but I'm hoping you found excitement. What did you see?

NYC Readers Take Note:
I will be appearing in a show at UCB in the East Village called "So Into It" on Tuesday night (June 2nd) this week. It's a comic variety show that changes themes each month and this month the topic is 'awards shows'. I'm not totally sure what to expect but I will be interviewed on stage at some point during the show. Please note: I am not the one bringing the comedy -- not a comedian. I'm just being interviewed but I'd appreciate support from anyone reading who is So Into The Film Experience (and also non-judgmental) as I'm terrified of being on stage. 

Review: Tomorrowland

Michael C here. Last week I was here to announce that one of my anticipated 2015 titles exceeded my expectations. This week I need to come to grips how another of my most anticipated could miss the mark so badly.

Like the theme park from which it takes its inspiration, the future in Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland is not a tangible thing, but an idea, a gleaming Jetsons cityscape forever just over the horizon inspiring the better angels of our nature with its promise of utopia. It’s not “the future”. It’s THE FUTURE! 

Unfortunately, where Disney World can get away with organizing a collection or attractions around nothing but a spirit of uncomplicated hope, a movie needs to build a structure around those feelings, and it’s there that Bird’s film struggles. It aims to stir the soul but its impact is dulled as it gets lost in its scattershot, thinly conceived screenplay. Enjoyment of Tomorrowland depends on one's ability to appreciate its vibe of retro optimism enough to overlook how far short it falls of its lofty ambitions...

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New Tomorrowland Poster in Hashtags

Manuel here trying to help the social media-savvy Disney marketing team with their latest poster. Nathaniel discussed five would-be blockbusters while kicking off our We Can’t Wait series and one which was conspicuously absent (perhaps because of its constant date-shifts?) was Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland for which we got a brand new poster this past week. While I’m coolly reserved on this May 22nd film, I couldn’t help but come up with hashtags while staring at this bad boy:

#LookUp #CloudPorn #MalickMeetsDisney #ClaudioMirandaFilter #Wheatstagram #RememberTomorrow #CanBirdGoFiveForFive #DisneySynergy #MysteryPlot #StillDoNotKnowWhatThisIsAbout #InterstellarFlashbacksAnyone #BlueSkies #NotSoEmeraldCity #Normcore #Overalls #GeorgeMcQueen #LiveActionPixar #WhitherTheLeadGirl #InBirdWeTrust (or would you be an #InClooneyWeTrust kinda tagger?)

Are you excited for Tomorrowland? Gotta say, unless that new trailer totally spills the plot, I’m enjoying this “withhold everything” policy Disney & co. have been playing with this property? Might it be all smoke and mirrors, though?