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Hollywood is insisting that we move on to the current calendar year (What is this thing called "2012"?) before we're wrapped with the 2011 Oscar Contenders. Boo! Don't they know we prefer things all regimented like? So we've fallen behind. We've no choice but to abbreviate our Yes, No, Maybe So feature to get caught back up. So let's talk about four new trailers that have...
What's that?!? They're not new anymore? Stop rushing me.
None of the movies have opened yet so they're fair game. Care for a nerve-wracking conversation with Sigourney Weaver? Some senior mugging with Diane & Kevin? Think Jeremy Renner can fill Matt Damon's big shoes?
"Help. I'm lost in the thick woods of movie trailers."
Which of these movies are you eager to see, which will you avoid, and which of these first tastes leave you undecided? Four new(ish) trailers after the jump. Discuss! You've been too quiet and are freaking me out.
Whit Stillman hasn't made a movie in 14 years. I remember loving his first, Metropolitan (1990), when it arrived. So did most critics. It's not so frequently discussed today but it was a big enough deal at the time to win him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He had such a fresh sophisticated voice. So I was delighted to see that the star of his "comeback" (if such a thing occurs) is an actress with a fresh comic voice, Greta Gerwig.
And not so delighted to see the Woody Allen reference right up front. It's not that I don't adore Woody but, as his endless parade of proxy protagonists proved, one Woody is enough. Whit's voice is a unique one. I hate to see unique voices shoved into tiny comparative boxes and hopefully he hasn't lost it in the 14 years since his last feature The Last Days of Disco (1998)
Let's break down the trailer with our yes, no, maybe so system.
YES
Whit Stillman is back
Greta Gerwig was superbly authentic, touching and funny in Greenberg () but her off kilter whimsy got lost and was wasted on Arthur. Stillman might know what to do with her.
Aubrey Plaza is super super fun in short doses in everything from Parks and Recreation to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Movies about gaggles of girls navigating college life and love led by a know it all who might not know it all or at least not very much about? Sounds ripe for comic pathos.
Tap dancing! Better yet... More than one musical sequence.
NO
"Frank", Gerwig's man, seems a little empty as a character in this two minute glimpse. Will all the men be too caricatured?
We're also trying to make a difference in people's lives and one way to do that is stop them from killing themselves."
-You're worried I'll kill myself and make you look bad? -No, I'm worried you'll kill yourself and make yourself look bad."
MAYBE SO
There are three suicide jokes in this trailer. It's obviously a plot thread or even a full on plot. And that's a lot for one film too handle. I've met so many crazy people who hate Heathers because it dared to laugh at something that's no laughing matter.
Aubrey Plaza is super fun in short doses but is she a major character and if so is she fun in large doses?
Gerwig's delivery and the overall tone seems very arch and that could be hard to pull off in a full length feature.
The Trailer
Are you a yes, no or maybe so?
Do you prefer the phrase "I'm depressed" or "I'm in a tailspin"?
I was going to ask you if you considered tap dancing highly effective therapy but... duh! That goes without saying.
Well, look what we have here. A new Spider-Man suit (and trailer). It's very shiny so that our friendly neighborhood do-gooder doesn't get run over at night. With 147 days until web-slinging commences its time to break this down with our patented Yes, No, Maybe So™ system.
When I put you on, no one will know I'm not Tobey Maguire
YES There are various moments within the trailer that get at Peter Parker's intelligence and especially his sense of humor that, let's be honest, the Sam Raimi films kind of skimped on despite their excellence. "You seriously think I'm a cop in a skin tight red and blue suit?"
Love the idea of Spider-Man using his web as a floor to infiltrate a building. You have to keep these things clever since we've seen them so many times.
"I'm in trouble." Casting Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey is a smart move. She's always relatable even in crazy circumstances like "my boyfriend is a webslinging superhero battling a mutated amphibian-man."
Only one villain? And one we haven't yet seen in the Spider-Man films? Such a surprise blessing from Overkill Friendly Hollywood.
Since there weren't enough prizes in the world for Claire "Temple Grandin" Danesand Kate "Mildred" Winslet, who will be our next "Her, again?" awards gobbler?
Will it be Nicole Kidman in Hemingway & Gellhorn vs. Julianne Moore in Game Change? The last time they faced off in awards season (2002) they were actually co-stars and Nic' won for The Hours (Julianne losing for Far From Heaven and The Hours albeit in two separate categories) . Or will they both be trumped by someone we're not thinking of yet when the Emmys role around in September 2012 and this whole awards circus begins anew?
In this corner, Nicole Kidman as Martha Gelhorn in Hemingway and Gellhorn...
Yes- Philip Kaufman is directing and he's made some amazing films in the past like The Right Stuff and Henry & June. The last time Nicole Kidman lowered her voice this noticeably to play a ballsy writer, she won the Oscar.
No - Isn't there a danger of this gorgeous Star strolling through the rubble of war reminding people of Australia?They didn't much like that one. Four minute trailers always have the problem of making the oncoming product seem overstuffed, unduly episodic and desperate for attention. "And then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened. And then this happened. Interested? No?" Uh... [Cue: flop sweat, razzle dazzle] Uh... Oh... okay the first part is shit but the second part is REALLY nifty! Ok.... she'd go ♫. I'd go ♫. we'd gooooo. ♫"
Maybe So - The success of this may well rest on the chemistry between Clive Owen and Kidman. Do they have it? And can Clive Owen work his way around the very vivid recent memory of Corey Stoll in this role via Midnight in Paris?
In this corner Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in Game Change...
Yes - It might be fun to watch Juliannne Moore attempt biopic mimicry because it's not the sort of thing she's known for. And at this point we'll take anything that might win her an award. Has there ever been an actress as major who hasn't won any major prizes? She wins nothing. No Emmys, No Globes, No Oscars. No - "Fair and balanced" has been wiped clean of all meaning ever since Fox News took over the world, but where will this film fall on the scale of fair representation? On the one hand, it might be super to watch a take-down of Sarah Palin. But then again, the target is just so easy so it might feel way too cheap shot-like. On the other, excessive humanization of seemingly soulless political monsters through the magic of warm actresses (see also The Iron Lady) comes with its own queasiness, the humanization of dehumanizing idealogies. Maybe So - Will anyone be ready to sit through more Sarah Palin when she's been so torturously around ever since 2008? And can Juli work his way around the very vivid recent memory of Tina Fey in this role via Saturday Night Live?
"I have to win this thing. I so don't want to go back to Alaska!"What kind of bet are you laying down?
Better yet, do you see awards attention beyond our leading ladies for these HBO Movies? Both have amazing casts. Hemingway & Gellhorn is giving us Clive Owen, Parker Posey, Robert Duvall, David Straithairn, Rodrigo Santoro and Molly Parker (in awards bait position of scorned wife). Game Plan is giving us Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris and Sarah Paulson and a ton of others in small roles.
Be brave in the comments and make some Emmy calls now!
Just a short time after similarly DRAMATIC (!) black and whiteish teaser posters for the new Batman and Spider-Man movies arrived, posters for the two other 2012 event movies, Prometheus and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey also emerged. Each poster gives us a character's back spotlit as they enter the fantastical of their movie which awaits us too. It's easy to project yourself into the image as you walk into the bright light of... the familiar unknown?
The weird thing about event movies is that they're promoted as if there was only one ONE MOVIE TO RULE THEM ALL but they all seem so interchangeable from a distance. Maybe that's because they're always sequels so the journey we're about to take isn't so unexpected. Even Prometheus is a sequel. Sort of.
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 12:00PM 
"Help. I'm lost in the thick woods of movie trailers."
