Ten Trailers (and one picture) that are Exciting Me

Baghead

A group of wannabe filmmakers head into the woods to write the script that's going to make them famous. A dream provides the perfect image, a man with a bag over his head. All joking stops when someone donning that bag starts messing with them. Baghead is from the Duplass Brothers, who made a movie called The Puffy Chair which just got added to my Netflix queue. My initial reaction to the trailer is excitement. It could be funny. It could be scary. It could be really endearing. My gut's telling me that it's gonna be a mixture of all three.

Boy A

Some violent kids get sent to jail for murder. Eleven years later, Boy A is released. Lying low behind a name change and a lacking social life, Jack attempts to cope with a life freed from bars. His cover is blown, however, when he and a co-worker save the life of a young girl. Finding himself the center of a media frenzy, Jack appears to take off to the streets, his intentions unclear. This one's already won some awards at Tribeca and looks to gaining some buzz among film fans.

Glass, a Portrait of Phillip in 12 Parts

The title explains it all. Phillip Glass is one of the most amazing composers film has ever experienced. What? You haven't heard of him? Here's some of the movie he composed for: The Thin Blue Line, Candyman, Kundun, The Hours, The Fog of War, and Cassandra's Dream. What you haven't heard of these movies? Maybe you'd enjoy the work of Teddy Castellucci. Scott Hicks, the director of Shine, follows Glass for a year and interviews a bunch of really cool interviewees like Martin Scorsese, Ravi Shankar, and Woody Allen. What? You've never heard of them? Fuck you.

Miracle at St. Anna

Spike Lee's been in the news lately. Apparently, Lee's decided that the best way to promote his new movie is to talk trash about Clint Eastwood. A natural strategy. It seems to be working too. He's mad because there weren't any black soldiers in Eastwood's war movies. Eastwood got mad back. Eastwood's got a movie coming out too. Well, it's actually coming out in December. Anyone want to guess what the next six months are going to be looking like? Check this trailer out. Taylor, I'm talking to you. You're finally getting another war movie!

Monster Camp

OH YES! I have seen this movie and it is glorious. There's heroes, villains, and MAGIC! Here's the lowdown on Monster Camp. A group of nerdy kids get together to LARP (or Live Action Role Play). Bascially, they play real-life World of Warcraft. Foam swords, potion viles, and truckloads of virginity. What else can a (horizontally) growing boy ask for? Monster Camp is hilarious and really, really fun. I happened to see the world debut at Cinequest last year and met the filmmaker. Definitely keep your eyes open for this one. I'll let everyone know when it comes out on DVD too.

My Winnipeg

Sadly, I've yet to see a Guy Maddin movie. When The Saddest Music in the World came out it dropped below my radar and I still haven't seen it. Oops. My Winnipeg seems like one of those movie that I'm "supposed to see." Explaining this trailer will only make things more confusing. Watch it for yourself, I did you the favor of posting it for you.

Righteous Kill

Robert De Niro. Al Pacino. VIGILANTE JUSTICE!
Downlow warning: These Gods of 70s cinema are playing police officers! COPS! Who can forget the last time these guys plays boys in blue?

Righteous Kill is brought to you from the man who also brought you 88 Minutes. "I BROKE IT! I BROKE MY PHONE!" That movie sucked. This movie will probably suck. But there's no way I'm not going to miss it. VIGILANTE JUSTICE!

Sangre di Mi Sangre

Movies about illegal immigration always seem to jump out at me. In Middle School, one of my teachers showed us Gregory Nava's El Norte and I've been hooked ever since. From shorts shown at Cinequest to feature-length Hollywood flicks, lots of movies have tried to represent the struggles immigrants face when they look for a better life in America. This one takes an interesting twist with the premise. Two guys meet on a truck on their way to the U.S. One tells the other that he is on the way to meet his father for the first time. When he finally does track down his dad, it turns out that his former confidant has been posing at the fruit of his papa's loins. Hilarity ensues. Actually, from the look of the trailer, violence ensues...maybe murder. Should be entertaining either way.

Take Out

Another immigration story, this time about a Chinese delivery boy with a smuggling debt to pay off...in one day. Filmed in an actual Chinese food restaurant during work hours, this low budget movie was actually filmed in 2004. I remember seeing a trailer for this a couple years ago and, at the time, I really wanted to see it. A quick check at IMDB doesn't seem to highlight any sort of release date but for some reason, the trailer was up at Apple.com and caught my eye again. If this trailer is the only viewing experience I ever get with this movie then I'll die an unhappy man. If any of my readers happen to know Sean Baker or Shih-Ching Tsou, ask them to swing by He Shot Cyrus and drop me off some knowledge nuggets.

Towelhead

Taken from IMDB because I'm Mr. Lazy Pants: "Towelhead follows the dark, bold and shockingly funny life of Jasira, a 13-year-old Arab-American girl, as she navigates the confusing and frightening path of adolescence and her own sexual awakening."

While a trailer is no way to judge something like performances, it would appear that most of them seem to be pretty solid. I now realize that the world needs more "dark, bold, and shockingly funny" movies. Just the combination of those words is exciting for me. Sorta like "Zesty Cool Ranch."

Does anyone else catch a pedophilia vibe from Aaron Eckhart's character? I couldn't tell if the trailer was supposed to be alluding to that but it's certainly the vibe I picked up on. Eckhart really impressed me In the Company of Men a few years back and more recently, in Thank You For Smoking. If he does end up playing a pedophile, I'm sure he'll do a fine job. Chills just ran down my spine in a bad way. Not in a "my hot teacher just grazed my arm" sorta way.

JAMAL WOOLARD as NOTORIOUS B.I.G.

A trailer for Notorious, the remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic (just kidding), hasn't been released yet. Woolard has the look. From what I've read, he's got the presence and the voice as well. Following the life and death of hip-hop God, Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, the director of Soul Food and Men of Honor brings to life what Sly Stallone could only talk about doing. Stallone tried to make a Biggie Smalls movie for a while but it never got off the ground (collective sigh).

Go check IMDB for the rest of the castings. They're incredible. Having just finished "Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.," it was really cool to see who Hollywood thought could play all these influential people. The casting for Tupac is perfect, in my opinion. This will be the movie of 2009 for me, I can feel it.


Alright, what did you think? Which movies are you looking forward to the most? Any of these look interesting to you? Trailers I missed? Drop me a line and let me know!