Skyline
The Half Dozen: The 6 Most Interesting Looking Movies For November
Another month, another round of movies. November is traditionally a good time of year for the movies, what with us giving thanks for having packed the riff-raff off to the colonies all those years ago, and said colonists having some sort of similar celebration where they eat turkey a month too early. My wife has some sort of clinical aversion, which I’ve never encountered anywhere else, to going to watch movies in daylight, so life does become easier in that respect now that winter is nearly upon us.
So what to choose this month? By my self imposed rules (well, rule, really, it’s the only one I’ve got so far), I don’t include movies in this list that I’ve already seen, mainly because I’m then judging the movie and not the trailer. So this month that has ruled out Chico & Rita and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest from consideration – they’re both strong movies and deserving of your time, but you really do need to have seen the first two Millennium movies to have any chance of fully understanding Hornet’s Nest.
Then there’s the movies that aren’t interesting enough, including Harry Potter and I Thought This Was The Last One Apparently Not, for which the trailer doesn’t look bad, it’s just difficult to get too excited about the seventh in a series. (We’re looking at you, Diamonds Are Forever and Star Trek: Generations.) I’ve also ruled out Let Me In, for while I adore the original, the trailer actually makes this look less interesting than I think it will prove to be, possibly in an attempt to generate some kind of audience. The trailer is worth watching if only for the giant “Hammer” logo at the beginning – let’s hope that’s not the last we see of that.
There is some other stuff, including some newness from Rob Reiner, some over-the-topness from Robert Rodriguez, some this-all-looks-a-bit-familarness from George Clooney, Colin Farrell doing a very good, but at the same time very odd, accent in William Monaghan’s attempt at making a serious Guy Ritchie movie and even this year’s Palme D’Or winner from Cannes. I love Thailand and I love arthouse, but I nearly fell asleep watching the trailer. Maybe I’ll wait and see on that one.
So, without further ado, the six trailers that stood out for me this month. Hope we both get to see as many of the finished products as possible.
Jackass 3D
The Marmite of movies, you either love them or hate them. I have to say that I think most of the stunts are somewhere between dangerous and revolting, often a combination of the two, that it’s all intensely puerile… and that I laughed like a drain throughout the first two movies. So I’m afraid I’m in the former camp – sorry if that disappoints you, reader. But watch this trailer, even if you think you might be in the latter camp – Jackass has always stood out against its peers partly for the ingenuity and innovation of its stunts, but mainly for the unparalleled sense of camaraderie that exists between Johnny Knoxville and his band of crazy brothers. The high five is still the funniest single moment I’ve seen in the cinema all year.
Another Year
This trailer is, in its own way, very similar to the Jackass trailer, in that it sets its stall out, and is almost as keen to tell you about the quality of what you’ll see as the content. (I have to say I like the latter part of that approach; no-one wants to see too much given away in the trailer.) I have to confess that I only saw my first Mike Leigh movie two years ago, when I was on my first all-out cinema binge, and it was a pleasure then – I’m sure it’s going to be a pleasure now as well.
Skyline
While the trailer is interesting in itself, it would be fair to say that my expectations of this movie are not exactly Sky High, feeling as it does somewhere between Independence Day and Cloverfield. It’s also taken that approach with it’s actors, avoiding big names or no names and instead going with Milo from 24 and Turk from Scrubs. Classy. More fascinating, though, is the controversy that surrounds this, with The Brothers Strause owing the effects house that has produced this movie (total movie cost, less than $20 million) and also been involved in effects work next year’s Battle: Los Angeles (total movie cost, est. $100 million), thus infuriating Sony earlier this year. Will be intriguing to compare the two come next year.
We Are What We Are
As the caption says, “…does what Let The Right One In did for vampires.” Yes, cannibals are next to get the art house treatment, and there looks to be plenty going on in this one. Not much more I can say on this one, other than that the trailer looks to be not for those of a nervous disposition, so I can only imagine what the movie contains. (Actually, thanks to the BBFC’s website, it contains strong bloody violence, horror, moderate sex and mild language, such as ‘asshole’ and ‘damn’. Thanks, BBFC!)
Robinson In Ruins
I can’t imagine this one coming anywhere near Cambridge or Bury St. Edmunds, my two cinematic hangouts, so I shall just have to enjoy the trailer, although the neon title cards did give me brief flashbacks to Enter The Void. I simply present this paragraph from the IMDb page for your consideration:
Unstoppable
Denzel Washington and Tony Scott have made a series of movies that could be illustrated in terms of quality by one of those stock market crash graphs with a red line on a white background. If they carry on with that trend, this will be off the bottom of the scale, especially since The Taking Of Pelham 123 was buttock-clenchingly tedious (it ended with a walking chase, for crying out loud – that is NOT an action movie or a thriller, Mr Scott) but they’ve been hyping this one up, calling it Speed meets Jaws. Frankly, if it’s half as good as either it’ll keep my popcorn down very nicely.
The Movie Evangelist 