I've got Will Smith action hero fatigue, but HOLY CRAP does Hancock look awesome. I am into apathetic superheroes. There's a second trailer available on YouTube...and its quality is surprisingly good. (You can tell I don't make it out to the movies a lot these days...the first trailer has been out since December.)
Pablo Ferro and Dr. Strangelove
Here's the trailer for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
It was done by a fellow named Pablo Ferro; it was his first movie trailer. Steven Heller writes:
After seeing Ferro's commercials, Kubrick hired him to direct the advertising trailers and teasers for Dr. Strangelove and convinced him to resettle in London (Kubrick's base of operations until he died there in March 1999). Ferro was inclined to be peripatetic anyway, and ever anxious to bypass already completed challenges he agreed to pull up stakes on the chance that he would get to direct a few British TV commercials, which he did. The black and white spot that Ferro designed for Dr. Strangelove employed his quick-cut technique -- using as many as 125 separate images in a minute -- to convey both the dark humor and the political immediacy of the film. At something akin to stroboscopic speed words and images flew across the screen to the accompaniment of loud sound effects and snippets of ironic dialog. At a time when the bomb loomed so large in the US public's fears (remember Barry Goldwater ran for President promising to nuke China), and the polarization of left and right -- east and west -- was at its zenith, Ferro's commercial was not only the boldest and most hypnotic graphic on TV, it was a sly subversive statement.
Ferro worked with Kubrick on the iconic and fantastic main titles for the film as well.
Kubrick wanted to film it all using small airplane models (doubtless prefiguring his classic space ship ballet in 2001: A Space Odyssey). Ferro dissuaded him and located the official stock footage that they used instead. Ferro further conceived the idea to fill the entire screen with lettering (which incidentally had never been done before), requiring the setting of credits at different sizes and weights, which potentially ran counter to legal contractual obligations. But Kubrick supported it regardless. On the other hand, Ferro was prepared to have the titles refined by a lettering artist, but Kubrick correctly felt that the rough hewn quality of the hand-drawn comp was more effective. So he carefully lettered the entire thing himself with a thin pen. Yet only after the film was released did he notice that one word was misspelled: "base on" instead of "based on". Ooops!
If you want that hand-lettered look for yourself, Pablo Skinny is a font by Fargoboy that closely duplicates Ferro's handwriting.
Ferro went on to make several well-known movie title sequences, including those for Bullitt, the original The Thomas Crown Affair, and To Die For, but not Napoleon Dynamite. He collaborated with Kubrick once again on the trailer for A Clockwork Orange, another classic.
Update: According to this Wikipedia article, the work of Canadian avant-garde filmmaker Arthur Lipsett caught the eye of Stanley Kubrick after an Oscar nomination for his short film, Very Nice, Very Nice and, more importantly for our business here, that Kubrick directed the Strangelove trailer himself in Lipsett's style after Lipsett refused to work with Kubrick on it:
Stanley Kubrick was one of Lipsett's fans, and asked him to create a trailer for his upcoming movie Dr. Strangelove. Lipsett declined Kubrick's offer. Kubrick went on to direct the trailer himself; however, Lipsett's influence on Kubrick is clearly visible when watching the trailer.
The two are stylistically similar for sure, but Ferro is credited with having designed the main title sequence (according to the titles themselves). That passage doesn't appear to have been derived from any particular source, so I looked for something more definitive. From a 1986 article by Lois Siegel
After his Academy Award nomination, he received a letter from British filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. The typewritten letter said, "I'm interested in having a trailer done for Dr. Strangelove." Kubrick regarded Lipsett's work as a landmark in cinema -- a breakthrough. He was interested in involving Lipsett. This didn't happen, but the actual trailer did reflect Lipsett's style in Very Nice, Very Nice.
An endnote to a 2004 profile of Lipsett by Brett Kashmere describes what Kubrick wrote to Lipsett in the letter:
Kubrick described Very Nice, Very Nice (1961) as "one of the most imaginative and brilliant uses of the movie screen and soundtrack that I have ever seen." Kubrick was so enthused with the film he invited Lipsett to create a trailer for Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1965) an offer Lipsett refused. Stanley Kubrick, letter to Arthur Lipsett, Arthur Lipsett Collection, Cinematheque québécoise Archives, Montreal, May 31, 1962.
It's not clear what the connection is between Lipsett's work and the trailer that Ferro ended up producing for Strangelove, but several sources (including Heller) say that Ferro developed his quick-cut style directing commercials in the 1950s, work that would predate that of Lipsett.
Lipsett more clearly influenced the work of another prominent filmmaker, George Lucas. Lucas found inspiration in Lipsett's 21-87 in making THX-1138 and borrowed the concept of "the Force" for the Star Wars movies. Lucas' films are littered with references to Lipsett's film; e.g. Princess Leia's cell in Star Wars was in cell #2187. (thx, gordon)
Trailer for Glass, A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts, a film about composer Philip Glass. The joke that Chuck Close tells at the end is from a page on Glass' own site. (via crazymonk)
New trailer for Speed Racer...watch it in full HD glory if your internet connection can take it. The courses remind me even more of Mario Kart than in the first trailer.
Trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull redone in the style of a circa-1980s movie trailer.
If adventure has a name, it must be: Indiana Jones.
Interview with Michel Gondry on his new movie, Be Kind Rewind.
I hate cynicism. I wipe it from me. I don't like cynical people. I don't like cynical movies. Cynicism is very easy. You don't have to justify it. You don't have to fight for it.
Gondry also did a hilarious remake of the film's original trailer.
Update: Maybe Gondry got the premise for the movie from an old Nickelodeon show called Amanda, Please! Or not.
The first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Unfortunately Titled Movie Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is available...in HD even.
New extended trailer for Pixar's Wall-E that reveals a bit more of the story and a new character.
Update: The trailer is offline. Awaiting the official release.
Movie trailer for Untraceable, which features a serial killer who live-broadcasts his murders online so that his victims are killed faster as more people visit the site. From the looks of it, the movie features every single bad computer-related movie cliche all in one neat package. Either that or it's a clever metaphor for what the web is doing to our culture. (via fimoculous)
Pixar has released a new trailer for Wall-E (HD version available). I want this movie and a robot now please.
Two more movies on my horizon, both about outsiders in the music business:
- The trailer for Young @ Heart that nearly brought me to tears last night can't yet be found online, and the clip available at Channel4, where the film originally aired in the UK is a bit dry. Instead, you'll find info on the film and two great clips at The Documentary Blog, including a heart-wrenching performance of the Young @ Heart chorus of elderly people (average age 80) performing Coldplay, part of a repertoire including The Clash, The Ramones, and Sonic Youth.
- Great World of Sound is an Altmanesque comedy about two normal southern guys who get caught up in a record industry talent scout scheme. The trailer at Apple looks promising.
Now that the trippy stills have whetted your appetite, feast your eyes on the trailer for Speed Racer, in freaking HD no less. The race courses remind me of those in Mario Kart: Double Dash, particularly Rainbow Road, Dry Dry Desert, and especially Wario Colosseum. (thx, askedrelic)
Trailer for There Will Be Blood, the highly anticipated film from PT Anderson starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
Second trailer for the could-be-amazing I'm Not There, a movie about Bob Dylan, starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, and three other actors as Bob Dylan. Not very related: would any of Christian Bale's characters be any good in bed?
Set thy TiVos: 49 Up, the latest in a series of documentary films in which the same group of people are interviewed every seven years, is on PBS tonight.
It's a cruel trick to confront people with the cold reality of the past. Despite that, some enjoy being in the film and claim it as a thing to treasure; others take part under sufferance, persuaded that the films are unique and we should finish what we started. I thank them all for their generosity and courage in making these films possible.
Watch the trailer. (thx, mark)
I missed the trailer for Be Kind Rewind, Michel Gondry's upcoming film starring Mos Def and Jack Black, when it came out back in August...perhaps you did too? The gist of the film: two video store clerks find all the tapes in the store are blank and set out to refilm all of the movies themselves.
Wall-E update
Wall-E is Pixar's next movie, to be released in June 2008. A new teaser trailer is due to be released today at 8pm ET, although a French site has jumped the gun and is displaying it now (much better HD version). Does it make sense even if you don't speak French? Yes, because the movie isn't going to have any dialogue. Says director Andrew Stanton: "I'm basically making R2-D2: The Movie". At least it's not in Aramaic. And talkies are overrated anyway, right?
Pixar has also launched a promotional web site for the film. The site was formerly just a placeholder but is now faux-corporate brochureware for Buy n Large, maker of the Wall-E robot. The site is full of ridiculous corporate-speak like "by visiting the Buy n Large web site you instantaneously relinquish all claims against the Buy n Large corporation and any of its vendors or strategic partners." Check out the Nanc-E under Robotics/Robot Models for a chuckle. (thx, david)
Update: The English trailer is now available at Yahoo in HD (480p, 720p and 1080p).
Trailer for No Country For Old Men, a film by the Coen Brothers based on a book by Cormac McCarthy.
Trailer for In the Shadow of the Moon, a documentary that "brings together for the first, and possibly the last, time surviving crew members from every single Apollo mission that flew to the Moon along with visually stunning archival material re-mastered from the original NASA film footage". BOY HOWDY! Here's a review of the film from Ad/Astra, the magazine of the National Space Society.
Trailer for There Will Be Blood, the first movie from PT Anderson in I don't know how long. The flick stars Daniel Day-Lewis and is adapted from Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! (via crazymonk)
A teaser trailer for Wall-E, Pixar's newest movie, due out in summer 2008. That sounds like a heck of a lunch. (thx, scott)
Newish trailer for Transformers (the "exclusive trailer" at the top of the list). This movie may actually kick ass. Or, as with every other Bay movie I've seen, the reaction will probably be, "that movie really could have kicked ass if it wasn't so stupid." I also have a theory that the robots in the film are too much toward the realistic end of Scott McCloud's iconic abstraction scale to be effective, but that post is for another time.
The international trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I am officially as hooked on Harry as everyone else.
Update: And here's the US trailer...slightly different footage.
Here's the first full (and I believe, leaked) trailer for Ratatouille, Pixar's newest film. It's in English with Chinese subtitles.
Trailer for Grindhouse, a film consisting of two separate movies, one by Robert Rodriguez and the other by Quentin Tarantino.
Teaser trailer for Oceans 13. Looks like #13 is Andy Garcia.
The original trailers for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Oh, and here's a Return of the Jedi trailer.
Wired profile of Darren Aronofsky and his new film, The Fountain, which will finally be coming out on November 22. The special effects in the film are non-CGI: "No matter how good CGI looks at first, it dates quickly. But 2001 really holds up. So I set the ridiculous goal of making a film that would reinvent space without using CGI." Trailer is here.
Trailer for Christopher Guest's new mockumentary film, For Your Consideration. Yes, Parker Posey is present and accounted for. (via wdik)
Update: The movie's MySpace page has a clip from the movie. (thx, sam)
Update: JJG noticed a certain theme that runs through Guest's work.
The trailer for 49 Up, the latest in a series of documentary films in which the same group of people (from varying socio-economic backgrounds) are interviewed every seven years. The first movie, Seven Up!, was released in 1964 when the participants were seven years old. "The premise of the film was taken from the Jesuit motto 'Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.'"
A pair of preview clips from the forthcoming Simpsons movie. (via waxy)
Update: The clips have been removed from YouTube by Fox's request. (thx, bob & jon)
Trailer for The Science of Sleep, directed by Michel Gondry. Michel Gondry? Michel Gondry. Michel Gondry. Michel Gondry.
Superman Returns trailer. Mmmmm.
I can't tell if this is a joke on TBS's part or not, but this is an actual promo of theirs for The Lord of the Rings movies done in the style of alternate trailers like The Shining and Brokeback to the Future. "It sucks to be Frodo."
Update: Looks like they're having a bit of fun over at TBS...check out their other promos.
Trailer for The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky's (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) new film. Official site, interview with Aronofsky on the film, which was originally supposed to star Brad Pitt.
New trailer for Cars, a film by Pixar.
Trailer, X-Men 3. Why am I so excited for this?
New trailer for A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel. (via rw)
In the spirit of the reimagined trailer for The Shining, here's Brokeback Top Gun and Sleepless in Seattle.
Crap-looking trailer for Mel Gibson's new film, Apocalypto. The Mel Gibson-ness of this clip is overwhelming.
Trailer for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, complete with indie rock soundtrack. Juxapositionally delicious!
Well, lookie lookie. If you take a peek at the bottom of the Apple movie trailers page, they've added a link to an RSS file of the newest movie trailers. O' happy day. (thx John)
Update: Dave says: "I was hoping to see permalinks to a reviews page for the movie, and an enclosure containing the trailer itself." Me too, but baby steps, I guess.
Trailer for Shopgirl, based on a book by Steve Martin and starring, tada, Steve Martin (and Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman). "I can either hurt now or hurt later..."
On the art of the movie trailer. "There are few more cynical forms of art, or of advertising. Trailers are full of deception. Because what they want you to do is to see the movie they want you to see, not the movie that it is."
