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The first full length trailer for the Ben Stiller-directed movie Tropic Thunder looks like it could be a fairly riotous affair.  It was hard to tell just what first impressions to make of the movie when all it was known for was that Robert Downey Jr. was playing a character who goes blackface.

But the movie looks like a dead on satire of Hollywood and to a lesser degree Vietnam-era movies.  Pretty much no movie should us Buffalo Sprinfield’s “For What It’s Worth” but then again this is satire.  The movie even handles Downey Jr.’s blackface really well and he has some great lines and interactions with the other black actors in this one.   We could have a sleeper on our hands this summer.

Finally, the shroud has been lifted from the mystery of Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk reboot/sequel. And from the looks of it, it’s a nicely cut trailer, but it doesn’t sell me on the picture. Sure, Ed Norton is a huge upgrade over Eric Bana, as Dr. Bruce Banner (in that he seems more like a dorky scientist capable or hulking out) but otherwise this doesn’t look all that great.

The Hulk is still a CGI mess and Tim Roth’s Abomination character doesn’t look any better. Universal and Marvel had better get their marketing team to ramp up incredibly. In some ways, I was holding out hope that the mystery was just that and that this movie would still be good. Now? It looks fun for sure, but it looks solidly in the Daredevil/Ghostrider level of quality.

The Incredible Hulk smashes its way into theaters on June 13.

Warner Brothers has released two new international trailers for the upcoming Speed Racer.  My brain tells me yes, but my heart tells me know.  It’s hard to understand exactly what Andy and Larry Wachowski are going for in this movie.  It’s obviously trying to be a live action anime movie, which is so crazy of an idea.  You almost wonder if they’ve ever seen an anime movie before.  Those things are just plain weird when you really think about it.

International Trailer 1

International Trailer 2

Just kidding, this movie looks crazy good.

I’m beginning to think this movie will not be good. It just seems waaaaay to serious for its own good. Don’t they know that movies about bending bullets and stuff like this is supposed to be light hearted and rompful?

Another summer another goofy Will Ferrell comedy. But unlike his other recent movies where he’s playing an insecure pompous douche, his new team up with John C. Reilly has us excited. They both play manchildren, who become step brothers when their single parents become married.

It looks funny, since you’d normally expect this sort of thing to happen with 10 year olds, but it also looks kinda sweet. That they’re rocking LCD Soundsystem in the trailer doesn’t hurt either.

Step Brothers is directed by Adam McKay. Everything McKay and Ferrell have done together so far, including their stints on SNL, have at the very least had inspiring moments of comedy. This looks no different.

Neil at Film School Rejects has read the script for Ferrell’s upcoming comedy, Step Brothers, and insists that it is hilarious.

John C. Reilly should do more comedy, I think that we can all agree upon. He’s got the touch.

Step Brothers is in theaters on July 25

This summer’s Get Smart starring Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway (let me just say I watched a bit of The Princess Diaries the other night and her hotness could not have been predicted.  In this trailer she’s a total sex bomb), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Alan Arkin and the fat guy from Borat.

This new trailer shows a bit of promise and this could become a sleeper hit of the summer.  It’ll make for some nice counter programming to the flurry of superhero movies we’ll be seeing.  Director Peter Segal’s new trailer premiered last weekend at WonderCon in San Francisco.

Get Smart hits theaters on June 20

In many ways, David Ayer has cornered the market on morally corrupt Los Angelinos.  First as writer of Dark Blue, Training Day, and then subsequently as writer and director on Harsh Times.  But those movies added up to little more than faux-tough guy cop posturing.

It was like he was trying to create a mythical Los Angeles full of dirty cops and trainwreck souls, one that’s posited from a white dude who grew up in the suburbs his entire life trying to imagine what a world of crooked cops must be like.  Not to say that dirty cops don’t exist, it’s just that his movies seemed a tad on the unrealistic side.  It’s arguable that FX’s The Shield, with the morally bankrupt Vic Mackie is more realistic.

Now, Ayer, is taking a screenplay by L.A.’s noir master James Ellroy (with some help for Kurt Wimmer) and casting Keanu Reeves as the morally bankrupt cop.  Except the way this trailer is cut you don’t really get what the whole story is about.

Just in case you’re left wondering too: Tom Ludlow (Reeves) is a veteran LAPD cop who finds life difficult to navigate after the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he’s been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.

Ah well, enjoy it.  Not sure this will amount to anything.

Street Kings is out  4/11/08

Oh, I’ll admit it.  I don’t hate Sex and the City.  Having seen enough episodes, there’s a lot that I don’t like about the show, but there’s certainly enough that I find enjoyable.  And after all these years, it’s still the only “young professional women in NYC looking for love” that doesn’t feel the least bit contrived.  That’s saying something.

So with this new trailer for the upcoming movie it looks more of the same.  Samantha slutty it up, Carrie being all wishy washy, Miranda with the deadpan humor and Charlotte is a mom.  Which is to say that the runaway marriage plot line will be difficult to pull off, without feeling contrived.

Oh yeah, plus there’s Jennifer Hudson and she was on American Idol, so she has that going for her.  Hard to believe she won an Oscar last year.

Over the weekend, the WonderCon gave X-Files nerds the first glimpse of actual footage from the movie.  The footage isn’t much, but judging by the audiences reaction there could be a small yet sizable audience for this movie.  Considering that the show went off the air six years ago and the last movie came out 10 years ago, it’s great to see there is still a strong connection to Agents Mulder and Scully.

Personally, I was just about one of the biggest X-Files fans.  When the show first came out, I was about 13 years old and that mix of horror, mythology, aliens, humor and sexual tension hooked me like nothing else.  I didn’t stick around for the end, but after watching this footage I can’t wait to reaquiant myself.

Hopefully, this means we’ll have an official trailer very very soon.

It’s been a while since writer-director David Mamet and his $40 SAT prep words rock our balls off. Even when he isn’t trying to show off he manages to karate chop your brain with a thesaurus.

Only marginally related, David Mamet is so cool, he walks around in a speedo at his posh country club. I spent a week lifeguarding there, but I fell asleep in the high chair and a baby almost drowned. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t certified and never took a lifeguarding class in my life. But the thing I remember most was the way David Mamet carried his, um, self. Just a speedo and sunglasses. Even though you couldn’t see his eyes, you knew he could kick your ass.

And now with his latest flick, Redbelt, he wants to prove it. Redbelt stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen, Randy Couture, Alice Braga and Emily Mortimer and then the usually criminals that populate Mamet’s world.  Ejiofor is a Jiu-Jitsu master and defense instructor, who through a series of events is introduced to sleazeball promoters (Rick Jay and Joe Mantegna) and is eventually forced to dumb down his high falootin’ principles in order to pay off debts and regain his honor.

Word is Mamet also spent time training in Jiu-Jitsu with master Renato Magno and famed-families The Gracies and The Machados.  So yeah, he’s got the big balls and the speedo to prove it.

As always, there’s bound to be some sort of ending you never saw coming even though you’ll be looking for the surprise from ten miles away.  Cause again, Mamet rocks brass balls.

Redbelt hits theaters on 4/25 via Sony Picture Classics.

This comes straight from the genre of Three Amigos.  You know where fake action heroes are asked to become real action heroes.  It’s all very meta and this time B-movie God Bruce Campbell gets his shot at lampooning his own image and saving the small town from an evil Chinese demon.

This is the type of comedy fair that Campbell always soars in.  If you haven’t yet seen Bubba Ho-Tep then do yourself a favor and rent that and then go and see this movie when it hits theaters … or DVD.  Whichever comes first.

My Name is Bruce was even directed by Campbell, was filmed in southern Oregon and probably contains lots of Bruce Campbell inside jokes.

There is no release date yet.

Yahoo has posted the first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. First impressions? Well, it seems that any fears I’ve had about this movie sucking have been allayed for now. I like that there seems to be a good blend of classic action and the mysterious.

Roswell can be spotted which means that the connections to aliens aren’t entirely unaccurate. Also, we only get snippets of Brendan Gleeson, Cate Blanchett and Shia LeBeef. Best part for me was when Indy was swinging in the artifacts warehouse and he screws up and lands in the windshield, “I thought I had more room.” Classic.

Or you can watch the embed below, it’s not the highest quality, but it’s still darn good.

This trailer is much more successful than the recent Forgetting Sarah Marshall redband trailer. Again, though, you would expect that when we’re talking about a stoner comedy from Seth Rogan and Even Goldberg (the duo behind Superbad).

We’ve got another Judd Apatow-produced comedy on our hands this summer, well, actually it’s four in 2008 if you’re counting the could-be-good Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the not so good looking Drillbit Taylor (starring Owen Wilson as a washed up bodyguard), and the equally not good looking You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (starring Adam Sandler as a former Israeli soldier turned hairdresser).

Still, this one directed by indie-auteur David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Snow Angels) reteams Freaks and Geeks costars Seth Rogan and James Franco (glad to have him back in comedy where he belongs) as a pair of stoners who witness a drug-related murder and then go on the lamb.

Even in this trailer there are a lot of promising moments, from Franco describing the titular pineapple express weed as “god’s vagina” and then he bloodies his leg while attempting to stick it through a car windshield. Good stuff all around.

Bonus points for sublimely working M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” into the trailer.
Mp3: M.I.A. - “Paper Planes”

Pineapple Express smokes its way into theaters on Aug. 8

Some new movie trailers have hit the web and most of them are for movies you no doubt will want to see. Among them are the restricted red band trailer for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which doesn’t have anything new or different from the original trailer, but if you love Kristen Bell and we sure as heck do, then she has a funny faux-sex scene this time around. This one stars Jason Siegel, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and Kristen Bell. With a cast like that you’re probably thinking, hey is Judd Apatow involved? Yup, he produced the whole shebang. [view]

Also, the new documentary from Morgan Spurlock, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? also gets a trailer. This one got great reviews and buzz coming out of Sundance, even if Spurlock never actually found Osama. [View]

Liam Nesson is starring in a thriller from the director of District B13 and Luc Besson. There’s no stateside release, but this still looks pretty darn good. The pedigree behind the movie is pretty outstanding. Liam Nesson goes on a manhunt after his daughter is kidnapped in Paris. [View]

MTV Movie Blog has the exclusive trailer for the remake of Funny Games , starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet. Watts and Roth play a vacationing couple who are taken hostage. This one got razzed at Sundance. Seems director Michael Haneke has the touch only once, as he remade his own movie.

And M. Night has a new film, that looks kinda creepy with Mark Wahlberg. It’s called The Happening. You can watch below.

You would think that a spoof titled Superhero Movie would have some potential. Afterall, how many superhero pictures have their been over the past decade? The genre has practically owned Hollywood and audiences since the first X-Men film streeted.

But this may mean that the time is ripe for a spoof or a work of deconstruction (Watchmen). The Weinstein Co. and Dimension Films is behind Superhero Movie, which really looks like it’s goofing on the first Spider-Man movie, more so than the genre itself. The film from producer David Zucker (he of “Naked Gun” fame) and director Craig Mazin (both the bad “Scary Movie 3” and the worse “Scary Movie 4” were largely his doing) stars Leslie Nielsen as the “Uncle Ben” character as well as Sara Paxton, Drake Bell and Jeffrey Tambor.

Ripe with potential this trailer just comes of as meh. Even Hancock with Will Smith and going back further any incarnation of The Tick seem to goof on superheroes much much better.

Michel Gondry just went super-duper ultra-meta on us. The director, responsible for such mind benders as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Science of Sleep, continues his trend of mind bending with this latest experiment.

We’ve been following the development of his latest flick Be Kind Rewind, starring Jack Black and Mos Def.

To recap: Black and Def star as video clerks who “swede” movies once they realize all the movies in their store have been magnetically erased. How do swede something? It’s easy! Just recreate anything you want using everyday home items from scratch.

His movie comes out Feb. 22, after premiering recently at Sundance Film Festival. Gondry has taken the time to swede the trailer for his movie.

Sweded Trailer

Original Trailer

There was a bootlegged version of the new JJ Abrams Star Trek floating around, no doubt pirated off of this weekend’s showing of Cloverfield.  However, the quality was pretty awful.  Now it’s up at Yahoo and I think I like it.  Never been much a fan of the series, but I like that they are connecting this reboot to JFK and man’s early quest to explore outer space.

Only time will tell if the cast put together for this one will be inspired or just a trainwreck.

Also: I am more willing to give Abrams the benefit of the doubt, not because of his past track record (which is just about spotless in my eyes) but because of what he did for one dying trekkie, Randy Pausch.  AICN has the scoop on it and um, I think that was a tear in my eye you just saw.

Pausch is a Carnegie-Mellon professor who will die from pancreatic cancer.  He gave a much emotional “last lecture,” which Abrams caught wind of and then offered him a role in the movie.  That’s pretty cool thing to do.  His lecture after the jump. MORE »

A much buzzed about horror flick has finally gotten an “official” high-def trailer, which can be viewed over at Apple. The Signal debuted at Sundance way back in early 2007 and then had screenings at SXSW. It’s a strictly low-budget affair, but word on the street is that it is no less scary because of that.

We’ve decided to embed the teaser trailer for you below.

The Plot is not altogether original, but it sounds fascinatingly suspenseful. “It’s New Year’s Eve in the city of Terminus and chaos is this year’s resolution. All forms of communication have been jammed by an enigmatic signal that preys on the fears and desires of everyone in the city. Told in three parts from three unique perspectives by three visionary directors, The Signal is a horrific journey towards discovering that the most brutal monster might actually be within all of us.”

Here’s what Harry Knowles from AICN has said, now this is to be taken with a grain of sand because Harry is sort of known for blowing five-year-old retarded sloppy kisses all over every movie that gets released.

This group of very young and under-financed filmmakers not only nailed it, but did so with style, flourish, intelligence emotion and panache that we haven’t seen combined this well, perhaps ever … and get ready for horror like you haven’t seen in ages. This is something altogether new in how it is played out and performed. Brilliant work.

Still the extended trailer for the film looks pretty darn fantastic and creepy.

Almost forgot about this one. IGN debuted the trailer this afternoon and it’s a doozy. We’re goo-goo for Hellboy and pretty pleased that director Guillermo del Torro was able to convince Universal to make a sequel. Hopefully, this one delivers so that we may get a third and final movie in a sweet Hellboy trilogy.

After Pan’s Labyrinth audiences should be more accustomed to del Torro’s sense of visual flair and maybe more willing to give this movie a shot. Unlike the first one that was brushed aside until it did well on DVD.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army arrives in theaters on July 11, 2008

Access Hollywood debuted the trailer for the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.   The premise is, like a lot of Apatow productions, overtly simplistic.  But we’ve all come to accept that it’s not the plot which makes Apatow comedies the best in the business right now, it’s the execution.

It’s the deft blend of raunchy comedy, male ego bashing, female bewilderment, but above all else the underlying pathos for the characters.  Despite all of their imperfections, whether it’s Seth Rogan’s manchild Ben Stone, or Steve Carrell’s ubermanchild Andy Stitzer, you can tell that Apatow loves them and wants us to love them as well.  That’s missing from a lot of comedies, especially from a lot of romantic comedies.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall seems to take the same approach.  The story of Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), takes a Hawaii vacation in order to deal with recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Little does he know Sarah’s traveling to the same resort as her ex… and she’s bringing along her new boyfriend. The film also features Apatow regulars Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader.

We love Kristen Bell and Jason Segel is so underrated on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother.  They’ve both got great comedy chops and hopefully they can pull of this sort of romantic comedy.