Before I post up this massive, exhaustively researched (I’ve been working on it for about 6 months now) two part blog about the long and storied history of Black comic strip/comic book heroes and characters. I decided to block out some time and post up ten of my favorite trailers that are currently floating around the vasty black called the internet and the sea of chaos I affectionately refer to as the bloggerverse. I tried to get a good mix of studio films, indie flicks and the story driven depressing shit I like to watch tossed in with some action films. Let’s go:
The first trailer I decided to post is the hottest one on the net right now, Street Kings. Street Kings is the new effort from writer/director David Ayer (Training Day, Harsh Times) but this joint was written by the team of Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium, The Recruit & Ultraviolet) and novelist/screenwriter James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia). This is another L.A. crime drama about a cop who works a dangerous job and is implicated in a case where one of his fellow officers is found dead and he needs to clear his name. Read my thoughts about it below:
Dart’s Take:
This looks like a must see to me. Not only is the team that created it tight but I need to see Nic Cage, Common, The Game and Hugh Laurie all in the same film together. I keep expecting Hugh to limp around or something. This movie looks gritty as hell and I never thought I’d say thought about a film that chose a Lupe Fiasoc song for the trailer off top. The use of RZA’s track he made for Blade 2 was a new one since I don’t remember seeing a trailer and hearing a song specifically made for another movie in it before. I’m looking forward to this flick. Nice trailer, it had the desired effect.
Doomsday is written and directed by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldier & The Descent) and it’s all about a plague that spreads throughout Europe and completely ravages it (again). The remaining population locks itself into a military fortress/stronghold in hopes of one day restoring civilization and discovering an antidote for the virus that endangered humanity. The only woman up to the job is sexy ass Rhona Mitra who leaves civilization behind and leads a team into the world that they left behind more than a generation ago. Did I buy it?
Dart’s Take:
I’m loving this trailer, fam! It brings me back to the 80’s when we had all of these post apocalyptic Sci Fi flicks coming out. This reminds me of the old Mad Max/Escape From New York/Damnation Alley/Fist Of The North Star shit I used to see as a kid. This movie has the checklist all filled up, too. A dystopian future where the military sends a team out on a mission to “save the world”? Check. A group armed to the teeth with new technology fighting “savages” dressed like Punks with spiked bats? Check. A fight to the death in a dome of some type? Check. Hella action sequences and a car crash in the trailer? Check and check.
The use of Rhona Mitra as the main character automatically make you think of Milla Jovovich in the Resident Evil franchise but I think works because Mitra isn’t known as an action star so it’s a surprise to the audience. Will this movie actually be “good”? I honestly don’t know because it seems to have “borrowed” liberally from so many previous films of it’s ilk. Hopefully it’ll put a new spin on the genre...otherwise it’ll just be another flick in people’s Netflix queues that came and went in the theater. I am curious to see which way it’ll go.
The next trailer I selected for this blog is an award winning Canadian drama about a troubled teen girl called The Tracey Fragments. It’s adapted from a novel written by Maureen Medved and was filmed in only two weeks by Bruce McDonald, a director best known for directing a gang of episodes of the popular CTV teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. The film stars Ellen Page, who is now hotter than Chewbacca's crotch in the summer thanks to her star turn in Diablo Cody’s Juno (Diablo Cody can get it...early). What’s the deal with the trailer? Let’s find out:
Dart’s Take:
As you all know, I’m a sucker for character driver indie flicks about damaged people and the trouble they have relating to the world at large (I might need therapy) so I’m really feeling this trailer. Ellen Page is great at playing the oddball chick in high school and seeing famous Canadian actors like Ryan Cooley and Kate Todd in this trailer is bugged out and I fully expect them to make the jump to Hollywood like Ellen Page and Laura Vandervoort did soon. I like how the film looks grey and subdued because it adds to the overall feel of the trailer. I’m totally engrossed and I can’t wait until this joint comes out on DVD soon to see the whole thing (Yes, I am speaking in code). This is already on my Netflix queue, I’m definitely checkin’ for it.
Here’s a horror/suspense thriller called Spiral from Adam Green (Hatchet) and written by the lead actor Joel Moore about a reclusive office work who paints pictures of a mysterious woman. He’s befriended by a lonely girl new to the office played by Amber Tambyln and then shit gets weirder than a Sa Ra Creative Partners collaboration with Will.i.am. My two cents:
Dart’s Take:
I first saw this trailer on another Netflix rental and this trailer had me type freaked out. I was thinking to myself “This movie actually looks scary for a change”. Joel Moore is notorious for acting in some shitty movies so I was surprised to see him in a serious dramatic role for a change and he legitimately creeped me out in this trailer. This movie came out on DVD yesterday (February 19th) so I should get this joint in the mail today. I’ve been waiting to see this joint. I’ll let y’all know if it lived up to the trailer or not next Dartflix post.
Snow Angels is adapted from the Stewart O’Nan novel and it’s directed by writer/director David Gordon Green and boasts an excellent cast of character actors. It tells the tale of several characters surrounding a divorcee and her daughter in the middle of a dispute with her ex husband over visitation and their friends and associates in and outside the local high school. The story unravels from a shooting that occurs on the school property. My words are below:
Dart’s Take:
I honestly don’t know how homie was able to nail down this many excellent actors for this flick. These actors agents must’ve really loved this script because this is a hell of a lineup. This movie looks like it’s typical Sundance Festival fare, a shooting occurs in the suburbs and the story is then deconstructed from there through the eyes of the surrounding players. I am interested in seeing this flick but for some odd reason it’s not high on my list of priorities right now.
I like the trailer but it didn’t grab me for whatever reason the way the trailer for The Tracey Fragments did. If I just happen to run across it (*cough!*) I’ll watch it but I’m not jonesing to see it. This movie could turn out to be really good, too. I’ll see.
The Bank Job is a film based on a true story about a bank robbery that went wrong but eventually went right...whatever the hell that means. I’m absolutely unfamiliar with the story but the film is directed by Roger Donaldson and written by the same team that wrote Julie Taymor’s Across The Universe. My thoughts to follow:
Dart’s Take:
Another movie about a bank robbery but this time it involves some espionage of some type on behalf of the Crown. *Yawn* I’ve seen so many movies like this that it’s hard for me to get excited based on this trailer alone. Jason Statham is in another bank robbery flick? Didn’t Chaos just come out yesterday? Saffron Burrows plays the hot girl in the crew...again. This flick can be the shit but based on the trailer it could go either way. This trailer is straight up eye candy but I would forget this joint was coming out if the trailer wasn’t on TV nonstop. This joint goes in the “wait and see” pile.
How To Rob A Bank is an indie film by writer/director Andrews Jenkins. In his ambitious first feature a team of theives and puts a brand new spin on the bank robbery film. It stars Nick Stahl, Gavin Rossdale (yeah, you read that right) and the sexiest Scientologist in Hollywood (Marisol Nichols is a close second), Erika Christensen. My opinion is directly below:
Dart’s Take:
Now this a damn trailer! I’m engrossed. I’m drawn in. I want to know what happens next and how this all goes down. The dialogue gives me the impression that this movie is on some other shit. As an aside, isn’t Leo Fitzpatrick feeling like he’s being typecast or something after being a bank robber/gunman in Spike TV’s miniseries The Kill Point? Check out Terry Crews as the lead detective on the case! This movie is available for viewing on Comcast On Demand’s IFC In Theaters right now if you don’t live near an arthouse/indie theater. I’m gonna see this later on today and I’ll write about it next Dartflix (I did recommend it in my last one).
The Air I Breathe is another first feature by writer/director Jieho Lee that boasts an amazing cast. The story all surrounds a crime boss, a businessman who makes a huge on a horse race and a Hollywood starlet. These people all cross paths with each other and expands into a wider story. Forest Whitaker, Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser and Sarah Michelle Gellar head up the stellar cast in this production. How did the trailer grab me? Read below:
Dart’s Take:
While the trailer for Snow Angels didn’t grab me but it gives me the impression that it’s still an excellent movie, this one grabs my attention and makes me think that it may be a really good movie as well. I don’t know if it’s the “dangerous” angle involving the mob boss and Forest Whitaker playing another guy who bets a shitload of money (Even Money) or the overall tone of the trailer itself but I’m on board with this one all the way. I’m going to try and see this flick and if it lives up to my expectations based on the trailer I’ll watch Snow Angels and compare the two. I dig this trailer.
Shutter is the American remake of the Thai horror modern classic. Japanese horror writer/director Masayuki Ochiai directs and Luke Dawson adapted it for the American horror audience. My take on the trailer is below:
Dart’s Take:
This trailer just reminds me that Hollywood has officially run out of ideas. I go out of my way to find new Asian horror films to watch because I actually find them scary and about two years later I end up seeing them again, just with White people replacing the Japanese/Koreans/Thai in the lead and supporting roles in the original. The films pretty much look like the originals except for some minor changes, too. I’m at my wit’s end with it. The Grudge, The Ring, One Missed Call, The Eye, Possession, Shutter...I’ve already seen them all before, just with subtitles. The strike is over. Writers, get on your jobs.
Redbelt is legendary writer/director David Mamet’s unique take on the world of MMA/free form full contact fighting. Chiwetel Eijiofor plays a down on his luck expert fighter and sifu at a dojo teaching Jiu Jitsu and related fighting techniques. He gets forced into competing in a competition once a fight league steals his ideas to make their fights fresher. Am I buying it? Read on:
Dart’s Take:
So let me get this straight. I just saw Chuy (Eijiofor), Tim Allen, Randy Couture, Dan Inosanto, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Enson Inoue all in the credits for the same movie? And it was written by David Mamet? I never cease to be amazed. This doesn’t look like the typical MMA/fight movie (Never Back Down comes to mind) because it’s written too well and I can see that people are actually acting in it. Chuy was believable as a martial artist in Serenity so he’s a good fit for this flick in my opinion.
Since I’ve interested in martial arts since I was a kid but I’ve never been too into MMA or it’s other offshoots (I know from Jeet Kune Do and a life of experience that form and style mean nothing, it comes down to the indivual fighter and his ability to adapt to situations and take down the other man. Anyone can beat anyone else at any given time...unless it’s Bruce Lee and they do whatever it takes to win).
MMA fans will be pissed but fuck ‘em. Anyone can knock anyone else out in an MMA fight and if you’re experienced enough you can recover from anything unless it’s just a bad day/night for you. No movie can kill a sport, trust me or Thai kickboxing, Kung Fu, Karate, Ninjitsu, Judo and Capoeira would’ve all gone the way of the dinosaur. I’m looking forward to this flick, fuck the crybabies online.
Part 4 is coming in late March. Get ready, peoples.
Oh no, the Kumite is real...it’s really real! © Luna AKA Killer Kung Fu Wolf BitchOne.
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