Dart Adams presents A Tale Of Ten Trailers 5 AKA The 4:20 Edition

It's Sunday. April 20th and I’m back with yet another installment of my special series "A Tale Of Ten Trailers". Just like with last month’s edition, I decided to mix international trailers with independent films I’ve been looking forward to for a while. Many of these films will be ones that most moviegoers aren’t familiar with.

I don’t know what the deal with IMDb is lately, but they’re still sucking meaning that I pretty much had to find most of these movies on my own with the exception of the ones that have made the Apple trailers page. This means that it might be at least another month before I can resume my regular Dartflix posts as opposed to running my bimonthly Dartflix Lite ones.

I tried to came up with a good mix of different kinds of films of varying genres for my readers/viewers today and I hope my hard work paid off and you enjoy it. Now, the trailers:

The first trailer of the afternoon is the Pang Brothers (The Eye trilogy) remake of their classic 1999 film of the same name about a hitman that falls in love and has a change of heart about one of his assignment and the fallout caused by it. The film stars Nicolas Cage as the protagonist. Read my take on the trailer below.

Dart’s Take: I’m already a fan of the Pang Brothers work (Danny & Oxide Pang Chun ) and Nic Cage is one of my all time favorite actors so it goes without saying that I’m going to see this movie regardless. I also hope that people will try to check out the original flick and develop an appreciation for the aesthetic of Asian cinema so they don’t have to remake all of those films for North American audiences. American directors need to develop a style and focus on what their strengths are rather than borrowing from others...it’s starting to smack of laziness and an overwhelming lack of originality.

“War, Inc.” is a political satire by the team of director Joshua Seftel and writers Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser and actor John Cusack. A hitman has been sent to to developing country of Turaqistan to kill an oil official and protect the interests of an American corporation called Tamerlane that have contracts to rebuild there. The film stars John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley and Hilary Duff. Let’s see my take on it below.

Dart’s Take: Wow. This joint looks like it’s right up my alley...shit, this looks like something I’d write! I love how everyone is getting their digs in at the Bush Administration while they’re on the way out to hopefully remind American voters that Senator McCain would be more of the some bullshit that we’ve already endured over the last eight years. This looks like it’ll be both funny and thought provoking (yunno, the opposite of a Tyler Perry movie...God, I hate him!). I’m definitely checking for this one.

“Anamorph” is about a detective investigating a strange series of murders in which the killer uses a little known technique called anamorphosis to create an image that can only be seen from a certain angle as created by the killer/artist. This psychological thriller stars Willem Dafoe, Clea Duvall and Scott Speedman. What’s my take on it? Read on:

Dart’s Take: Holy shit! Yeah, this looks like something I’m gonna catch on DVD later. This might be good but this is gonna get buried by shit like Iron Man and Speed Racer next month for real. I don’t think this is going to be in theaters for very long, either. I think Clea Duvall gets typecast as either the cop or the strange chick. This one will be available for rental by September easy.

Marcos Siega’s new film “Chaos Therapy” is about a young man who’s whole life is planned out all the way down the most minute detail. His entire universe goes into upheaval when a totally random sequence of events inspires him to live his life in the most random way possible. Read my take on this trailer below:

Dart’s Take: Ryan Reynolds is becoming the king of the cult independent movie on the low. His last film “The Nine” was a certified cult classic and all signs indicate that this flick is headed for the same distinction. This looks like it’s going to be hella funny. It’s currently in independent theaters and art houses all across the country so go check it out if you can.

Noel Clarke is the writer/director of “Adulthood”, the sequel to the modern cult classic 2006 UK drama “Kidulthood”. Noel Clarke plays the key role in this film as Sam, the roughneck that got locked in Her Majesty’s Prisons after the events that transpired in “Kidulthood” (if you haven’t seen it yet then do what you got to do to see it) and he’s back on the streets of London years later having to deal with all of the people that are still pissed with him for his role in someone’s death. Read my take on this trailer below:

Dart’s Take:
This shit is gonna be seen as soon as humanly possible. It’s premiering this summer in the UK meaning that I’ll have to wait before I get to see this flick something serious. I’ve been waiting for this sequel for years so I might not be able to wait to see this joint. Look at how long it took for Guy Ritchie’s “Revolver” to come out over here for God’s sake!

“Botched” was created by the team of writer Derek Boyle and director Kit Ryan, spans multiple genres and stars Stephen Dorff in the lead role as a low level criminal with horrible luck. After finishing a big job he’s sent on one final assignment that goes horribly awry in more ways that he can ever imagine. Read my take on this trailer below:

Dart’s Take: Now this is a fuckin’ trailer! Consider this flick seen, son. It reminds me of “Severance” stylistically as far as the mix of violence, comedy and horror is concerned. It seems like the post Cold War Eastern Bloc countries are inspiring some excellent indie action/horror flicks. I watched this trailer by myself the first time and then a couple of more times with my friends. I’m definitely checking for this joint now.

“Chapter 27” is an adaptation of the Jack Jones novel and J.P. Schaefer pulled double duty as writer/director of this Jared Leto vehicle. This film tells the story of the man that killed John Lennon and how he tried to write a 27th chapter of “Catcher In The Rye”. This film also stars Lindsay Lohan. Is it worth seeing? Read my take on this trailer below:

Dart’s Take: Considering that there was already an indie film called “The Killing Of John Lennon” endorsed earlier this year by IFC Films I’m all the more interested in seeing this flick. How many pounds did Jared Leto gain to do this film? How much rehab did Lindsay Lohan miss to film it? This looks like it’s well acted as well. This joint might end up getting seen on DVD, though because as of now it’s not high on my list of priorities as far as “must see movies” go even though it's an engrossing subject.

Peter Chan’s (The Eye trilogy) film about the events that happened in the book “The Assassination Of Ma” about the fallout of the murder of general Ma Xinyi during Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty. The story of three sworn brothers dealing with a turbulent time in China stars Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro all in key roles. This film is called “The Warlords” or “Tau Ming Chong”. Did this trailer impress me? Read on:

Dart’s Take: Hmmm. Chinese period drama with huge choreographed fight scenes and action sequences starring three of my favorite all time Asian actors? Consider this flick seen! *Checks his Asian film connects and waits a few days*

The next film trailer up is called “Bane”. It’s about three women that discover themselves being held against their will in an underground cell by a group of scientists. The scientists begin conducting some sick experiment with the ladies and they try to figure out the mystery behind their captors. Before you know it, shit gets gory. Read my take on writer/director James Eaves indie horror film keep on reading:

Dart’s Take: This looks like the direction indie horror is heading in for the near future, huh? Hopefully, this film isn't the same ol' basic “hysterical scared screaming women running from crazed lunatics with sharp weapons that know their way around said environment ” because that shit is hella boring. I hope the women put up a serious fight instead of just getting slaughtered mercilessly. That’s old school and it’s 2008. I’ll see what the deal is but this will probably end up getting seen later on DVD.

The final trailer I have for you all this evening is of M. Night Shyamalan’s newest effort “The Happening” starring Mark Wahlberg, John Leguizamo and Zooey Deschanel. No one knows what happened to the honey bees...or anything else for that matter. What’s going on? Is something happening out there? What’s happening? Who is it happening to? Where is everyone else? What’s my take on this trailer? Read on.

Dart’s Take: I guessed what the “twist” was to several of Shyamalan’s past films and “Lady In The Water” sucked something terrible. This trailer tells me nothing at all. It is great at hammering home the fact that no one has any clear cut idea what happened or what is happening...at all.

Everything that is occurring (or not occurring) in this trailer is all conjecture and rumors as far as these characters are concerned. Is it a terrorist attack? Is it aliens? Is it the Cloverfield monster? Did the internet go off on some "South Park" shit? What the fuck is going on? Unfortunately, I really just don’t give a flying fuck. I’ll find out what’s going on the second this film hits the ‘net. Nice try M. Night, but you’re not getting any of my cash this time around homie!

Look out for the next A Tale Of Ten Trailers between the 15th and 20th of May. Happy 4:20!


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