A funny thing happened to me the other day.
I was measuring up a prime spot in my local cinema’s main screening room, trying to work out if I could fit my bed, side table and computer desk in a little nook up the back, when the attendant asked “What the hell are you doing?!” and ordered me out.
Surely he understands that with all the movies coming out over the holidays that I am going to need to pretty stay permanently in the cinema in order to catch them all?
No? Well he should because there are, and to prove it I have a huge amount of new trailers to include in this final movie trailer post for the year.
May you enjoy them all, all from the comfort of the camp bed you have surreptitiously snuck into row Q …
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We’ve always known that Spider-Man’s most important battle has been within himself: the struggle between the ordinary obligations of Peter Parker and the extraordinary responsibilities of Spider-Man. But in The Amazing Spider-Man 2™, Peter Parker finds that a greater conflict lies ahead.It’s great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there’s no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp. (source: theamazingspiderman.com)
Frankly I am kind of over all the endless reboots that seem to be happening at shorter and shorter intervals these days – in all likelihood The Amazing Spider Man 2 will be yanked off the screen midway through and a new Spiderman will swing across New York City in his place – and truth be told, I didn’t even check out The Amazing Spider Man when it was released.
But the sequel does look enticing and suitably epic enough to convince to venture forth and possibly watch it.
After all Jamie Foxx as Electro? Now that’s some energy!
You can check out a full breakdown of the trailer at empireonline.com.
The Amazing Spiderman 2 opens in Australia on 17 April 2014 and in USA on 2 May 2014.
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At Christmastime things are looking up for pretty, unassuming real-estate-agent Suzanne Barrington: she just sold a house to a nice swinger couple; her weatherman husband Jeff scored a sweet new job; and her favorite holiday is quickly approaching. After a sudden tragedy takes Jeff away, Suzanne is left lost and lonely. Her grief is compounded by the revelation that there’s another woman. Her name’s Fantasia and she works at the “girl club.” In their grief, the two women form an awkward but meaningful friendship. (source: sbs.com.au)
Described by one reviewer, Richard Brody of The New Yorker as “(A)n instant holiday season counterclassic”, White Reindeer is a movie that dares to peer beyond the pretty white picket fence of suburban normalcy at a time of year when the smiling modern face of perfect domestic bliss is amped up to fully, blindingly white glow.
And what he uncovers isn’t pretty at first, so confronting in fact that Suzanne Barrington (a virtuoso performance by Anna Margaret Hollyman), the scales newly fallen from her eyes, must navigate a world she hitherto didn’t know existed to find some form of happiness again.
It may not be your average holiday film granted, but it is definitely one I would very much like to see given the chance.
White Reindeer, which premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, is currently screening in USA.
And here’s a scene from White Reindeer, courtesy of indiewire.com:
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Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) narrates the documentary about the incredible true story of nature’s greatest explorers—lemurs. Captured with IMAX® 3D cameras, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar takes audiences on a spectacular journey to the remote and wondrous world of Madagascar. Lemurs arrived there as castaways millions of years ago and evolved into hundreds of diverse species but are now highly endangered. Join trailblazing scientist Patricia Wright on her lifelong mission to help these strange and adorable creatures survive in the modern world.
Thanks to an early childhood obsession with the natural world, largely due to the simultaneously entertaining and informative writings of animal collector-turned-conservationist Gerald Durrell, Madagascar has long held a fascination for me.
One of the most unique places in the world, with at least 90% of its flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world, it is home to an inordinately fascinating but endangered range of animals, chief among them, in my heart at least, the lemurs.
These intelligent, engaging and highly adaptive animals made Madagascar their own until the arrival of man somewhere between 350 BCE and 550AD and their loss would be an incalculable loss for the world as a whole.
Which is where movies like this come in – education and entertainment all rolled into one which will hopefully remind people that we live in an amazing world and must do all we can to protect it.
Island of Lemurs: Madagascar opens in USA on 4 April 2014.
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Thanksgiving for the eccentric Turner clan turns into a train wreck when “insane” daughter Nina comes homes for the first time in 15 years. (source: imdb.com)
I am not entirely certain why movies like this endlessly fascinate me since I come from a family that is as loving as you could ask for, with few of the attendant dramas that seem to be beset the average family in American indie cinema.
But whether it is the airing of the societal skeletons in the closet, or the unmasking of the imperfection inherent in all of us and our families, movies like Cold Turkey by director Will Slocombe, allow us to breathe sigh of relief that we don’t have to have it all together, and can let it all hand out just a little.
Plus they’re just good drama, highly charged stories through which all manner of human foibles can be examined, all from the safety of a cinema seat.
You can check out a review of the movie at vulture.com.
Cold Turkey has largely been and gone in the USA but is available as iTunes downloads and VOD.
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Starring Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre, Stoker) and Adam Driver (HBO’s Girls, Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis), directed by John Curran (The Painted Veil, We Don’t Live Here Anymore) and from the Oscar® winning producers of The King’s Speech, Tracks is based on the inspirational and iconic true story of Robyn Davidson. Robyn’s phenomenal solo trek from Alice Springs to Uluru and on to the Indian Ocean saw her traverse 2700km of spectacular yet unforgiving Australian desert accompanied only by her loyal dog and four unpredictable camels.Charismatic young New Yorker and National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan travelled from the other end of the earth to capture, at intervals, this epic and remarkable journey into one of the world’s last great wildernesses. Robyn reluctantly agreed to a visiting photographer in return for much needed trip funding and could only see Rick’s visits as intruding on her solitude and compromising everything the journey meant to her. However, this uneasy relationship between two very different people would slowly develop into an unlikely and enduring friendship.
You have to admire the chutzpah of someone who undertakes a trek that some people regarded as foolhardy and pointless.
Other people like myself, not quite a teenager when she embarked on her trek in 1977 and later wrote about it in National Geographic magazine (1978) and then the book Tracks, were inspired by her audacity and bravery and willingness to do something far outside the usual bounds of accepted behaviour.
And I remain inspired, impressed that anyone would upsticks from her day to day existence and undertake such an extraordinary and life-changing journey.
From the looks of the trailer, Tracks looks like it has captured the larger-than-life feel of Robyn Davidson’s transformative adventure across the stark, arid deserts of Australia.
Tracks opens in Australia on 6 March 2014 with undetermined US dates to follow.
Hot off the presses, I have two amazing new trailers.
The first is for the Wachowskis’ (The Matrix, Cloud Atlas) thrilling new sci-fi thriller Jupiter Ascending starring Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum as a humble janitor on Earth whose DNA “could include the secret to the future of the universe” and the alien soldier who rescues her from certain death respectively. It looks, quite simply, a 1000 shades of awesome, and I am hoping and praying the storyline is as stunning as the visuals
(source: hollywoodreporter.com).
Jupiter Ascending opens in USA and UK on 25 July 2014 and in Australia on 24 July 2014.
The second one is a very newly released trailer for Godzilla, next year’s reboot – yes another one – of the iconic beast that is given life by the mankind’s scientific hubris, and as hollywoodreporter.com notes, this iteration seems to be tending far more to the grittily realistic end of the spectrum.
Godzilla opens on 16 May, 2014 in USA and on 15 May 2014 in Australia.
And to cap things off, here are some of the latest trailers and clips for movies I have previously featured in this series …
* Monuments Men opens in USA on 7 February 2014 and Australia on 13 March 2014.
*300: Rise of an Empire opens in Australia on 6 March 2014 and in USA on 7 March 2014.
Check out the red band trailer for Dom Hemingway at firstshowing.net which opens in USA on 4 April 2014.
* Her opens in limited US release on 18 December, opening to full release on 10 January 2014, and in Australia on 16 January 2014.
And finally you can access two clips for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug via totalfilm.com.
Enjoy … and may the films reward you and your popcorn be hot, and buttery soft.