BEAUTIFUL BOY
Directed by Shawn Ku.
Starring Michael Sheen, Maria Bello, Alan Tudyk, Moon Bloodgood, Kyle Gallner and Meat Loaf.
It’s slim pickings out there, trailer-wise. So I must resort to yet again a tormenting, uninteresting trailer to review. Apologies.
The subject-matter of Beautiful Boy is interesting enough in itself (how parents of a college student who shot his classmates cope after his death – put very awkwardly), that’s not the issue. It’s this tiring, shockingly over-used type of trailer making that yet again makes me roll my eyes, thinking “What’s the point of it all?”.
Certain formulas just work for certain audiences, but I wish distribution companies would sometimes take a few more risks, like in this instance. Perhaps they are really representing the movie as it is: terribly Hallmark-esque made-for-TV type film. Snore.
The only efficient element of the trailer, to an extent, is the unexpected twist that makes the story (i.e. this is not a movie about parents losing a child, but also how to deal with essentially being the parent of a killer). That is all. The build-up works, but from then on it’s a yawn-inspiring tearjerker-wannabe, which condenses an entire movie (including its ending, I suspect) to a mere, predictable two minutes, rather than give the spectator a hint of what to expect.
It is lazy, unchallenging trailer-making. The crescendo in the music as the video moves along makes it feel like a music video. I would not even bother watching the trailer if I were you. 4 outta 10, people.
EXPORTING RAYMOND
Directed by Philip Rosenthal.
Now, how can we keep promoting a terrible sitcom after it has finished airing? Why, we make a documentary about its maker and his most recent explorations, don’t you know!
So is this a tale of arrogant, better-knowing (or so they think) Americans and their lack of understanding differences between cultures? An eye-opening, awe-inspiring documentary about accepting each other as we are? Not so much, actually. There is only so much room for cynicism in this trailer.
Firstly, it spends 30 seconds presenting award-winning US sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, only to reveal how its creator is still making comedy. So far, so uninteresting.
Then it reveals its true plot, which could be either very well explored or naively mocked: how does an American bring his comedy series to Russia? Complex stuff indeed.
It is not a dreadful piece of editing, or a bad trailer. But it is one that relies too much on its newspaper quotes: there is no room for the viewer to genuinely take in all the information the actual movie clips give us because we are being bombarded with too much external and biased influence. Time and time again I have stressed how this works in selling the film – but not here.
The graphics work in the trailer’s advantage, nonetheless: they are nicely made, innovative, funny and more efficient than most. The structure of the trailer is flawless and works completely.
I will say this though. Exporting Raymond looks funnier than ELR ever did. 6/10.
SUPER
Directed by James Gunn.
Starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and Michael Rooker.
“Shut up crime!” is the best tagline in a long time. It is not cheesy, clichéd or baffling. It is efficient , easy to remember and funny.
Super is here marketed as a fun, easy piece of film and it looks damn entertaining. It is a trailer that really gives a hint of what to expect, rather than boiling the premise down to substantially telling you the denouement. Winner!
The structure and graphics work, it is enjoyable to watch and a quirky, different piece to all the other indie alternatives that can all too often take themselves too seriously.
Even so, it is a trailer (and film?) that might alienate certain potential audiences, due to its structure and kooky presentation of the (kooky) film. And perhaps this is the kind of trailer that includes too many good lines in a short amount of time. It left me thinking how much of the movie is actually in the trailer. Could it be clever or a terrible mistake to make this sort of trailer?
Lastly, I want to know how Ellen Page's character knows Rainn Wilson's: this is the main flaw of the trailer. Their friendship appears out of the blue and the viewer is left feeling they might have missed something out, that you blinked too many times or something.
I will not know until I watch the movie, though. And I am watching this movie. Won’t you join me? 7/10.
Louise-Afzal Faerkel
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