Preconceived Opinions About Movies Are Fun

I was bored and unable to come up with anything intellectually stimulating on short notice, so I decided that this would have to do. Trailers have a pretty powerful sway over the opinions of potential moviegoers, which is probably a bad thing. These are five trailers that I picked at random so you’d all get to see what effect trailers usually have on me. To try and replicate the effect it has on someone not sitting in front of a computer, I refrained from looking up additional information. It might be fun. I kind of doubt it though.

Here comes the cynicism. While it doesn’t look that awful, I’m personally done with popcorn action flicks not on my television when I’m bored. Are people still intrigued by ruthless alien stories? I feel like this is somehow symptomatic of American citizens and some need we have to feel like victimized underdogs fighting against lofty odds that we’ll most likely overcome (war on terror, anyone?) This particular film does take place in Moscow, but that was probably to spice up the setting.

The aliens look cool though. 

I like the opening song. Wait, sorry, academic. I’ve already seen a shorter, similar trailer a million times, and you probably have too, so I’m inclined to lay on more cynicism, but this film still looks decent. The dramedy genre is getting a little stale for me, as it all smacks of Judd Apatow and his regular actors, but what those movies usually get right is a lack of full-on slapstick jokes and over-sentimentality. I might down…I mean hit the theaters to see this at some point.

Battleship

I have to link you to this one, as Universal or whomever request that embedded be disabled. It was probably to keep people relatively uninformed about the movie, as it most likely will be terrible. You should probably save 2 minutes of your life and not click. Regular guy caught in the middle of some large conflict (with a vague technological menace) out of his league that he will probably have a large role in deciding? Haven’t heard that one yet. I’m also just going to just gloss over the love subplot featured during the trailer’s first half, as it will probably only take up 10 minutes of screen time, not to mention the fact that it’s based on the Hasbro game. Yeah.

I’m not as inclined to rip on this sarcastically, but I’m not sure how I feel. It has an awesome cast all around and looks as if the people who worked on it actually cared about making a quality film. It looks to take itself way too seriously though. I know that dirty politics rarely comes off as subtle, but I thought the off-the-stage events were less melodramatic. My political naivety is most likely showing at this point. Cool shots though.

Ugh. I feel like I’m already a part of the problem by giving this film any additional attention, but self-imposed rules are rules. First off, I think the horror genre should be renamed the gore or torture porn genre. Evidently, no one goes to the theater to be scared anymore. We’re all more interested in being grossed out and cringing at momentary, meaningless violence. Not to mention the title of porn is fitting, as the good parts are encased in a terrible story no one actually cares about. I don’t think I’d see this for free.