Moviewallas

Check out the trailer for ‘Bad Teacher’ at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3131219225/

The preview for this film looks like fun. ‘Bad Teacher’ certainly has what looks like a great cast for a comedy: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel. Cameron Diaz should know that she is never stronger than when she is in a good comedy. Timberlake has the good sense to make fun of his own image in most of his films. And Jason Segel knows his way around funny (‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’, ‘I Love You Man’, and TV’s underrated ‘How I Met Your Mother’). I really hope this film does not suck.

Because previews often mislead. Some are so long, and reveal so much of the film, they might as well screen the whole damn movie while they are at it (for shame, ‘Iron Man 2’). Some trailers however are amazing, stand-alone films in their own right that know exactly how to whet audience interest in a movie, e.g., the preview for the new ‘Star Trek’ reboot. I have the highest respect however for trailers that give nothing away about a film, or show very little footage of the movie, but still manage to create excitement (e.g., ‘The Social Network’, or my personal favorite, ‘Alien’). The worst of all are good trailers for bad movies (are you listening, ‘Red Riding Hood’?). In this instance, I guess at least the individuals hired to create the trailer did their job well; it is just the audience who gets robbed out of their money.

What is your favorite movie trailer?

In 2009 Pixar Animation Studios released “Up”, a film which centered on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who eventually steals his affections. Most of us however will likely remember the film for the breathtaking scenes of the two co pilots flying to South America in a house suspended by helium balloons.

In the movie, the stunt comes about as a result of Carl wanting to keep his home (threatened by eviction) as he turns his house into a makeshift airship, using thousands of helium balloons to lift it off its foundations.  Of course this was impressive imagination but surely you remember the phrase “ if you dream it, then you can do it?” – ok not so well known (uh hum) but it applies because on Saturday morning, March 5, this very scene was recreated (minus the animated copilots).  At dawn, a team of scientists, engineers and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16′ X 16′ house 18′ tall with 300 8′ colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted.  The entire experimental aircraft was more than 10 stories high and reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet and flew for approximately one hour.  The footage will be part of a new NGC series called “HOW HARD CAN IT BE?” which will premiere in fall 2011.  If you can’t wait until fall, watch some of the exclusive footage right here.

For the past week, the internet has been a-buzz about the trailer for the highly anticipated new science fiction/horror flick Apollo 18, made by Dimension which claims to include found footage of a secret moon landing in 1973.  In its first six days, the trailer was viewed a colossal 4.3 million times.   “Found-footage” films seem to gaining traction and seem like valuable investments for studios these days given the recent successes like “Cloverfield” and “Paranormal activity”. “People intrinsically know there are secrets being held from us,” explains Dimension head Bob Weinstein. “Look at WikiLeaks: There are secrets that are really true to the world. It’s not bogus.” Weinstein also recoils at the idea that Apollo 18 is a work of fiction. “We didn’t shoot anything,” he says. “We found it!”

Dimension will be taking advantage of social media and the internet for their marketing campaign for this film – a first for them given  “The traditional way has always been television” Indicated Weinstein.  The indie studio’s marketing executive, Bladimiar Norman, advises eager fans to continue to play close attention in the weeks leading up to the film’s April 22 release. “We’re about to take this up a notch and really have fun with this audience,” Norman stated. In fact, he even revealed the film has a secret website (Click here) where fans can access bonus material. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer – I can’t wait for this one

The Oscars have finally arrived and we have cogitated and postulated and shared our opinions about our favorite and not so favorite films in 2010 (and beyond it seems).  Here now see a list of our predictions along with who we would award the golden statue to if it were up to us…who knows, one day it may be 😉

Follow along tomorrow as we chat live on our Facebook Discussion page and join us with your opinions.  Happy Watching Movie fans