So, summer’s coming to an end. At least you still have Trailer Tracker, where we at Player Affinity prepare for hunting season and stalk the latest trailers hitting the web. Coming off his Oscar-nominated indie smash The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky is back with the mind-bending ballet thriller Black Swan. We then move on to The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe as a father on a mission, and shiver with Wes Craven’s latest slasher flick My Soul to Take. We wrap things up with the possible documentary, possible spoof, I’m Still Here, which is about actor Joaquin Phoenix’s transition from actor to rapper and finally visit the trailer for Love and Other Drugs with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Let’s lock and load.
Black Swan
When I first heard that Darren Aronofsky was directing a film about a rivalry between two ballet students, not only was I far from enticed, I never thought the film would look anything like this. Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis star as the aforementioned performers (partaking in some lesbian action apparently), but Black Swan looks more like a horror film/psychological thriller a la The Machinist than a simple tale of obsessive destruction. For the visuals, star-power, and a whole lot of potential brain-scrambling, Black Swan remains one of the most surprisingly intriguing clips in quite some time.
The Next Three Days
Oscar bait drama? Action film? Prison break movie? All of the above? The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson finds a man’s life upended when his wife is charged and convicted of murder and vows to find a way to get her home. Though the trailer appears to be a mishmash of genres, one mans name demands excitement and that is director/writer Paul Haggis. Not only has Haggis directed two acclaimed films in a row with Crash and In the Valley of Elah, he also remains one of the most talented screenwriters working today, frequenting penning Clint Eastwood’s films along with the last two James Bond films. Consider me sold.
My Soul to Take
Having already announced and begun filming Scream 4, iconic horror director Wes Craven reverts back to his slasher roots with My Soul to Take, (in 3D) his first directorial effort since 2005’s Red Eye. The trailer promises nothing but a straight up genre flick about a killer stalking seven children who share the date of his supposed death 16 years prior. The slasher genre has been all but milked dry so there remains an extremely delicate line between a throwback and just another cookie-cutter project. But if anyone can give us a gory good time, it’s Craven.
I’m Still Here
Have you made up your mind yet? Joaquin Phoenix’s notoriously shocking announcement that he was quitting acting to become a rapper was, well, shocking. It was not until we learned that his half brother Casey Affleck was filming this journey that many suspected it maybe part of an elaborate ruse to create a brilliantly original spoof documentary. Simply based on the snowballing bizarreness of the film's press and promotional material, perhaps Phoenix
Love and Other Drugs
Master of all genres, Edward Zwick returns off of his WWII drama Defiance with a melodrama about a playboy executive (Jake Gyllenhaal) who unexpectedly finds love with an equally cynical woman (Anne Hathaway). Though this certainly sounds like another tale of back and forth, on again off again romance, what makes this particular story interesting is that it's set around the release of the Viagra pill; a ballsy move. Throw in Hank Azaria, Judy Greer, and Oliver Platt and this could turn out be something special this November.
