Trailer Tracker: Hanna, Red State and more

Our featured clip this week is one that has very quickly jumped to the upper echelons of my most anticipated list for 2011. Hanna, staring rising thespian Saoirse Ronan from Atonement and The Lovely Bones fame, stars as a 14-year-old killer wagging war against the government. Kevin Smith also bestows a new film on us with the horror flick Red State, Ed Helms gets his first starring role in Cedar Rapids and finally Natalie Portman graces us with her loveliness in The Other Woman. It’s not New Year's yet but it’s the next best thing: Trailer Tracker.

New Trailers This Week:
Hanna
Red State
Cedar Rapids
The Other Woman

Hanna

The state of child acting has most certainly improved (and drastically at that) from not so long as two decades ago. Saoirse Ronan is within the highest ilk of talent in her age group, and has been heavily sought after since she was nominated for an Oscar for her work in Atonement. She reunites with director Joe Wright in a vastly divergent effort in Hanna about a young girl killer trained by her agent father (Eric Bana) in the remote Finnish wilderness to carry out tasks on his behalf (or something like that) until she begins to question her origins and purpose. Whatever the actual plot and eventual mix of action and drama, this movie looks fantastic and makes Kick-Ass’ Hit Girl look like Cinderella.

The film also looks visually spectacular, so it is not surprising auteurs Alfonso Cuaron and Danny Boyle were previously attached to direct; the pedigree of talent involved (past and present), which also includes Cate Blanchet in a supporting role, lends hope to making something great out of the silly underlying premise. More interesting yet, British electronic band The Chemical Brothers is producing the music for Hanna and seeing how Daft Punk handled their mainstream debut in Tron: Legacy this promises to be an interesting partnership. Look for this action thriller on April 8.

Red State

Kevin Smith is primarily known for comedies and satires from Clerks to his recent disastrous foray into the mainstream, Cop Out. Surprisingly, Smith has campaigned to have Red State made for years and finally was able to secure financing for the $4 million film and subsequently landed a slot at next year’s Sundance. Not much is known about this film but the plot is described as a group of high school boys taking to the road to meet with a woman they came across on the internet until things go horribly wrong when they clash with extreme fundamentalists in Middle America. The early buzz has been extremely positive from its select sources and the trailer I must say is rather brilliant for a teaser. Smith hopes for a March release though he has yet to find a distributor.

Cedar Rapids 

After The Office finally wraps up its successful run on television, here’s hoping that Ed Helms finds a place in mainstream comedy. He was my favourite part of comedy smash The Hangover, able to fashion an entirely different character from that of his small screen persona, and now he is the lead in Cedar Rapids. The underrated John C. Reilly also stars in this comedy which finds Helms’ timid Tim venturing to an insurance salesman convention where things are turned upside-down when he crosses path with the brash Dean (Reilly). The director is Miguel Artera who was behind this year’s underrated comedy Youth in Revolt so he certainly has experience in the genre. Anne Heche, Rob Corddry, Kurtwood Smith and Sigourney Weaver also star in what looks like an interesting combination of low-brow and high-energy entertainment.

 

The Other Woman

Though starring one of Hollywood’s hottest talents right now, this Natalie Portman drama does not seem to exist except for its trailer. Neither an IMDB or Wikipedia page exist and information is sparse all together. Portman stars as a woman who falls for her married boss Jack (Scott Cohen) and subsequently marries him. Having a child together, tragedy strikes after it dies in her care. Grief ridden, she must bond with Jack’s son from his previous marriage and get over the tragedy. Similarly themed to this year’s awards contender Rabbit Hole, it will be interesting to see if Portman can snag similar consideration next year, as Nicole Kidman is now.