Trailer Tracker: American Reunion, This Means War and More

Isn’t it great when old friends get back together? You bet — especially when those friends are the ones you laughed at and with through the early 2000s. Our featured clip this week is the long-coming fourth installment of the “American Pie” franchise, American Reunion, which finds the original cast back to their gross-out ways. Then, two rising stars by the names of Tom Hardy and Chris Pine duke it out over the lovely Reese Witherspoon in the spy action/comedy film This Means War. Rounding out the final two entries are potential awards contenders Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close as a woman pretending to be a man in order to retain employment, and then Shame, with Michael Fassbinder and Carey Mulligan. There is no shame in being a movie-lover – it’s Trailer Tracker.


New clips this week:
American Reunion
This Means War
Albert Nobbs
Shame

American Reunion

After three $100-million hits in 1999, 2001 and 2003 with American Pie, American Pie 2 and American Wedding respectively, the cast of Jason Biggs, Sean William Scott, Allison Hannigan, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari and Chris Klein bid adieu to their popular brand and left it to acting hopefuls looking for straight-to-DVD glory with "The Naked Mile" and "Band Camp." Now with long-overdue revivals such as Scream 4 becoming apparently (semi) popular, a sequel is here and is set to hit theaters in September of next year. With only a handful of the principal cast members findings success outside of the “Pie” series, those less lucky clearly jumped at the chance to return and the likes of William Scott and Hannigan must have liked the idea of a real life reunion following other successes. 

However, like the aforementioned Scream 4 (which underperformed earlier this year), it remains to be seen if this is still a recognizable enough name to not only connect with a new audience, but also bring back the old that may have moved on from such raunchy, juvenile fare. As the red-band trailer reveals however, we will be rejoining these characters in a later stage of life (chiefly marriage) that could sway odds in its favor. As for the teaser itself, it is dead-on in the vein of laughs that made the first three films hits and promises all the cringe-inducing awkward antics we could want. I certainly laughed, so call me immature or call me nostalgic, but I simply think this fourquel has potential. 

This Means War

Following his role in Inception and leading up what could be his ultimate break-out role as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy continues to show he can infuse standard-order material (see Warrior) with more life than he has muscle. In This Means War, he is joined by the equally charismatic Chris Pine from Star Trek and Unstoppable, as two formally kindred spies, torn by the glance of a beautiful woman played by Reese Witherspoon. “War” screams Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but thankfully it looks just as entertaining, as I not only laughed at a number of the scenes, the coolly choreographed action looks as slick as can be. The one kink in the equation is that the director is McG, and while not the black sheep many peg him to be, he is not exactly synonymous with quality fare. But with this movie never on my radar previous to seeing the trailer, I can see what this may be good for: at least something.

Albert Nobbs

The Academy loves a good (or more times than not, mediocre) gender-bending drama, but at least in the case of Albert Nobbs, we are not dealing with a crisis of sexual identity. Glenn Close stars as Nobbs, a middle-aged woman in 19th Century Ireland who poses as a male butler in order to keep herself from becoming destitute. But after meeting a handsome painter (Jonathon Rhys Meyers) she is tempted with breaking the lie she has lived with for so long. Mia Wasikowska and Brendan Gleeson also star and while the cast is strong, early reviews are saying the film does not carry enough substance for Close’s superb central performance. We shall have to see if she can still snag a nod even if the film is no Best Picture nominee.

Shame

Featuring yet another rising lead in what is a crowded week for such talented gentlemen, Michael Fassbinder re-teams with Hunger director Steve McQueen in Shame, the tale of a man obsessed with lust and erotic rendezvous until his younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves in with him, sending his life into turmoil. Reviews have already been rave for Shame, particularly for McQueen’s writing and direction and the central performance by Fassbinder and despite the difficult subject matter (and apparently gratuitous sexual imagery), this could be an underdog contender in a number of categories come awards time.