Trailer Tracker: Contraband, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and More

October is already here, folks so already it’s not too early to look at the next movie year ahead of us including our featured clip this week, Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg as a money-runner called back into the game to help solve his brother-in-law’s debt.

The month of Jack-O-Lanterns also hints at the closely approaching awards season and the trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close starring Tom Hanks has now debuted; a film carrying oodles of Oscar potential. Finally we have two smaller films, beginning with the Sundance winner for best screenplay, Another Happy Day, with a cast including Ellen Barkin, Kate Bosworth, Ellen Burstyn, Thomas Haden Church and Demi Moore among others. Concluding our festivities for another week is I Melt with You, the abstract drama with Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe and Christian McKay as four high school friends who are involved in a tragedy when they unite years later. Thankfully there’s nothing but laughs on Player Affinity – it’s Trailer Tracker.

New clips this week:
Contraband
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Another Happy Day
I Melt with You

Contraband

From beginnings as a funky musician to respected actor and Oscar nominee/action star, Mark Wahlberg is as recognizable a face in Hollywood as he is a badass in high-octane fare such as Contraband. Evoking a tone and premise similar to a cross between Four Brothers and Armored, Contraband finds a reformed criminal called back to the life he left behind after his wife’s (Kate Beckinsale) brother gets tangled up in some nasty business. Double crosses understandably ensue, rounds are fired and hopefully everyone has a good time at the movies. Also joining the strong cast are three stellar character actors Giovanni Ribisi (who will portray the tattoo-clad villain) Ben Foster as an accomplice of Wahlberg’s and finally J.K. Simmons as a police Captain.

Contraband is principally helmed by two Icelandic filmmakers. Baltasar Kormákur will direct his first English-language feature and Aaron Guzikowski will do likewise with his script. Though the story looks very standard-order, hopefully this new talent can infuse some life into a familiar story and judging by the gritty trailer, will boast some style as well. Set for a Jan. 13 release, Contraband will test the conventional quality of the average slate of movies debuting in the early New Year. But after mostly dramatic prestige fare being released through the winter months, a burst of senseless action could be a welcome reprieve.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Oscar-level talent assembles in droves for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close from Stephen Daldry (The Reader) and scribe Eric Roth (Forest Gump) starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. Among these Academy elite comes the epitome of a first-timer in young Thomas Horn, who will be at the center of this tale of a now-fatherless boy (thanks to the devastating events of 9/11) searching for a secret in his dad’s past. The film screams Oscar bait at so many points that I can’t help but be skeptical, yet buzzed as a major contender what do I have to lose for being at least partially optimistic?

Another Happy Day

Continuing the streak of Sundance winners finally unveiling their product to the masses, Another Happy Day - a screenplay winner – debuts its first clip. About a family struggling with more than a few issues on the eve of a family member’s wedding, it plays like the upcoming Roman Polanski film Carnage mixed with Mike Leigh’s Another Year. This pitch-black comedy will obviously be a hard sell as even the trailer pulsates with the oddball. Even though it stars acting veterans including Ellen Barkin, Kate Bosworth, Ellen Burstyn, Thomas Haden Church and Demi Moore, quirky is ironically becoming passé. Early next month is when you can find this award winner in limited release.

I Melt with You

Perhaps even more obscure then Another Happy Day, I Melt with You does boast a similarly notable cast including members Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe and Christian McKay. The vague plot (and similarly mysterious trailer) reads this: Former high school friends (Piven, Lowe, Jane, and McKay) reunite for a summer reunion but it leads them to face the apparent disillusionment that defines their lives. After tragedy strikes the friends at a party one night, one of them has a realization; in response they decide to resurrect a former pact by which to live and die, thus creating a new world order. Take that load of whimsy as you will, but seeing as I personally still cannot decipher this offering, this is all I got.