Hello all and welcome back to Trailer Tracker here at Player Affinity, your burly bouncer of movie trailers, letting only the hippest and most exciting clips play before your eyes. This week on the guest list is acclaimed director Clint Eastwood’s latest supernatural drama Hereafter, followed by the debut clip for the pairing of two Hollywood megastars – Jonny Depp and Angelina Jolie – in The Tourist. Next is a melange of religious and futuristic vampire slaughter in Priest and a new melodrama from cult director Tyler Perry (sans his name in the title for the first time) with For Colored Girls, which not-so-nicely-nicely segues us to the full length trailer for the last instalment in the “Saw” franchise Saw 3D. Get your bribes ready, it’s Trailer Tracker.
Hereafter
Over the last decade, Clint Eastwood has released a film in all years but three and in the cases of 2006 and 2008 he boasted two new releases respectively. The man seems to have an assembly line of creativity, dumping out Oscar-caliber films faster than sequels and summer blockbusters. Following up his Academy-nominated Invictus is Hereafter, a somewhat ambiguously themed movie about a medium who can communicate with the dead (Matt Damon) and his connection with three people who have experienced tragedy in their lives. The clip is intercut with large-scale disasters such as a subway accident and tidal wave, but don’t expect Knowing. What we can expect is a superbly acted and original endeavor from the 80-year-old auteur.
The Tourist
Angelina Jolie seems to be in spy mode this year following her action hit Salt as she is back to shady dealings in the action/thriller/comedy The Tourist co-starring Johnny Depp, also coming off a smash with Alice in Wonderland. The Tourist seems to carry a similar mantra to 2010 films Knight and Day and Killers with Depp’s Frank finding himself swept up in danger and love at the hands of a dangerous secret agent. What The Tourist seems to boast over those aforementioned genre films is actual charisma between its leads and less derivative humor (at least that’s what the trailer promises). Hitting theaters on the birthday of your truly on December 10, this peppy romp should be a hit among audiences this holiday season.
Priest
Paul Bettany seems to be having a clash of spiritualism recently, bouncing from his role as a fallen angel in Legion to Charles Darwin in the aptly titled anti-creationist drama Creation and now back to the role as a vampire-killing Priest. Okay, well not exactly spiritual. What I will say is this feature looks almost nothing as I imagined upon first hearing the basic plot of a priest looking for vampires who kidnapped his niece (as basic as a plot like that can get). Instead of a medieval chase flick of some kind we get an advanced dystopian future where an order of devout men and women battle against blood-thirsty attackers, kind of an Equilibrium meets I Am Legend. Stripped off his trademark English accent for the role, Bettany is joined by Christopher Plummer, Karl Urban (who has seen somewhat of a career resurgence of late) and the sexy Maggie Q. Whether Priest falls victim to the ludicrous self-seriousness of Legion remains to be seen, but the biggest question is if it can survive the glut of recent vampire movies until its May 2011 release.
For Colored Girls
Tyler Perry receives as much unconditional love from his fans as he does harsh criticism from critics, but one can’t fault a man who is able to consistently open movies at number one at the box office with his name only. Stripped down from the original title from the best-selling novel For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf to simply For Colored Girls, this is Perry’s first major deviation from his winning formula. Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton and Whoopi Goldberg are among the leading ladies in this melodramatic tale. This film will certainly not be for everyone, but it will be interesting to see the true breadth of Perry’s influence.
Saw 3D
Following a standard-order teaser trailer where words simply fly at the screen, the slightly more revelatory clip hits the web for the seventh and final installment in the “Saw” franchise. Jigsaw is back at his normal games though his time in an extra dimension. Considering some of his previous devices, this is not a particularly shocking choice to say the least. The biggest reason to see Saw 3D is the promised return of Dr. Lawrence Gordon, played by Carey Elwes, who was last seen in the first film crawling away after *SPOILER* sawing off his own foot. Saw 3D opens unopposed on Halloween weekend this year.
