This Week In Trailers: The Batman Complex, Chasing Coral, Friends From College, Mountain, Cardboard Gangsers
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they're seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we praise a fanboy, we get Willem Dafoe to narrate our attempts to get high-er, go down undah the sea, catch up with the kinds of friends none of us had, and see how good an Irish crime drama can be.Mountain Trailer
Look, you all can wish Morgan Freeman would narrate your life's story and that his velvety soft dulcet tones would be the only real way your contributions to this thing called life would have any meaning but let's give it up to Willem Dafoe.
Director Jennifer Peedom, who directed the fantastically evocative Sherpa, is back with another chilly mountain movie but it's more philosophical and metaphysical in nature. Exploring why people from all walks of life see this big thing jutting upward from the earth and thinking "I want to summit that", this documentary looks wonderfully engaging. The visuals, the narrative, the reason why we're all gathered here is more than reason enough for me to be completely enamored with what this movie has in store for a viewer. Fantastic trailer.
Cardboard Gangsers Trailer
Ireland, land where leprechauns aren't afraid to cut snitch.
Director Mark O'Connor has a small, regional gem on his hands with this crime drama that is getting some favorable reviews. I like the energy, the look, the feel, and the rawness of it all. It may not get worldwide attention but there's something to be said for movies that know what they want to be and then execute against that plan masterfully.
The Batman Complex Trailer
This is the right result when you have too much (quality) time on your hands.
The movie in question here may not exist but this "trailer" not only was a delight to watch for how well it works but for how much it made me want a movie to be real. I would watch the hell out the story here.
Chasing Coral Trailer
Ice to sea.
Director Jeff Orlowski, who directed the Emmy Award-winning documentary Chasing Ice, is back with something a little more tropical. Apart from the overt environmental warning vibes this trailer gives off, I still like the way we are carried into this conversation and how this is all not doom and gloom. There's reason to be hopeful with the message it is sending and it just seems like the trailer is saying with all its might: here's a documentary about this one particular thing and here's why it's important. Message received.
Friends From College Trailer
Cannot. Wait.
There's just something about the inherent silliness to what's on display here that makes this so endearing. What I like(d) about shows like The Detour, Togetherness, or even Married is that, personally, it speaks to me better than some bougie show like Girls. I kind of like the rumpled lives of those who live outside of the world where the ironic message you're sending by wearing a vintage Garfield shirt that's paired with $200 denim pants and topped with an obnoxious douche lid on your head. I want the stories of people I want to spend some time with and, God willing, this is it.
Nota bene: If you have any suggestions of trailers to possibly be included in this column, even have a trailer of your own to pitch, please let me know by sending me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com or look me up via Twitter at @Stipp
In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week: