Sharp 'Eyes'

Despite my stated general antipathy toward this type of movie, I have to admit, this is a fairly clever trailer. Far too often, trailers give away the whole movie--all the major narrative twists, all the best lines, the coolest effects shots, the smartest conceptual ploys--and for genre movies that ride on their ability to shake up familiar formulas, that's deadly and stupid. You already know what to expect; a trailer shouldn't have to drill it into you, kindergarten-style, yet again. Clever teasers like this one assume, quite correctly, that you know what's coming already (a lot of wildly implausible pain and gore), and, instead of going on about plot details that don't really matter anyway, sell you on tone and sensibility. I have no desire to see The Hill Have Eyes 2, but if I was the kind of person who did, this is a trailer that would certainly sell me a ticket.

Die Harderer Again Some More

Hi, my name is Peter, and I like Big Dumb Action Movies.

Still, Live Free or Die Hard, the awesomely-titled fourth sequel to the ultimate 80s action series, starts with some serious weights on its ankles: the director is Len Wiseman, the hack who did the Underworld movies; Bruce Willis' costar is Justin Long, the irritating indie-yuppie from the new Mac ads; and the movie is set in Washington, but was filmed in Baltimore--a total slight to my home city.

But despite all that, I have to say: I like this trailer. There's basically no dialog, no suggestion as to what the story might be (though earlier reports suggest it's got something to do with computer hackers)--in fact there's really nothing at all except stuff going boom real good. And I'm okay with that, because that's what the Die Hard movies are about, and this trailer, it seems to me, is declaring from the outset that Die Hard 4 is gonna kick it old school, shamelessly and spectacularly blowing the crap out of everything in sight. Even better is that it's coming out July 4th weekend opposite Michael Bay's sure-to-be-insanely-ridiculous Transformers movie. In other words, an entire generation of mid-20's males will be tripping on megasized action and 80's nostalgia next year (with the Ninja Turtles movie as warm up), and you can bet I'll be one of them.

Let's Go, Spartans, Let's Go!

Thanks to the wonders of the internets (and old college pals), we can experience the newest 300 trailer in oversized ultramegavision--technically known as a 350mb 1080i HD video file. I was suspicious of this film at first; come on, Zach Snyder? But holy-washboard-abs, kids, this looks like 14-year-old boy wish fulfillment on a truly massive scale. In other words: Count me in.

And for a little history on Thermopylae and its badasser-than-thou Spartan warriors, check out this piece in The New York Sun.

David Fincher does Zodiac

The most breathtaking, visually brilliant director working today has a new movie coming out, and oh my does it look stunning. Word is, the film is good, maybe even Seven good.