Coming Attractions

COMING ATTRACTIONS: The Big Ape Is Back!

I’m back (and no i'm not the big ape), and I hope to revitalize and add focus (or chaos) to this blog. I was in a creative rut for a while, but now I’m ready to fire up the topics once again. I kinda’ miss my old Reflections page in my old website, which talked about anything under the sun, such as movies, music, games, and even politics. Well the title of the topic itself should hit two birds with a single stone, as it not only harkens things to come, but also has something to do with my main story, and that would be Movie Trailers.

As far back as I could remember my friends and me have always been excited to see the teasers and the full trailers of upcoming movies that we all wanted to see. It came to the point that we even paid to see a crappy movie just to see the new Episode 1 Starwars movie back in 1999. Of course those with computers and an internet connection could always download a trailer of their favorite upcoming movie, but it took too long, and the quality was just not good. Thanks to broadband, that problem has been solved. You could download a trailer of Aeon Flux, or Superman Returns trailer in a matter of minutes (even seconds for those fortunate enough to afford a higher bandwidth). Sure you still view it on a small screen, but it’s all worth it when see the movie even if it’s just snippets fitted into no more than three minutes. Most of these movies won’t even start showing for at least six months, but here it is in front of you, convincing you to go watch it when it comes out.

Most successful trailers are the once that really jump out on you, and convince you outright that this is a “must watch extravaganza”. Trailers have actually become a form of entertainment in itself. I remember the trailer for the Hollywood version of Godzilla, which never really showed the whole creature, just legs and feet, scales and tail, eyes and teeth, the occasional silhouette, and lots of destruction! I know the movie got panned by the critics, and even by the fans, but the trailer (for me) described the movie very well. First it established that Godzilla was such an Big icon that he won’t even fit in the screen (hence the body shots), and that the movie was… well about destroying and blowing up stuff, and that’s it. The catch phrase “size does matter” says it all.

Sure some movies rely on the exposition of these movie trailers to cover up the fact that the movie itself is crap (Matrix Reload and Matrix Revolution, ). But there are those that really hit it on the spot, namely Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’ve been a big fan of the Tolkien books (geek alert!) for years, and was ecstatic to hear that a movie was being made. But I had doubts. Could this Peter Jackson (Frighteners? Brrr) really pull it off? No Tom Bombadil? Elijah Wood as Frodo? Satan as Aragorn (Viggo played that part in The Prophecy)? Well all of my worries was washed away upon seeing the teasers for the film. Simply said, “it blew me away”. And that was reason enough to anticipate its release.

I’m glad to say that the movie itself lived up to the hype… heck the whole trilogy became a worldwide success, which brings me to King Kong. Peter Jackson’s remake of the iconic Kong, brings back the memories of Godzilla. It’s a big Hollywood remake, but it’s got an Academy Award winning director helming the project, what could go wrong? Well after viewing the latest trailer, all I can say is so far so good. It’s convinced me to go see the movie when it comes out, big screen, THX, and all. Unlike Godzilla’s trailer, this one’s really got the PJ feel in it. Show the stunning locations, introduce the characters one at a time, reveal the complications (those natives look a bit like orcs), and finally show the big daddy, Kong himself. End it with the classic Empire States building shot, and you’ve got a winner at hand. Still not sure whether it will garner the same success as LOTR, but I don’t know about you, I’m gonna’ go watch this movie.

Oh by the way, for those techno-savvy iPod owners, you could also download the Kong Trailer in video iPod compatible format. Cool huh?