I write an article at movies.com called Trailer Truth. Here are the three latest I’ve written. Give it some love, comments, tweets, Facebook affection. I never watch a trailer until after I’ve seen the movie, and I also attempt to avoid as much news as possible. Then I compare what I knew, to what you knew. Let’s find out if what we see in the trailer is what we get, and if there is any advantage to going in fresh. (There will be spoilers.)
Dark Shadows
What I Knew Before: Dark Shadows isn't just another chance for BFFs Tim Burton andJohnny Depp to hang out in creepy, dark corners. It was one of the oddest soap operas ever. I caught a few back when the Syfy Network was brand new (I think) and airing the reruns. (Actually, I'm thinking of the failed remake starring Ben Cross and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.) The only information I retained was that a vampire was involved. There was also aThis American Life episode I listened to a few months ago called "Conventions." Even the man who attended the Dark Shadows conventions was tired of these characters. So why did Burton want to resurrect this cult following? Did he want to prove those Twilight teens don't have anything on him? Let's find out. CLICK HERE to read the rest of Trailer Truth: Dark Shadows
The Dictator
What I Knew Before: Avoiding The Dictator proved very difficult. Actually, that's not entirely true. Avoiding Sacha Baron Cohen doing press for the film was the hard part. I caught his act on the Oscars pre-game show. There, he poured some ashes on Ryan Seacrest. Sure, we've all wanted to see a disheveled Seacrest, but the comedy felt forced. I felt the same when Cohen showed up to the Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show. Here's the thing though, Cohen's Brüno character felt forced when he was doing press, but I still loved watching him interact with idiotic Americans in the film. This General Aladeen character seems like a different beast. With Borat and Brüno his characters were sympathetic. Call me crazy, but it's tough to have sympathy for an evil dictator. CLICK HERE to read the rest of Trailer Truth: The Dictator
Snow White and the Huntsman
What I Knew Before: Is a huntsman a dwarf? That was the number one question I had going into this Snow White tale. As you may recall, I was under the impression we were getting two adult tellings of the tale this summer with Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman. After seeing the family friendly Mirror (and writing a Trailer Truth) I realized this movie is the one I was waiting for. If memory served correctly, fellow movies.com writer Scott Weinberg sent out a tweet months ago declaring Huntsman had the better dwarfs, which include Ian McShane and Bob Hoskins. I knew Charlize Theron was starring as the evil queen because of a Top Chef episode, plus I saw an image of her from the film in some sort of milk bath. I also saw an image of Kristen Stewart in body armor (proving this isn't your mother'sSnow White). By process of elimination, I was positive Armie Hammer wasn't in this film, but I wasn't sure who Snow's "prince" would be. CLICK HERE to read the rest of Trailer Truth: Snow White and the Huntsman