Another Year Directed by: Mike Leigh Starring: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville Rating: PG-13 Release Date: December 29, 2010 (limited)

TRAILER SCORE: 7/10

MY THOUGHTS: Publishing a review of a trailer for a film with an expired release date, may seem daft, but as Another Year is a limited release, and is being released here in Milwaukee next week -- just a few weeks after it's initial U.S. release -- I thought it would be appropriate, as it's sure to soon expand (in a limited fashion) to other Milwaukee-sized cities across the states. This trailer was originally unveiled way back in August of 2010, but to my knowledge, up to this point, it's been more or less off the TSR radar.

So, enough with defending this post -- let's get on with it!

I thought this trailer was very well done, if not little bit heavy-handed in its sentimentality -- mostly thanks to the music therein. Another Year looks to be an emotional film about the hardships of growing old, and sweeping scores are fitting in such films, but the music in this trailer did feel like it was trying a little too hard to pull at the viewer's heartstrings. I hope the film itself doesn't fall prey to such. That's just obnoxious. I doubt they'll fall prey to such though, as the magnitude of talent in the actors and writers onboard here shouldn't require any "doctoring" via sonic intrusion.

Many "four-star" and "five-star" reviews were cited in this trailer, which I take as a pretty good sign, but at the same time, I don't really take such "to the bank," as they say. This reminds me of my approach to Rottentomatoes.com -- I don't take their overall tomatometer score to mean that much, as I have disliked films that the conglomerate surge has loved, and vice versa, but still, I do take the score into consideration. Really it's more interesting than anything. It's like a note-to-self, "most critics liked this film." The note-to-self should never be, "I'm supposed to like this film," or "everyone else loves this movie, I'd better say I do too." It's like when Mitch Hedberg said, "If you go to the grocery store and stand in front of the lunch meat section for too long, you start to get pissed off at turkeys. You see turkey ham, turkey pastrami, turkey bologna — somebody needs to tell the turkeys, 'Man, just be yourself.'" OK, crazy tangent complete. Moving on...

Ever since Moulin Rouge, I’ve been a huge fan of Jim Broadbent, and have followed his career somewhat voraciously. Another Year marks a nice continuation in Broadbent’s ongoing partnership with director Mike Leigh (Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake), and looks to be an excellent heartfelt drama dealing with the trials of aging. I can’t say that I’m too familiar with the rest of the cast, but Broadbent and Leigh are both very well respected names, and it stands to reason that this pairing will likely lead to another winner — they’ve done it before, and they’ll do it again.

As previously stated, Another Year is a limited release, and that's kind of a shame, but with the box office competition it would be up against presently, I suppose it makes sense.