While the majority of headlines dealing with the film coverage of this year’s SXSW Festival were dedicated to such notable screenings of Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell or Seth Rogen’s Observe and Report, the real success stories are the winners themselves. Despite the downturn in the economy, the fest achieved actual growth this year and is solidifying its place as both a home to independent cinema and a friend to the studio hype machine. While it’s hard to say how the latter will effect the fest in the long run, we can delight in this year’s winners circle as proof that the spirit of indie cinema is alive and well. Read on for the list of winners, as well as their corresponding trailers and further links for the fest.
… but just can’t seem to summon the motivation to hop up from your chair and get those legs swinging, this trailer for the moody independent mystery Sex and Justice should do the trick.
Every once in a while, a trailer comes along that is so technically and aesthetically inept that all the viewer can do is sit back and marvel at the sheer pokiness of it all. Enter Hangar Rats, a low-budget film about… actually, we don’t know what the hell it’s about since there’s absolutely no mention of a plot whatsoever in the trailer. But who needs such technicalities as a storyline to draw in potential viewers when you have shots of guys standing around, stock footage of military helicopters, music mixed so loud that it’s impossible to hear dialogue, overlapping audio, directors calling “action” at the beginning of a shot, and Fred ‘the D.O.M.’ shooting a skunk-eye that possesses the city-leveling power of Godzilla’s atomic breath. All of that plus a mysterious disembodied scream, a joke with a missing punchline, and thirty seconds of black on the backside makes the trailer for Hangar Rats a head-scratcher that’s sure to cause excessive scalp bleeding.
I’ve just happened upon one of the most beautiful trailers I’ve ever seen, for an animated film entitled $9.99. Never heard of it? You aren’t alone; it debuted theatrically on the 12th of this month and (so far, anyway) seems consigned to mostly Los Angeles cinemas.
As a die-hard horror fan, one of my favorite things is to walk into a movie theater and witness something truly unexpected and terrifying. To me, the thrill of gazing up at the screen and being rattled to the core by something I’ve never seen before is what makes it all worthwhile. It’s a bit of a rarity these days, but it still happens on occasion, and it’s reassuring to know that some filmmakers are still interested in exploring our fears by telling great stories — rather than simply remaking one of their favorite films or cashing in by churning out an endless series of uninspired sequels.
Looking ahead towards the dark horizon of horror, it appears that there are some sinister treats in store for macabre-minded moviegoers in the coming months. Though it’s impossible to tell whether any film will ultimately live up to the hype that precedes it (it is, after all, fairly easy to cut a great trailer for a crappy flick), here is a list of promising horror films that have gotten some recent buzz while making the festival rounds and setting the blogs ablaze.
Please keep in mind that given the genre and subject matters, many of these trailers are NSFW.
Ahh, the haunted house film — a terrifying cinematic cornerstone where suburban structures come alive to wreck havok upon their owners, renters, or any poor landscaper that dares go near them. The tropes of the genre are well known; madness is a recurring theme, often resulting in one member of the house going batty and probably violent on his or her oblivious relatives. Secrets are another big piece of the thematic puzzle, since they are often the things that fuel the madness or the tortured souls that are left behind to relate their tale (sorrowfully or otherwise) to the new tenants. And of course, atmosphere is a huge part of the equation as well. From the early days of Robert Wise’s The Haunting to the new school of Jaume Balagueró’s Darkness or last year’s The Orphanage, the slow, brooding nature of the films needs to be conveyed to the audience in style and skillful pacing. Modern remakes have often tried to inject more grime into the material to muck it up, but nothing compares to the spooks presented by those who stay true to the genre. Thus, in celebration of candles going out by themselves and various bumps in the night, here is a hand-picked roundup of some of the best haunted house trailers throughout time (leaving most of the remakes and sequels for another post). So turn your desk lamp off and get that Netflix cue ready, because a-haunting-we-will-go!
There’s a new trailer for Baz Luhrman’s upcoming period epic Australia, and it’s pretty cool except no matter how many times I watch it, I keep expecting everybody to break into song. Or at least perform some kind of ecstasy-induced hallucinated dance number. Instead, WWII happens.
Also, who the hell is that child that suddenly becomes important to the story like 20 seconds before the end?
A full length trailer for Oliver Stone’s highly anticipated presidential biopic W. came out last week, and though I was already excited about this dynastic political acid trip of a movie, I can now officially say that I’m in it for more than just the novelty. This thing looks balls out crazy, and though the trailer is littered with SNL-esque snorts and one-liners, it also gives the impression of showcasing Stone’s refined skill for combining satire with subtext.
But I’m not gonna lie, the novelty’s still there. Josh Brolin’s transformation from dark-horse heartthrob to silver-spoon chomping idiot boy-prince is still something to boggle at, especially considering that Brolin’s last turn in No Country for Old Men seemed just as out of left field. Come to think of it, all of Brolin’s major appearances seem to come out of nowhere. Every single time he seems to pop up with a totally different kind of project, sporting a totally new brand of smoldering hotness, and making people go “Hey…isn’t that James Brolin’s kid?” as though he’d disappeared since Goonies.
So here’s a little cheat sheet to take you through all the major hotness incarnations that Brolin has visited over the years. And yes, that includes W. His chameleon like transformation into the 43rd president may be impressive and, indeed this picture does capture Dubya’s weird turtley quality, but there are distinct moments in that trailer when even with his white hair and terrified expression, the camera can’t help grabbing onto old JB’s rugged, chiseled features in a way that makes Bush seem kind of…well, hot. To understand the bemusing effect that this juxtaposition will surely have on your brain, just look back to that Screaming George picture at the top of the page.
While the majority of headlines dealing with the film coverage of this year’s SXSW Festival were dedicated to such notable screenings of Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell or Seth Rogen’s Observe and Report, the real success stories are the winners themselves. Despite the downturn in the economy, the fest achieved actual growth this year and is solidifying its place as both a home to independent cinema and a friend to the studio hype machine. While it’s hard to say how the latter will effect the fest in the long run, we can delight in this year’s winners circle as proof that the spirit of indie cinema is alive and well. Read on for the list of winners, as well as their corresponding trailers and further links for the fest.
I’ve just happened upon one of the most beautiful trailers I’ve ever seen, for an animated film entitled 
Ahh, the haunted house film — a terrifying cinematic cornerstone where suburban structures come alive to wreck havok upon their owners, renters, or any poor landscaper that dares go near them. The tropes of the genre are well known; madness is a recurring theme, often resulting in one member of the house going batty and probably violent on his or her oblivious relatives. Secrets are another big piece of the thematic puzzle, since they are often the things that fuel the madness or the tortured souls that are left behind to relate their tale (sorrowfully or otherwise) to the new tenants. And of course, atmosphere is a huge part of the equation as well. From the early days of 
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