One day I'd like to see a history on movie trailers; starting with the utterly campy narrated ones in the 30's to the bombastic ones of the present.
That said, the latest trend in trailers is a music video-like montage of images played to a single soundtrack. A variation on this is to stick an occasional bit of dialogue in it.
I'm not sure where this trend came from. The first noticeable one Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" teaser. Pretty, but also incoherent (like an actual music video) and not incredibly well executed.
Then came Watchmen. Mindblowing stuff set to the nihilistic feel of the Smashing Pumpkins' "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning". It may have been the one to have popularized this music-video trailer thing, because then we got "Where the Wild Things Are" trailer and more.
Anyways, who has a problem with it? Not me. I've seen probably a dozen music videos or so in my life, and excuse me for saying so, but most of them are so boring (I'm talking to you, yes you, Lady Gaga, Pink, Taylor Swift, etc), and its indie music relatives just vaguely disturbing. I've never understood the appeal of pop stars in candy-colored stripper clothing showing off their bedtime capabilities. These videos usually feel like strictly male fantasies, and the ones who cater to girl-empowerment are incredibly cliched and forced (Taylor Swift, you can don the dorkiest glasses in the world; I do not believe for one moment you had a hard time getting guys in high school).
I digress. Anyways, I'm a montage freak. Half the videos on my Youtube favorites will be these little montages the Oscars show each year. And the latest to my little collection are these two incredibly sensual, ravishing trailers that one user aptly described as "win".
A Single Man (Tom Ford's film debut. It's hard to go through the trailer without how noticing how some images play off like a fashion spread in Vogue. From the trailer, I was afraid that the movie itself would favor style over substance, but I've read some reviews and apparently it's not so. Plus there's buzz about a future Oscar nod for Colin Firth, finally abandoning his awkward-but-endearing romantic lead (if you think about it, he's like the English adult Michael Cera, or rather, Michael Cera is the American teen version if him).
Bright Star (again, am dying to see Jane Campion's latest)
The only problem, I think, is the possibility of the films not living up to their trailers (speaking of which do they give out awards for trailers? I think they should. These are mini-gems). Did you like the contrast and similarities between the trailers (ugh, English teacher osmosis alert!)? Of course, A Single Man is more edgy and surreal, befitting the director's style, while Bright Star has a more organic feel to it, with most shots taken in natural sunlight or by fire. And that one shot of Ginnifer Goodwin in A Single Man nearly ruined it for me. Anyone else hate her cute-ditzy-girl shtick? Darling, Audrey Hepburn/Marilyn Monroe/Anna Faris you are not. She's that girl you know in everyday life who you want to smack just for being too artificially upbeat. Okay, I'm being mean now. Anyways, enjoy the trailers....
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