LD's Guide to Japan

In the future, I’ll probably either post trailers as they become available, or I’ll do a weekly review of new trailers, but since this is the first post of them, I’m just going to put up trailers of upcoming movies that I most want to see.

Since it’s opening this friday, I’ll start off with “I Am Legend,” starring Will Smith.  If you haven’t heard of this movie, then I’m assuming you’ve been hiding from the law and thus are minimizing your exposure to daylight and the outside world in any way.  The trailer can be seen in normal and HD resolutions at Moviefone.  If you really haven’t seen it, then go to.  It’s been getting nothing but rave reviews and I will most likely be going to see it opening night.  NOTE: if you are lucky enough to live in an area where “I Am Legend” is playing at an IMAX, go see it there.  Before all IMAX screenings of “I Am Legend,” they are showing a ten-minute sneak preview of the upcoming Batman movie, “The Dark Knight.”  The sneak preview is supposed to serve as a sort of preface to “The Dark Knight,” (like “Hotel Chevalier” was to “The Darjeeling Limited”) that shows the beginnings of the Joker’s ‘career.’

Next we have “Cloverfield,” also known as the 1-18-08 (the release date for the movie) project.  This is the newest film from J.J. Abrams, producer of the shows “Lost” and “Alias,” and it’s been getting quite a buzz.  ”Cloverfield” is a monster movie/thriller set in New York City.  Both the teaser and the trailer (which can be seen here at Apple trailers) prominently feature the decapitated head of lady liberty falling into the streets of NYC, presumably torn off by whatever monster is attacking the city, and as such the headless statue has been made the centerpiece of the poster for the movie.  The identity of the monster itself has been shrouded in mystery, with clues being revealed little by little through their viral marketing campaign.   As long as I’m on the subject of viral marketing, I’d like to address how amazing it is that the internet is finally being used in this way to generate hype about movies.  ”Cloverfield” had, for a little while, the most extensive viral campaign yet, with sites like slusho.jp, jamieandteddy.com, tagruato.jp, boldfutura.jp, and more creating a virtual sense of ‘reality’ for the film to be based on.  They have since been trumped, however, by “The Dark Knight” (trailer), whose viral campaign began on the internet and has since expanded into the realm of reality, with people receiving cakes from the Joker, inside which they found prepaid cell phones and were given a phone number to call, etc., making it seem as if the Joker is the real deal and he is, in fact, amassing an army.  The whole story of the cakes can be found here and a list of some of the viral sites created for the movie can be found here. 

The last trailer I wanted to mention, for now, is ”Speed Racer,” the live-action adaptation of the classic cartoon by the Wachowski Brothers (“The Matrix” trilogy), set to release in May of next year.  The trailer, which can be seen at Moviefone, was released just last week and has been raising a lot of controversy on the blogosphere.  People have tended to be really split on their opinion of it, either saying that it looks like absolute rubbish, or that they’re quite impressed with it.  I can really see both sides of the argument here, but I have to admit I fall into the latter category.  Being a big fan of the original cartoon (in fact, I actually have some of it on DVD), I have to say I am really impressed that the Wachowski brothers were able to give this film their ‘signature’ matrix-esque slick, futuristic look, while still maintaining the very cartoonish look that “Speed Racer” is so famous for: the vibrant, colorful landscapes, the sweeping transitions, and the general ‘cheesiness’ of everything.  The cartoon itself was never a major innovation of moving picture technology, so I’m not sure what people were expecting, but the trailer showcases some beautiful images, I think, and captures the feel of “Speed Racer” quite well.  Now, I have to say that just because you’re making an adaptation of a really cheesy, campy cartoon, that doesn’t give you an excuse to make a bad movie and claim that it’s like that because you were ‘trying to remain true to the original,’ or whatever, but so far I’m liking what I see.  It’s not an easy project to undertake, and if anyone can do it, I think the Wachowski brothers definitely can.

There are plenty more trailers that I can, and would like to, discuss, but I have some other things to take care of, so they will have to wait for later. In the meantime, please feel free to email me any thoughts/opinions that you want to share (I will post up here any noteworthy comments I receive), and let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see me discuss here, as well.