Trailer Watch X

Hey readers, this is an honour for the site, as after nine popular posts of Trailer Watch so have finally made it to ten. A now weekly installment of the latest and greatest trailers around, we've had great feeback about how you love it, so to say thank you for coming by, becoming a friend or even mentioning the site to others, heres are ten trailers from the past 9 editions:

1. Cop Out: Red Band



2. Iron Man 2



3. Inception



4. Kick-Ass



5. A Nightmare on Elm Street



6. Get Him To The Greek



7. Toy Story 3



8. Legend of the Guardians



9. Prince of Persia



10. Hot Tub Time Machine

9 is the magic number!

9 - Shane Acker

With the name of Tim Burton and the director of Nightwatch, Daywatch and Wanted, Timur Bekmambetov placed across posters and trailers, the advertising company behind Shane Acker’s feature length debut 9, have made it clear that these names will draw in more people, but it should be Acker’s name that is bold and clear, because he’s a talent for the future. Famous for short animations, where this feature length is based on, 9 is a superb debut in the animation field, where it looks and sounds like a veteran piece and it’s something new to the genre of mainstream animation. Having a large release in cinemas, it had a chance to showcase a different style of animation not seen before and have a very mature storyline. It’s not Disney or Pixar, it’s a magical world seen through the eyes of creations made by humans. It’s the end of the world, the end of mankind and all that is left are tiny puppets that are left to build humanity. It’s a story of hope and sacrifice and it’s refreshing to have that in cinemas and especially animation, where anything is possible, just look at my previous reviews of Ponyo and UP.

The plot follows 9 robot-like “Stitchpunks” that are trying to survive in the world where everyone is dead except for machines which have come back to life to destroy them. A war between man and machine erupted before they were born and thus the environment around him is decaying and broken. The latest creation 9 meets the rest of them and tries to put right his mistakes and save them from the machines clutches. It has a great build up of action having smaller scenes leading into the main sequence with the queen machine. It has a great ending, sad but defiantly up-lifting. It comes across as having a meaning without shoving it down your throat which sometimes animation films do.

Overall a simple story, which some might criticise as being too simple or not having a deeper meaning to it, but i understand the film, and i understand the decision to not have undertones or sub plots to it. It’s a small package and its nice for a change. The sound here is perfect, i really can’t fault it, from the soundtrack to the sounds of everything including the clogs and material of the characters, everything sounds crisp. Truly a great a job done with sound, but the voice acting is lacking, but mainly because of the script. The action takes centre stage so the dialogue is only used for plot forwarding in parts. Go out and see this film, it’s different...in a good way.

7/10

Simon Childs

Richard Kelly pushed the button.

The Box - Richard Kelly

Richard Kelly’s film history is small compared to directors with the same status in the underground cult groups. His most successful film is Donnie Darko and it seems that his films after that are only trying to achieve the same feel and style whilst using a story that tries to make sense. It’s a common theme from his work, except for writing Domino (which he didn’t direct) which was a big pile of shit. Southland Tales was decent in parts but tried to confuse the viewer into thinking it was intelligent. And of course, Donnie Darko is a superb film, crafted brilliantly, but that’s because it was the piece his career was made on, it had to be good. But now he’s made it, he doesn’t have to try too hard. As i was thinking, Kelly would soon fall into one-hit-wonderum, but instead he fights back with a new film, The Box, starring Cameron (I’ve only made one decent film ever) Diaz and James Marsden.

The plot follows the tale of a couple with a kid who are tested by a man with a box. If they press the big red button on the box, someone, somewhere will die, and they will be given loads of cash for it. Simple premise. Throw in some strange science fiction questions, such as lightning bolts connecting people to other worldly creatures, a man with half his face missing, a town becoming manipulated zombies and base it on questions of human conscious and if a person could really kill, and it’s a good film. It has its random Kelly moments, especially with water, but overall, its questions are in the right place, with the audience being tested. I’m sure at the end of the film, people were asking, would they have the guts to do it. Would i be able to kill for money, and I’m sure most of them would say yes. And i would too. It sounds horrible to think, but then at the same time, i would invest some of that money into a profitable business, get shitloads back and then go to the clinic in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the one owned by Tom Wilkinson and get my memory erased of it, so then i forgot that i killed someone, and my conscious would be clean. How about that Kelly, didn’t think about that did you!

For a science fiction thriller with horror elements, it’s mediocre; you expect more from a director who got nominated for a shit-ton of awards but as produced nothing like his debut. It’s better than what i thought it would be, with many critics and reviews panning the shit out of it, except for Empire, who i respect as a reviewing system. But it’s simple, it’s a little long, with it being two hours for a horror film essentially, but it feels like a throwback to the old horror from the 60’s and 70’s, where it wasn’t a scare, more of a mental thought.

6/10

Simon Childs