Gordon McAlpin's Blog: Updates from Multiplex: Deleted Scenes, page 15

Trailer Watch: Christian Bale starring in Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War

Courtesy TV.Sohu.com (via Coming Soon) comes a trailer for Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War, which stars Christian Bale stars as "a Catholic priest who shelters a group of prostitutes and female students in his church during the brutal 1937 invasion and pillaging of the Chinese capitol by Japanese troops known as the 'Rape of Nanking.'"

As a longtime fan of Zhang's films (particularly Hero and his earlier, quieter dramas like Happy Times, Not One Less and Raise the Red Lantern), I'm definitely interested in this, although perhaps because I don't knowing much about the historical events in question, I couldn't make a ton of sense out of this trailer.

The film also stars Shigeo Kobayashi, presumably as a Japanese soldier, and I noticed Paul Schneider (All the Real Girls, Parks & Recreation) in the trailer, as well.

The Flowers of War will be the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film in the next Academy Awards (according to an old /Film article on the film, the film is about 60% Mandarin and 40% English), and so it will get a release before the end of the year somewhere, but possibly not a very big one.

Trailer Watch: Found footage superheroes in Chronicle

I'm a little tired of the found footage thing, but Chronicle looks pretty damned interesting. The trailer shows you everything I know about the film, and likely everything you need to know about it before going into the theater. If you need some encouragement to watch the trailer, though, it's about three kids who get superpowers (and then things get crazy).

Written by John and Max Landis (yes, ) and directed by Josh Trank, Chronicle stars Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell and Michael Kelly, and it hits theaters on February 3, 2012.

(Sorry to everybody outside of the US, because MTV Movies got the exclusive on this one.)

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Trailer Watch: Red Tails TV spot

Spike TV's SCREAM Awards 2011 premiered a "trailer" last night for the George Lucas-produced Red Tails. Looked at as a trailer, it's terrible: the music is way out of place for the era and subject, and it says nothing about the story or the characters, but there's a pretty good amount of footage in it that's worth seeing, I think. So there's that.

Directed by Anthony Hemingway from a screenplay by John Ridley (based on a story by executive producer George Lucas) and starring Bryan Cranston, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Daniela Rush, and Michael B. Jordan, Red Tails soars into theaters on January 20, 2012.

Red Tails Trailer
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Trailer Watch: Real-life Navy SEALs star in Act of Valor trailer

It's hard to tell much from the trailer for Act of Valor.

The story could go either way: as a fictionalized "based on true missions" tale, the fictionalization will either make or break it. It could fall prey to jingoistic urges, or it might let just enough gray slip into the frame to ring true. The fact that the Navy reserved the right to approve footage for security reasons and apparently gave the filmmakers its approval will probably lean many peoples' guesses one way or another, depending on their own political leanings.

The stateside dramatics might fall into too-familiar territory, or they could add a little extra dimension. The fact that the films stars non-actors is both interesting and worrisome.

So in light all these wild cards and nothing else really solid to go on, let's just look at this purely as an action movie for a second and take note that the footage looks really freakin' cool:

Act of Valor stars Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez and Nestor Serrano. The film was directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh and hits theaters on February 17, 2012.

For a little more background about the film, this Wall Street Journal article goes into a fair amount of detail.

Trailer Watch: The Adventures of Tintin trailer #2 (updated with Spielberg & Jackson)

A new, more in-depth trailer for Steven Spielberg's motion capture Hergé adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin has hit the webs, and while the first two trailers looked pretty good, now I'm sold on it. I'm still not crazy about the character designs, but the fluidity of the movement is terrific, and the performances and the story all feel true to the books — as well as a whole lot of fun.

Check it out in HD over at Apple, or with the YouTube embed below:

The film opens in the UK this weekend, but won't hit the US until December 21st (a whole two days earlier than the last time I checked). Let us know how it is, mates!

UPDATE (10/19): THR has kindly provided a short interview with director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson about their involvement with the Tintin film, and it sports a few seconds of footage not seen in this new trailer. Good stuff, all around.

Trailer Watch: The Adventures of Tintin trailer #2

A new, more in-depth trailer for Steven Spielberg's motion capture Hergé adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin has hit the webs, and while the first two trailers looked pretty good, now I'm sold on it. I'm still not crazy about the character designs, but the fluidity of the movement is terrific, and the performances and the story all feel true to the books — as well as a whole lot of fun.

Check it out in HD over at Apple, or with the YouTube embed below:

The film opens in the UK this weekend, but won't hit the US until December 21st (a whole two days earlier than the last time I checked). Let us know how it is, mates!

Trailer Watch: The Avengers teaser trailer

This is a few days old, of course, but since I'd spaced on posting it here and Alexander Gajic reminded me, so…

I'm very, very excited about this movie, naturally, but other than the Hulk, I didn't see much in this to get me more excited about it than I already was. They have to save something for the full trailer, of course. (And hopefully for the movie, too.)

Written and directed by Joss Whedon (you know who he is), The Avengers hits theaters on May 4, 2012 in the US.

What do you think?

Trailer Watch: Yet another trailer for The Muppets

If you didn't know by now, The Muppets are back this Thanksgiving, and here's what seems like the seventh trailer for it.

"Wokka wokka" had me howling, though. You'll see.

Trailer Watch: Tom Hardy vs. Chris Pine in This Means War

Chris Pine co-stars as his best friend and convoluted rival for Reese Witherspoon's affections in McG's latest, This Means War.

The spy action-comedy looks kind of like Mr. and Mr. Smith, except funnier… or maybe I'll watch anything with Tom Hardy at this point. Hell if I know. Anyway, it comes out on February 17, 2012.

Trailer Watch: Albert Nobbs

Courtesy Yahoo! Movies, comes the trailer for the film adaptation of the stage adaptation of "The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs," a short story by Irish novelist George Moore.

The trailer is warm and heartfelt, and while reviews have been mixed, generally reviews have said Glenn Close's performance as Albert is strong. (Close started the role on stage 15 years ago and co-wrote the screenplay with John Banville).

The film hits (American) theaters on January 27, 2012. Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right) co-star. Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child) directs.