Cinema Hype

So, here’s the thing: I love The Office. And along with everyone else, I love Dwight Schrute, weapon-hiding, beet-farming, Battlestar Galactica-and/or-bears-loving doof that he is. I mean, tell me: Did Dwight or did Dwight not steal the show last week, what with his “Five! Four! Three! Two! One! It’s gotta be now! Do it now! Do it! Do it! Do it!” trick? (Note: Remind me to try this technique in meetings at work from now on. I will rule the world in six months or less, or Dwight’s middle name isn’t Kurt.)

Anyway, I love Dwight, and I appreciate Rainn Wilson’s commitment to acting like a complete nutjob, but the trailer for The Rocker begs one pretty important question: Can Wilson carry a feature film?

We’ve seen him around before; he sneaks into the first few minutes of Juno, and then there was that movie last year with the kids and the aliens—you know what I mean?—but somehow holding that one against him seems downright cruel. Other than that he’s got a slew of TV guest-star stints (including a half-season of Six Feet Under), and….yeah. I’m trying not to have so many doubts, but it’s not working.

Maybe the problem is Dwight, the very outlandishness of him—maybe we can’t get beyond the aviator glasses and the tie with the short sleeves. Maybe it’s Wilson himself. Maybe his screen presence is too much; maybe he can’t contain the weird. It’s the kind of thing that’s either a great benefit (like when there’s a character like Dwight hanging around) or an ultimate career-killer (like when there are only characters like Dwight hanging around). Maybe he’s just too self-conscious onscreen to pull it off. Or maybe he’ll surprise me and blow us all out of the water. Maybe it’s just me. It’s hard to say.

Readers, what do you think?

(Also: Jason Sudeikis at a theater near me! Don’t ever leave me, Floydster.)

Rainn Wilson, The Rocker, Jason Sudeikis, The Last Mimzy, Juno, Battlestar Galactica, The Office

Let’s face it: spring hasn’t been much of a theatrical-release season. Each weekend I’ve been checking the listings, and…well, you can see how few new movies I’ve written about lately. The
last movie I saw in the theater was Leatherheads, which was an eon and a half ago, and it’s not like much has been slipping through the cracks. It’s like the Death Valley of release schedules out there.

But it looks like we’re finally getting somewhere. Barstow, or Twenty-Nine Palms, at least. The next three weekends—count ‘em, three!—mark the releases of movies I’m planning to see, or at least pretending to plan to see.

April 25: Baby Mama

I’ve accepted the sad fact that Baby Mama may, in fact, be terrible. But I so want it to be good, and I have a such a hard time saying no to the Fey/Poehler one-two punch, that I think I have to see it. It’s either that or The Life of Emile Zola for Project 501. Which would you choose? (Don’t answer that.)

May 2: Iron Man

I’m sorry. Did you think I wasn’t a geek? (…she says, hopefully…) Because I’m pretty sure my absurd love for this trailer—and my hyperventilating about the movie, and about Robert Downey, Jr. as anti-hero hero—proves otherwise. I just think it’s going to be so good. Even the trailer has great comic timing, plus general bad-assery. There can only be fun ahead.

May 9: Speed Racer

…I know, right? Keep repeating to yourself (as I do to myself), “It’s based on 1960s anime. What can you do?” and maybe you’ll feel better. And maybe the Wachowski brothers like their overblown identity/emotional angst, but they also like ridiculous car chases, and I like Matthew Fox’s face, and there you have it. (Note: I reserve the right to change my mind now that Lost is back on my TV. Why buy the ticket when you can have the Fox for free?)

Who’s with me?

Baby Mama, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Speed Racer, anime, Matthew Fox, Mach GoGoGo, Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr.

I was at the movies this weekend and finally got a good look at the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

Cool trailer, no? Maybe it runs a little long, but the beginning is so perfect: the whip, the shadow, the self-deprecating “not as easy as it used to be.” This trailer does what a good trailer should do: sets a mood, makes me laugh, and makes me want to chuck good old Harrison on the shoulder…while sitting down to watch his movie. It also makes me think, for whatever reason, that maybe this “resurrecting Indiana Jones” thing isn’t the worst idea George Lucas has ever had (which is kind of a post in its own right, don’t you think?). This is probably the point.

So, readers, here’s my question: What is the correlation between trailer quality and movie quality? I’m thinking here of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone vs. The Golden Compass, one of which was eerie and iconic, and the other of which was just scatterbrained. Is quality a one-to-one thing, or do we get sucked in by good trailers for bad movies? Do bad trailers happen to good movies, and if so, would anybody know about it? Trailers are made by trailer-production houses, meaning they don’t necessarily come with the vision of the director, but does the trailer-friendliness of a film mean it’s somehow more watchable? Inquiring minds (uh, like mine) want to know. Give me your best trailer stories.

And in the mean time, let’s ponder: Crystal Skull. Mysteriously valuable, or simply breakable?

Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Harrison Ford, George Lucas, trailers, youtube