Trailer Review: Body of Lies

Paul Clark — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Does anyone out there actually buy Leonardo DiCaprio in tough-guy roles? Don’t get me wrong- I think he’s a talented actor, and given the right part he can knock it out of the park. But I didn’t find him convincing in Gangs of New York and Blood Diamond, and I’m certainly not convinced here. If you look at Leo’s best recent roles- Frank Abagnale, Howard Hughes, even Billy Costigan in The Departed- they all make use of his innate boyishness and knack for playing psychologically damaged characters. But there’s just something about him (the reedy voice, the scraggly facial hair) that doesn’t work when he’s supposed to be tough and street-smart. Just like he was in Gangs, he looks hopelessly overmatched here by his more experienced costar- Russell Crowe this time around- and it’s going to require a lot of work from director Ridley Scott and screenwriter William Monahan to convince me that Leo’s character can hold his own opposite Crowe’s. Also, it seems sort of sinful that the gorgeous Carice Van Houten (playing Leo’s wife) is nowhere to be found in the trailer, but maybe that’s just me.

Trailer Roundup: Valkyrie, Atonement, Meet the Spartans

Peter Smith — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:00:00 GMT

Valkyrie

Despite the movie's late June release date, a high-toned thriller set in Nazi Germany would not appear to be summer movie fodder. But based on the trailer, Valkyrie looks typical of Hollywood’s approach to the Third Reich, boiling it down to the Ultimate Evil in charge and the morally-just "traitors" who have history on their side. Why else would they mount a big-budget telling of the story of the man who tried to kill Adolf Hitler, starring Tom Cruise, who, with a handful of exceptions, has made his reputation playing morally uncomplicated heroes? Perhaps director Bryan Singer and his collaborators could have taken a cue from Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, whose breakout star Carice Van Houten is cast here as Cruise’s arm candy — in the shadow of the Nazi regime, things were rarely so simple as black and white.

Atonement

Normally, when I write my blurbs for Trailer Roundup, all I have to go on are the trailers themselves and the advance buzz for the movies. So it’s a little different to take on Atonement, which I had the chance to see at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. As far as trailers for prestige pictures go, this one’s pretty good, especially for the way it uses Dario Marianelli's score, a kind of concerto for typewriter and orchestra. But while the trailer for Atonement does a good job summarizing the plot and showing some of the film’s more visually impressive moments, I’m not sure I would have found this trailer particularly inspiring had I not already seen the movie itself. I also think it was a mistake to show Vanessa Redgrave, who doesn’t turn up until the very end of the film, for reasons that will become clear if and when you see the movie. All the same, Atonement should be catnip for awards-season voters, as its trailer makes abundantly clear.

Meet the Spartans

You know, I like many different kinds of movies, and even when I don’t like something I can usually see why others might. But occasionally a phenomenon will arise that makes me feel like Pauline Kael did when she claimed she didn’t know anybody who voted for Nixon. So it is with the recent wave of chintzy spoofs: who actually LIKES these things? Someone must enjoy these if they keep making them, right? Well, not necessarily. All it takes is for enough people to visit Blockbuster on a slow night and say, "Epic Movie might be okay," and boom, the studio greenlights Meet the Spartans. Now, I know I’m one to talk here, but don’t you think there are better ways to pass two hours than to watch a movie that will be, at best, "okay?" Read a book. Talk a leisurely walk. Try out a new sexual position or two. Or if you absolutely must rent a movie, try venturing inland from the outside walls of the local video emporium. Once you get over the old-timey movie stars and the black and white images and maybe even subtitles, you just might see something better, or at least more interesting, than the time-waster you passed over on the new release wall. Of course, it would be hard to be WORSE than Date Movie. . .

— Paul Clark

The Screengrab : carice van houten

Trailer Review: Body of Lies

Trailer Roundup: Valkyrie, Atonement, Meet the Spartans