Trailer Trash (7/13/12)

Volume 29: Tom Cruise, Ruffian

Jack Reacher

Dir: Christopher McQuarrie – Planned release date: December 21

Tom Cruise is great—second to none, in fact—at being a good old-fashioned movie star. He looks great, he has charisma, and he can convincingly dangle off the side of a building about as well as anyone. Yet he’s been unable to establish himself as a real “tough guy,” and that seems to be the goal of his upcoming film Jack Reacher. Directed by screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, Jack Reacher appears to be aiming for a more mainstream version of Drive; the problem is that Cruise just doesn’t have the edge to him that the Reacher character would seem to require. He can put together a convincing fight scene, but when he’s standing face-to-face with a gaggle of baddies, he isn’t quite the imposing presence that it feels like he should be. It’s hard to see Cruise as anything but a fundamentally good guy, even when his characters are slightly more flawed. This isn’t a very revealing teaser, and perhaps when given more context I’ll reverse my position, but this feels like putting a square peg in a round hole.

The Man with the Iron Fists

Dir: RZA – Planned release date: TBD

RZA, best known for his work with the Wu-Tang Clan, has been in Quentin Tarantino’s inner circle since he was involved in the Kill Bill movies. (He did some of the music.) Now he’s gotten the opportunity to spill his inner Tarantino onto the screen with The Man with the Iron Fists, a martial arts film he wrote with fellow School of Tarantino alumnus Eli Roth. There’s no denying the similarities to Kill Bill here, but there’s no denying that RZA seems quite comfortable behind the camera based on these few snippets. It has a great visual look, and he lucked out big time on the casting front; grabbing Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and Pam Grier among others. The Man with the Iron Fists probably won’t be the most substantive affair, but as a love letter to martial arts cinema it looks quite alluring.

Silver Linings Playbook

Dir: David O. Russell – Planned release date: November 21

Let’s get this out of the way first: Silver Linings Playbook is a terrible title. It’s not catchy, and it seems like a random jumble of words that takes a lot of effort to get out of the mouth. That said, it’s great to see that David O. Russell is apparently back to making movies at a somewhat regular rate. The Fighter was one of the most compulsively watchable movies of its year, and now he’s got something resembling complete creative control back with this film. It doesn’t seem like the most unfamiliar piece of filmmaking, but all the pieces seem to be in place for a funny, memorable little comedy about two mentally ill misfits falling in love. Also notable is the presence of a noticeably older Chris Tucker, who hasn’t been in a non-Rush Hour movie since Jackie Brown. If a script is good enough to get ol’ Tucker back onscreen, then there must be something to it.

Here Comes the Boom

Dir: Frank Coraci – Planned release date: October 12

Happy Madison’s random “Make Kevin James Fall Down and Go Boom” plot generator has now given us Here Comes the Boom, another Frank Coraci-directed family comedy about James getting into situations that require a great deal of goofy physical comedy. The good news is that Boom doesn’t seem to have quite the same contempt for the audience that most Happy Madison films do, and in fact its good-natured plot actually makes me relatively excited. However, it’s hard to imagine that any of this sentiment will be earned; as with any Happy Madison production, it will only be used when it is most convenient for the film to generate some kind of audience response. This may not appear to be as crude and soulless as it possibly could be, but it’s hard to imagine that it’ll be any good.

Rise of the Guardians

Dir: Peter Ramsey/William Joyce – Planned release date: November 21

The weirdest part of this trailer for Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians to me is that it seems to advertise this film as a cinematic event that we’ve all been waiting ages for when it’s really just another animated holiday film. It may have a neat premise, but there’s not a whole lot to this preview that justifies the rather grandiose fashion in which it goes about its business. The animation isn’t exceptional, though a few years back we probably would have hailed it as a revelation. That said, Rise of the Guardians does have the potential to be an exceptional holiday movie if it’s able to put together some decent character moments and some breathtaking visuals. The directors are the guys behind Rolie Polie Olie and Robots, so I’m not exactly ecstatic, but there’s plenty of potential. The weirdest thing about this movie to me is that Chris Pine was somehow able to get top billing over Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law and others. I don’t know who his agent is, but I want them on my side.