Behold: The ugliest, most laughable poster for a studio film I’ve seen in years. Given that it’s part of one of the most inept marketing campaigns in recent memory, I probably shouldn’t surprised.
Note: I’m not including a preview of the image because I really think it deserves to be seen in it’s full glory.
I read David Ignatius’ spy novel Body of Lies a month or so ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked that it had an understatement to it, with a focus more on the people who run the espionage operations in the Middle East, how they are driven, than the usual bombastic running and gunning. It’s a story about values and principles, more than anything else. In the novel the plans are discussed thoroughly and things thought through down to the smallest minutiae, with still some allowance for the random chaos of life. It felt like it actually knew what it was talking about.
Going by the trailer, this has roughly been brushed aside. The violence pumped up and tripled. Plenty of scenes I am very sure were not in the novel. The antagonism between Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) made a central point. It existed in the novel, but wasn’t played up like it is here. This might be good for the film, but I worry how many other things have been changed and how much by writer William Monahan (The Departed and upcoming The Chaser). The Jordanian intelligence chief, in the film to be played by Mark Strong, was one of my favorite fictional characters of recent years. Many of the scenes involving him I still savor weeks later. Yet I saw no glimpse of Mark Strong here. If they’ve denigrated him in favor of some more Crowe grandstanding it will be to the film’s detriment.
Of course, it’s just a trailer and some things might have been highlighted more than others for commercial reasons. This looks fun, but I was hoping for more of the intelligent points the novel made.
A question for the gallery this week: does anyone ever watch the trailers that I link to, especially for the independents that you’ve never heard of? I’m not going to stop, I’m just wondering.
As for movies this week, in non-general release news, I’m looking forward to a 70mm screening of Lawrence of Arabia this weekend. I’ve never seen a 70mm non-IMAX film, and Lawrence is sort of the king of 70mm films. There are also 70mm screenings of TRON, Vertigo, and The Wild Bunch, although the latter two weren’t originally shot in 70mm, so there’s less appeal there. And I don’t really care about TRON, to be perfectly honest.
Anyway, on to the movie I will see:
The Dark Knight (trailer)
Director: Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige)
Not much to say that hasn’t already been said. I think we’ve all been looking forward to this one, and now it’s finally here (unless you’re Swedish), and it’s just a matter of going to see it.
MC/RT: 82/94
Movies I might see, in order of preference:
The Last Mistress (trailer)
Director: Catherine Breillat (Romance, Fat Girl, Sex Is Comedy, Anatomy of Hell)
Asia Argento sure seems to be busy these days. This is at least the third US release she’s been in this year. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to see the only one I really wanted to see, Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate, but I may go see this tale about class rivalries and, I gather, provacative sex scenes.
MC/RT: 80/78
Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File
Director: Andrei Nekrasov
Documentary about former KGB agent and Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died from radiation poisoning in 2006 after making a series of spectacular accusations against the Russian government.
MC/RT: not listed/50
Movies I do not care about, in alphabetical order:
Elsa & Fred (trailer)
Director: Marcos Carnevale
Argentinian film about an old man who rediscovers his zeal for life after meeting his new neighbor.
MC/RT: 55/50
Mamma Mia! (trailer)
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Not in this life, and not in the next.
MC/RT: 51/50
Space Chimps (trailer)
Director: Kirk De Micco
Not in this life, and not in the next. By the life after that, however, I anticipate coming back as a chimp (I’m really going to be a bastard in my next life), so this will probably look pretty good to me.
MC/RT: 37/36
The somewhat uninspiring teaser posters for JJ Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek have been released:
Not sure what to think.
As the cast is comprised of near-unknowns, it seems like the logical course of action would be to sell the iconic nature of the characters. Instead, they seem to be stressing the actor’s youth and attractiveness (or in Bana’s case, possibly his “star” power. Haha) over anything that would actually be interesting to the masses. The Spock/Zachary Quinto would be the only exception, and that’s just because of the ears/hair.
It just seems like an odd marketing decision for something that is probably one of the most important releases in Paramount’s history. Billions are on the line here and I’m starting to think they’re a little unsure about how to properly push it to the masses. That 5 month delay is starting to look like a smart decision.
