Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they're seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I'm operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits Trailer
Any animated film that wants to incorporate nudists and leprosy in its promotional materials has my backing.
Director Peter Lord, last seen helming Chicken Run twelve years ago, hasn't done much in the way of actually directing but he has been producing the hell out of animated programming in that time. I don't know if a dozen years has sharpened the Lord's sensibilities but what I like about this trailer is that it bridges that crucial gap for me between kiddie fare and adult innuendo.
The whole tempo of the thing is one that just sets up things within a few seconds and then rolls right into the nonsense that is a ditty that drops nudists, grog, leaping dolphins, and accidental impalings. It's such a short trailer, and the song that carries us throughout the trailer is a jaunty one, but what we see is filled with great comedic beats and fantastical looks at what ought to be just a fun movie that you could most likely take the kids to while enjoying some of the more ribald moments that are intended for the a-dults. Whether that's true or not, and it ends up being more Wallace & Gromit than it's selling itself as, I'm perfectly fine based on what's here.
While the film looks fun, and that's enough reason for my ankle biters to drag dad in to see it, it appears that there is a little more catering to my older sensibilities this go around than there was in Flushed Away, a film that still stands as a movie that was good but not great. This movie, by comparison, looks like it bridges the gap between catering to two kinds of audiences: kids who want to see pirates and the parents hoping to see something that won't be 90 minutes of excruciating misery.
Munger Road Trailer
I'm chasing the dragon, I realize this.
Ever since Screa
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