Trailer Trash Feature: 10th – 23rd September

(Bi-weekly feature written for Lost In The Multiplex)

It’s that time again and with a host of new trailers released over the past two weeks I’d be surprised if you can’t find something to enjoy from this week’s feature. With a first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Lincoln, and a number of roles for Oscar winner Christopher Walken, we also have the first look at an adaptation of the fantasy romance novel Beautiful Creatures and a Sundance winner about getting Smashed and then sobering up. So let’s get started.

Lincoln

Again starting the feature off with a highly anticipated trailer this week, we have the first full trailer for Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Lincoln, which stars two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role as the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Whilst we’ve already seen the President killing vampires in one of this year’s earlier films, Lincoln looks at the President’s real-life dramas, focusing on his tumultuous final months in office as he pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. The new trailer promises what we can only expect from a Spielberg film, and based in part on the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and with screenplay by Tony Kushner, it’s sure to be a great story to see on the big screen. Also starring Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln is set to be released in the UK on 25th January, 2013.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

This may be the second trailer for this, but it couldn’t be left until the end to be mentioned. So here we have the second full trailer for the first part of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s The Hobbit, and it’s just as exciting as the first with plenty of new footage to better explain the plot and a first look at some of the film’s new characters and beasts. Prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) who is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. The film also stars Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as Gollum, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Smaug, Ian Holm as older Bilbo, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Richard Armitage, Stephen Fry, James Nesbitt, and Luke Evans, as well as many others both new and those reprising their original roles. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on 14th December.

A Late Quartet

With another great cast line-up, we have the first trailer for Yaron Zilberman’s A Late Quartet, which reunites Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener for their third film together, alongside Mark Invanir as the fourth member of a string quartet who who are readying a farewell concert as one of the foursome (Walken) have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. After receiving some good reviews from this years’ Toronto Film Festival, the new trailer shows how great the leads work on screen together, and, if for nothing else, Walken has already received a big appraisal for his performance. No word on a release date for this film yet.

Stand Up Guys

Also starring Christopher Walken in another role that is sure to set the actor up for some award recognition this year is the new trailer for Fisher Stevens’ Stand Up Guys, which is led by a trio of Oscar-winners as Waken stars alongside Al Pacino and Alan Arkin. With Stevens returning behind the camera for his first feature film since 2002’s Just A Kiss, the film follows con man Val (Pacino) who, having just served a 28 year sentence for refusing to give up one of his close criminal associates, reteams with his best friend Doc (Walken) and old pal Hirsch (Arkin) and make a hilariously valiant effort to compensate for the decades of crime, drugs and sex they’ve missed. But one of the friends is keeping a dangerous secret – he’s been asked to kill another of the group by a former mob boss, and his time to find an acceptable alternative is running out. The new trailer, released by Yahoo Movies this week, gives us the first look at the film and it looks as if the brilliant casting for this could be something to really look forward to. Also starring Julianna Margulies and Vanessa Ferlito, Stand Up Guys is set to be released in the US on 11th January, but there is no word yet on a UK release.

Gambit

Remember Colin Firth? Well he’s in this next new trailer as Momentum Pictures launched the UK trailer for Gambit. Directed by Michael Hoffman (One Fine Day), Gambit stars Colin Firth (A Single Man), Cameron Diaz (Being John Malkovich), Alan Rickman (Sweeney Todd) and Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada). With screenplay written by Academy Award winners Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (Burn After Reading), the film centres on an art curator (Firth) who recruits an eccentric rodeo queen (Diaz) in a bid to con his abusive boss (Rickman) into buying a fake Monet. I’m not sure what I think about Alan Rickman being naked so often in the trailer, but Stanley Tucci appears to have quite a comical role which can be one thing to look forward to. Gambit will be released in the UK on 21st November.

Promised Land

We also have a new trailer for a film starring Matt Damon in the lead role, as Universal Pictures release the first for their new film, Promised Land. Directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Damon starts alongside John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lucas Black and Hal Holbrook, as a salesman for a natural gas company who experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town, where his corporation wants to tap into the available resources. The new trailer isn’t anything exciting but it promises some interesting roles from its cast, so that may be one reason to watch this. Set to be released in the US on 11th January, there is no UK release date as of yet.

Pusher

A film that I’m personally looking forward to after managing to speak to the film’s director Luis Prieto about making the film earlier this year, is the American remake of Pusher, which has a new US trailer this week. Originally directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and released in 1996, the film follows a London drug pusher named Frank, played by Richard Coyle (TV’s Coupling), for a full week as his life turns into chaos after a deal goes wrong. The more desperate his behaviour gets, the more isolated he becomes until there is nothing left standing between him and the nine millimetre bullet his debtors intend to put through his skull. The new trailer has a lot more footage to show and with Refn serving as executive producer I think we Prieto will have remade the original pretty well. Also starring British actors Bronson Webb (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Agyness Deyn (Clash of the Titans), Mem Ferda (The Devil’s Double), Paul Kaye (Match Point), Daisy Lewis, and Bill Thomas, the film is set to be released on 12th October.

Smashed

Debuting at Sundance earlier this year, coming away with an award in hand and a substantial level of critical acclaim, and screened at TIFF last week, we have another first trailer for James Ponsoldt’s Smashed. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) as the leading duo, the film follows married couple Kate and Charlie, whose marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter, and getting smashed. When Kate’s partying spirals out of control, something’s got to give. But change isn’t going to be easy when sobriety means having to confront the lies she’s been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie. The new trailer only hints at why the film has been getting so much appraisal, with what looks like a very strong lead for Winstead and her supporting cast. Also starring Octavia Spencer (The Help), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), and Mary Kay Place (Big Love), Smashed will be given a limited release in the US on 12th October but there is still no word yet on a UK release.

Yellow

Premiering at TIFF last week, we have the first trailer for another drug-fuelled film, Yellow. Directed and co-written by Nick Cassavetes (My Sister’s Keeper) with scribe Heather Wahlquist, the film has a great ensemble including Wahlquist, Sienna Miller, Ray Liotta, Lucy Punch, Max Thieriot, Riley Keough, Melanie Griffith, Daveigh Chase and Gena Rowlands. Centring on substitute teacher and mother of four Mary Holmes (Wahlquist), who hallucinates her way through the drudge of everyday life by fantasising about other people and lives, the film looks like a definite improvement on Cassavetes’ previous work. No word on a release date yet though.

The Details

Heading back to last year’s festival scene, debuted at Sundance back in 2011, we have the first trailer for Jacob Aaron Estes’s The Details, which stars Tobey Maguire as a married, philandering man who makes a series of very bad decisions and suffers through the repercussions. The film looks like it has a great cast, also starring Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, and Ray Liotta, and an interesting story to follow, but the new trailer looks very hit and miss so it’s hard to tell. The Details will be available VOD on October 5th followed by a theatrical release in the US on 2nd November, but there’s again no release date for the UK yet.

Parental Guidance

As for comedy this week, the first trailer for Andy Fickman’s Parental Guidance sees Bette Midler and Billy Crystal team up as a pair of grandparents who are tasked with the inconvenience of looking after their grandchildren. With a fairly predictable story line and underwhelming roles for all its cast, the new trailer actually provokes a few laughs, so maybe it won’t be all that bad. Also starring Marisa Tomei as the children’s mother, Parental Guidance is set to be released in the UK on 28th December.

Beautiful Creatures

I’m not sure where this one would come under genres, but Warner Bros. Pictures have released the first trailer for Richard LaGravenese’s adaptation of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s supernatural fantasy romance novel, Beautiful Creatures. The story follows two star-crossed lovers – Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl – who, together, uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town. I was excited to see this when I first heard about the adaptation a couple of years ago now, but the new trailer makes the film seem more like a poltergeist horror than a fantasy romance, so I’m not sure what to think. The film has a great supporting cast though, including Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Mann and Zoey Deutch, so hopefully there will be a more promising trailer before the film’s release on 13th February, 2013.

Sinister

If you want a proper horror though, the new red band trailer for Sinister will do the trick for that. From director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Sinister debuted at SXSW earlier this year to excellent early reviews, and the new trailer certainly looks terrifying. Starring Ethan Hawke (The Woman In The Fifth) in the lead, Sinister is follows a true crime novelist struggling to find his next big story moves his family into a house where the horrific murder of an entire family took place. But after finding a box of home videos in which other families are also brutally murdered, his investigation leads him to a supernatural entity that may be placing his own family in harm’s way. With Derrickson directing from a script he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill, the film also stars Vincent D’Onofrio, James Ransone, Fred Dalton Thompson, Clare Foley, and Juliet Rylance, and is set to be released in the UK on 5th October.

Wreck-It Ralph

A strong contender for this year’s Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, we also have the second trailer for Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. With a voice cast including John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch, the film is directed by Rich Moore and follows game character Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly) who longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix (McBrayer). But nobody loves a Bad Guy, so when a modern, first-person shooter game featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (Lynch) arrives, Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan—win a medal—but soon wrecks everything, and accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade. Set to be released on 15th February, 2013, the new trailer is fantastic and gives us even more to look forward to.

Hit And Run

And finally we have the UK trailer for David Palmer’s action rom-com Hit and Run, which stars the film’s scribe Dax Shepard alongside Bradley Cooper, Kristen Bell and Tom Arnold. Originally titled Outrun, the film follows a former getaway driver Charlie Bronson (Shepard) who jeopardizes his Witness Protection Plan identity in order to help his girlfriend (Bell) get to Los Angeles. The film has now been confirmed to be released on 12th October.