by Verena Kyratzes

Super 8

The teaser trailer for the much-anticipated new offering by J.J. Abrams of Cloverfield and Star Trek fame. I didn’t like either movie and can already tell you that because of that Super 8 is going to have a hard time winning me over. The fact that Steven Spielberg is producing is only a small consolation. The teaser itself looks decent and is saying as little as any teaser I’ve ever seen. One can assume that the final product will look good, preferably without Cloverfield‘s shakycam style, and will have a lot of big booms. I’ll reserve my final judgement until I’ve seen a proper trailer, or even better, until we’ve seen the movie.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

The budget for this one went up by another 15 million in comparison to the second movie, so at least we can expect that it will look good. That’s about it though. The trailer doesn’t have any of the really cheesy lines, watch the teaser for that, or any of the wooden acting (see the clip which is also up on apple.com), but one can already guess that only diehard Twilight fans will watch this for the dialogue. Okay, who am I kidding, they’ll watch it because Robert Pattinson gets his shirt off. I for one have recently read all four books for the sake of science and can tell you: the story ain’t getting any better.

Splice

We’ve already seen this one, so all I’m going to say is that this movie is bloody excellent. The work of Vincenzo Natali tends to be superb and Splice isn’t an exception to that rule. Watch the trailer if you must, that’s why it’s up here, but please bear in mind that this movie isn’t about evil genetics. Sometimes trailers do more bad than good, this might just be one of these cases. Oh… and read Jonas’s review.

Jonah Hex

This one seems to look good. Too good to be true, maybe. But to be honest I don’t have much in the way of facts to base my mistrust on. I’m certain that Megan Fox is technically able to act. And just because some people whose taste I trust  – if trust is defined as “I think it is safe to watch the exact opposite of what they recommend” -  say that this movie will be good, that doesn’t mean that it will be horrible. And as I said, it looks good. The visuals are nice, the dialogue witty, the action actiony. Marco Beltrami is responsible for the score and one can hope that this very talented composer will finally do something right again. I for one am looking forward to Jonah Hex.

Inception

I don’t know how I managed not to hear of this movie, but somehow the trailer came as a complete surprise to me when I saw it the other day. That having been said: Christopher Nolan is a very talented director, especially in terms of visuals, and Inception looks beautiful. We loved both Memento and The Prestige and although we are slightly less enthusiastic about the new, extra-gritty Batman movies, I still think Nolan deserves our trust. Also, this movie is stuffed to the brim with brilliant actors from Michael Caine to Ellen Page to Cillian Murphy. And also Leonardo DiCaprio, who really doesn’t deserve all the bad press he’s still getting over a thirteen-year-old movie about a sinking canoe. For me this is definitely the gem in this collection.

Winter’s Bone

Another one that I hadn’t heard of before, but in this case I think that may be forgiven. Winter’s Bone is a small production by a director that hasn’t done a feature film before and with a largely unknown cast. But it has won the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film at Sundance and if the trailer is anything to go by Winter’s Bone deserved it. I see beautiful images and good writing, played by a talented cast. I hope this one does well.

Ondine

This one also came out of the blue, in this case in more than one way. The story of a fisherman who nets himself a mermaid has been told a thousand times in a dozen different genres and with widely varying amounts of success. Personally, I love the basic story concept and I yearn for a good Colin Farrell movie. Okay, yearn may be too strong a word, but I think he is a capable actor. All in all this looks like a very solid, well-told drama/romance type movie, one which I’m looking forward to.

Nowhere Boy

I’m not much for the Beatles. Before you cry heresy let me say: I’m also not much against them. I love their music and think that they are/were remarkable people who were in many respects ahead of their time, but since I am by default very far ahead of their time as well, I never got into them. That having been said I’d like to add that this movie looks rather nice. Aaron Johnson could resemble Lennon a little more and his filmography could be more impressive, but his performance in the trailer seems solid. Thomas Sangster looks like a little angel (people who know me will see this as the compliment that it is – I don’t like children) and I’ve seen enough of his previous movies to know that he can really act. The move is the feature film debut of Sam Taylor-Wood, a British conceptual artist and photographer, and I think one can see that she knows what to do with a camera. I’m not sure if I want to see this one (no interest in Beatles yadda yadda yadda) but it certainly looks nice.

Secretariat

Okay. Where to start. Disney = bad, just look at The Princess and the Frog and you’ll know why. Horses = good, I’m a girl after all. Secretariat = a movie whose creators thought that Seabiscuit must have made a nice lump of money. They’re right, of course, but I still need to be convinced that this is a good idea. I think I need to explain a little: I’ve got a bit of a pet fixation and, how shall I put this, the trailer for Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties touched me more than this. Seriously. And just because Chris Cooper’s Tom Smith was eccentric you don’t need to put John Malkovich in pink plaid, as alluring as the thought might seem. So there. Still looking forward to seeing Dylan Baker though.