New Feature - Trailer Review

Other than doing written-up movie reviews and the now very rarely occasional television and video game review, I wanted to further spread some of my vile and amazement to some other type of medium. So, I decided to now do the easy blogging method of reviewing movie trailers and make snarky comments.


Honestly, this idea is so played out on many other boring internet shows and websites that it feels absolutely belittling for me to do it. However, I do really want to this on a truly personal level. I have always loved trailers, whether at the cinema or before watching a VHS movie. I like the juxtaposition of frames, use of music not including in the actual film, the clever and/or maddening use of hiding the film's shortcomings, and the ability to essentially create a visually masterful image in your mind which in turn causes you to go and find the film or wait till it hit theaters. Taking some recent examples, the shot of a superhero having flame-throwing urine (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) or showing the White House, a popular stable, roll out the flags of a terrorist organization (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) certainly took me by the throat.


With the advent and popularity of itunes Movie Trailers and YouTube, I should have been overjoyed with the ability to witness more and more. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. I feel that with the increase of internet buzz and quick online judgments and comments, the movie studios have lost sight on the once skillful tool of crafting and presenting a quality movie trailer, regardless of the true quality of the film itself. They bombard traffickers with banner ads on YouTube, links and videos to behind the scenes footage, all without first presenting a simple but effective draw for attention.


It is now very slowly being a lost art form to make a trailer, especially with rampant home editing programs and the cavalcade of IP and superhero fans who constantly pin point and break down every frame to muster up a new whine against a new film. I don't believe it will every die but the overall mediocrity in the field is not helping matters.


For this feature, I will personally review the trailer upon several merits:


Person of Interest: Does it push a major star or some blank name with a producing credit to a better film? Is there someone in the background of shots that sells quality to me?
Scene Pop: The main thing and draw you will walk away with from the trailer, if any.
Briggs Breakdown: In tribute to one of best movie reviewers, Joe Bob Briggs, this tongue-in-cheek section details in the language of Briggs what ultimately matters to the attention of the viewer: violence, odd forms of kung-fu, and anything sexual.
Effective?: Objectively deciding whether the trailer as a whole did its job regardless of my personal opinion.
Check it Out?: This is largely for my own volition, judging whether the trailer made the film in question be a day one purchase at the box office for myself to a long wait for video to absolute nil.


And wouldn't you know it, a trailer for the new Spider-Man just came out. What a coincidence.