Written/Media by Austin Schumacher and Jake Cannon
Welcome to Trailer Trash!!, a new program being implemented to the new and improved Papyrus Entertainment section (we only say new and improved now because we are bringing something new). Trailer Trash is a place where I (Austin Schumacher) and that other guy (Jake Cannon) will be bringing you some of the latest releases in movie trailers and revealing our thoughts about them. This weeks entries include Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Oblivion, Iron Man 3, and Much Ado About Nothing. So hang on for the ride as we take you down the dark winding paths of our minds and opinions about movies…..well, not really, but sometimes there is a tidbit or two that is rather interesting. Anyways, enjoy!!
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
by Jake Cannon
If you have ever seen the first Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, it was a hit and miss with audience members. Those who read the novel hated it and those who hadn’t at least liked it. I am in second category and I loved the first film. It was clever and the humor really emphasized word-play and puns. The second movie appears to be no different with one exception: This is drowning in puns. Austin described it as Candyland with outrageous puns. I agreed with him and called it a Journey to the Center of the Earth with food. We both agreed that the trailer showed the film would rely heavily on wordplay and puns (which is what the first film did). It was a bit of a stretch to continue on with the story since there is no second novel. But nonetheless, if they have decent writers it could be just as great as the first film.
Oblivion
by Austin Schumacher
For starters, we should probably mention that this is the third trailer released for this movie. Even from the first trailer, this movie intrigued me. With a lot of films being released centered around post-apocalyptic Earth, Oblivion seems like an interesting storyline with some decent juxtaposition, and this trailer certainly plays on that. This third trailer gives a little more exposition concerning the character played by Tom Cruise. In fact, it does not appear to be sci-fi at all until several seconds into the trailer. This addition is something that I personally hope they will expand on in the movie to bring some additional juxtaposition between the familiar and the future (something they seem to be focusing on with Cruise’s Yankee baseball cap). Jake pointed out that it also holds potential for a lot of predictability. Bringing in the underground people seems to reveal the plot twist that the they started the war. Of course, being a sci-fi film, we also predict that a main character is going to die. However, Oblivion certainly shows a lot of potential for being a solid flick. Who knows, perhaps (as Jake suspects) they’ll throw in an unexpected twist…..maybe Tom Cruise is a droid. *gasp*
Iron Man 3
by Jake Cannon
As with all superhero movies, this one is sure to generate a lot of buzz. Iron Man 3 will be the latest in the Marvel film series that is running off the high of The Avengers, so expectations will be high. After viewing the second trailer, I couldn’t help but think that it forgot it wasn’t The Dark Knight. Iron Man 3 seems to be a fusion of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises with the snark of Tony Stark. That being said, Austin and I agreed they are taking a darker angle which was a severe 180 turnaround from the first film. Predictability will play a huge part in this film. What do I mean by that? Every superhero story has the same story line. Good guy vs terrorist/bad guy, good guy gets in trouble but inevitably overcomes, and roll credits. What will Iron Man 3 do to make this unique?
Producer Kevin Feige told ScreenRant.com that this film will focus more on Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s lover. That would give the writers opportunities to put both Stark and Potts in more danger since we’ve known them for three films. From the trailer it seems Stark has a robot army. I hope they’re not making Iron Man 3 big to make up for a lack of plot depth. If they do, will it be enough? We hope so. With a new director it should be interesting to see what direction they take the Iron Man series.
Prediction: I think Guy Pearce will be a bad guy.
Much Ado About Nothing
by Austin Schumacher
OH MY GOSH!! THIS IS HAPPENING!! Sorry, just had to have a small geek-out moment there. Having become a fairly recent fan of Joss Whedon, I am personally very excited about this movie, and I believe that my fellow Whedonites share my enthusiasm. Finally, we have a movie where all of the actors from our favorite Whedon series show up to have a party. Literally. Still, from the man who brought us Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Avengers, this movie also shows a lot of promise for those who are not quite as familiar with his work. For starters, I’d like to take a minute to discuss how this movie was made: shot over a couple of weeks at Joss Whedon’s vacation home with some of his close friends, this film was created during breaks from The Avengers and contrasts the style very strongly. Much Ado About Nothing helps to show Whedon’s skill outside of a large-scale production like Avengers.
This time, Whedon instead seems to travel back in time to bring us a black and white film that is trailered like a movie set in 1920 and based on William Shakespeare’s famous play. In fact, other than the fact that it is B&W, one of the first things that one notices in this trailer is the Shakespearean language. Though perhaps a little modernized, Whedon seems to stick fairly close to the script, which, concerning a modern audience, could be quite interesting. All in all, this film looks like it has the potential to be amazing, but not in a huge spectacle kind of way (ie. Avengers). William Shakepeare and Joss Whedon are both masters of characters and storytelling, and that is what will be most impressive about Much Ado About Nothing. As a side note, however, I would like to comment that the film is being done by Lionsgate Films in tandem with Joss Whedon, so my first question is…..who’s going to die?
