Features
Cinephile goodness in the form of insightful editorials and entertaining, analytical features from the CinemaNerdz writers.
Trailer Trashin’: We’re Heading Back to Middle-Earth in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
My dear readers, this is a day I’ve been eagerly awaiting. At long last, I get to write about what is one of my most anticipated films of 2012. On this week’s Trailer Trashin’, it is time for me to look with adoring eyes on the second trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first part of the three-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s first Middle-Earth book. Premi...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Get in the Game with Wreck-It Ralph
With the cooler fall weather comes the beginning of the long wait for the big year-end movies. But in the meantime, there are still plenty of cool trailers being released. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ looks at Disney’s upcoming animated film Wreck-It Ralph. Premise: Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) is the villain of the arcade video game Fix-It Felix Jr., in which the gam...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Sci-Fi Meets the Surreal in Cloud Atlas
Another week brings another new trailer to dissect and analyze. In this week’s column, I turn my cold, bespectacled gaze onto the second trailer for the upcoming sci-fi/drama epic Cloud Atlas. Premise: An epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present, and future, as one soul is shaped from a murderer into a savior, ...[Read More]
Retro Trailer Trashin’: The Baddest Man Alive is Named Black Dynamite!
With the end of the summer movie season, I’ve decided it’s time to debut Retro Trailer Trashin’, which I hope will become a recurring occasional supplement to the main Trailer Trashin’ column. In these columns, I’ll be taking a look at the trailer for an older movie, and give my in-hindsight take on how successful that trailer was in selling the movie. To kick this ne...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Blood and Blades Go Flying in The Man with the Iron Fists
With the end of August, the summer movie season finally ends with the last handful of releases. Of course, ridiculous B-movies are in no way restricted to the summer months, and the subject’s of today’s column is proof of that. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ looks at the second trailer for the blood-soaked, hip hop-infused martial arts extravaganza The Man with the Iron Fists...[Read More]
Ten Actors Who Should Be In The Expendables 3
As a product of the 1980s and 1990s, I grew up on a steady diet of cheesy action movies. Plot didn’t matter. I just wanted big explosions and awesome fight scenes (thankfully, my cinematic palate has matured since those days of adolescence), so I became very familiar with the action heroes of yesteryear. That’s why a movie like The Expendables intrigued me so much when I first heard about it. Let’...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Murder and Mirth Come Together in Seven Psychopaths
There’s only about two weeks left in August, the 2012 summer movie season is almost over, and soon we’ll be in the prestige seasons of fall and winter. This week on Trailer Trashin’, I’m taking a look at the first trailer for the upcoming black comedy Seven Psychopaths. Premise: Marty (Colin Farrell) is a struggling writer who dreams of finishing his screenplay, “Seven Psyc...[Read More]
Cinema Revisited: The Brave New World of Gattaca
We have always been stargazers. We look into the night sky and wonder what is out there and if future generations will travel to far away worlds. And we wonder what kind of world we will see in our lifetime and what kind of world our children and their children will inhabit. We have romanticized about and expressed our hopes for the future in literature, art, and film. From Fritz Lang’s Metropolis...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Clint Eastwood is Back in Trouble with the Curve
Sports movies have been a staple of Hollywood for a long time, all the way back to the silent era. And considering that the 2012 Summer Olympics just wrapped up, it is appropriate that this week marks the first time a sports film has been covered by Trailer Trashin’ – the upcoming Clint Eastwood baseball drama Trouble with the Curve. Premise: An aging Atlanta Braves baseball scout named Gus ...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Suspense, Style, and Smarts Come Together in Skyfall
We’ve reached August, and the summer movie season is starting to wind down, with only a handful of notable releases left. But even if there aren’t as many movies, there are still some great trailers coming out. This week marks the first time in this column’s history that I’m revisiting a movie I’ve already covered, because there’s a new trailer out for the next ...[Read More]
Fearing the Dark: The Horror Films of Val Lewton
In 2005 Turner Home Entertainment released a box set of nine films from producer Val Lewton. Producers don’t usually get singled out for their influence on films and no other producer has had his work packaged in a box set. That all the films in this collection were made as “B” horror pictures is a remarkable testament to what can be done when the right person has a vision that can be put onto fil...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Superman Comes Back to Theaters in Man of Steel
If you went to see The Dark Knight Rises – and considering that it’s already made over $530 million worldwide, many of you probably have – you probably got a look at the next DC Comics movie coming our way. It’s the one superhero who sports a bigger name than Batman. The Man of Tomorrow, the Last Son of Krypton, the Big Blue Boy Scout: Superman! And we’ve got not one, but two ver...[Read More]