'Enter the Void' Plans on Giving Acid Trip without Health Costs

            Fans of shock cinema can start getting excited today as IFC Films released the trailer for Gasper Noe’s latest, Enter the Void. The film, which originally played in Cannes 2009 (though has been edited slightly since then), is a highly ambitious film in the cinematic front, and wildly ethereal. The film follows a boy named Oscar for forty minutes, all shot from his point of view (including a drug hallucination) until he is shot during a drug deal gone wrong in Tokyo. But then we follow his soul, traversing through buildings and memories, friends and enemies, and what culminates to be a little violence and a lot of gratuitous sex.

            Having seen the final cut, I don’t want to give a full review here, though I will say that the cinematic achievement can’t really match the thematic grounding for the film. Noe is always pushing boundaries—many cannot forget the nine minute rape sequence in Irreversible—and this film certainly asks a lot from its viewers, and some will find it rewarding, while others will dismiss the film. If you are looking for something trippy though, Noe will certainly put you in good company.

            Judge for yourself below, as well as the film’s extremely intense and ridiculous credit sequence:

New York Film Festival Gives Into Hollywood: 'The Social Network' Chosen as Opening Night Selection

            Perhaps taking to some of the criticism it received last year, the New York Film Festival announced its opening night selection today, promising a big Hollywood-like premiere. This year’s New York Film Festival will begin with none other than David Fincher’s The Social Network. The film, written by Aaron Sorkin, stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and the trials and tribulations to get the website started, including the lawsuit from his former friends (played by pop singer Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield, who will be taking over duties in the new Spider-Man film). The choice of Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) is certainly a curious one, but might be a strange gamble that works out for an excellent film. The Film Society also get its hands on a new trailer, which you can see above.

            The film is a swift turn from last year—besides Willem Dafoe (Antichrist) and Penelope Cruz (Broken Embraces), few big names came out for the show last year, and not a single Hollywood film was on hand. A number of critics and fans blasted the Film Society for the selection, and ticket sales were thus subsequently down. With an extremely lackluster Cannes Film Festival this year, one can bet Richard Pena and the rest of the selection committee (which now includes Todd McCarthy) will be turning their eyes toward some of the bigger American releases of the year. The big question remains though: Will they get a chance to screen Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life?

Trailer for Let Me In Could Be Worth Entering

            Since the project was announced in early 2009, a good amount of derision has come toward the American remake of the Swedish runaway hit Let the Right One In. The film, directed by Tomas Alfredson, was a vampire film with Bergmanesque emotion and simple static cinematography explored loneliness and adolescence in a way few horror films could close to doing. The last thing the film need was an American remake.

            However, with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves leading the project, the trailer for Let Me In looks surprisingly fine. It might look a little too intense and unreserved, but that may just be the action packed teaser trailer that has been released. Some of the shots though, look quite interesting and unique, and the film’s cast is one to boot: Kodi-Smitt McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Mortez (Kick Ass) star, while they are supported by Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas. The two child actors have proved themselves more than worthy in their recent works, and seem quite appropriate for the roles.

            However, some reservations are probably in order, because one can’t expect too much Bergman and probably very little silence in an American horror film. We’ll see come October.

Final Harry Potter Teaser Released; World Explodes With Glee

              Have you seen the new Harry Potter trailer? It cures cancer! It will bring peace to the Middle East! It’s in every way shape or form the greatest trailer to ever be created in the history of advertising. Well, that all might be a bit of a stretch, but the first teaser for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, which will be the final chapter in what will be a ten year old saga of eight films, finally coming to an end. As noted in the trailer, the film has been split into two parts, one released this November and one coming in the summer. This allows fan boys and girls to complain less when their favorite scenes are cut, but more importantly for Warner Bros, it means twice the money.

            That being said, the trailer looks surprisingly fantastic—David Yates, who directed the last two films with a photorealistic drowned out colored look, will be helming both parts, while screenwriter Steve Kloves once again is at the typewriter. The one sad omission though is cinematography Bruno Delbonnel, who did a fantastic job on the last installment. In his place though, is Eduardo Serra, who did a good job on both Defiance and Blood Diamond for Edward Zwick. Anyways, the trailer below makes sure that you are aware that this is the most epic thing since the man invented fire, and if you don’t see it, you are a generally terrible person. Judge for yourself below, but they might be right. 

Get the Raid: 'Green Hornet' Trailer Debuts

            When a gang of 88 crazed soldiers working for O-Ren Ishi in Kill Bill: Volume I showed up wearing Kato masks: Bruce Lee fanboys only thought one thing—a Green Hornet film would be awesome. And soon enough, production began on a Green Hornet movie, working with a script from none other than Superbad scribes Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen. While the production went though a number of changes—Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow was originally set to direct and play the Hornet’s sidekick Kato—the line up of cast and crew was certainly formidable: Rogen in the lead, Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou as Kato, Inglourious Basterds phenomenon Christoph Waltz as the villain, and none other than Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) in the directing chair.

            Well, despite all the amazing talent both in front and behind the camera, the first teaser trailer, released today, shows off none of that talent. The trailer might become the new definition of generic. Nothing in this trailer is necessarily bad (Chou seems pretty amusing), but there’s nothing to separate Hornet from other superhero films being released. Gondry’s magical touch seems to be void from this project (was he really that in need of a paycheck after Be Kind Rewind?).

            The January release date and promotion of 3D don’t seem to bode well for the picture, which right now just looks like a bad combination of Spider-Man and Batman. Judge for yourself below.

'Never Let Me Go' Trailer Proves Adaptation Business Might Not Be Morally Bankrupt

This week, Focus Features posted the trailer for Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro, and they seem to have done a pretty good job. The trailer could come close to giving everything away, but it may have been my strong impressions from reading the novel and seeing all of the crucial scenes, even out of context. For those who know the book, the real question will be if the film follows the tradition of the novel of never truly revealing the truth of the world, but slowly revealing it through accidental bits of dialogue and narration (the wrist-buttons shown in the trailer I think might be too much, and discredit one of my interpretations of the novel). 

Too many trailers these days give away everything (except Chris Nolan’s wondrous looking Inception), so its nice to see something like this trailer, which highlights the strange visual world that Romanek (best known for One Hour Photo, which is good in parts) has created. Also, excellent cast—Carey Mulligan, Kiera Knightly, Sally Hawkins, and my actor to watch, Andrew Garfield, who dazzled me in Red Riding: 1974.

Anyways, the trailer is embedded below. Enjoy!