The A.V. Club - Coming Distractions

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:07:00 -0600

Everyone knows that Abraham Lincoln was not an expertly trained martial artist who pulled double duty as our sixteenth president and a slayer of the undead, but what Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter asks is, “What if… he was?” Adapted from the monster mash-up novel from Seth Grahame-Smith, the forthcoming film from Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov and producer Tim Burton obviously gets fairly tongue-in-cheek with its alternate U.S. history—the kind the liberal-run schools are too afraid to teach you—but it's not like you’d necessarily know it from this teaser. It’s mostly a dialogue-free procession ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Monumental

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:22:00 -0600

Plenty of documentarians of late have attempted to isolate the nation’s various ills, but almost none of them have provided a proper solution to the fundamental crumbling of basic American values that is threatening to destroy all of its families, apparently. So in troubled times such as these that we are ostensibly having, now more than ever do we need someone like Kirk Cameron—who, as a father of six, is thus invested six times over in saving the country for his kids, much as he has previously saved the world from the Antichrist and addictions to Internet pornography ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:56:00 -0600

Much like writer-director Lorene Scafaria’s previous film, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World concerns an unexpected romance blossoming between two strangers while on an impromptu road trip. Unlike Nick And Norah, that road trip is spurred by an Earth-destroying asteroid, which sets off an apocalyptic frenzy of orgiastic free-for-alls and Casual Friday wear on regular weekdays. And in this preview, at least, Steve Carell approaches these end times in much the same way he’s reacted to nearly every indignity his movie characters suffer—with detached, affable resignation—but he ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Bourne Legacy

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:58:00 -0600

Skeptics may have wondered whether it’s wise—or logically sound—to make a Bourne movie without, you know, a Bourne. So right up front, this trailer for the first Bourne-less Bourne movie addresses those concerns: “Jason Bourne was just the tip of the iceberg.” So, that’s all settled then. The spinoff directed by franchise writer Tony Gilroy looks past its Matt Damon surface to the hard, frozen chunks of Jeremy Renner beneath, as the latter assumes the mantle of the series by surrendering his own identity to the mysterious “program,” which mostly involves breaking people’s limbs and ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Amazing Spider-Man

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:34:00 -0600

Burdened with justifying its existence so soon after Sam Raimi’s trilogy—and amid general superhero and “reboot” fatigue—last summer’s advance teaser for The Amazing Spider-Man didn’t offer much in the way of arguing for the film’s existence, focusing primarily on an origin story so familiar it could have been dealt with on flashcards, and giving over nearly half its running time to a goofy CGI sequence straight out of a first-person shooter. And granted, this new, extended trailer arrives in a year more saturated with superheroes and reboots than ever, but at least it goes ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Avengers

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:02:00 -0600

Among the many apocalyptic visions glimpsed during last night’s Super Bowl—that ad suggesting you could ride out the end times in your Chevy, M.I.A. single-fingeredly destroying any hope Madonna had for engendering world peace, Bill Belichick’s face—only one offered a glimmer of hope for our future, in the form of heroes we could believe in. That hero: Clint Eastwood, who heroically urged America to suck it up and stop whining already. But also The Avengers, the new extended trailer for which features the equally stirring sights and sounds of sassy Robert Downey Jr. dialogue ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Eastbound And Down Season Three

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:22:00 -0600

The third season of HBO’s Eastbound And Down finds Kenny Powers a committed family man, making a sincere go of climbing his way back into the majors out in Myrtle Beach, and connecting with a new teammate played by Jason Sudeikis, who shares Kenny's passions for high-fiving and obscene hand gestures. But the more things change, the more things stay the same: Danny McBride’s Powers is still the Alfred Lord Tennyson of testicle-related poetry. Steve Little’s Stevie is still convinced that he’s Kenny’s best friend (and by the looks of things, pretty jealous of ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: God Bless America

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:59:00 -0600

Bobcat Goldthwait’s films to date have edged closer and closer to the sort of nihilistic satire and empty shock value practiced by Uwe Boll and Troma—albeit tempered with a sweeter undercurrent of goofiness—and it looks as though his latest may finally be the one to push him over the proverbial top. It’s the story of a man (Joel Murray) who becomes fed up with the increasingly vapid, spoiled, and selfish subsects of American society, particularly of the kind who have flourished across reality TV. So he embarks on a cross-country killing spree with a young girl ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Game Of Thrones Season Two

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:45:00 -0600

The April 1 premiere of Game Of Thrones’ second season draws ever closer, which means it’s time to check in on George R.R. Martin’s Strategically Getalong Gang to see what they’ve been up to since last year’s finale. Which is, according to this recently debuted trailer: having sword fights, carrying torches, sitting despondently in dungeons, staring pensively across desolate landscapes, engaging in profound, metaphor-laden dialogues about power—you know, the usual. Also, Peter Dinklage still has a killer smirk and that kid who plays King Joffrey still has an eminently punchable face. There are a ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Walking Dead Midseason Premiere

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:45:00 -0600

While Variety and Frank Darabont may have already spoiled the rest of The Walking Dead’s second season for you, time continues to creep in its petty pace, aching to be filled, so you may as well fill it with zombies getting smashed up real good. Besides, Robert Kirkman just promised in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly that the season's back half will see things “move at a pretty quick pace”—which hopefully means more zombies smashed up real good, and less monologues about the shifting nature of morality in an increasingly inhumane world, as though the apocalypse ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Moonrise Kingdom

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:43:00 -0600

While the credits at this trailer’s end spell out that Moonrise Kingdom represents Wes Anderson’s return to live-action filmmaking, it’s a bit redundant. After all, there’s no mistaking it, as pretty much every one of Anderson’s hallmarks are, comfortingly, present and accounted for: the saturated primary colors; a meticulously centered composition that makes even the great outdoors look like a giant diorama; perfectly chosen ’60s pop strains (though they’re more appropriate than ever here, considering the film’s 1965 setting); characters whose dialogue is delivered with such casual understatement, it’s like they exist ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Friends With Kids

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:56:00 -0600

While a Bridesmaids sequel remains an open question (albeit one easily answered by time and money), Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends With Kids seems most primed to capitalize on its lingering goodwill. It reunites that film’s Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph, and Chris O’Dowd as two married couples who circle skeptically around a pair of platonic friends—played by Adam Scott and Westfeldt herself—as they embark upon having a baby together completely platonically, thus avoiding any potential complications that could give rise to, say, a charmingly neurotic romantic comedy. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens! Westfeldt has ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The 84th Academy Awards

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:46:00 -0600

Hoping to prove that, just because it won’t have Eddie Murphy and Brett Ratner taking the Oscars back to its scrappy origins on the streets doesn’t mean they aren’t still with it, the Academy Awards hired Funny Or Die to produce this year’s trailer, and hopefully create some of that viral-buzz-tumbler-meme-Tweeter action that the kids like. Other things they like: Transformers and its stars Josh Duhamel and Megan Fox, seeing character actors who weren’t busy that day William Fichtner and Vinnie Jones, Robin Williams pretending to be a foreign guy, and finally, Billy Crystal making ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Game Change

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:17:00 -0600

This first teaser for HBO’s original movie Game Change is precisely that, a tease, spending the bulk of its 52 seconds focused on Woody Harrelson as advisor Steve Schmidt as he delivers his blunt assessment of the foundering presidential campaign of John McCain. And while Ed Harris’ McCain gets one line of dialogue and a few choice shots to confirm that Harris has mastered the Senator’s dyspeptic, “is it over yet?” weariness, most of the preview is all about the half-glimpsed silhouettes of a famous, severe up-do and platform heels clacking their way into history. Then, finally, the ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:22:00 -0600

Waylaid by destruction and divisive war, and even his own weary body revolting against him, one small, furry creature never lost sight of his quest, certain that at the end he would claim a vast fortune. And so it was that Peter Jackson did release this trailer for next year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as a testament to his adventure, which should make a ton of money and briefly bring peace to the Internet-land. Given the endless casting and development announcements over the past year and more, this really needs no introduction—particularly as it plays as such ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Wrath Of The Titans

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:22:00 -0600

The 2009 trailer for Clash Of The Titans and its instant meme-generating “Release the Kraken!” tagline has arguably outlasted the mostly forgettable movie they were attached to, living on in CafePress T-shirts long after most people remembered what a Kraken was or why someone should release it. The trailer for its sequel takes no chances on that happening again: It’s a deathly serious affair, mostly eschewing dialogue, concentrating almost entirely on wowing with effects shots and screaming, pissed-off monsters, and its sole frivolous allowance being the demigod Perseus’ fluffy new demi-mullet. In fact, in case you forget how serious ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:20:00 -0600

Like children peeling back the wrapped corners of their Christmas presents, the Internet was left home alone and went sort of crazy over the weekend, peeking at all the Dark Knight Rises stuff they could find. We’re not going to share with you the leaked script pages, or the blurry camera phone version of that six-minute prologue—not when Christopher Nolan and the Warner Bros. marketing elves worked so hard to put a pretty bow on them for you, and not when they’re working doubly hard today to yank all the copies away. But you’re going to ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: Jack The Giant Killer

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:08:00 -0600

Next year will see many of those Alice In Wonderland’s money-inspired, dark fairy-tale reimaginings we’ve been hearing so much about arrive one after the other (and in the case of the two Snow White movies, one in the looming shadow of the other). And so here’s another one, this time a mash-up of the Jack And The Beanstalk legend with the slightly gorier Jack The Giant Killer fairy tale, laced with 3-D things in your face and plenty of saturated grime. As the preview notes, X-Men director Bryan Singer is behind the camera (reuniting with his Usual ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: The Expendables 2

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:37:00 -0600

Acknowledging its existence as the action movie equivalent of a fantasy football league or YouTube mash-up, this teaser trailer for The Expendables 2 does little more than trot out all the last-name-only badasses of yesterday and today (plus Liam Hemsworth), all calculated to make your inner 15-year-old boy totally stoked. And if you want a coherent plot, you’ll have to wait—possibly forever—until Stallone and company get done posing with their guns and walking away from things in slow motion. But let’s be honest here: That's sort of the point. This is, after all, a movie ...

Coming Distractions: Trailer: 30 Rock Season 6

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:04:00 -0600

Look, we know. Nothing will ever take the place of Community on NBC’s Thursday night. But the truth is, something literally will take the place of Community on January 12, and that thing is the returning 30 Rock—a show that now has the unfortunate burden of filling Community’s time slot and becoming a lightning rod for its fans’ ill will. But please, let’s not make 30 Rock the enemy here: 30 Rock didn’t push Community out into the void of indeterminate hiatus (technically, Up All Night did—but let’s not blame it either). And ...