Trailers Of The Week: ‘Casa de mi Padre,’ ‘Prometheus,’ And More

CASA DE MI PADRE

Muska: I harbor this deep affection for Will Ferrell that translates into me seeing each film he comes out with or even cameos in. This may continue for the rest of my life, even if I’m convinced he will never make something on par with ANCHORMAN or OLD SCHOOL. (I do this same thing with Chuck Klosterman and Chuck Palahniuk. I buy every hardcover they come out with, even if I fear their best work is behind them.) I don’t think this will be as great as either of those, but it will definitely be different, and I really dig when Ferrell steps out of his comfort zone (EVERYTHING MUST GO), as my high school cross country coach would call it. I can see this is probably going to be a pretty ridiculous movie, which is totally in his comfort zone, but I’m impressed he did the entire thing in Spanish. That’s pretty neat.

Fink: Transcending languages with comedy seems to be no problem for Will Ferrell, and I was laughing at the zoom-ins on his face before he even spoke. I also like seeing Gael Garcia Bernal in this, and would recommend everyone to check out Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN. CASA DE MI PADRE came out of left field for me. I didn’t know much about it, and that made it’s impact so much better. It seems like it will be a ton of fun, with a lot of overdramatized soap-opera-ish intense stares and romancing, action, and…bonus Nick Offerman! I’m liking the style of the flick and really hope it brings home the weird. It also seems like a good one to catch in the theatres, which I plan on doing with some amigos.

PROMETHEUS

Fink: Seeing that Ridley Scott going back to his ALIEN roots is enough for me to be invested in this automatically. Despite Scott saying that PROMETHEUS isn’t directly related to the ALIEN franchise, I suspect fans will still have plenty to analyze in the upcoming months before it is released (And I would bet money that we see a facehugger or something of the sort too). All geekery aside, this trailer promises a huge blockbuster to kick off the summer. The cast rules, and I’m especially excited to see Noomi Rapace, Fassbender, and Guy Pearce rocking those glass helmets. The music kills it too. I’ve been getting tired of that booming horn sound in trailers to build suspense, (see: Inception) but this is one gnarly exception with the addition of that terrifying screaming sound. I hate to use the word ‘epic’ because of pop culture running it into the ground, but there is really no other way to describe this trailer.
Sidenote: When I was a kid, I used to fear that women giving birth was something like the chest bursting scene from ALIEN

Muska: My paramount fear is hostile extraterrestrial beings. Or, I guess, any extraterrestrial beings. It’s always been this way. They scare the shit out of me. I am, however, very intrigued by aliens and oftentimes subject myself to shows and movies about them, even though I know it will disrupt my sleep pattern and general feeling of well-being for days, weeks or even months. When I was little, I wanted nothing more than to go see INDEPENDENCE DAY. My Grandma took me to see it, and I don’t think I slept right for months afterward. (Josh, our opinions on that booming horn sound that sounds like what I imagine a Skrillex slow jam would sound like are exactly the same.)

So yeah, I’m going to see this for sure. It looks extremely well done, and freaky as hell. I suffer from some kind of non-sexual masochism, I think.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6zgnWmRrSU

Muska: I’m not seeing this movie. If I do, it’ll just produce a prolonged sensation of what I was feeling while I watched this trailer, which was disgruntlement at how people seem to be behaving when they know the world is going to end in three weeks. Nobody would come into work, cops wouldn’t pull you over, and Keira Knightley would not all of a sudden take an interest in you. The world would be total, utter chaos, and not anything at all like what this movie is going to portray it as.

I’ll spend the two hours I would’ve thrown away watching this movie ruminating on how I would spend my final three weeks on earth while I build my bunker.

Fink: What upsets me most about this trailer is the awesome cast that is doing it. Also, with the exception of Wes Anderson movies I usually tend to hate on characters that A: are charmingly depressed and B: say short quirky lines that would make any normal person laugh with a deadpan face (I’m looking at you, Carell!). I do love Carell and the others a ton, but I won’t see this and therefore won’t love them to death (yes, my wordplay is terrible).

Muska – I’m with you on the bunker idea. And I think it’s generally safe to assume it would be used for a zombie apocalypse before a meteor. Duh.

4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH

Fink: Willem Dafoe is a boss, but for undescribable and mostly bizarre reasons (Just take a look at his IMDB credits or see the genital-filled ANTICHRIST). 4:44 LAST DAY ON EARTH looks like it delivers that in a brutal look at the dawn of the apocalypse, asking how individuals would spend their final moments. For Willem it looks like a lot of frantic sexing of Shanyn Leigh and painting in a studio apartment mixed with gloomy comments and pessimism. Can’t blame the guy for any of that, right? If this is a valentine for human life seen from the brink of extinction, consider it one without the sweetness of a heart shaped lollipop inside. The low budget feel and constriction to just one location (the studio apt) will probably bring this film some really unique and intimate moments, but I’m not sure it’s enough to get me into the theatre to see it. I usually like watching this type of film alone, and liking it for it’s ‘moments’ instead of it’s overall quality.

Muska: I also probably won’t go to the theater to see this, but could envision myself sitting in my living room alone and digesting it while I get really existential about life and stuff. The only problem with that is this movie may not be out on DVD until after the world already ends. I don’t like how much this week’s trailers have made me think about the demise of mankind.

THE HUNGER GAMES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5ANq4sAL0

Fink: I haven’t read the books, and have proactively tried to avoid it’s annoying hype much like I did with the TWILIGHT series. One of my favorite films, BATTLE ROYALE, is about a class of kids selected each year and forced to fight until only one survives…Oh wait… Anyways, one difference that comes to mind is that BATTLE ROYALE was rated R which I will say stands for Realistic. I know I’m probably on the unpopular side for hating on this, but there’s something about hyped up teenage pop-culture that I just can’t stand. The premise is pretty cool, but why sugarcoat something so brutal with themes we’ve seen a thousand times? I expect this film to make tons of money and become pretty popular, but I don’t think I’ll be missing anything fresh by sitting this game out.

Muska: Am I really, really excited to see this? No. Will I see it anyway? Yes. How come? So I have something to talk with girls about. Did I read the book? Two-thirds of it on an audiobook during a long drive. Honestly, I wasn’t very impressed, but I approach any young adult series with a pre-determined disdain because I’m convinced nothing will ever be better than the HARRY POTTER franchise.

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Josh Finkenbinder is a senior Cinema and Digital Arts major at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA. Outside of school and work, Josh loves film, reading, writing, music, and a good beverage. His heroes include Bill Murray and Benjamin Franklin, because he always wondered who would win in a fight. Josh aspires to work in the arts, though he would be quite happy to settle down and open up a snow cone stand, providing there’s plenty of sun. If interested, follow him on Twitter: @jfinkenbinder

Scott Muska is at @scottmuska.

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