Interview

Peter Jackson fans are gushing over the few fantastical images on display in the trailer for the Aussie director's upcoming adaptation of The Lovely Bones. But for devotees of Alice Sebold's beloved novel about a teenage girl narrating her own murder mystery from beyond the grave, something doesn't look quite right in Jackson's vision, which recalls the director's own 1994 drama Heavenly Creatures. Given the dark, stunning take on girlhood imagination in the former film, one might think Jackson suitable for taking on Bones. But a lot has happened in 15 years, mostly a little film franchise called Lord of the Rings.

Movie adaptations of books are famously disappointing to readers, and The Lovely Bones is unlikely to be one of the rare exceptions. Jackson's candy-colored vision of the Susie Salmon's heaven looks too cartoonish, defined more by CGI special effects than a young girl's dreamscape. The casting also feels off: Mark Wahlberg's grieving dad with '70s shaggy hairdo looks all depressed when he should be furious; Stanley Tucci, who plays the young girl's killer, is a caricature of a pedophile—more Gollum than genuinley creepy.

A trailer doesn't give the whole story, and the film could turn out to be as powerful and haunting as the novel. But one can't help but wonder what might have been had Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (Ratcatcher, Movern Callar), who was originally slated to direct, had not been taken off the project. Her aesthetic–more subtle and dreamy than Jackson's–seemed like a more promising fit.

MORE »

It's rare to find a movie trailer that stands alone as a work of ingenious filmmaking, but the new spot for the Coen Brother's latest mordant comedy, A Serious Man, is just that. Set in 1967, the film chronicles the exploits of Tony-nominated actor Michael Stuhlbarg's Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a Midwestern university facing the prospects of tenure loss and divorce. The trailer, a brilliant example of clever sound design and cutting, opens with the repeated sound of Larry's head being smashed against a wall; the continuous thumping forms the rhythm of the entire 1-minute, 40 second clip. Nearly every subsequent shot–some also repeated–adds another sound to the increasingly layered portrait of helplessness, as we see glimpses of Stuhlbarg's character encounter further instances of bad luck: The cough of an old secretary; the gasp of an unhelpful rabbi; the crash of a rear-end car collision; and so on. It recalls the famous rhythmic sequence from the 1991 French film Delicatessen, but with a more biting humor.

MORE »

In the U.K., public service announcements are getting a bit more lively than "Just Say No." The Metropolitan Police Service and leading visual effects company The Mill have joined forces for an innovative choose-your-own-adventure-style online PSA called "A Different Ending." In this  departure from the usual Youtube fare, the Mill studio provides 23 seamlessly cut versions of a story based on viewers' choices, such as whether to pick up a knife, enter a fight and stab a rival in the chest (or not!) all shot from the point of view of the protagonist.

Those accustomed to first-person shooter games may not appreciate the project's moralistic conclusions, but "A Different Ending" is entertaining enough to draw in viewers and get its message across: "Picking up a gun or a knife always makes a situation worse, never better." If that sounds no better than your average PSA, take the video trip. Choosing to pick up a knife inevitabley leads to a final chapter featuring a dejected mother bearing a look of utter disappointment. It's enough to make even the most hardened young gangsta think twice about committing violence.

MORE »

Those who remember seeing Tron, Disney's landmark computer-set adventure, on the big screen 27 years ago almost certainly remember those awesome two-wheeled light cycles. In the reboot, Tron Legacy, due out from Disney in 2011, the light cycles are back, but with a modern update so impressive that it's hard to believe we were once astonished by the computer effects of the 80's.

As in the original, the new teaser trailer released at Comic-Con is filled with motorbikes, their motion creating a backdrop of light as they trap rival players. All minimalist streaks of curving luminescent waves, the clip offers a dazzling two-minute digital lightshow.

MORE »