Trailer Watch: October 22, 2010

Belatedly, we find Friday’s update with five new trailers and a new poster for For Colored Girls. The new trailers are for two potential Oscar contenders (Rabbit Hole and Son of Babylon), one documentary (Gerrymandering), one 2011 popcorn thriller (Unknown) and one potential guilty pleasure (Garden of Eden).

RABBIT HOLE

	Plot Summary: Trying to cope after the loss of their son a couple teeters on the edge of collapse. Release Date: December 17, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: B+ Commentary: Not a bad trailer, a bit affected at times and certainly not original, but it conveys just enough to entice the right viewer to the theater.	Rating: None Commentary: I don’t review placeholders.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: There’s already heavy talk about this being an Oscar contender. Nicole Kidman and Dianne Wiest are already in position for possible Oscar nominations and the film could very easily appear in several categories outside of those.

GARDEN OF EDEN

	Plot Summary: An aspiring novelist falls for a flirtatious, sexually liberated woman whose activities threaten then future as a couple. Release Date: December 10, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: B+ Commentary: Cheesy music does not aid the trailer, but the film looks so enticingly ’20s and so unflinchingly Old Hollywood that it might be quite an interesting experience.	Rating: C Commentary: The poster’s a bit of a let down. It’s attempting to be sultry and blandly elicit, but it lacks any spark of imagination.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: There’s been no talk of the film for Oscar consideration, so I wouldn’t expect much, though it does seem lovely to look at.

SON OF BABYLON

	Plot Summary: A boy and his grandmother search for his missing father, thought killed in the Guld War under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. Release Date: TBA
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: B Commentary: For a foreign language film, the choice of images is a good one. The music is a bit overbearing at times, but the grief within the tone is obvious and it sets the drama in the right direction.	Rating: None Commentary: I don’t review placeholders.
	Trailer Link: Yahoo Movies Trailers Oscar Chances: Heavily focused dramas, especially ones with the potential for a hopeful reuniting of families, often goes well with Oscar voters, so this could be a contender. It is Iraq’s official submission to this year’s Oscars.

GERRYMANDERING

	Plot Summary: A documentary examining the heavily political rules of gerrymandering, the ability of state legislatures and governors to re-draw districts in favor of the political party in control. Release Date: October 15, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: B- Commentary: The importance of the documentary is more in why it is being released than it’s actual ability to impact. Since most Americans don’t care about documentaries unless they play into their own personal viewpoints, this isn’t exactly going to ignite a furor. And those in the doc who speak out against gerrymandering, would probably say nothing if it benefited them.	Rating: C+ Commentary: The selection of colors is not necessarily representative of the fight, and most people probably don’t even know what it all means. However, those who do will immediately recognize the purpose and bent of the doc.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

UNKNOWN

	Plot Summary: On vacation in Berlin, a noted physician is involved in an accident that leaves the doctors convinced he has amnesia, but when even his wife (now married to someone else with his name) doesn’t even recognize him, he begins a search to find out what has happened and why he “they” would want to replace him. Release Date: February 18, 2011
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C+ Commentary: Paint by numbers espionage thriller with Liam Neeson whose voice has started grating on my nerves. It could be mildly entertaining, but certainly nothing exceptionally clever.	Rating: B- Commentary: Nice colors and design, but it just doesn’t seem to fit with what’s on the screen. The trailer presents this as an espionage thriller while the poster and other descriptions paint it merely as a common kidnapping thriller. Thriller for sure, but what kind remains confusing.
	Trailer Link: Yahoo Movies Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

FOR COLORED GIRLS, poster #10

	Plot Summary: An ensemble drama adapted from Ntozake Shange’s Obie Award-winning play, a poetic exploration of what is to be of color and a female in this world. Release Date: November 5, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Previous Preview: For Colored Girls	Rating: B Commentary: For those familiar with the stage play, this poster will be a better visual representation of that experience than the individual character posters.
	Trailer Link: See Previous Preview Oscar Chances: See Previous Preview