We have several new trailers today (11). Brutal Beauty, Carnies, The Dilemma, Due Date (#2), Legacy, Nora’s Will, Picture Me, Red Hill, The Roommate, Today’s Special, and Wake Up plus a poster for Paranormal Activity 2. (The previews are out of order, but should be in order of quality. I will hopefully update this at some point, but with no new data.)

RED HILL

	Plot Summary: Trying to get away to a place where nothing happens, a gun-shy deputy finds himself in a fight for his life against a revenge-seeking escaped convict. Release Date: November 5, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: B Commentary: It has every earmark of a horror film blended with every earmark of a psychological thriller. It could be good and this trailer should do wonders for its box office prospects.	Rating: C- Commentary: Where the trailer succeeds, the poster fails. The poster is unoriginal, inexpressive and lacking any notable excellence.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

CARNIES

	Plot Summary: A horror film set behind the scenes at the carnival. Release Date: September 18, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: F Commentary: That this poorly shot, weakly executed film merits a trailer is a bit surprising. This looks like an amateur horror film shot on a budget of $40.	Rating: C Commentary: It’s not an entire loss. The poster isn’t too bad. Good color selection, but somewhat poor image choices.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

PICTURE ME

	Plot Summary: A look behind the scenes at the modeling industry. Release Date: September 17, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: B- Commentary: There have been many comedies, television shows and movies that tried to explore the bitter behind-the-scenes reality of the modeling industry, but it may be more backbiting and degrading than we’ve yet to see..	Rating: C- Commentary: By not objectifying the model documented in the film is a smart move, using a rather tame background image for the faux billboard just doesn’t balance well.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

WAKE UP

	Plot Summary: A documentary about a man who one day starts seeing angels, spirits and demons, but has no medical problems. He subsequently goes on a metaphysical pilgrimage to understand it all. Release Date: September 25, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C Commentary: It’s not a very convincing documentary, but may appeal to several small demographics of people. It has all the typical pitfalls of a documentary but also none of the major side effects. It’s a perfectly forgettable trailer.	Rating: C Commentary: Using tricks of the lens and graphic manipulation software to enhance a poster for a documentary, especially one purporting to feature someone who sees such things, is a poor choice and easily puts the thought in ones mind of whether the information being presented is manipulated.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

DUE DATE, trailer #2, posters #2, #3, #4 & #5

	Plot Summary: Trying to get home for his child’s birth, a desperate father-to-be finds himself trapped in a disturbing road trip that threatens to destroy his sanity. Release Date: November 5, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Previous Preview: Due Date Rating: C Commentary: A slightly improved trailer as it has far more actually funny scenes on display. It still doesn’t look like a great film and the pacing of the trailer is off periodically, but it should work as producers are hoping.	Rating: C+ (all) Commentary: I can’t really downgrade the rating of subsequent posters using the same design elements and stylistic touches. So, this rates the same rating as the first (note the poster at right, which is the influencing element to these new posters, is the original and was previously reviewed. All new posters are displayed below.) which means they aren’t exceedingly original, but the background look and feel is what keeps the posters from being outright failures. Of these, the one that’s probably the most interesting is the canister of ashes, which is almost enough to bump that one poster up to a B-.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: See Previous Preview

BRUTAL BEAUTY: TALES OF THE ROSE CITY ROLLERS

TODAY’S SPECIAL

	Plot Summary: A sous chef must take over his father’s tiny restaurant and learn something new about himself and his art. Release Date: November 19, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C+ Commentary: For being a rather generic cooking comedy, it doesn’t look terrible. Yet, all the cliche and exaggerated ethnic humor pretty much tell you what kind of film you’re getting yourself into.	Rating: C+ Commentary: Despite using several common ensemble elements (the v formation of stars, the hand-drawn “skyline” background and the predictable foreground images, the colors help generate positive visual response.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

THE ROOMMATE

	Plot Summary: A college roommate turns into a psychotic, overprotective killer when anyone tries to interrupt her new friendship. Release Date: February 4, 2011
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C- Commentary: Even before the 1-minute mark when you become full aware you’re watching a trailer for a horror film, the signs are there. Semi-creepy statement about only having one college roommate, the Screen Gems logo…and then it goes straight down the predictability road. It looks like a collegiate Single White Female.	Rating: None Commentary: I don’t review placeholders.
	Trailer Link: Yahoo Movies Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

NORA’S WILL

	Plot Summary: An aging man finds he can’t escape his wife’s ever-prying grasp even after her suicide. Release Date: September 24, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C Commentary: There are strong potentially-humorous elements at work here, but they don’t quite fire right, but that could be a loss of translation or an inability to see the full work. It could be a decent little charming film, but who knows for certain.	Rating: C Commentary: The scene is absent from the trailer, which makes it a questionable choice, especially when you can’t exactly figure out what you’re looking at or why.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: This could be Mexico’s submission to the Oscars, but I don’t know that it will fly with Academy voters.

THE DILEMMA

	Plot Summary: When he discovers that his best friend’s wife is cheating on him, he must face the dilemma of whether or not to tell him about it. Release Date: January 14, 2011
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C- Commentary: Not only unfunny, but painfully so. The last-minute “challenged” reference to an earlier joke almost works, but the entire premise is a bit dated. And that Ron Howard is directing this tripe is either a new low or some measure of money-grubbing. I can’t quite decide which.	Rating: None Commentary: I don’t review placeholders.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

LEGACY

	Plot Summary: An Black Ops soldier lays low after a failed mission and takes stock of the legacy his cations will leave behind. Release Date: October 15, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Rating: C+ Commentary: It starts out somewhat promising, but the awful selection of music and the attempts at showing of its prospects as a taut thriller, but doing so methodically and slowly just don’t work in the end.	Rating: C Commentary: It’s a fairly common poster with no really new or riveting features.
	Trailer Link: Apple Trailers Oscar Chances: None.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, poster

	Plot Summary: The sequel to the popular supernatural horror flick about the paranormal events that can be recorded from one stationary camera. Here, the plan seems to be to use more cameras. Release Date: October 22, 2010
	Trailer	Poster
	Previous Preview: Paranormal Activity 2	Rating: D+ Commentary: There’s an entire lack of finesse or excitement. It’s antithetical to the desired effect.
	Trailer Link: See Previous Preview Oscar Chances: See Previous Preview