Tag Archives: Hype To Remember

Boondock Saints

A LOOK BACK AT A MOVIE THAT, WHILE FUN, DOESN’T QUITE HOLD UP.

Twenty years ago a little movie from reportedly douche bag director, Troy Duffy, hit the scene.  For years to come shitty posters have lined the walls of undergrad male’s dormitories, while they all scream about how great this movie was, and how you should see it, because only they have seen it, and they want to introduce you to its amazingness… If you listen to them, and sit down with a brew to watch the movie, you’ll be entertained, sure, but that’s about it.  I still don’t get what was so damned special about this movie, and I was TOTALLY caught in the storm of it. 

For my research, I’ll look the trailer.  Like the majority of you, I only ever saw the trailer on the DVD copy my mom bought me.  At the time, I thought it was awful.  It shows the whole movie!  It shows the best scenes!  It gives nearly everything away!  And to the 16 – 25 year old crowd this movie is singularly targeted for, this is horrible.  To everyone else, thank god the trailer shows as much as it does, or no one would ever watch it.  The movie is a hard sell to the most receptive crowd, so in my opinion, the trailer does its job.  This isn’t some religious propaganda movie, nor is it insulting religion, we get that.  This movie will have fun violence that is shot differently, we get that too.  The movie has a pretty good sense of humor, we kinda sorta get that.  All in all if this was a movie coming out today, and I saw this trailer I’d see it.  I’d wait for video, but I’d see it.

I realize I came across really negative on the movie… uh… I regret nothing. 

Also I still own the DVD.

That my mom bought for my birthday…

Halloween

Back when trailers had no rules and totally ruled!

 

Man I love old trailers.  They didn’t have any rules and no one really cared about them.  Just show 3-5 min of the movie, have a guy who smoked an entire carton of cigarettes talk the whole time, and tell me the name of the movie.  That’s it. My favorite old trailer of all time is Taxi Driver. That thing is just a short 4 min summary of the entire movie, gives away everything from the movie.  Halloween is no better, and somehow, SO MUCH BETTER.

 

Continue reading Halloween

A Hype To Remember: Batman Returns (1992)

Batman Returns turns 25 this week, and to celebrate we’re looking back at the hype for the movie!

 

My introduction to Batman Returns wasn’t typical in that I came to it much later and played the video game first. As a young kid my Batman was the Adam West Batman, so this darker take from Tim Burton never really connected. It certainly looked cool, and piqued my interest thanks to its edgier tone, but it felt “other” to the goofier Gotham I was used to.

 

I decided to take a look back at the hype surrounding this movie, especially since I don’t remember much of the marketing for it compared to the ’89 Batman film.

 

 

For some this was probably “their” movie Batman, and the trailer definitely brought the hype for that. For me, I had much of the same reaction I had for the first movie: “It’s fine.” What I didn’t expect was that in the marketing for this movie (and for the movies themselves) Gotham would feel like a tangible location and not some dressed up “insert-city-here.” That’s unique, and in my opinion one of the legacies of the Burton era of Batman.

 

Do you remember the marketing for Batman Returns? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!

 

A Hype To Remember: Cars (2006)

Cars 3 comes out this weekend and it’s only fitting we talk about the surprising first movie. Ka-chow.

 

Sandwiched between The Incredibles and Ratatouille, Cars at first blush feels like a bit of a misstep. It’s a movie where vehicles are the only lifeforms and…well…that’s where the marketing pretty much lost me. Lots of racing stuff that I don’t care about? Check. A sidekick voiced by one of the “kings” of blue collar comedy? Check MATER.

 

I mean, look at this trailer…

 

 

The movie turned out to be way better than I thought it would be, walking a fine tightrope between its themes and the ridiculousness of the premise. After I saw the movie, I couldn’t help but think the trailers, marketing, and toys didn’t do the movie justice. The themes of “respecting your elders” being a “good winner,” honor, and appreciating history are very compelling, complex, and not something you would expect based on the marketing. I absolutely loved the moment where Lightning McQueen gives up the Piston Cup to help The King finish his last race.

 

Cars may not be as good as some of the other films in Pixar’s filmography, but man is it worth a watch. And with the “final chapter” coming out this week, I find myself hyped to see what Lightning McQueen faces next.