Director:Michael Moore
Cast: Michael Moore, George W. Bush
Release: June 25, 2004
Synopsis: Michael Moore examines what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration used the tragic event to push its agenda. It’s a documentary that will trace why the U.S. has become a target for hatred and terrorism. It will also depict alleged dealings between two generations of the Bush and bin Laden clans that led to George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden becoming mortal enemies.

I like this trailer immensely for the method and the execution of its message. It gets in quick, is cheeky in all the ways that makes this politico/documentary/easy-to-understand film palpable to anyone who can manage to digest a USA Today, hits you with a sock full of quarters as it breaks things down provocatively if nothing else, and where you will you find one of the best endings I’ve seen in a trailer all year. Well, that last part was a bit of an exaggeration; that honor goes to DAWN OF THE DEAD but I promise next time I’ll research my facts better next time before making an assertion like that.

One of the issues people have with Moore’s guerilla tactics form of documentary filmmaking is that some of the statements he makes are sometimes taken out of context, unjustly, and there are entire Web sites dedicated to the cases-in-point but here, in this trailer, we have a nice outlay of the statements he makes with some images, representations, documents, etc… that start the paper trail to prove he isn’t aggrandizing his points, but is out to establish them.

We start with a nice twinkling soundtrack (think ‘50s retro), a very brief but well-deserved mention that the film was the winner at Cannes (I’ve seen longer, lingering award mentions of lesser prizes at other film festivals so it was nice to see Moore not making it the focal point of the trailer), and the mention that this is same dude who won that naked, golden man and made those mean comments about our president. With all the pomp out of the way the trailer wastes no time with getting right into things.

We have a few-days-old shot of a post-9/11 world with all commercial flights grounded, some file footage of a man telling us such, some actual documents flashing on screen relating to the family of Osama Bin Laden who resided in this country but were given clearance to leave the country by our own president. This is just the first shot heard round the world.

From this landmine, we move to the ReBuilding Iraq conference where corporations lined up to talk about how they were going to exact some coinage after this pesky war was finished. Men in their ties, hotel ballroom settings as overheads flash some potential money making opportunities fill the screen as troops and their guns roll by on a dusty street somewhere in Iraq.

We next get Moore walking up to commuting politicians in Washington D.C., asking if they wouldn’t mind helping out with his efforts to get the kids of the very same politicians he’s talking directly at to sign up for the war. After getting a look of either shock, confusion or derision, take your pick, Moore moves on to a sound bite of a politician who is sitting behind his nice looking wood desk and who says he had no idea what was in the Patriot Act he helped pass (“We don’t read most of the bills,” is his answer. Oy. Hopefully, he’s from your state.) Moore is then in an ice cream truck, telling members our Congress what the Patriot Act really says before the trailer turns up the pace by quick clipping images of soldiers on the ground in Iraq, John Ashcroft singing a cappella (it really has to be seen to be believed), middle America folks just being citizens, politicians walking away from Moore (wow, imagine that), and a real fast montage of fire, protests, guns, fallen soldiers, threat levels and, again, one of the funniest endings I’ve seen in a while.

Having said all of this, I have no doubt the Sean Hannitys, Rush Limbaughs, Michael Medveds, and all of the self-congratulatory talking heads will come out of the woodwork to say this film is rubbish and conflicts with common sense. They’ll go on tirades, only after trying to smear Moore for his unpatriotic devotion to this country, and they’ll get some hick who only knows how to grow peanuts or make meth who’ll just get irate along with them, neither one will have seen the movie, mind you, until all concerned are whipped up into a froth. Fine. Let ‘em. If this movie was given an ounce of credibility by anyone, these men would have you believe it is still Un-American to believe that the world is a lot better off with a man in power like George W. This film looks like a great comment, a different perspective, if you will, on the state of our country today and where we’ve all been for the past few years.

Director:Stacy Peralta
Cast:Darrick Doerner, Laird John Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Brian L. Keaulana, Titus Kinimaka
Release:July 9, 2004
Synopsis:In turns funny and spirited, often poignant and dramatic, their stories are the heart of Riding Giants. Yet in the telling comes a picture of not only these extraordinary characters, but authentic insight into the birth, development and ultimately the global appeal of the romantic, culturally significant surfing lifestyle itself. Riding Giants is driven by the same sense of freedom, the same love of nature, the similar discovery of self that all surfers seek — that all of us seek, in one form or another. Experience the breathless moments of quiet grace that, for these extraordinary adventurers, are to be achieved within their elementally violent world.

The trailer for RIDING GIANTS only seeks to continue the tradition of having solid, well-made surf movies in the purview of the public; last year’s STEP INTO LIQUID is a great example of this statement. The opening to this trailer is wonderful to look at. The slow, tinkling piano music meshes well with the scenes of lightly crashing surf. We have a nice scroll of comments that before we walked onto the moon we had dudes stepping off the edge of the earth. It’s cute if nothing else. A little hyperbole goes a long way and thankfully they leave it at that. We get the obligatory OFFICIAL SUNDANCE SELECTION badge of honor, but as it’s simply blended into the background with a warm sun it isn’t glaringly annoying, it’s tempting. What happens next is very creative.

On the screen, time starts rolling back. The years peel off all the way into the 50’s. We get a blend of photos, movies, and 3-D looking stills of the pioneers of what, truly, we all know as modern day surfing. Is it out of line to say these guys, “were the astronauts of their day?” Not after seeing what these men accomplished it isn’t. From this point, then, there is some great back and forth of modern surfers, old school surfers, and a real sense of authority and honesty in what is being shown.

Is it all about finding that one, ultimate wave you’ll never forget? Do surfers have it better than most when it comes to having a more centered view on the fragility of life and nature? Do guys like Anthony Kiedis and the weird eye dude from CYBORG really beat up on guys like Keanu who are just starting out like they do in POINT BREAK? I don’t know about the latter but I have to believe after seeing the trailer for this, and knowing what I do about the ENDLESS SUMMER flicks, the answer to the other questions has to be a very mellow yes.

What’s great about the premise of the film is that this pays homage to the guys who started it all. A sport that seemingly was only a real recent development in the grand scheme of recorded time it feels like it should have been around ever since there were waves (“Hey, Mogdock, grab some of that palm tree and let’s boogie board till we have to put down that Brachiosaurus with a few rocks I’ve found.), but it hasn’t. These men, vanguards of something new, still look great and it serves as a better companion piece to the Johnny-come-latelies of the world when doing a retrospective like this. Sometimes you get the guys, or gals, of things that happened in our nation’s recent history when doing a documentary and it’s sad, even frustrating, when the subjects themselves barely know who they are much less recall, vividly, the events that led to them being interviewed in the first place. They’re not drooling on themselves and are at the perfect age for reflecting what, essentially, they began so many decades ago.

Director: Michael Wilson
Cast: Penn Jillette, Michael Moore, John Stossel
Release: Coming Soon
Synopsis: Michael Moore Hates America is a documentary that forces audiences to rethink the genre. It challenges conventional wisdom and takes on the top documentary filmmaker of all time. Join Mike Wilson as he travels from coast to coast in search of the American Dream, and chases down Michael Moore in an effort to figure out why the two have such different visions of America.

Does this guy have a point worth listening to? Yes, absolutely. Does it feel like it has its own agenda? Oh yeah, but I would like to be in that line of people to see what about Moore has this guy’s cackles all up in a bunch. For an independent documentary, and using what looks like a lot of Apple computer power, this trailer is wonderful to watch.

“The art is persuading you to lie to yourself.” This is the line we get from some codger, much like Moore’s own wily old coot from the trailer of FAHRENHEIT 9/11, and right away the assumption is put on the table that what the guy is talking about is Moore himself.

Some of you know my distain for words; words, that is, that come up on the screen. If you sneak a peek at any number of trailers that pop them up horribly (this week’s SAW trailer is one) you can understand why it’s so jolting. What Mike Wilson has done with a very simple program has not only made it interesting to read them, but his soundtrack selection is much appreciated and engages the viewer visually and sonically.

We then get Michael Moore, standing up at a podium, where he is explaining to an audience at a public appearance, with Mike Wilson standing in attendance, ostensibly waiting for his moment to capture his prey. I mean, let’s not skirt the issue that seems to be pervasive throughout this entire trailer: while, yes, there seems to be a focus on showing how real America can work for its citizens there is an undercurrent of 1) demystifying Moore’s sensationalist claims if there are, indeed, any to be unearthed or exposed and 2) that the director himself, Wilson, puts forth his own agenda, good or bad, as evidenced by the company he keeps in this piece.

As viewers of Showtime can attest, Penn Jillette makes for great conversation. Jillette and his diminutively quiet partner Teller have a series, aptly called Bullshit, that is all about getting to the root of issues like this and it does add a great sense of authority to have him in the trailer. As he simply explains his views on the nature of verbal illusion it starts the ol’ crankshaft in the cranium up for some light thinking.

However, with anything that looks great there also comes some pointed criticism that must be addressed. As I watched this trailer I don’t know how many times a newscaster appeared on the screen and I was unsure of whom the person talking to Moore actually was. The same goes for when Wilson is talking about his film on the radio with someone from Radio America which, if you do some digging like I had to do, has some fairly conservative leanings. After raising my awareness that this was the case, and it triggered other feelings that I, myself, might be misled without having all the information in front of me it put me in a position to question the source when I should be enjoying the trailer watching experience. What comes next, though, is comedy gold.

“I’m not in anyone else’s movies other than my own.” Out-of-context or in-context Moore is shown in an interview uttering these words when he says he would not participate in Wilson’s movie because of the previous quote. There is a funny moment as the screen goes black and white and the names of eight films where Moore did exactly that appear on the screen. I’m not sure what the hell Moore meant but, damn, if that wasn’t a great way to make point.

Next, though, we come back to the same issue I made about the newscasters who are seen trying to rope Moore into an argument. We see Wilson talking to a very astute, well-dressed, power-tie wearing black man that speaks with the smoothness of a politician. Again, I did some digging and found that it could be J.C. Watts, a Republican, and a former member of Congress, who was at one time the fourth highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. Now, you have a guy like this on the screen and yet there is no label to point out who the man is. I’m not saying it is him and I might be completely wrong, maybe it was some schmo Wilson picked out at a Lexmark printer conference, but I’m obviously starving here for some clarification of who is doing the talking in this trailer.

After that we move onto real rural America where a black woman breaks down her vision of what America means to her, an immigrant discusses what his idea of the Dream means to him, and then we get some guy from Flint, Michigan telling us what it will take to rebuilt the city left hollow after GM left the state and collapsed the town’s economy. We then cut to Wilson at the very same public appearance from the beginning of the trailer and we get him trying to get Moore for 45 minutes to do an interview, ostensibly, for this documentary. What Wilson gets in return for the request was to be expected.

Even though I feel this film just seems to the Right correcting the Left both sides here are culpable for having their own agendas, just like Jillette points out in the trailer about the nature of lying, and its best when you understand the source of every piece of information that’s given to you. Always consider the source. I would recommend this flick as standard issue third eye cleansing ointment as a check and balance to Moore’s films. People can get caught up siding in one camp (Liberal, Republicaian, Democrat, Transgender, Homophobe, Dolly Parton Fan Club Member) or another and this movie serves, to paraphrase the MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES, to question the answers were given and not become sheep when presented a novel idea that fits nicely in our world view.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Kelli Garner, Gwen Stefani, Nellie Sciutto, Alec Baldwin, Danny Huston, Matt Ross, Ian Holm, Alan Alda, Frances Conroy, Vincent Laresca, Justin Shilton, Brent Spiner, Josie Maran, Sam Hennings, Willem Dafoe, Stanley DeSantis
Release: November 5, 2004
Synopsis: The Aviator tells the story of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), the eccentric billionaire industrialist and Hollywood film mogul famous for romancing some of the world’s most beautiful women. The drama recounts the years of his life from the late 1920s through the 1940s, an epoch when Hughes was directing movies and test flying innovative aircraft he designed and created. It also chronicles Hughes’ struggle with his physical disabilities and phobias, and his increasingly erratic, obsessive-compulsive behavior that led him ultimately to isolate himself from his associates and withdraw from the world.

After Mr. Toad’s Wild Trailer Ride takes a breather, more towards the middle, we get a thickly painted make-up job on Kate Beckinsale who, for my movie money, would make me go insane and become a recluse too if I somehow missed out on making that sweet situation last a lifetime. And that’s the other thing. What’s a bio pic on Hughes without the lunacy? I’m not holding it against Scorsese, but, damn, what fun that would have been to see a ragged Leo? Him all haggard as he hobbles from Nicaragua to England to Canada to Mexico would most definitely get my viewing attention. However, apart from the greased over look he seems to have cribbed from all his other flicks set between 1900-1950, Leo really impresses here in the trailer as a youthful Hughes if I am to give into believing it’s him. His outbursts of anger, frustration, and love feel genuine even as the schmaltzy piano music dances in the background. One of the things I did not appreciate, however, as I was slowly drawn into Leo’s performance was the flash of Gwen Stefani at his side. I don’t know why some people think they deserve to become an actress because that’s such a novel thing to do these days, and this whole cross-career building should only be limited to Hugh Jackman who just proved Wolverine can high step with the best of them as he sang “Ain’t It Awesome I Just Won a Tony” and to Bo Jackson, the latter being the contemporary OG of effective career switch hitting. And it’s all of a sudden, too. LeoLeoLeo, bam, “that’s the chick in the ‘Don’t Speak’ video!” I believe her visage will sell a few tickets to fanboys of hers but, damn, was it necessary?

By the time a plane clips the side of a house and you get a crying babe on the edge of the bed, as a shirtless Leo makes a brief appearance, I’ve already figured out this trailer is all over the place with its imagery. There does seem like there is a progression of events that’s being revealed but it all happens so fast. All you have to go off of is what your mind lingers on as the last images from .034 seconds ago quickly dissolve in your frontal lobe as they make way for more. The clips are great, stunning, all these things and more, but unless Leo is carrying C-4 on his back and is planning to take down the entire city of Washington as the pop/punk/poseur band Good Charlotte plays a generic riff with words that say COMING SUMMER OF 2006 there is absolutely no need for this kind of visual assault. However, Marty does get a pass because of a couple things:

1. Leo just looks good; he does and I have to bite my teeth to say it. His role in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is the sole basis of this decision because of its sameness and I enjoy getting caught up in that movie whenever I see it on HBO.
2. Kate Beckinsale. Damn. If only all moms looked this good.
3. The story looks engaging and there is more than enough evidence that there is something here that looks yards better than WHITE CHICKS.
4. It’s Martin Martin Scorsese. The man has yet to disappoint. Some of you may throw meat cleavers at that comment for GANGS OF NEW YORK but the man is the quintessential benchmark of dependable movie making compared to the Brett Ratners of the world.

Director: James Wan
Cast: Tobin Bell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Dina Meyer, Monica Potter
Release:September 17, 2004
Synopsis: When Adam is jolted back to consciousness after nearly drowning at the bottom of a decrepit bathtub, he awakes to find himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a dark torture chamber. There is someone else in the room. Dr. Lawrence Gordon has also just regained consciousness and is chained to the opposite side of the space. Between them a man is lying in a pool of blood after apparently shooting himself in the head with the pistol in his hand. Adam and Dr. Gordon piece together the clues left behind by the deranged criminal mind that has brought them together and finally realize that they, too, must make a seemingly impossible set of choices for their lives.

It starts out nice enough, Danny Glover (still one of the greats when not trying to act like he could kick Jet Li’s ass in LEATHAL WEAPON 4) is sitting down with a woman who looks like the shaking leather man from SEVEN who was forced to copulate with a fine lady while wearing a device better utilized to cut though tin cans while still managing to be able and slice through tomatoes. She sits there shaking while Danny asks what the woman remembers. Remembers about what? The images that follow are very interesting.

The camera shakes out of focus a bit, some slight static fills the screen as our heroine wears what looks like a rusty deep sea diving/football helmet and is strapped in a chair which looks stolen, no less, from a Nine Inch Nails video shoot. In fact, the green light that everyone seems to be bathed in is a nice mood setter as is the TV monitor where the evil man with the Fisher Price Voice Changer 2000 behind it all talks though a chattering puppet on a video screen.

Then, like a ticked out version of Fear Factor, Contestant #1 in the chair is told that she has a booby trapped death inducer on her face and unless she digs into the stomach of her motionless cellmate to get the key within 60 seconds there is no way for her to get the contraption off her face without everything else going with it. She immediately beats a path to the man and holds up a small Swiss Army knife over the guy like a battered Patricia Arquette from TRUE ROMANCE and before she plunges it deep into the recesses of the guy’s spleen her cellmate seems to be faking as he pulls one eye open. She arches her back and the scene changes.

What is annoying, though, if there is such a thing with this trailer, that should be a hit with any male between twelve and twenty five, is some annoying lime green scroll that tells me “How Messed Up Is That?” as this nameless lady is about to go killer wild on the guy. I couldn’t have said it better myself, Cochise, and, thanks to you, the mood has now turned comical. However, not all is lost as she comes down hard and the trailer starts throwing up images too fast to piece together. But, if you happen to have an affinity for the pause button and sample all the flashed pics in this thing you would be amazed at how gritty, dank and overall nasty everything feels. It’s great and I know another movie like this won’t be on the horizon anytime soon. The very inclusion of Glover makes this warped “horror” flick a must-see.

The fast paced nature of this trailer is exactly the right formula for film like this. By giving people the feeling of high paced action with a thrilling premise, even though it isn’t really spelled out what the hell is going on, you have done your job with the trailer. The movie as a whole, however, falls on someone else’s shoulders to deliver. The director to this thing, James Wan, has the shortest IMDB listing I’ve ever been privy to. His résumé has exactly one thing on it: SAW. Good thing? Bad thing? We soon shall know.

One other point I’d like to make is that this has Cary Elwes in it, although you would barely know it by seeing the trailer. Elwes will always hold a special place to me as the man who rescued Buttercup from the evil Prince Humperdinck. THE PRINCESS BRIDE was a watershed in developing my cinematic lexicon and I have enjoyed watching his even keel career putter along at a pontoon’s pace. While I know he will never achieve the stature of other, more popular culture friendly actors, the man has managed to run the gamut of everything from comedy to thriller and now to horror. Count me in even before you take a headcount.

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