Magic Mike brought all the ladies to the yard, this past weekend. 74% of the $39.2 million spent on the unexpectedly layered, semi-autobiographical flick staring Channing Tatum, came from the pockets of women. I was one of those women (of course). The movie is full of handsome men, honest performances, some humor and some depth, but this post is not about all of that. This post is about the trailers shown in my theater before the lights went down, my fellow ladies and I settled in with our popcorn, and the muscles hit the screen.
As always, I’ll list them in the order of my enjoyment. The information on the movies comes from IMDb, the clips from YouTube, and the commentary from me.
The Apparition (release date: August 24, 2012)
Director: Todd Lincoln
Stars: Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan and Tom Felton
A couple are haunted by a supernatural presence that is unleashed during a college experiment.
The premise of this movie, which is significantly more interesting if you watch the clip than just reading the IMDb synopsis, is a good one and I will pretty much see any horror movie unless friends I trust tell me it is awful. I can’t say the trailer is perfect, but it does get my attention. I’m also kind of crushing on Sebastian Stan after his performances in both Captain America: The First Avenger and Once Upon a Time.
The Campaign (release date: August 10, 2012)
Director: Jay Roach
Stars: Will Ferrell, Zack Galifianakis and Jason Sudeikis
Two rival North Carolina politicians with presidential aspirations tangle with one another.
I find all three of the principle stars of this film funny, and Sudeikis particularly so just because it is always more of a surprise, coming from him. I rarely see comedies in the theater, but I might make an exception for this one, provided no horror or sci-fi movies are in competition with it.
Premium Rush (release date: August 24, 2012)
Director: David Koepp
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon and Jamie Chung
In Manhattan, a bike messenger picks up an envelope that attracts the interest of a dirty cop, who pursues the cyclist throughout the city.
I can’t say this trailer totally sells me on the movie, but I do like JG-L and I’ve been a fan, albeit a creeped-out fan, of Michael Shannon ever since his disturbing, yet sort of endearing performance in Bug back in 2006. I may wait for the reviews before deciding on whether or not to see this one.
Hit and Run (release date: August 24, 2012)
Directors: David Palmer and Dax Shepard
Stars: Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell and Bradley Cooper
Former getaway driver Charlie Bronson jeopardizes his Witness Protection Plan identity in order to help his girlfriend get to Los Angeles. The feds and Charlie’s former gang chase them on the road.
I don’t know, man. Something about this trailer seems like it’s trying too hard. It’s another one I’ll have to wait for the word on the street before committing.
For a Good Time, Call… (release date:…I’m not sure. It looks like this film was already released at Caan and I wasn’t paying enough attention during the previews to know when it is hitting theaters nationwide. Sorry, folks).
Director: Jamie Travis
Stars: Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller and Justin Long
Former college frenemies Lauren and Katie move into a fabulous Gramercy Park apartment, and in order to make ends meet, the unlikely pair start a phone sex line together.
Warning: this trailer is RATED R. NSFW
Meh.
That’s it for this edition of Before the Movie! Hope it helps you plan your summer cinematic adventures.
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Apparition had me, until you see a glimpse and it looks like The Grudge.
I know! I thought the same – a little too close for comfort. Unless that is going to be part of the premise; they believe in all these scary movies, so they start to happen. In which case it might be a little to close to Cabin in the Woods. We’ll see.
This is sort of a random comment… but this reminded me of my first ever job. I was an usher (eventually got to run the projectors too) at a brand new 6-plex movie theater back in the summer of 1986.
I took an eerie pleasure at being asked by my manager to kick out 17 year olds from 18-and-over movies even though I was 16 at the time
But the most fun was in a limitation at our new theater. We had a state-of-the-art CD-based in-house sound system to play music during the intermissions… except we only had a budget to buy 2 CDs.. so the week before the theater opened, a couple of us went with the assistant manager to buy CDs, and we ended up with the soundtracks to Cocoon and Out of Africa. Actually they were good soundtracks, but not over and over and over. Sometimes we would set the playback to repeat one song and see how long it took anyone to notice. You’d be surprised how long it took sometimes for someone to ask!
But the last and most relevant memory that your post here reminded me of…
We had 6 movies playing when we first opened… but only one movie trailer… so no matter what movie you paid to see, you saw a preview for Friday the 13th Part VI! This included the kids movie (it was a PG-13 trailer at least)… and oddly enough, Friday the 13th Part VI, which means that yes.. you were treated to a trailer preview of the movie before then seeing the actual movie!