The Trailer Park: Living in a Fantasy World

Whether it’s a child living amongst giants, a survivor finding an unusual friend on a deserted island, or a blundering, seemingly inept private eye, the latest trailers for upcoming movies feature characters stuck in their own fantasies.

‘Swiss Army Man’

At first, seeing Paul Dano on a deserted island making friends with the corpse of Daniel Radcliffe made me think this movie would be a twisted spoof of the friendship between Tom Hanks and the Wilson volleyball in ‘Cast Away’. Then, when the body passed gas and the quirky indie music started playing, I thought this might be the next Wes Anderson film or perhaps a warped remake of ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’.

The point is, this movie is so weird and off-the-wall (particularly when Radcliffe’s character begins interacting with the clearly delusional Dano) that I really want to watch it. The plot seems to be more about the life Radcliffe once lived while Dano’s demented imagination takes hold and the movie’s title comes into better focus. However, as quirky and funny as it may appear, I think I’ll wait for the eventual Blu-ray release.

‘The BFG’

Unlike the previous teaser trailer, this latest peek at the Steven Spielberg/Walt Disney collaboration is sure to whet the appetites of those who grew up reading the Roald Dahl children’s book. The preview doesn’t really give much in terms of plot, but the imaginative visuals alone should be enough to make moviegoers want to see it on the big screen. Being a fan of the book, I was sold the moment I heard Spielberg was involved in the live-action adaptation. Now, after seeing a bit more, I might even splurge for the IMAX experience. We’re talking about freaking giants here!

‘The Nice Guys’

Although he’s usually a good and consistent filmmaker, Shane Black is the guy who wrote and directed ‘Iron Man 3’, yet that’s touted here as though it were a selling point for this movie.

In any case, this trailer, where Russell Crowe does his usual tough guy shtick and Ryan Gosling shows his comedic side, makes the mystery crime buddy-cop actioner look abso-freaking awesome. The jokes are hilarious, the action exciting and the story intriguing. Usually, I’d wait for something like this to hit Blu-ray, but this looks like a riot.

‘Search Party’

Last but not least, how about a comedy from a fantasy world where its filmmakers think ‘The Hangover’ formula will never grow old?

For more of the latest movie trailers, check out our trailers page.

9 comments

  1. Bolo

    Really looking forward to ‘The Nice Guys’. I watched one of trailers once, but I’m not watching any more because I don’t want to spoil it for myself. Black’s banter always amuses me and he’s nabbed a couple actors that I like and think will be well-suited to delivering his materiel.

    The weak special effects in ‘The BFG’ are a little distracting. It’s creepy uncanny valley territory, which is pretty deadly when I’m obviously intended to connect with the characters on an emotional level. It looks like another one of those cases where it would’ve been easier, cheaper, and more effective to just do it old school with composites.

    • NJScorpio

      I agree that the special effects in ‘The BFG’ looked so bad, it pulled me out of the trailer. The characters don’t appear to be in the same place, on the same plane…it’s like I’m watching the CGI scenes from ‘Alien 3’.

      • Thulsadoom

        Alien3 never had any CGI characters, it was only a couple of things like the ‘crack’ effect on top of the physical skull at the end, and (if memory serves) one of the earlier films to use digital compositing for the Alien, even though the creature itself was a rod puppet. 🙂

        • NJScorpio

          There is a stand alone shot of the alien in a hallway in Alien 3, right before a chase, where it is one of the earliest examples of CGI in film. It is terrible, but it is there!

          • NJScorpio

            Well…okay, I believe the shots I’m describing are the rod puppets, but “computer generated imagery” was used to remove the rods and overlay the alien into the hallway shots. It looks very floaty, with that distinct 90’s black outline on the alien. The alien itself wasn’t rendered in a computer, but I’d still consider the work CGI…and, again, has that floaty/removed feeling like this trailer does.

    • This is Spielberg we’re talking about. He changed the way we look at computer effects with the game-changing ‘Jurassic Park’. Then why doesn’t he hire the best of the best, 23 years down the road, for ‘BFG’?

  2. When I first heard the ‘Swiss Army Man’ pitch, I feared the worst. But this trailer makes it out to be funny and touching. Hmm. Interesting.

  3. Never read the book, but i saw the trailer for The BFG a few days ago on The Trailer Park on AXSTV, and it looks really good. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a kids movie in the theater, but I might just decide to go see this at the theater at a late showing.

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