Second World War Z Trailer – An Improvement?

UK Release Date: 21st June 2013.

Stars: Marc Forster (director), Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, David Morse, James Badge Dale, Eric West, Matthew Fox.

Plot: United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to decimate humanity itself.

I don’t normally post new trailers for films that I have already looked at unless I am desperately excited to see a certain film. That’s not the case with World War Z. The reason I have decided to look at this trailer after examining the first here, is that the originally trailer was met with a lot of skepticism surrounding its faith to the original novel and the bad CGI. So is this new trailer any better?

Well the way the trailer is set up it seems to be the same before. A peaceful little section of Pitt’s nice, loving family is then broken up by lots of scenes of panic and the mountain of zombies. What I can deduce from this trailer is that it seems like the CGI on the zombies won’t be TOO important because there will be so many jump cuts flying around you’ll barely see them, especially behind the explosions.

The books is a best seller and people love it because it’s not just a brainless zombie epic, which unfortunately it looks as though the film will be. But studio execs need to put bums on chairs (and maybe Brad Pitt’s name alone isn’t enough to do that anymore?).

World War Z comes complete with mid-air plane siege as seen in The Dark Knight Rises and Iron Man 3.

Brad Pitt’s World War Z Finally Gets A Trailer

UK Release Date: 21st June 2013.

Stars: Marc Forster (director), Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox, Eric West, David Morse.

Plot: A U.N. employee is racing against time and fate, as he travels the world trying to stop the outbreak of a deadly Zombie pandemic.

With the success of The Walking Dead bringing zombies back to the forefront of mainstream television it should come as no surprise that Hollywood is looking to take advantage and make some money from the zombie industry. World War Z has been in the works for a long time and finally we have a trailer.

There has already been a lot of negative reaction to the trailer from fans of the original book on the internet but I think that it actually looks pretty good. I like Brad Pitt and I’m sure he will do a fine job in this film. World War Z (the film, not the book) is essentially an apocalyptic-save-the-world type thing and, as far as the trailer goes it will certainly grab the attention of audiences.

The CGI is not yet fully polished and we don’t really see enough of the zombies to gauge whether they look good or not, but I have no doubts that everything will be sharpened before it’s release date in another six months. I think that the fans of the book need to stop moaning and just accept that certain themes/characters/story lines from novels always get dropped when Hollywood wants to make a film from it, that’s just how it works.

The Lone Ranger Trailer

UK Release Date: 9th August 2013.

Stars: Gore Verbinski (director), Arnie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale

Plot: Native American spirit warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.

Almost everything about this trailer is poor. Right from the start with the awfully boring voice over to the minuscule action scenes that tell us absolutely nothing about the characters or story. When I watch a trailer I want to be impressed and made to look forward to a film, I want to be told something about the characters or the plot that gives me indication to watch; I don’t want to just see Johnny Depp looking up from under a train.

The only good thing that comes of this trailer is that Helena Bonham Carter actually looks as though she belongs in this setting which is more than can be said for any of the other main actors that feature in this minute and a half trailer. It’s a risk putting Arnie Hammer as the lead man seeing as though he’s not been a lead before (the same risk earlier this year with Taylor Kitsch cost Disney millions) and I can’t help but feel that Johnny Depp is miscast and I think that it might get pretty annoying hearing him through the entirety of the film with that accent.

To me it looks as though Disney have another flop on their hands. This does nothing to inspire the fun or the great sotrytelling that Disney films are usually associated with. When promo pictures for The Lone Ranger were first released they were met with negativity, the same has happened with the trailer on internet forums. Oh dear.

Denzel Washington Takes ‘Flight’

UK Release Date: 25th January 2013.

Stars: Robert Zemeckis (director), Denzel Washington, James Badge Dale, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Bruce Greenwood.

Plot: An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling.

From the director of the all time classic Back to the Future trilogy, Flight is Denzel Washington’s latest offering and sees him return to a more drama centred piece after recent films Safe House, Unstoppable and The Book of Eli. This is a great decision by Denzel Washington in my opinion because I think he is at his best in dramatic roles rather than the more action engineered roles he likes to take.

Denzel Washington plays the pilot of a place forced to crash land in the middle of nowhere. He instantly becomes a national celebrity and hero as he lands successfully and saves passengers’ lives. However all is not what it seems and upon doing tests alcohol is found in the pilot’s system which seems to be a reason as to why the plane may have took a dive in the first place. Washington’s character has two sides to him and is something that he could really get into and have fun with, I anticipate a fantastic performance from the ever consistent Washington.

Unfortunately though, the trailer gets a little lost and seems confused about what it is actually advertising. At times I feel like it chops and changes from a crime drama to light hearted drama to courtroom piece then to a thriller; if the people advertising don’t know what kind of film it is then how are we supposed to know? It seems like Flight is suffering from a slight identitiy crisis which really needs to be sorted before its release especially since Denzel Washington, although his films still make a profit, does not have the box office appeal that was once bestowed upon him.