Pass or Fail: From the Pages of History

BOOKS! They often make great movies, and seeing as this is a movie review blog, that is good for me. This year has already seen its share of films based off of novels ("John Carter", "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"), and has more on the way ("Les Miserables", "The Hobbit", "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days"), so I thought I would take today to criticize two trailers, not listed above, for your amusement.

Pass: Anna Karenina

Call me whatever name you would like, but I love a well made period drama. Especially ones based on Russian literature. Let's start with the basics of why this trailer has me a little more than excited. First, it is being directed by Joe Wright. If you have not seen "Atonement", then you won't understand why this is great, but I assure you, this man knows how to effectively tell a story. Speaking of great storytellers, the screenplay to this Leo Tolstoy masterpiece is being written by Tom Stoppard. The man responsible for "Rosencrantz & Gildenstern Are Dead" and partly for "Brazil"! Also, look at Seamus McGarvey's beautiful cinematography! He was the man responsible for making "The Avengers" look as sleek as it was, and his other D.P. credits aren't anything to scoff at either. Add in this top-shelf cast, and this trailer has me wanting to see a midnight show of this movie. 

Fail: The Great Gatsby

Why does this look so bad? Oh... Baz "Moulin Rouge" Luhrmann directed it. Giving it that cartoony quality that he does with everything he touches. While I loved "No Church in the Wild" for the "Safe House" trailer, it doesn't seem to fit in a film about rich white people in the roaring '20's. Though the cast did originally get me pumped up, after seeing this trailer I don't think I could be any less enthused. It captures every bit of screaming angst that I would expect in horror movie trailer, without all of the grotesque death scenes. Wait! Did I just see that it was in 3D? Wonderful. Just what we needed. Overacting, and bad special effects backgrounds in 3D. Didn't we have enough of that from "Episode I" and "Titanic" being re-released this year?

Extra Pass: Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury
I post this to a lot of thing, but I love it. If you couldn't tell by the title, this is not appropriate for work, school, parents, or fans of Issac Asimov.