Every so often Shira Hecht reviews upcoming trailers for your pleasure.

The Golden Compass

Ah, fantasy epic! The books are actually a lot more innovative and, y’know, plotty, than this mash of things blowing up would seem. I think it’s still going to be OK, mainly because the casting is just so perfect. Nicole Kidman in gold is the scariest thing ever, Daniel Craig and Eva Green get to be stunningly gorgeous and good, Ian McKellan, in his butchest role yet, as the voice of an armored polar bear, and Sam Waterson as the Cowboy, er, Scoutperson thing!

No mention of the whole “God and the Church is evil” thing, but maybe they didn’t have time for it, what with all the snow and the sparkly and the heavy handed titles. Still, when Dakota Blue (they clearly cast her because her name is so awesome) yells, “I’ll never be yours!”, I’ve got chills. I think they know what they’re doing.

After the jump, Sarah Michelle Gellar and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir:

Southland Tales

OK, so from the guy who brought us time-traveling Jake Gylenhaal and demon bunnies, here we go - two bastardized poets (Frost and Eliot), two actors whose careers I thought were over (Sean William Scott and Sarah Michelle Gellar), two holdovers from late 90s bubblegum (Mandy Moore and Justin Timberlake), a pretty song, space, blowing up, the military-industrial complex, perhaps some true love, home videos, the freakin’ Rock, a creepy Asian chick with bad bangs, some meta, some super trippy shots, some truly gorgeous shots, and the line “I’m a pimp. And pimps don’t commit suicide.”

This can only be amazing.

What Would Jesus Buy?

It’s hard to decide what’s the most ridiculous part of this trailer - the shop mobbers, the self-conscious Disney lettering, “Drive the demons out of those cash registers!”, Reverend Billy’s hair. Oh, actually, its not–the most ridiculous thing is the word “Shopocalypse.”

This is the best thing I have ever seen come out of America. One hopes the actual movie stays away from the whole “politics” thing and just hangs out with Reverend Billy and his megaphone. Oh my God, there’s a church choir on the escalator.

And just a reminder of what we’re looking for.

-Shira Hecht, Assistant Leisure Editor. Flickr photo from Bruce Foster.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Arts and Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.