Check Out the Trailer

More times than not a trailer informs the general audience about whether a film is something they want to see. The trailers for HANCOCK (which I’ve always felt was a terrible title) seemed like a mildly amusing superhero spoof. In the trailer, one feels it’s a one-note story. Will Smith’s superhero lead is a jerk and learns to not be a jerk – the end. But I must give it to Columbia Pictures that they left many of the secrets for the audience to discover during the movie watching experience instead of give it to us in the press ahead of time. There’s an interesting twist that takes the story a nice new direction (even if it’s not handled perfectly) and, gasp, real characters that we care about.

John Hancock (Will Smith, MEN IN BLACK) is the foulest superhero ever. In his efforts to stop crime, he often causes mass chaos and carnage. He’s a drunk and mean. His demeanor is rooted in being the only god among men. He has dozens of warrants out for his arrest, but they are never executed because no one can contain him. After a disastrous business pitch, PR man Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, JUNO) gets his car stuck on the train tracks. When Hancock comes to his rescue, the superhero causes a train wreck. As thanks, Ray invites Hancock to have dinner with his wife Mary (Charlize Theron, MONSTER) and his young son Aaron (Jae Head, TV’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS). Mary becomes very worried when Ray makes it his mission to fix Hancock’s public image.

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Check Out the Trailer

Wong Kar Wai is a romantic plain and simple. He bathes his films in simmering neon and classic soul music. This film features beautifully sensual shots of ice cream melting between the crevices of a piece of blueberry pie where you can nearly taste the sweetness. Sometimes his shots take on the color tones of the characters feelings; this film is particularly washed over with blues and purples. Hues of the sad characters that inhabit Wong’s world of heartbreak and renewal searching.

Elizabeth (Norah Jones, jazz-pop singer) discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her from Jeremy (Jude Law, BREAKING AND ENTERING), the owner of a small New York café. He seems to have a great deal of heartbreak come through his restaurant, for he has begun collecting the keys of the brokenhearted in a jar just in case they want to retry a failed romance. Over a few nights, Elizabeth grows closer to Jeremy over his lonely blueberry pie. Needing some kind of release from her life, Elizabeth orders up a new locale in Memphis as a bartender where she serves Arnie (David Strathairn, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK), a police officer determined to drink his blues away. Turns out his wife Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER) has moved from late night snacks with a younger man into a full out binge. Soon Elizabeth moves on to a casino in nowhere Nevada where she gambles her savings on the cravings of poker player Leslie (Natalie Portman, CLOSER), who has some daddy issues.

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Check Out the Trailer

Wes Anderson’s quirky films deal with the strains that occur in close relationships (or better, relationship that are supposed to be close). Here he deals with three brothers who have grown apart since the death of their father. They come together to find enlightenment through a meandering journey in India. The trip in this character study is not really the point.

Francis Whitman (Owen Wilson, BOTTLE ROCKET) is the eldest of the three brothers and organizer of the trip. He has his assistant Brendan (Wallace Wolodarsky, SEEING OTHER PEOPLE) en tow printing out daily itineraries and laminating them with the laminating machine he has en tow. His head is in bandages due to a recent motorcycle accident, which caused him nasty bruises and the desire to find enlightenment. En tow on his spiritual journey he has his brothers Peter (Adrien Brody, THE PIANIST) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman, RUSHMORE). Peter is in a bad marriage, which has gotten more frightening now that his wife revealed she is pregnant. Jack is a writer who calls his ex-girlfriend’s house to spy on her answering machine.

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Watch the Film!

Filmed as a short prequel to the feature, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, Wes Anderson’s HOTEL CHEVALIER peeks into the troubled romance of two characters. Jack Whitman (Jason Schwartzman, RUSHMORE) has exiled himself in a Paris hotel for weeks. He seems depressed. Then he gets a phone call from the one who put him in this state. His former girlfriend (Natalie Portman, PARIS, JE'’TAIME) has found him and wants to drop by. How will Will react to her? How will she treat him?

As a piece on its own, the film is curious at best. It hints at a relationship and its characters, but never gives us concrete answers. Jason desperately wants to make a certain impression and sets the mood to his liking. His ex is rude and flippant about Jason’s feelings. He then counters with some stinging words of his own. Some hints are made to why she has returned.But all of this is done in a low key without theatrics. These two people know each other and know what they want too well to let the other get in their way. In context with DARJEELING, the ending curiously swifts. This short film certainly works better with the feature than alone, adding funny winks to that story. But that doesn’t diminish its quality as a piece on its own.

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