Trailers That Look, At Least, Interesting

I think I go to the movies for three reasons. Either I perceive that the writing and/or acting will be good, that the story or perspective will be worth hearing, or that the dazzle value will be worth the expense.

• The Gospel
• Syriana
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Serenity
• Lord of War
• Little Manhattan (assuming the theater is not packed with 10-year-olds, no offense; perhaps the midnight showing?)
• Good Night, and Good Luck (deliciously appropriate for our time)

On a related note, I recently saw “Flight Plan” and I don’t recommend it. The writing is a classic example of spoon-feeding emotions and plot resolution, something I have come to despise about American cinema.

And while I’m at it, and since everything we’re going to see in 2006 has already been made, can 2007 be the year in which we don’t have comedies that rely on a clever turn of phrase? I don’t want to hear, for example

“Come on in, I’ll put on a pot of bourbon.”

or

“I love you, it’s just that I want to kill you.”

While I love understatement and oxymoron as much as the next person, I’m sick of seeing them used over and over again.

And music. Where would the American movie trailer be without indie rock, hip hop, Peter Gabriel, Simon & Garfunkel, and “Under Pressure” by David Bowie and Queen? And for dramas and epics the front runners tend to be re-purposed James Horner, Hans Zimmer, or Randy Edelman scores, all of whom take their cues from the concert music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Please, can we get away from romanticism and neo-romanticism?

And we might as well go down the list:

• The gravel-voiced trailer narrator has to go. Too long have we suffered his low-pass utterances. He must depart. How about a female voice? How about no narrator?
• How about shorter films that cost less to see?
• How about getting real with concession costs? Why does 25-cent candy cost 25 dollars?
• Why does the price continue to go up while the quality continues to go down? Of both concessions and movies?

Anyone else with thoughts on this matter?