Trailers

I haven't blogged in weeks I know.  I haven't reviewed the iPhone, written about Urge/Rhapsody/Verizon,  or said anything about my new role at MTVN or the fact that I'm about to have a baby any day now.  And dealing with all of that at once would be a tad overwhelming I think, so instead I'm going to write about movie trailers.  Specifically the one for Good Luck Chuck.

Good Luck Chuck is a Dane Cooke / Jessica Alba movie coming out in a few weeks and the premise is pretty straight-forward.  From IMDB:

In order to keep the woman of his dreams from falling for another guy, Charlie Logan has to break the curse that has made him wildly popular with single women: Sleep with Charlie once, and the next man you meet will be your true love.

If you went to see a comedy in July you may have seen this trailer, which pretty much follows the log line above to the letter:

(if you're reading this in an RSS aggregator or on email, click here to view.)

The reaction in the theater when I saw the trailer was a pretty unanimous groan.  I've got to assume that the studio got the feedback because last weekend I went to see Superbad and there was a new trailer for Good Luck Chuck that looks like an entirely different film:

(again, click here to see if you can't view above.)

The movie advertised above doesn't seem to be about Chuck at all!  Looks like it's entirely about Jessica Alba, her clumsiness, and her knack for causing harm to others (notably Dane Cook.)  No magic, no rampant sex, no curse-breaking.  It's a different premise altogether.

I love seeing trailer editors work their magic to cull what they can from a film to try to tell its story in under :03 minutes.  The two trailers from Chuck are great examples of how two totally different stories can be told from the same material.

This has been a wonderfully creative genre for amateur film-makers online.  Some of the best of the category are The Shining re-imagined as a comedy and the absolutely brilliant Scary Mary - Marry Poppins as a creepy horror flick. 

Although it's been around for a while I just came across what may be my all-time favorite thus far, Office Space as a drama:

It's amazing what you can do with a little music, a voice-over, and some titles.