Trailer Tuesday

First, a shout out to Cole and Ericca at The Magic Lantern Podcast who shared some love for MMC! in their recent discussion of Little Murders. Cole and Ericca provide a great (and very funny) discussion on the relationship at the centre of Arkin’s film. For the record, I’m with Cole – the wedding sequence stands as the most enjoyable part of the movie and Elliott Gould’s unresponsiveness to the demands of social convention or personal interactions is all too recognizable.

My most recent Criterion connection came by seeing Brazilian singer Seu Jorge perform live his selection of David Bowie covers from Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Jorge put on an amazing show, providing a variety of entertaining anecdotes on the making of the film, displaying some nimble guitar-work, and filling the theatre with his deep, impressive voice. The trailer for The Life Aquatic prominently features Jorge’s covers, serving as an effective promo of the singer’s currently touring show. Don’t miss it!

Trailer Tuesday

The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival is now underway and this month’s “Trailer Tuesday” is devoted to the most intriguing trailers from the most prestigious film festival in the world!

I should say that Cannes will likely screen many good, even great films, but that doesn’t mean those films have trailers that distinguish them as anything other than feel-bad dramas and social commentaries. Heck, a lot of films at Cannes don’t even have trailers yet! Today, we’re embracing a few engaging trailers, not endorsing future masterpieces.

Let’s start with Redoubtable, Michel Hazanavicius’ bio-pic on acclaimed director and general enfant terrible – Jean-Luc Godard. Leave it to the cheeky Hazanavicius to rib Cannes right in the trailer to his film! Cannes might have the last laugh though, as reviews from Redoubtable‘s screening are less than flattering.

Trailer Tuesday

It’s easy to look at the Criterion Collection’s July announcements as being rather slim, but the announcement of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) is a long awaited dream finally come true for cineastes. And if the thinness of new edition’s supplements have muted your enthusiasm, one look at the trailer for the 2017 restoration may be the answer to all your anxieties. I would daresay that this trailer nearly shows an entirely new film to me. This could be a revelation.

Trailer Tuesday

Official and unofficial Criterion announcements having been rolling in since our last “Trailer Tuesday” and fans of the Collection are naturally excited for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), Nicholas Ray’s They Live by Night (1948), and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979). They’re certainly great movies by celebrated directors, but MMC! will take a moment to praise the teased addition of Albert Brooks’ Lost in America (1985), a film that I saw for the first time a few years ago, introduced by Kid in the Hall Kevin McDonald, and that has been fixture on my own proposal list for some time. There are plenty of other great films by Brooks that could bear a wacky “C” and so hopefully we’ll find an opportunity to stump for one of those other titles soon.

Trailer Tuesday

Criterion’s announcement of new releases for May was a landslide of titles with a stunning nine new films joining the Collection and two blu-grades thrown in for good measure. It’s pretty impressive for a month without any titles including the name “Zatoichi.” And while Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 2 is an amazing addition that includes titles by Edward Yang, Lino Brocka, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, MMC! is most excited by the new edition of Yasujiro Ozu’s Good Morning (1959), a delightful film with a very dated DVD. Here’s hoping that Shochiku’s 4K restoration is as great an up-grade as Tatsuro Kiuchi’s new cover treatment!

Trailer Tuesday

MMC!‘s “Trailer Tuesdays” are the blogosphere’s most viewed posts. Period.

With that out of the way, let’s watch some trailers!

Rialto Pictures is promoting a new restoration of Julien Duvivier’s Panique (1946), a thriller about murder and betrayal that looks great in this re-release trailer. The Criterion Collection has already declared its appreciation of Duvivier (as has MMC!), so we should naturally be hopeful that a stacked Blu-ray for Panique might appear bearing a wacky “C.”