Best (and Worst) Movie Trailers of 2013

 I have a few things I do on the Internet whenever I’m bored: look at shoes, read entertainment gossip, and watch movie trailers. SO. MANY. MOVIE. TRAILERS.

And because this year was actually a shockingly great one for movies—I saw 140-something movies this year, and I can confidently say that I liked more than I disliked—that means movie trailers were great, too. We’ve come a long way since the pre-YouTube trailers of the 1990s, with their omnipresent narration and low resolution. Now every trailer gets analyzed online, screengrabbed and gif-ed for Tumblr, and—more often than not—they all have that Inception BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM noise. Practically every action movie trailer this year had that noise. Can we stop that noise?

But other than the BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM-heavy deluge, there were a lot of really great movie trailers this year. I’ve collected my favorite seven below, as well as my three least favorites. These trailers either made us excited for the full-length film, really tapped into the point of view of the filmmakers, or just had a great score attached. Are your favorites on here? Sound off in the comments!

BEST TRAILERS OF 2013

TO THE WONDER

I’ll be honest: I love me some Terrence Malick, I adored The Tree of Life, and yet To the Wonder was ultimately a letdown. Too little dialogue; too much Ben Affleck; and this movie seemed to disappear from theaters and public consciousness in a way few Malick movies do. But oh, this trailer had me so excited for months. It’s pretentious but beautiful in that patented Malick way, and every time I heard Javier Bardem say “You feel your love has died—maybe it’s waiting to be transformed into something higher,” I burst into tears. I often have TOO MANY emotions, and this trailer really exemplified that. I think it really accurately captures everything people love—and hate—about Malick, and if that’s not a great trailer, I don’t know what is.

To The Wonder by Teaser-Trailer.com

SPRING BREAKERS

James Franco purring “Let’s cause some trouble now.” Former Disney teen queens wearing sweatpants with “DTF” on their butts. That utterly annoying, undeniably catchy song from Skrillex. Was there a more titillating fever dream of a trailer, or of a movie, this entire year? Nope. Director Harmony Korine and Spring Breakersget that distinct honor, and watching this trailer—even after I’ve seen the movie three times already—still gives me giddy chills.

Spring Breakers with Selena Gomez – Official Trailer by FanReviews

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

Jeez, was Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines critically underrated this year. An excellent performance from Ryan Gosling, a breakthrough role for Dane DeHaan, the only time I’ve ever tolerated Eva Mendes—The Place Beyond the Pines had all that! There wasn’t a more affecting tale of the relationships between fathers and sons this year than this movie—“I’m still his father. I can give him stuff”—and I didn’t sob more in a movie theater during all of 2013. The mirroring between Ryan Gosling’s and Bradley Cooper’s characters is done really well in this trailer, and although it’s not an intensely exciting trailer, it sticks with you. The movie will, too; just see it.

The Place Beyond The Pines by Teaser-Trailer.com

THE GREAT GATSBY

Before The Great Gatsby came out, buzz was that the movie was going to be a flop. Such a huge budget for a literary adaptation? After Baz Luhrmann had a failure with Australia? The negative hype was high. But oh man, did The Great Gatsby trailers work hard to turn that doubt around—and when the movie ended up being a commercial success, I think you can point to these trailers as helping that. The movie got a few different official trailers and TV spots before its release, but out of all of them, I think the first is the best. “My life—my life has got to be like this.”

The Great Gatsby by Teaser-Trailer.com

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

Yes, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives was basically just a masturbatory arthouse movie with beautiful scenes, fantastic cinematography, and extremely little plot. But try to tell me Ryan Gosling asking “Wanna fight?” didn’t get your blood boiling. TRY TO TELL ME THAT. And you will be wrong.

Only God Forgives Trailer by Teaser-Trailer.com

MAN OF STEEL

Yes, one of my best movie memories of the entire year was sitting next to my PDC colleague Julian Lytle during Man of Steel, when, during a climactic moment, Julian exasperatedly uttered “Fuck this movie!” in the middle of a packed screening. And ultimately, I concur! I found Man of Steel frustrating and badly plotted, which is especially a bummer given how fantastically epic these trailers were. Oh my god, All-American Kevin Costner suggesting that maybe his adopted son SHOULD have let all his classmates die? Superman's red cape flapping in the wind? Um, Henry Cavill SHIRTLESS and on FIRE? Yes, yes, yes. How sad that the movie was a no, no, no.

Man of Steel by Teaser-Trailer.com

PACIFIC RIM

I personally blame U.S. moviegoers for ignoring Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim and thank the rest of the world for picking up the slack. How could you watch this trailer and then NOT want to see it? Amazingly detailed alien monsters? Idris Elba thundering about “canceling the Apocalypse”? Charlie Hunnam’s and Rinko Kikuchi’s extremely sexual sparring? And it made barely anything domestically? Thanks for nothing, America.

Pacific Rim Official Trailer by Teaser-Trailer.com

WORST TRAILERS OF 2013

OUT OF THE FURNACE

Want to know every single thing that happens in Out of the Furnace? Then just watch its trailer! Seriously, it leaves nothing out. But if we could move away from trailers that give away the entire movie, which actually discourages audiences from paying to see a movie they think they’ve already seen, that would be great.

Out of the Furnace by Teaser-Trailer.com

AMERICAN HUSTLE

American Hustle is a movie with performances that I loved and a soundtrack I immediately wanted to buy, but its trailers left a lot to be desired. The movie is loosely based on the Abscam scandal that is practically impossible to understand, so the trailers chose to forgo narrative and focus on the cast instead. But a trailer that JUST lists the cast members’ names? That seems phenomenally lazy to me.

American Hustle by Teaser-Trailer.com

INSIDIOUS – CHAPTER 2

Because a fat old naked man whispering things in the dark is not scary.

Insidious - Chapter 2 - starring Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson by Teaser-Trailer.com

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Box Office: "Frozen' Freezes Out 'Catching Fire' and 'Out of the Furnace'

1. Frozen- $31.6M/$134.2M
Traditionally, the post-Thanksgiving is a barren one for new releases, and this year is no different. Frozen took advantage and topped the chart with $31M, slipping 53% in its second weekend, slightly lower than Tangled's 55% dip back in 2010.  Internationally the film has hauled in another $55M for a $190M worldwide total, so Disney has to be pretty happy all around. With Oscar buzz swelling for it in the Best Animated Feature category there's little reason to think Frozen will go away any time soon.
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire- $27M/$336.6M
3. Out of the Furnace- $5.3M
Hey, dark and moody films just don't do well this time of year as folks are wrapped up in the holiday spirit. Oddly enough it's also awards season when movies like this tend to garner significant critical acclaim. Out of the Furnace didn't have the benefit of glowing reviews, though, despite an A-list cast of potential Oscar contenders Christian Bale and Forest Whitaker. Audiences have no interest in a brooding movie like this right now, and there's no guarantee it will make back the $20M+ production budget. Probably not, actually.
4. Thor: The Dark World- $4.7M/$193.6M
5. Delivery Man- $3.7M/$24.7M
6. Homefront- $3.3M/$15.2M
7. The Book Thief- $2.7M/$12M
8. The Best Man Holiday- $2.6M/$67.2M
9. Philomena- $2.2M/$8.2M
10. Dallas Buyers Club- $1.4M/$12.4M

Maybe folk music isn't as dead a musical form as we thought? The Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis, riding a ton of Best Actor heat for star Oscar Isaac, opened like gangbusters with $401K in only 4 locations. You can do the math on that one, but it obviously bodes well for a much larger expansion.

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The Talent Show: Christian Bale

Here is a frustration I will carry until my dying days: that Ben Affleck will play Batman after Christian Bale already perfected it. Because, you know what? Christian Bale is a wonderful paragon of manliness.

Sure, his latest, "Out of the Furnace," is kind of uneven, but he's the cornerstone of "American Hustle," and he's the kind of guy who avoids the limelight because he's too busy visiting sick children and making their dreams come true (remember when he visited all the victims of "The Dark Knight Rises" shooting?) Ultimately he's dreamy and handsome and wonderful, and I'm going to say that outburst during "Terminator: Salvation" was because he cares TOO MUCH about his work.

So let's take this fantastic actor and objectify him with some pictures of his dreaminess! Enjoy, readers. I know I am.

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Cinema Royale #42- 'Out of the Furnace'; The Future of 'Fast & Furious'

On this week's show, awards season continues to steamroll along with the gritty crime drama Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, and Zoe Saldana! This one's been flying under the radar but does it have the good to win some gold?

Plus, in the wake of Paul Walker's sudden passing, we take a brief look at his career and the future of the Fast & Furious franchise.

You can find Cinema Royale every single week on Blogtalkradio, Itunes, Libsyn, Stitcher, Podomatic, and as part of the Hashtag Studios Broadcast Network.  Listen to the latest episode below...

Find Additional Movies Podcasts with Cinema Royale on BlogTalkRadio

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Review: 'Out of the Furnace' Starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson

The plight of hard, downtrodden men forged by tragedy and personal demons seems to be a recurring theme for director Scott Cooper, who made his claim-to-fame with the country music drama Crazy Heart, earning Jeff Bridges an Oscar win in the process. Out of the Furnace is no less tough; a machismo-filled ode to those who live desperate, economically depressed lives at the heart of the Rust Belt, where in some cases all people have to their name is guilt, loyalty, bad options, and worse options. It's a stark, unsettling working class revenge tale with grim echoes of The Deer Hunter, but for all its great casting and bleak atmospherics, it's never quite the film it should be.

Beginning in 2008 on the cusp of Barack Obama's inauguration, the hopeful wind of change has apparently not hit the poor industry town of Braddock, PA. It's there we find Russell Baze (Christian Bale), a man who has moved beyond a trouble past and settled into a comfortable, if meager existence working in the town mill. His brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) is all pent up rage and PTSD, a soldier returned home and found nothing waiting for him but a life he tried to escape in the first place. He's up to his neck in debt, and the only way he can slip back into civilian life is through bare knuckle brawls, earning a few dollars putting his body on the line yet again. He's eager for the pain, nervous for it, like an addict looking for a fix. The brothers love one another, that much is clear, but their relationship is lukewarm with disappointment and long-held grudges.

While the brothers prove to be the film's heart, the dark and menacing tone permeating it is established right from the start with the introduction of Harlan DeGroat. Played with brutal efficiency by Woody Harrelson, DeGroat is a whirlwind of cruel violence, capable of unleashing his terrible wrath at a moment's notice, ruling over the town like some backwoods crime lord. It's DeGroat who runs the underground brawls that Rodney has been sucked into, mostly to get out of debt to a nice-guy loan shark (Willem Dafoe) we know has no place in this ugly world. When Russell makes a terrible error in judgment and finds himself thrown behind bars, Rodney is hopelessly left to his own devices and sinks further into trouble. When DeGroat asks him to take a dive in big fight, it's just another treacherous step on a path that isn't too hard to predict.

Out of the Furnace is the slowest of slow burns, especially in the meandering first act as under-motivated characters flit in and out, such as Russell's one-time girlfriend Lena (Zoe Saldana) and the brothers' stoic uncle, Red (Sam Shepard). She represents hope for a better future, and when she eventually hooks up with the town sheriff (Forest Whitaker) while Russell is behind bars, it's another kick in the teeth from a life that has already been cruel. Cooper's deliberate pacing gives the film a true lived-in quality, and the dilapidated ruins of steel town Pennsylvania makes for a powerful backdrop character, captured by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi. The film's aimlessness eventually gives way to a straight-forward tale of vengeance that Cooper and screenwriter Brad Inglesby seem to think is more profound but is actually is.  It's one of those movies that mistakes ambiguity for significance and its theme of hopeless men driven to the brink by limited choices is a familiar one, and despairingly ends with the burst of vigilante justice that was apparent from the very beginning.

The supporting characters don't get much to work with, and the idea of Saldana ever being with Forest Whitaker is laughable even in a dramatic piece like this, but the main performances are big and handled with a delicate touch. All except for Harrelson, whose DeGroat is easily the nastiest he's ever played, which is really saying something. It's a big, commanding turn for Harrelson that sees him reach into the ugliest corners of his soul to play this monster of a man. In the less flashy of his two roles this season (the other being his combed-over turn in American Hustle), Christian Bale embodies a good man worn down to the nub. Like the other men in his family, Russell isn't the emotive type. He's a guy who keeps his dreams and fears buried away inside, but the truth is there in the hurt and hope in his eyes. In one especially wrenching scene, Russell learns that Lena has moved on with her life while he was in prison, and while he's happy for her the pain he's feeling is obvious.  He also shares some great moments with Affleck, who has the trickiest part as the explosive Rodney, who is struggling with a return to civilian life and the expectation of normalcy.
  
Out of the Furnace wants to be a complex film full of complex characters but it works best as a simple piece of depression-era noir.

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New Clip and Photos from 'Out of the Furnace' with Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson

Christian Bale has a pair of potential Oscar contenders hitting theaters this winter that couldn't be more different from one another. There's the retro crime caper American Hustle, in which he plays a shady and very balding con man working for the FBI. And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace, a film so bleak it makes Prisoners look like a Homecoming parade.

Bale stars alongside Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, and Willem Dafoe in the story of brothers Russell (Bale) and Rodney (Affleck) in the economically-depressed Rust Belt of Pennsylvania. When Rodney, a war veteran, gets mixed up with a bad crowd it's up to Russell, recently released from prison, to get him out of harm's way. In this newly released clip we see a tense conversation between backwater crimelord Harlan DeGroat (Harrelson) and Rodney about throwing a fight.

Out of the Furnace opens in limited release November 27th, before going wide December 6th.

 

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New Trailer and Poster for 'Out of the Furnance' with Christian Bale

Four years ago Scott Cooper emerged like a house on fire with the country music drama, Crazy Heart, a film that earned him numerous accolades and a Best Actor win for Jeff Bridges. It took him awhile to ready his follow-up, Out of the Furnance, and as the Oscar race takes shape it's looking like Cooper may have another dark horse contender.

Starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Sam Shepard, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, and Zoe Saldana, the film follows two brothers who desperately want to escape the confines of their Rust Belt town. Bale plays the older sibling who must save his brother from a criminal ring run by a menacing Harrelson. It looks like gritty, tightly focused stuff that explores everything from economic depression to the bond between brothers.

Out of the Furnace opens on December 6th.


Out of the Furnace trailer # 2 by Flixgr

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New Images from 'Out Of The Furnace' As It Heads to AFI Fest

With Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher getting shuffled off to 2014, that left the folks at AFI Fest in a bit of a pickle as it was meant to be their centerpiece premiere. That left them scrambling to find a notable replacement, and they've definitely found one with Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace taking over the slot and making its world premiere.

A number of new images have been release to coincide with the announcement, showing stars Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Sam Shepard, and Willem Dafoe. Bale plays an ex-con in a small Rust Belt town who goes on the hunt for his younger brother after he gets mixed up in a criminal ring. In a slight ironic twist, the film was initially pegged to be a part of the 2012 Oscar race but was bumped to this year when it's expected to be a major player. AFI Fest has also added Alexander Payne's Nebraska and Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to the line-up with the promise of more to come.

Out of the Furnace gets a limited release November 27th before going wide on December 6th.

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First Trailer for 'Out Of the Furnace' Starring Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson

If The Town proved anything a couple of years ago, it's that a gritty as Hell crime flick can emerge in the fall and run roughshod over a lot of stodgy Oscar hopefuls. And that seems to be the plan cooked up by Relativity Media for Out of the Furnace, the new thriller from Crazy Heart director, Scott Cooper.

A handful of images debuted a few days ago, and following the usual pattern we now have the first trailer for what looks like a cracking good crime yarn. The story is a familiar one, but the A-list cast suggests there's something more buried beneath the surface. Christian Bale plays a poor steelworker in the Rust Belt who is released from prison and goes in search of his missing brother (Casey Affleck), who hooked up with the criminal element. The trailer goes a long way in making us feel the economic hardship and desperation in these characters, which typically leads to some brutal acts of violence. Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, Woody Harrelson, and Willem Dafoe all appear to have put on their game faces for this one, as well.

Out of the Furnace hits theaters on November 27th.

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First Photos from 'Out Of the Furnace' with Christian Bale and Woody Harrelson

It took Scott Cooper a little while to decide on a follow-up to his 2009 hit, Crazy Heart, but he made one heck of a choice when he finally did. On the surface, Out of the Furnace sounds like a fairly typical crime thriller, but with Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, and Willem Dafoe on board, there's a reason why Relativity has placed the film in the thick of the Oscar season.

USA Today has released the first two images, giving us a look at a standoff between Bale and Harrelson, the latter playing the "villain" of the piece. Set in the heart of the Rust Belt, the story has Bale and Affleck as brothers Russell and Rodney Blaze, each  with dreams of escaping their economically-depressed surroundings.After a stint in prison, Russell goes on the hunt for his missing brother after he got caught up in a violent crime ring.

Out of the Furnace hits theaters on November 27th. Expect a trailer to drop soon.

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