Hey look, another trailer for “Skyline!” No? “Cloverfield 2,” then? Still wrong? Maybe an “Independence Day” remake? No, it’s the trailer for “Battle: Los Angeles,” and it looks remarkably like every other alien invasion movie made in the last ten or so years. Admittedly, it has a more somber tone and it doesn’t aggressively point out the presence of its stars Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, and, uh, Ne-Yo. In fact, you’ll probably have to go through frame by frame to spot any of them. I confess that my interest in the coming alien invasion is gradually fading, and “Battle: LA” hasn’t perked it up much. Hell, who says the invading extraterrestrial hordes have to be more advanced than humans and determined to wipe us all out time and time again? I’d rather see a fresh take on the subject. But I don’t direct movies, I just criticize them. Check out the trailer below.
I’ve been known to take plenty of potshots at Nicolas Cage on the Movie Trail, and the truly tepid-looking “Season of the Witch” was one of my first targets. The first teaser for it came out over a year ago, and I’d forgotten all about it until I saw the latest trailer. When a film is delayed that long, it usually bodes poorly, but I’ve got to say: it looks a lot better than it used to. It appears to be complete popcorn trash, with Ron Perlman and Nic Cage delightfully hamming it up, chewing on scenery, and growling out lines. This may seem like faint praise, but it’s an improvement over the overly serious supernatural thriller it began as. Also, could “We’re gonna need more holy water!” be this generation’s “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”?
Like “Battle: Los Angeles,” the trailer for “The Eagle” is somewhat derivative. It could easily “King Arthur,” “Gladiator,” “Centurion,” or any of the several other Roman sword-and-sandals movies. It sends a centurion and his slave in search of a lost legion standard, the titular golden eagle. No doubt the pair singlehandedly kills an inordinate amount of people in their quest, but in a totally non-graphic way. This is PG-13 people, don’t get too worked up.
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