I admit it. I loved Steve Guttenberg when I was a kid. And I’ve been anticipating a respectable comeback from the Police Academystar for almost two decades now. But after watching this video from Funny or Die, I’m finally ready to close the door on any hope I might have had for the guy. The faux commercial for “Guttenberg’s Steak House” is lame and unoriginal, and not only did I not laugh, I don’t even understand what’s supposed to be funny about it.
Until now, I kind of believed there was an almost win-win benefit to the viral marketing of oneself. A site like FOD is a perfect venue to showcase whatever talent we’ve been missing from a fallen star who otherwise has been trapped within the confines of the Hollywood system. Someone like Guttenberg, who has been stuck bottom feeding in the lowest of low-rent roles, could use this opportunity to be as brilliant as he can be. Unfortunately, maybe this is as good as he gets these days.
I knew the whole red-band fad would come to this: Fox Searchlight is promoting the latest trailer for its Sundance-pickup Choke as “the raunchiest red-band trailer EVER.” Well, I don’t know if I agree with the statement — maybe if Fox hadn’t censored the sex scenes with “Big Screen Only” banners — but something about this latest spot makes me more interested in the film. Could it be the nudity? Or the swearing? Or maybe it’s simply the greater exposure to the coarseness we’ve come to expect from Sam Rockwell. And here he appears more depraved than usual.
On the film’s adults-only website (also available to kids who know how to pick the age-restriction locks), there are also four new promotional videos featuring strippers reading passages from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, on which the movie is based. They’re pretty funny if you’re still into the dumb stripper stereotype (I prefer the smart MENSA strippers/porn stars like Asia Carrera, of course). Also on the site, you can kinda learn how to do the Heimlich Maneuver.
Choke won a Special Jury Prize for its ensemble cast (including my current celebrity crush, Kelly Macdonald) at Sundance this past January. It opens in theaters nationwide September 26.
In honor of today’s news that Regal Entertainment Group will show red band trailers in its theaters again, The Bad & Ugly has found this new restricted trailer for the medical school thriller Pathology. Unfortunately, the blog (specifically its writer, Dave) has a weak argument for why red band trailers are a good thing. Comparing the red band ad with a recent teaser, Dave claims that without the R-rated edit, we wouldn’t know what the movie is about. Yet aside from the fact that most people HATE to get too much of a movie’s plot from the trailer, it’s simply just not true. The original green band trailer from last September features enough all-ages-appropriate footage to know it’s about some medical residents wagering who can commit the more perfect murder. Also, the teaser is pretty R-rated itself, so Dave has an odd point.
Anyway, I think red band trailers are fine, but really the only thing we get out of this one is that the movie has a lot of corpse nudity and swear words. Regarding the former appeal, all those necrophiliacs who would have otherwise stayed away from this are now guaranteed to buy advance tickets. Yes, the trailer also shows us some live flesh and live sex, but I would argue that they are actually harmful to the marketing of the movie. Maybe in addition to the necros there are some other fetishists who like doing it (with living partners) in morgues, but I believe I can safely assume most moviegoers are going to throw up. And, well, I guess maybe there will be some emetophiliacs in the audience to take pleasure in that.
Pathology, written by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor (Crank and Crank 2: High Voltage) and directed by Marc Schoelermann, hits theaters April 18.
In yet another sign that the digital revolution will be good for smut and violence, the largest theater chain in the States, Regal Entertainment Group, has announced that they’ll allow “red band” trailers, featuring uncensored glimpses of R-rated films, to screen in front of films already designated for adult audiences. Regal’s senior VP of marketing says digital projection will allow the chain to exercise greater control in tailoring pre-show content to specific films, thus reducing the risk that a trailer meant for Hostel 7 will play in front of Horton Hears a Who.
Speaking of: the Jim Carrey-voiced Horton made $45 million at the box office this weekend, while both Snow Angels and Paranoid Park continued to do well in limited release.
Scott Rudin and Miramax have acquired the rights to Richard Price’s recently released, heavily-buzzed novel Lush Life, a noir set in the new-money Lower East Side. Price, a writer for The Wire, will write the adaptation himself; he previously scripted Rudin’s remake of Shaft.
I don’t normally pay notice to movies like The Ruins. What can I say? I just don’t care about generic horror. But for some reason (accidental? good marketing?) its trailer was shown twice, almost back to back, when I went to see Cloverfield, and it stuck in my head. However, merely having the thing in my memory doesn’t mean I’m interested. I didn’t think it looked good the first time around, and the second time it was met with much heckling and laughter from the rest of the audience. Much of this was obviously due to the awkwardness of the reappearance alone, but also the movie’s apparent faults, much of them simply based on conventional cheesiness, were certainly heightened by their repetition.
Now, with this new Red Band trailer (age-checked here, if the YouTube fails), I feel like I’m seeing the trailer again for a third time. Actually, I think the original cut made the movie look scarier. Typically, the reason to have a Red Band trailer is to pull out the stops and show things you can’t have in a regular version, such as nastier gore, some swear words and, if you really want to go all out, some naked flesh. But this has none of that. For a minute I thought this was one of those illogical Red Band trailers made for PG-13-rated horror movies. But The Ruins is in fact Rated R, and is such for “strong violence and gruesome images, language, some sexuality and nudity.” Thank goodness the MPAA has let us know what’s in the movie, since DreamWorks’ marketing team fails to share any of the goods.
So, I’m confused. Why did I have to prove my age to see this trailer (before finding it on YouTube, that is)? This is the tamest (and lamest) Red Band trailer ever.
In yet another sign that the digital revolution will be good for smut and violence, the largest theater chain in the States, Regal Entertainment Group, has announced that they’ll 
