Bored by summer blockbusters? This week has delivered a hefty selection of new trailers for the fall season and beyond. If there are any trends to be found it could be rich people doing questionable things animated undead or clever twists on familiar genres. To better showcase the cornucopia of clips here are 12 titles with commentary limited to two sentences each.
Robot and Frank
An elderly ex-jewel thief (Frank Langella) teams up with an android to rob pretentious windbags and win the love of his librarian (Susan Sarandon). Looks like a lot of fun!
Juan of the Dead
“Juan of the dead we kill your beloved ones.” Cuba’s first horror film brings the zom-com craze to the streets of Havana for a bloody goody time.
Walk Away Renee
Jonathan Caouette’s 2003 debut Tarnation about the lifelong struggles he shares with a schizophrenic mother is one of the most powerful documentaries of the decade. He picks up where he left off with what’s sure to be an equally harrowing sequel.
Easy Money
The post- Dragon Tattoo Swedish film fad brings this crime flick formerly known as Snabba Cash to North America (thanks to Martin Scorsese). It already has a sequel back home so look forward to that as well if this one makes a splash.
Celeste and Jesse Forever
Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones star in this rom-com about a divorced couple that might actually be soulmates. It looks a lot better than that description sounds.
Hotel Transylvania
Samberg’s second offering finds him reuniting with That’s My Boy co-star Adam Sandler for a family-friendly 3D animation about vampires. Sure why not?
Here Comes The Boom
The guys from King of Queens Happy Days and Ally McBeal somehow rope Salma Hayek into a comedy about mixed martial arts. How is this funny?
A Band Called Death
Detroit proto-punks Death blew a lot of minds when their long-lost debut was reissued by Drag City a few years back. Now there’s a rock doc about the band as well featuring people you wanna hear from (Alice Cooper Questlove and Henry Rollins) and others you probably won’t (Kid Rock and Elijah Wood).
Arbitrage
Spoiler alert: The plot of this hard-to-pronounce hedge fund thriller is essentially given away in the trailer. But could there be a twist?
Frankenweenie
Tim Burton goes back to the well of his live action short-film from 1984 with the visual style of The Nightmare Before Christmas for what might be his first tolerable movie in ages. Most important: no Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter.
Taken 2
Liam Neeson snaps necks and takes names in this sequel to the 2008 action hit. The setting has been moved to Istanbul but he’s still the same pissed-off CIA retiree out to save his family from an army of baddies.
Anna Karenina
Tolstoy’s classic novel has been adapted many times before but the 2012 version from Atonement director Joe Wright should open it up to a whole new audience. Now how can they make War and Peace hip for the kids?
