Amy's Robot

Shocking directors

Since I think we're now down to two making a trend, I want to point out a couple of movie trailers now playing in theaters. Every time I've seen these trailers they have elicited murmurs of shock among the audience when, at the end of the trailer, the director's name is flashed, and it's a name the audience was obviously not expecting to see.

Case 1: Match Point [trailer]

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays an Irish tennis player who marries sweet rich Emily Mortimer. They are happy until Jonathan R-M meets Scarlett Johansson at an art gallery, memorably says to her, "Say your phone number. Please," then engages in an affair with her through several fleshy explosions of hyper-plump lips colliding, all of which inevitably leads to tearful phone calls, refusal to leave the rich wife, threats from Scarlett to reveal all to Emily, sexual obsession, and other stuff common to psychosexual thrillers and movies about the messy urges of greed and lust.

Then on the screen flashes: Match Point, From Director Woody Allen

Crowd:[whispering loudly] "Woody Allen!" " Woody Allen!"

Case 2: Inside Man [trailer]

Clive Owen plays a bank robber who we see going through the motions of an intricate-looking bank heist. Or is he? Denzel Washington is a local detective trying to get the hostages out, until Jodie Foster arrives (in what might be her most delicious role ever) and is a ball-busting icy fed who starts muscling her way into the case, implying that it involves security issues over Denzel's head. Meanwhile, Clive Owen is making his hostages wear identical jumpsuits and generally dressing them up in modified hazmat getups. Political intrigue? Biochemical warfare? Who knows where this gripping crime thriller will lead us?

Then on the screen with the credits: Directed by Spike Lee

Crowd: [whispering loudly] "Spike Lee!" "Spike Lee!"

I was part of the loudly whispering crowd the first time I saw the trailers too. Now it's just fun to watch the crowd react in exactly the same way every single time.

categories: Movies
posted by amy at 1:55 PM | #