Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

One of my favorite pastime activities is watching movies. Granted, I hardly go to the movie theater anymore. In this day and age I get my stuff "on-demand" (read: usenet). Now, one of my favorite activities besides watching movies, is watching the trailers for movies. I think it is fun and helps build the anticipation.

The trick to a good trailer is obviously to build the anticipation and make you go "I really want to go see that movie". If I think of good trailers from the last years/decades (yeah, I'm over 40). Then a few pop into my mind as really good (in no particular order):

• Lord of the Rings (2001, trilogy)


• Alien (1979)


• Terminator 2 (1991)


• The Blair Witch project (1999)


• Cloverfield (2008, reminds me of the Blair Witch project)


• The Matrix (1999, and the subsequent sequels)


• E.T. (1982)


• Star Wars (1977, and the ones after it)


• Batman Begins (2005, finally a real Batman movie!)

Heck: I can go on and on (think I will make a different post out of my favorite trailers ever).

Anyway, on my current list of movies that I want to see (some might already be out, or will be out soon) are:

• Capitalism: a Love story (out now in the US; the latest Michael Moore movie, I have to see this!)


• The Book of Eli (starring Denzel Washington, out Jan. 2010)


• Pandorum (S/F, horror, storyline is a bit too familiar, but who knows)


• Alice in Wonderland (Another Tim Burton production! Out March 2010)


• The Box (from the director of Donnie Darko. Who's gonna push your button? Looks like a must see!)


• Shutter Island (looks like a great horror flick with Leonardo DiCaprio)


• The Crazies (yet another horror flick, seems inspired by George Romero's Zombie movies)


• Up in the Air (looks like a nice character movie, stars George Clooney)


• Zombieland (horror, comedy, gotta love that)


• Surrogates (S/F - does anyone agree with me it looks like the Matrix with a twist?)


• Inglorious Bastards (action, looks like Quentin Tarantino at his best)


• Gamer (S/F, action)


• Avatar (James Cameron is back with what looks like a great S/F movie)


• Paranormal Activity (looks like horror at it's best. I really want to see this one!)

To finish my post: here is a prime example of a cool trailer.

Remember the movie "Tron" (1982) from Disney? Next year (2010) there will be a sequel! On the NYC Comic-Con they showed and exclusive HD trailer for it. This really makes me want run go run out to see it!.

Tron Legacy aka Tron II

I remember it like yesterday. It was 1984 and I was 17. I was skipping class to go see this movie called "The Terminator" with this guy called Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's two previous movies - Conan the Barbarian ('82) and Conan the Destroyer ('84) - I had seen as well. So, me and this friend of mine, head out to the theather in Amsterdam, got us some popcorn and sat back to enjoy the ride. And what a ride it was. The storyline was provocative and intelligent. The action was non-stop. The characters where cool. What else would one want? Afterwards my friend and I watched it like 20 times on video. We could even quote whole parts of the movie.

Without a doubt 'Terminator' was Arnold Schwarzeneggers ticket to fame, just as it was for director James Cameron (Aliens, The Abyss, Titanic). The movie created a character bigger than life. So when in '92 the sequel T2 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) came out, I was incredibly happy; I waited 7 years for it, but it was worth it. The storyline was very good and it seemed it wrapped up the storyline from the previous movie (preventing the rise of the machines and a nuclear holocaust) nice and neatly. The twist where the T800 terminator from part 1 now is the good guy, was just a brilliant idea in my opinion. I just loved it.

Needless to say, the fact there is a new Terminator film out (Terminator Salvation), has me tickled with anticipation!



Continue reading "Terminator Salvation (for ... »

Some movies will always remain classics. I happen to own “Spaceballs the Movie” on DVD with a lot of extra’s on it.

Ok, it's almost March and last year it started Looking forward to the new movies of 2007 on Jan. 2nd already. But hey: I gotta fill my blog right? So here is a round-up of movies that I look forward to watching downloading this year;

• The Spiderwick Chronicles (fantasy)
• Street Kings (action/adventure)
• Boarding Gate (action/drama, featuring Asia Argento)
• The Happening (the newest thriller by M. Night Shyamalan)
• The Bank Job (action, starring Saffron Burrows, who I like ever since I saw her in Gangster No. 1)
• Forbidden Kingdom (action/fantasy; finally a movie Jet-Li and Jackie Chan)
• Diary of the Dead (horror: finally George A. Romero returns with a cool zombie movie)
• Superhero Movie (humor; from the makers of Naked Gun and Scary Movie)
• Iron Man (action: finally Tony Stark comes to live in yet another cartoon-made-into-movie)
• Doomsday (action/science fiction, starring Rhona Mitra)
• Defiance (war: the incredible story of three Jewish brothers from Poland who escape from the Nazis and fight back to rescue fellow Jews)
• Son of Rambow (comedy: a Sundance festival winner)
• 88 Minutes (thriller, starring Al Pacino)
• Star Trek (science/fiction: the prequel to the best SF series ever!)
• You Don't Mess With The Zohan (humor: Adam Sandler is back with a huger than life character!)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (fantasy: 2nd part of the trilogy)
• Nim's Island (adventure/fantasy: starring Abigail Breslin from "Little Miss Sunshine")
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (adventure: yes, 65 year old Harrisson Ford is at it again!)
• Get Smart (humor, Steve Carell yet again in a role that seems to fit him like a glove)

It gives me great pleasure to see Hollywood posthumously picked up on a great movie by the late Theo van Gogh; "Interview". Even though they made a remake out of the original, it is a testament to the genious Van Gogh was as a filmaker. It is also particulary flattering (I think) that a guy like Steve Buscemi (who I love as an actor) took it upon him to direct and star in this movie. Obviously it is not blockbuster material, but not all blockbusters are good movies per se. Anway, I think that Theo van Gogh probably would have been flattered too and it is a shame he is not here to see the result.
The storyline itself is simple and there are no big sets or special effects involved: it's psychology of the two characters and how they handle themselves in the situation they are in that makes this a true actors movie. Off course the previous comments are on the Dutch version. But I am sure that the version Buscemi made is equally good. I for sure will try to see it when it comes out here.

Berlinale 2007: Steve Buscemi about his film "Interview"


Click here to see the trailer.