A sequel 400 years in the making!

In Hamlet 2, Steve Coogan stars as a man who can’t make it in life as a lousy actor, so he becomes a lousy high school drama teacher. When the school threatens to shut down the theater department, he decides to put on a benefit show to rival all other benefit shows. But that doesn’t mean some lame revival of Oklahoma! or Death of a Salesman; he’s going to create his own original production. He decides to write a sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and manages to get around the pesky issue of 99% of the characters dying at the end of the original. All you need are a few convenient plot devices, like a time machine and the adding of Jesus as a character, and a few catchy musical numbers, like “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus.”

A plot this hilariously ludicrous and a cast that includes Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, and the reintroduction of Elisabeth Shue is bound to be an entertaining RENT IT. And if not, perhaps some other Shakespearian sequels will start cropping up. Coming next summer: King Lear II: The Reckoning.

Hamlet 2 is not yet rated and opens in limited release August 27. (Official site)

So I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making a fake trailer for a while now, but I didn’t have any good ideas.

But after my watching my 21st debate, as well as way too much Hardball, it finally hit me.

This trailer is a mash-up of the Election Trailer (Reese Witherspoon, 1999, etc.) and a whole lot of footage from the 2008 presidential race. It looks like Tracy Flick is all grown up now…

I’m guessing you’ll be able to figure out who I’m rooting for in this brawl between Clinton and Obama. I realize this trailer won’t sway any votes for my man Barack, but it’s my way of showing some moral support. Plus, it was fun to make.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy.

And as always, feel free to comment here.

Today’s lesson: Life is short. So live fast, play hard, and love much while you can.

There, I just saved you $11 and an endless amount of eye-rolling at this ‘tragic love story torn asunder by disease’ movie, so you can SKIP IT.

Jack and Jill vs. the World is rated PG-13 and has an unknown release date. (Official site)

I realize that this isn’t actually a trailer, but this video was just too funny not to post.

The title is fairly self-explanatory, but basically, it’s a satirical news report about how the very popular Iron Man trailer is being turned into a full movie and whether that is a good idea or not.

On a side note, it’s nice to see The Onion hitting it big with a good viral video. They’re paper’s still going strong, but I haven’t seen many of their videos that have gotten the kind of penetration that this one has. Hopefully they keep it up.

I actually think Anna Faris is a pretty funny lady, so it’s nice to see her doing an actual comedy, rather than yet another installment of the horror movie spoof series, Scary Movie. Faris plays a bubbly Playboy bunny (and Hef himself makes a cameo appearance) who is tossed out of the mansion for being a bunny of a certain age (27!). She stumbles onto a college campus and gleefully sees that the Greek system isn’t unlike the lifestyle she’s used to at the Playboy mansion. So she applies to be a house mother to one of the sororities.

And naturally she lands a position in a sorority house with the most awkward and socially clueless group of girls. They have dull hair, glasses, and non flesh-baring clothes; talk about inept! Time for a makeover montage! Faris takes the misfits under her bunny wing and teach them how to be better versions of themselves, and the clueless girls also teach her a thing or two when a campus cutie appears to be immune to her beguiling bunny ways.

There’s nothing earth-shattering going on here, but The House Bunny seems like it could be entertaining enough to RENT IT. It has a distinct Legally Blonde feel to it: ultimately pointless, yet harmlessly entertaining. I just hope no one has the “brilliant” idea to turn this one into a Broadway musical.

The House Bunny is not yet rated and opens August 22. (Official site)

Ellen Page’s characters always seem to be in some sort of peril. First she’s hunting down a suspected pedophile in Hard Candy. Then she’s being threatened with a mutation cure in X-Men 3. And then she was everyone’s favorite knocked up teenager in Juno. Now she’s naked on a bus, desperately searching for her missing younger brother.

I’m trying to think of something clever or witty or insightful to say about The Tracey Fragments’ trailer…but I’m coming up blank. It doesn’t necessarily look bad, but I’m not sure it’s really all that good, either. Perhaps I’ve just seen Ellen Page be snarky while in peril in an independent movie too many times and I’ve become immune to reaction. Hm…when do the trailers for the big summer films start coming out? I’ve never been so desperate to see some shit get blown up.

As for The Tracey Fragments, I’ll probably eventually RENT IT. I’m curious enough to know why she’s naked on a bus and if she ever finds her brother.

The Tracey Fragments will probably be rated R and opens in limited release May 9. (Official site)

If you’ve ever taken the time to read TrailerSpy’s “About” page, then you have way too much time on your hands. But also, you would have noticed that Grosse Point Blank is one of my favorite movies of all-time. I own the VHS (google it) and I’ve watched it more times than I care to admit publicly.

Anyways, a couple weeks ago, I was reading some guys blog, and he said that John Cusack’s new movie, War, Inc. looked like Grosse Point Blank 2. And I remember thinking, “Yeah right buddy, nice try.”

But then I saw this new trailer, and I have to say that the similarities are suddenly undeniable.

After all, John Cusack is once again playing a hit-man, and once again, his sister is playing his head-set wearing, foul-mouthed assistant. Dan Aykroyd is in this one as well (although this time they’re on the same team). And once again, he’s having morality issues and delaying the hit that he was sent to perform (this time on a foreign oil minister). Obviously there are a number of differences, but for the most part, Cusack’s character and the tone of the movie look to be exactly the same.

The truth is, this movie was bound to be a SEE IT for me, anyway. I love John Cusack, and the idea of him humorously tackling the Iraq War and the whole terrorist thing is music to my ears. But now that I see this movie for what it really is, a clever non-sequel sequel to one of my favorite movies, well, I am beyond excited.

War, Inc. is rated R and opens in limited release on May 23 (although the IMDB Page says that the DVD premiere is July 1st…are they serious?!! They’re really just going to do a pseudo straight-to-DVD for this movie?!! Maybe these guys just don’t like making money, because I guarantee this movie would gross at least $10 million on opening weekend. Hopefully they rethink that, so that my SEE IT doesn’t involuntarily become a RENT IT, because I’m just dying to pay someone, anyone, $11 to see this movie on the big screen. Alright, I’m done complaining now.)