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Why's Everybody So Serious? A Roundup Of Trailers For Very Serious Movies (Now Featuring Angelina Jolie Directing!)

By TK | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (16)

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I don’t know why, but in the last week several trailers for Very Serious movies with messages and Very Serious performances came out. Lots of frowny faces and sweeping declarations of love or independence or… you know what I mean. Here are three of them.

Hey, remember how awesome Colin Farrell was in In Bruges? AS the slightly sad, hilariously funny, manic, coke-snorting hitman? Well, London Boulevard is like that, minus the funny, manic, coke-snorting part. Meaning Farrell is a little too serious in this. Fortunately, the presence of Ray Winstone makes up for it, because he looks like he’s having a hell of a time. As for the presence of Keira Knightly, I’ll leave it up to you as to whether that’s a good thing or not.


Freda Pinto, Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong. This one’s certainly got its share of dead fucking sexy, right? Black Gold is “film is set in the 1930s Arab states at the dawn of the oil boom and the story centers on a young Arab prince torn between allegiance to his conservative father and modern, liberal father-in-law..” It looks pretty impressive, actually.


Here’s the one that’ll raise the most eyebrows. Angelina wrote and directed The Land Of Blood And Honey, a tragic love story set against the the backdrop of the brutal Bosnian war in the 1990’s. It features a Bosnian and Croatian cast (although the film is in English), and the advance reviews have been incredibly positive. It looks like a tough movie, and Jolie doesn’t appear to shy away from the uglier aspects of the conflict.









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Comments

London Boulevard looks fun. At least, Netflix-worthy. And ever since I saw Last Night, Keira Knightly gets a life-long pass from me. That movie broke. my. heart.

Land Of Blood And Honey looks outstanding.

Posted by: Scully at October 25, 2011 10:45 AM

Ahh, awards season.

Posted by: Three-nineteen at October 25, 2011 11:21 AM

Colin Farrell movies (that don't look like total shit) get put on my must-see list since In Bruges. I absolutely couldn't stand him before I saw that movie, but then, BLAM! He goes and nails that role with a perfect mix of comedy, anger, and sadness. Me and the Whorish Mouth will most def be seeing this.

Posted by: PissBoy at October 25, 2011 11:30 AM

I'm really excited for In the Land of Blood and Honey. Jolie seems to embrace a few of the romance at wartime cliches, but I'm not rolling my eyes at them in the trailer. It's a fascinating conflict and actually casting Bosnian and Croatian actors is a plus.

I've read a bit about her process for writing and directing the film and she seems to have taken a real stab at doing it well.

Posted by: Robert at October 25, 2011 11:39 AM

London Blvd.: Didn't that come out already? I feel like I saw that trailer some months ago. Looks interesting.

Or Noir: I'm fascinated by the story, but something about the formal style is turning me off. I don't know.

Blood and Honey: Saw the trailer yesterday, and unfortunately I'm not feeling it. I say unfortunately because the Bosnian-Serbian conflict is a story of genocide that more films should be made about rather than the Holocaust all the time (the Armenian and Sudanese genocides too), but I can't put my finger on why I wouldn't watch this one. Maybe something's being lost in the trailer.

Posted by: Rest In Peace at October 25, 2011 11:43 AM

What Robert said. As long as it doesn't shy away from the brutality of the conflict.

Posted by: admin at October 25, 2011 11:46 AM

All three look like they could be fantastic. Can anyone explain why they are they speaking English with an accent whey talking to someone who should understand the native language? My younger self probably wouldn't have cared much, but it seems weird now.

Posted by: phase10 at October 25, 2011 11:59 AM

Tomorrow's my birthday, yay me! My back has been hurting for 3 days now, and I really can't point to the reason why.

Posted by: phase10 at October 25, 2011 12:02 PM

Has anyone else noticed the PR campaign around the Jolie movie presents it like she took this HUGE chance and is making a daring career move? Because when an A-List star with major power in Hollywood directs an inexpensive independent movie, it is a really big risk. If it goes wrong, her career could suffer for, literally, minutes. She is so brave.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at October 25, 2011 12:25 PM

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at October 25, 2011

Heh, on the snark, but if it encourages more Hollywood women to actually take that [real] chance and create their own projects, then it's all good.

No roles for a woman of your particular age/race/body shape? Go make one.
~~~

Posted by: Meander at October 25, 2011 12:37 PM

Just to say, Mrs. Julien, she did write the film, too. That is a risk. So is casting non-American actors in a film that will be given a huge push stateside. Hers is the name on the marquee and she faces all the blame. If this bombs, she might not get another stab at a film with the (rumored) budget of $10million.

That said, the "how brave" narrative is getting to me, too. Madonna's also getting this bullshit media story and in her case it's laughable. I have never seen test screening postponed multiple times due to lack of interest. Every e-mail I got for the one test screening that kept getting moved added her name a few more times. It eventually read something like, "Pop superstar Madonna directed this film. Madonna, the director, puts together [logline]. This is Madonna's first time directing a feature film. You should care because she's Madonna. W.E. directed by Madonna. See Madonna's new film. Please?"

Posted by: Robert at October 25, 2011 12:41 PM

I think she is a person whose heart is in the right place. If she turns out to be Clint Eastwood, I say more power to her. If the film fails, it will be a public embarrassment, but it won't have any significant impact on her career. It's the PR narrative that I object too.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at October 25, 2011 12:52 PM

Didn't Brad's production company produce it too?

Posted by: admin at October 25, 2011 1:01 PM

London Boulevard looked like fun to me. Probly a Netflix though.

Angelina Jolie cant win. She's damned no matter what she does. Her acting is not good enough. Her movies dont make enough money. She either doesn't give enough of her money away or she gets waaay to much credit for giving her money away. She's no saint they cry with righteous indignation she stole Brad from Jennifer!

Luckily for her I dont think she gives a damn. She just does what she wants. Which is what I think pisses people off the most.

Posted by: logan at October 25, 2011 6:33 PM

Except for the fact that almost none of the actors playing Middle Eastern characters are Middle Eastern, Black Gold looks quite the goods.

London Boulevard is enough up my alley that I'll check it out. Also, The Clash.

The third appeals to me, but the wife and daughter, not so much...

Posted by: trib at October 25, 2011 9:11 PM

Jolie didn't write the script she plagiriazed it from a Bosnian author.

I see her fans are promoting this film by showing it down eveyone's throat.

Posted by: d at October 28, 2011 7:29 AM