I Outgrew Aliens: The Blog of Spike Marshall

Trailers are a tricky thing to get right, on the one hand they have to make the film appeal to as many people as possible but on the other you actually have to sell what makes the film interesting. You are very right it seems to be a dying art, I can only thing of 3 trailers in the last few months that have made me want to see a film I had not interest in beforehand (which after all should be its job).


Great start Spike, I really liked this blog.

Cool blog dude.

I've got to say that I've been trying to avoid trailers recently (apart from those for films I've never heard of), and for the most part it's only increased my enjoyment. I'd forgotten how much fun it was entering a film with barely any knowledge beforehand.

Nice job, Spike!

I agree with your point about the experience of viewing trailers outside the cinema diminishing the impact. It doesn't usually stop me from doing it if there's a new one released and I'm curious, but it is an unspoken part of the deal. The trade-off for speed is that little layer of icing being skimmed off the top, the layer that sometimes makes you think "balls to this nonsense, I wanna see that movie now!" at the pictures.

Tron Legacy gave me a very similar reaction, too.

Wow. Great blog. I feel slightly intimidated with my own efforts after reading that. Having followed some of your comments in the forums for the past few years, I've always found that you bring a really good balance to film discussion. And that has certainly carried over to your blog. Great stuff!

Good stuff, Spike. I admit I pretty regularly give in to the temptation to check out trailers online, but nothing beats seeing them in a theater. That's undeniable. Even so, a lot of them suck, and some of it is the general style that applies to virtually all contemporary trailers. There's something about trailers from the 80s and earlier, even really bad ones are better than bad modern ones. They don't make em like they used to. Feel the same about posters.

True. I also think it's pandering to the LCD, which even goes beyond the remake and sequel trend. It's yet another symptom of the sort of climate of anti-intellectualism we're in these days. Also the fact that we're movie geeks so we're paying closer attention, whereas for some people "proof of existence" is all that's needed.

Spot on there Spike. The Darkness' brief run gave us our last real frontman. With the exception of older bands there are no real "old school" frontmen left.
Which is a real shame because when you see a band live you do not exactly the same exeperince as the album you have at home.

You did a great job of going into detail but not over-egging it. Very enjoyable stuff, again. I'm getting used to agreeing with your blogs! Bloc Party's Kele would neatly fit into the Tom Smith category. He, for me, is emblematic of that time (starting around 04'-?) when it became fashionable to fit that "reluctant frontman" persona for a lot of British bands' singers. The fact that I had to think seriously about the last time I saw a band that hues closer to the more traditional, "you come to watch me" frontman mold - Greg Dulli when I saw the Twilight Singers - says it all.

If The Darkness counts, surely Dick Valentine of The Electric Six must count as a throwback-y, "true" frontman.

In the friendliest way possible, I want to suggest (to a stunning number of blogs, but right now I'm here) that spellchecking isn't the same as proofreading. You have good stuff to say; it deserves to be conveyed properly.

I'm not saying I think this is right, but I'm pretty sure that Electric Six's gimmicky, "comedy" feel kept them from being perceived in the same way as the kinds of bands Spike mentioned (and I added to) by a lot of people. I can see where you're coming from, though. His influences are very apparent from their videos.

I think The Darkness operates in that same self-aware jokey miasma that Electric Six embraces. As Spike says, it's the live shows where his frontman attitude is mostly apparent.

I'd go along with that, but there was still a pretty marked distinction between the two when they first arrived. I remember being the only person from our group who didn't want to see The Darkness at Reading in '04 (when they were at their absolute peak) and getting lots of "what? why not?!"'s. How could someone not want to see such a fun, throwback band? People would also listen to them in their own time. However, Electric Six were always the kind of band that most people would see at a festival for the songs they knew from the radio and TV and that was about it (like the Dandy Warhols.) They were mentioned in much the same breath as Tenacious D and other "guilty pleasures."

I think given time The Darkness might have evolved into a more serious band. I saw them as the next Queen in many ways and it's a shame we didn't get to see if that was true.

I'm digging your blog dude. It makes some good points. The only band I've caught recently that had an electrifying front man was OK Go. They're best known for their gimmicky videos, but onstage Kulash pretty much had the audience in the palm of his hand.

Great blog Spike. What's interesting is you have touched upon two of my own personal theories. The first (and one I used in a novel I'm writing) is that not everyone can be world class at something, so in order to be happy you have to find the right kind of "normal" to fit into.

As for Salieri, his depiction in the film always made me think he would have made a better philosopher than Composer.

These are cool Spike, I think you do a pretty bloody good job of expressing your points. On Salieri; I wonder if there isn't a better way to describe him than as a 'mediocre man'. The way 'Salieri spends weeks agonising over a piece' that Mozart would spend mere minutes perfecting shows a paucity of talent compared to the great man, but compared to a truly mediocre man Salieri is a beast of determination. Wouldn't a truly mediocre man have quit without even trying to take Mozart on?

As for frontmen, where the 80s had the preening and peacocking Bono, Bon Jovi and Stipe, and the 90s had the scowling, prowling likes of Vedder, Cornell, Gallagher and De La Rocha, the 2000s did manage to spit up the magnificent Howling Pelle Almqvist and the less manic but nevertheless oddly charismatic Brandon Flowers and Julian Casablancas. If there was a defining band of the 2000s it was The White Stripes, for whom Jack White is every inch the brilliant front man, although if we're only counting dudes who don't wear a gat or keyboard he's out of the picture. Almqvist though is an utterly superb showman. He's of the lineage of James Brown, Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop, a pure force of wild-eyed swagger and condensed sexual potency. I can't disagree with your point that his type seems more rare these days though.

Re: Salieri - That's fair and well said, I just don't find 'mediocre' to be the right word because mediocre people don't have the passion and dedication of Salieri. On the other hand I can't think of a better word so you're one up on me anyway.

Re: The Hives - Please tell me they were only playing support when that Manc crowd turned their retarded noses up at Pelle's shenanigans. I can understand a certain type of imbecile/hipster turning their noses up at the Hives' stylish wildness, but an actual Hives fan rejects all that tired, ironic detachment and embraces the bejesus out of the pure sexual dynamism of rock'n'roll. I've never seen the public reaction to Chris Martin though, what is it you mean by that?

Re: Jack White/Matt Bellamy - I've seen Muse and The White Stripes in the flesh and while Bellamy is a very skilled player and a likable guy I find as a front man he doesn't have a lot of natural charisma. That band works live because of the sheer force of the melodrama in their tunes and stageshow, not because there's a compelling personality to it. Jack White is a very different state of affairs, not the Pelle/Iggy/Jagger type of strutting showman but nevertheless possessing the kind of rock'n'roll blues voodoo swagger that makes him a very compelling presence. To put it another way, Bellamy seems like he got his skill practising for thousands of hours in his bedroom, while Jack White seems like he made a deal with the devil.

Some great points there; if you haven't already done so I suggest you check out the TV show Dexter, he is a great example of what you are talking about here.

I think, for me, the reason the logical serial killer is scarier is that he is more believable. When you watch something Friday the 13th or one of the Nightmare films you know in the back of your mind you could never meet a character like this in real life. A serial killer however is a very real possibility and to make it worse you have no way of distinguishing them from a "normal" person

What I love about Dexter is just when you start to warm to him and sort of forget what he is the writers hit you hard with something to reminded you.

I really don't know enough about Asian cinema, great blog Spike very informative.

Side question, if I wanted to dive into this world what would be the best film to start with?

Great blog post. I've written before about my love of the 'heroic bloodshed' films of the 80s and early 90s in HK and the collaboration between Woo and CYF. I feel that recent HK cinema has not really been able to hold my attention (I cite the influence of the Chi-Coms since the turn over) the way, say, A BETTER TOMORROW 2 could, and for me ONG BAK was like a breath of fresh air. It's scrappy, like you say, earnest and delightfully brutal. Maybe it's totally evil of me, but I love that the third world can bring us spectacle that Hollywood will never be able to safety standards for stuntpeople. So many of the hits in Jaa's movies are just shockingly violent and obviously dangerous

Anyway, I just added Sha Po Lang (AKA KILL ZONE) to my queue and will return with thoughts once I've seen it!

One of the proudest moments of my life came from purchasing IF sight unseen from a shop in NYC China Town in like 2003. I was psyched that I was able to pick out such an awesome movie just based upon my familiarity with the non western cast of cool people like Leung and Lao.

It kind of sucked though because then I got super bitter about the DEPARTED and hated Scorsese for a few months

Some good points there mate. I think you might cop some flack from the guys in the Lost thread however

Having said that I totally see where you are coming from, people build a show like lost up in their minds and expect the answers to be far more amazing than they ever could be.

It wasn't meant as a dig, more of a joke actually.

Spike,

I saw KILL ZONE a few nights ago and wanted to offer up my thoughts.

I liked it well enough, it was not terrible, but it was far from a return to the glory days of HK cinema (IMHO). There was not a single frame of the film that matched the drama of A BETTER TOMORROW (despite frequent attempts at tear jerking) and as pleasent a fellow as he might be, Mr Yen can't hold a candle to the incandescent charisma of Chow Yun Fat. As for the action, while Mr Yen is a technically proficient martial artist, his stunts pale in comparison to the sheer visceral impact of those performed by Mr Jaa. I'm sorry, but watching someone body slam a fat suit dummy through fake glass tables is not terribly thrilling to me. Plus, how on earth can you introduce a concept as awesome as the "Retard Punch" (where Yen supposedly punched someone so hard he caused mental retardation) and then not have Donny Yen retard punch anyone? It boggles my mind!

Anyway, I'm glad I saw it and it was cool to check in on the current state of HK cinema but I think I'm going to stick with my Mei Ah and Media Asia DVDs of the classics for the time being

Me too, glad I could participate in you blog, Spike

There were definitely some cool moves on display and some of it was fun, but all in all I just think that Jaa is my martial artist du jour. His style and personality really get me revved up. I know you criticize his approach to on set safety, but it's hard for me not to find the obvious peril of the combatants in his films pretty exciting
.


Haha, I'll take your word for it
I will have to check those out some time! Thanks for the suggestions.

PS If you have not seen it, I really enjoy TIGER ON BEAT (also Jet Li's BLACK MASK is completely nuts and tons of fun. I made everyone in film club watch it once back in highschool)

I think this works only if you are looking at them from the perspective of franchises. But I think you'd find ample amounts of overlap amongst horror fans when it comes to just the original films that spawned those franchises. Well, perhaps not in the case of Friday the 13th where I think fans might point to a later entry as being better than the first film. But at this point, I have little interest in these as franchises. I regard two of the Nightmare films as genuinely good films. The Craven original being a true horror classic and Dream Warriors being a fun, imaginative dark fantasy ride. I've soured a bit on New Nightmare after rewatching it recently. There is only one Halloween film. And I'm amused with Fridays 4 and 6, but can't say that they offer up anything other than the feeling of hopping into a time machine and heading back to the mid eighties.

I really need to check out DREAM WARRIORS. I haven't seen much of Chuck Russell's earlier work, but I remember his BLOB being a worthy revision of the McQueen original.

Frank Darabont is another aspect in Dream Warriors favor.