But You're Not In A Band Unless You Play An Instrument

I slowly gather trailers sent to me or that I find across the blogosphere, and after a while, I realize that indeed I’ve not linked to any of them through here. Consider this Sunday post a sort of “dumping of stuff I’ve accumulated” dispersal.

First on the list, Stranger Than Fiction, which is one of those delightfully high-concept movies that has a recognizable cast. There’s been a sort of Ferrell backlash as of late, putting a lot of pressure on the debut of one Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby, but I still find him hilarious, and he looks great in this being narrated by Emma Thompson. My main problem, which is really a problem with movie trailers as a whole, is that this pretty much gives away the entirety of the plot. I’ll still probably see it, but they could have not shown him finding out who the voice was or going to her office. The best counter-example I can give of this would be War of the Worlds, because despite the fact it was a flawed movie, the trailers and previews were so ambiguous that you had no idea where things were going. Maybe I’m just in the minority of audiences that go into a movie having watched countless trailers, but this does seem like a lot.

(Bonus for this film: Tony Hale, AD’s Buster. Even if the part in the trailer is the only part he’s in, that still makes the movie a little bit better.)

Although it came out a while ago, I really hadn’t sunk my teeth too far into the Rocky Balboa trailer. The main reason for that? Probably just pure fear that it would be so bad Rocky V would look like a good film. Although the entire idea of it is just ridiculous – a 60-year old Sly Stallone boxing – the trailer makes it look vaguely reasonable. SportsCenter does there comparison of old teams versus new ones all the time, so seeing a Brian Kenney narrating a Balboa/Dixon video game fight isn’t something totally off-base. Rocky feels like getting back in the ring again, Dixon’s mad he lost, one thing leads to another and there you have Rocky Balboa. I actually really liked this trailer, which probably has more to do with the fact “Gotta Fly Now” is playing more than anything. Definitely will go with my dad to see this on Christmas.

(Bonus for this film: Doesn’t Sly look freakin’ jacked for the big fight? Also, I like how they don’t play around with the fact he’s at a severe disadvantage. Honestly, I’ve talked myself into this movie. I’m very excited.)

Finally, an odder trailer but with people so talented one would be silly to pass it over, we go to Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. Nolan’s the guy behind Memento and Batman Begins, two of my favorites movies of this millennium. He brings Christian Bale and Michael Caine alone with him from Begins and then throws in Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie for a movie about magicians in turn-of-the-century London. I know this won’t be for a lot of people’s tastes, but it’s hard to ignore the star power – and stars with talent! Imagine! - involved here.

(Bonus for this film: For me, it’s Caine and Bale reunited after their great Bruce Wayne/Alfred relationship in Begins. I still believe that movie, Hustle & Flow or 40-Year Old Virgin deserved the Best Picture nomination over Munich.)

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I doubt there are any of you who come to this site through my AIM link that spend as much time, or any, perusing the world of college football blogs like I do, but there are a few sites that hold a higher authority over the rest. One of those is Sunday Morning Quarterback, whose praise is listed on the right side of his site, and all of it very much deserved. Considering the fact it’s difficult to find an unbiased preview of any football team in the preseason, let alone the polarizing entity that is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, SMQ thoroughly looking over the Irish and decreeing we have a good shot at the national title feels good. He’s still just a pundit and could very well be wrong, but it’s nice to see a neutral locale look over things and say “Not too shabby”.

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For those of you watching NBC’s The Office - and frankly, that should be everyone – you’ll be pleased to know that like a quality sports team, Thursday night’s sparkling jewel of comedy and angst has added some quality free agents in the offseason. The number one pick-up? The Daily Show’s Ed Helms, who fits in so perfectly with the rest of Dunder-Mifflin that I can’t believe no one had thought of this before (save for the geniuses running The Office, of course). There’s a ton of great Helms clips on YouTube, but this is one of my favorites. They’re also adding some lady from Boston Public – never watched it, can’t help ya here – and a Whose Line Is It Anyway? alum, Chip Esten, who always held his own on ABC’s late, great improve show. Chip was actually on the “Valentines Day” episode of The Office, so he’ll be making that character recurring as a rival to Michael.

Before summer is over, we’re going to spend a day just going over why the second season of The Office might be one of the best runs to ever grace television. The writing, acting, directing, editing is all so consistently pitch-perfect that by the end of “Casino Night”, you’re fist-pumping like you were the guy that just got the girl. Season Two comes out just in time for school, so that’ll be added to the Time Wasting DVD Library.

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Sorry for the brevity of this update, but there are still a great number of things I need to get done before tomorrow morning. Ten days left of work, only a few weeks left in summer and the blog is only a few hundred hits from reaching the 30,000 mark, so I again thank all of you readers. If all goes to plan, there should be some pretty exciting news in the next week or so involving another internet venture offered up to me over the weekend. I’ll cover that, and also sing the praises of Everything Bad Is Good For You in the coming days.