Trailer Spotlight: "Gangster Squad", "Argo", "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Beasts of the Southern Wild (July 5) - Quvenzhane Willis, Dwight Henry
I must admit, I have no idea what the crap is happening in this trailer...but I'm intrigued. A festival darling that tore it up at Sundance, Beasts has garnered a great deal of attention for itself of late and if the early takes are to be believed, little miss Willis is just fantastic. Most of us probably won't get a chance to see this until it hits DVD or Netflix Instant but I'm looking forward to it.



Argo (October 12) - Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman
There's no doubt that Argo is a bit of a risky project. The story isn't one that most people (read: "anyone") are familiar with, the plot is a bit convoluted, and it represents the first time Affleck has taken a film outside of Boston. But after watching the trailer, let me give you three reasons why I'm excited about Argo: 1.) Ben Affleck makes good movies. Say what you want about him as an actor, his previous directorial efforts (The Town and Gone Baby Gone) are both excellent. 2.) John Goodman is a boss. We need more John Goodman in our daily lives. 3.) You have to love a movie that uses "Dream On", one of the greatest rock songs of all-time, in the trailer. I'm in.



Gangster Squad (October 19) - Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone
Wow. Talk about ambitious! From the director of Zombieland comes...well...a really hardcore but stylized gangster movie. Movie nerds like myself have been looking forward to our first look at this one for a while and now that I've seen it, I'll say the same thing I've been saying about Gangster Squad since it was announced: if Ruben Fleischer pulls this off, it will be a game changer. It's the type of film that could send Hollywood scrambling to greenlight similar projects. But will it work? It's hard to say. Fleischer has directed two films: the aforementioned Zombieland, which I love, and last year's 30 Minutes or Less which is a bloody disaster of a film that gets worse every time I catch a minute of it on Starz. Plus, we've had a fair share of these dark, noir gangster-related films over the years and many of them haven't fared well. But I am in love with this cast (fantastic job on that front) and this trailer gives the impression that Gangster Squad could be outstanding.