YES:

1. Clint Eastwood has a solid track record.  Matt Damon is great.  What could possibly go wrong?
2. The first half of this trailer is pretty interesting.  It’s an original story but it’s also timely.  Most people probably remember “biggest douche in the universe” John Edward and his show Crossing Over.  The idea of having Damon be a retired psychic (who is for real) who people still seek to help them with their problems has me thinking about what else can happen.  This is a good thing.
3. Always a fan of the Eastwood font, even the cheesy music works.  I also enjoy that the word “Hereafter” is narrated for some reason.

NO:

1. Everything in this trailer is going pretty well until we hit the just past the midway point and Matt Damon decides to say “It’s not a gift, Billy.  It’s a curse.”  A line so cringe-inducingly bad it sent chills up my spine.  A potentially great movie wiped out in an instant.
2. And just in case that line wasn’t over-the-top enough, it’s immediately followed by a clip of what appears to be the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.  Visually it looks amazing, but I have no idea why we’re witnessing this.  All of a sudden the trailer has been transformed from a quaint, personal story about a psychic to a uber-dramatic megastory about death, using as many tired, cliched words and scenes as possible:

• “Each of us wonders: what awaits us after life?  Can we reach those who have gone?”
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Things have now become so over-the-top and ridiculous, the film has lost about 75% of its credibility and intrigue.  But they haven’t even hit us with the death blow yet!
• 
• “If you’re worried about being on your own, don’t be……. you’re not.”
• 
• That absolutely atrocious line sandwiched in between those two shots of Damon completely blew me away.  Whether or not the film itself turns out to be good, this trailer would be more appropriate running before “Tropic Thunder” than it would in actual movie theaters.  It’s a joke.
  

Hereafter premieres October 22nd.

YES:

1. I actually find this trailer pretty interesting.  I dig its combination of mystery, weirdness, and totally random scene selection.  I’m intrigued by the backstory of nine superhumans who escaped something.  I’m sucked in by the idea that they are being hunted down and killed.  I really like the music and special effects.  Heck, I even like that the guy sleeps in a giant cocoon.

NO:

1. This is the type of film I probably wouldn’t see.  I’m not much of a action/sci-fi guy, the only time I come close to the genre is when I see comic book movies, and even then I often have trouble motivating myself to see them.  So I was at least impressed that this trailer had put this film on my radar.  Then I saw the title.
2. This might be the worst movie title I’ve ever seen.  Why not just “Number Four” or “#4″ or “4″ or “IV”, anything would have been better than this.  How is it possible that an entire room full of creative people can collectively decide that this is the best possible title for this film.
3. Based on the novel by James Frey.

I Am Number Four premieres February 18th, 2011.

YES:

1. Includes many of my favorite Coen brothers themes/actors: The old west, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, US Marshals, adapted screenplay.  (Other favorites include Judaism, bowling, John Goodman, and George Clooney).
   
2. I would see this film even if I was deaf.  The Coen bros. and Roger Deakins are unmatched when it comes to visually setting a story 1) in the past, and 2) in a rural setting.
   
3. Having a 14 year-old girl be the protagonist for a revenge movie.
4. This movie just looks fucking awesome.

NO:

1. Coen brothers themes/actors I’m not a fan of: Government conspiracies, Brad Pitt, Hula Hoops.

True Grit premieres December 25th.

YES:

1. Great cast
2. The guys who wrote the screenplay for this film are also the writers of the upcoming Battleship movie (literally a movie based on the game Battleship).
   

NO:

1. I don’t want to blindly characterize this film as an “action flick for old people”, but my mom was pretty blown away upon each subsequent cast member being revealed.
2. Has anyone heard of the comic this was based on?
   

YES:

1. Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan

NO:

1. Can we please agree to have no more scenes of someone screaming with emotion while music swells behind them?  Not just in trailers, but in all movies.  Does this ever occur in real life?
2. Kind of like in the trailer for Black Swan, there are weird little things going on here and there – kids putting their hands over sensors, talk of making “donations” -  trying to hint to us that something strange is going on in this film.  But the problem with this trailer is they are too subtle, and they get lost in the gravitas of the love story as the trailer progresses.
3. When I first saw this trailer I actually briefly thought that this was the film version of the book “The Giver”.
4. I became much more interested in seeing this film after reading the wikipedia page for the book (beware: spoilers).  What I found out is that the trailer is so subtle that the entire underlying creepiness of the plot is completely missed.  I don’t know if that’s the way the film was made – apparently the book slowly reveals the reality as well – and if it was then so be it.  The lack of presenting the main theme will hurt this film a lot at the box office.  But if the reality is slowly revealed and it’s done in a compelling fashion, perhaps this film could emerge as a sleeper hit that spreads on word of mouth.

Never Let Me Go premieres January 20th.

YES:

1. Darren Aronofsky takes on the world of ballet!
2. Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis’ dark side
   
3. Great trailer music, especially at the turn when its adds the scary synth sound to the regular progression
4. The whole “underworld of ballet” plot would be enough to make this film very enticing.  But there’s also little bits of creepy, unexplainable shit going on.  So you may think, “underworld of ballet thriller”.  But the the trailer ends, and you see Natalie Portman pull whatever that was out of her shoulder and see her face, it had me thinking that there could even be some sort of supernatural element to this trailer.  Any trailer that leaves this much to the imagination is a win.
5. I don’t know how it’s possible but it already has a 9.4 rating on imdb.
   
6. 

NO:

1. Darren Aronofsky is meticulous in making whatever subject he’s focusing on as real as possible.  The best part about The Wrestler was how accurate it was able to represent the actual world of low level wrestling.  And a lot of that realism came from the (should have been Oscar-winning) performance of Mickey Rourke.  Can Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis portray ballerinas well enough to make actual ballerinas impressed?
2. (I don’t actually give a shit about what ballerinas think, I spent a long time trying to think of a “no” for this trailer and that was the best I could do)

Black Swan premieres December 1st.

NO:

1. It’s one thing to mention at the start who the director is and what his previous films are, but is it really necessary to show clips of the movies too?

YES:

1. Anyone who is unfamiliar with this story should absolutely read Aron Ralston’s Wikipedia page.  It is total insanity.
2. James Franco as Aron Ralston
3. Are we actually going to get to see James Franco drink his pee and cut off his own arm?

127 Hours premieres November 5th.

YES:

1. This trailer is so good because it has context.  Not in the trailer itself, but in the however many years Phoenix has been in the news for his antics.  For me it started with a cursory comment by a friend that Joaquin Phoenix was trying to start a hip-hop career and was getting into fights with people in the audience at his shows.  Then it became a major story on my radar with the infamous Letterman appearance, at which point I learned a movie was being made about him by Casey Affleck, etc etc.
2. One of the best movie posters ever.
3. There are two things that could make this movie legendary:

• If Joaquin Phoenix died soon
• If this whole thing is an unbelievably elaborate hoax

NO:

1. While I hope that this is a true journey for Phoenix pursuing what he really wants to do (or putting on an elaborate hoax), the reality is he witnessed the death of his older brother at a relatively young age – scarring regardless of the reason – of a drug overdose, and now seems to be spiraling into a drug-fueled confusion of his own.  I hate to assume people are on drugs when I don’t know for sure, but come on.
   

NO:

1. I don’t know why Zach Galifianakis has to play a sociopath who dresses weird and carries around a cute animal/child in every movie he’s in.  Maybe it’s Todd Phillips fault, or Hollywood producers’.  Maybe Galifianakis just likes to do it.  After all, he did choose to dress like this for his Absolut “Vodka Movie”.

YES:

1. I’m impressed that the people who made this trailer had the balls to provide zero plot-related information about this film.  Is Robert Downey Jr. looking for his father?  Do they need to get to LA because someone is having a baby?  The title seems indicative of that, as well as the “keep pushing” slogan at the end of the trailer.  And who is Jamie Foxx in all of this?  I actually like them leaving it completely unanswered, lord knows we’ll be completely overwhelmed by ads and publicity once the film nears its release.
2. Credit to Galifianakis – he’s the only person who could pull off the “check yourself before you wreck yourself” line and actually make it funny.

Due Date premieres November 5th.

YES:

1. Despite seeing countless ads for this film on TV, this was the first time I watched the actual trailer.  Now I finally get what “the switch” is referring to.  Is TV really too censored to imply semen in a cup?
2. Jeff Goldblum

NO:

1. If I didn’t already know Jason Bateman had a wife and kid, I would assume he’s gay (not the reason for the “no”).  For some reason he never plays a aggressive/sexual leading man.  He’s always a friend or part of some supporting couple.  It probably has to do with his voice.  Regardless, I’m banking on a kiss with Jennifer Aniston in this film, but no more I’m sure.  I bet we don’t even seem him take off his belt to jizz into that cup.