[shrrshrr]

Hmm...just saw the trailer for Stealth, which was on the new Hitch DVD.

Doesn't look super fabulous, or anything, but it could be fun. The thing that annoyed me - I watched practically the whole movie just by watching the trailer. Why do they do that? It's so frustrating and irritating. A trailer's supposed to be a tease, not a mini-movie.

[UnsilentMajorty]

Trailers have to follow the three act setup just like the movies do. Audiences notoriously hate going into a movie not knowing what they are going to get (even if the three act structure is predictable).

Act I - Established trio of hot shot fighter pilots are at the top of their game. Enter experimental AI fighter pilot. Established trio of pilots not so sure of how longer they will be on top.

Act II - AI fighter struck by lightning. Becomes self-aware and decides to initiate WWIII as a way to usher in the desctruction of mankind. Fighter pilots must use all their combined years of training to avert nuclear holocaust and destroy AI fitghter.

Act III - Air and ground combat to the death. There must be one winner: Man or Machine. The stakes are high (WWIII). Who will win?

Notice, it still asks a lingering question at the end: Who will win this battle? And that is the key to all movie trailers: Accentuate the core story, arouse interest, but leave the big lingering question at the end so you have to go see the film to find out.

BTW... This is one of the very few movies I am looking forward to. It looks like "Terminator" meets "Top Gun" -- How it was pitched and I am a sucker for high concept, sci-fi movies like this. "Blue Thunder" (1981) is very similar in that it addresses the issues of how too much technology can be a bad thing if left in the wrong hands.

Trailer 1:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/stealth/

Trailer 2:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_p...lth/trailer_2/

[shrrshrr]

*lol* You're SO unpredictable!

Seriously - I would never have realized you were a sucker for this type of film...but then again, so I am, so go figure. "I feel the need...the need...for escapism!"

Anyway, while I realize this is the current set up for trailers I fully and loudly proclaim that I despise it. To heck with the rest of the audience - I don't want to be spoiled. Really.

Sure, a movie I don't know that ending of that winds up ending "badly" can be incredibly devastating, but I promise you I'll list it in my top 100 films, most likely, and I'll definitely talk about it for years to come. What's the point of being spoiled?

Then again, if they don't win and artificial intelligence takes over the world...can you imagine how freakin' COOL that would be (for the movie, not real life)? Now THAT would be good film-making.

[UnsilentMajorty]

Originally Posted by shrrshrr *lol* You're SO unpredictable!

Is that a good thing, or a bad thing

Seriously - I would never have realized you were a sucker for this type of film...but then again, so I am, so go figure. "I feel the need...the need...for escapism!"

I like movies that have to do with technology and that present interesting moral and intellectual questions as their premise.

Even the "Terminator" films do this at their core: Does mankind rely to much on technology and will it become a pandora's box that may ultimtaely lead to our destruction? "I Robot" (while not the best film) poses and interesting question as well as are humans ready to integrate AI into our daily lives and the dangers this can present.

And if you are going for a more subtle approach, "Contact" with Jodie Foster also asks the question that if we can make it past our own technology and manage not to blow ourselves off the planet then we may be at a level that is ready to contact (or be contacted) by other intelligent life on other planets. "AI" by Steven Spielberg also presents us with moral dillemmas with regards to Artificial Lifeforms and how we might treat them if they do become integreated into our daily socieities just as "Bicentennial Man" does as well.

So, I guess it is not the execution, but the core premise(s) that I find most intriguing sometimes.

Then again, if they don't win and artificial intelligence takes over the world...can you imagine how freakin' COOL that would be (for the movie, not real life)? Now THAT would be good film-making.

Well, apparently, if you watch the trailer, it looks like some kind of nuclear weapon is detonated, so who knows?

[shrrshrr]

I covered my eyes, but I sitll have the film so I'll watch the trailer again.

But as for The Terminator - I actually think that's a brilliant film on many levels, not least of which is the question of whether or not we're relying too heavily on automation and technology. However, what really got to me was the realistic way that Sarah Connor was portrayed, and the fact that we're introduced to her as if she's us - a normal, average, even boring person who can't believe what this freak is telling her and thinks he's a masher-type.

We watch her grow in a believable way until she essentially saves herself - quite the message (and the only reason I like James Cameron...or is it John? Anyway - the guy who did Aliens, which, despite Signorney Weaver, has a similar message and is therefore not bad (interestingly the same actor plays the love interest who dies, leaving the women to ultimately fend for themselves - Michael Biehn, right?).)