Every now and then I’ll see a trailer that hits me in the right spot and I just tear up. Sometimes it turns out to be embarrassing. For instance, the first time I saw the trailer for Pearl Harbor I got goosebumps and teared up. Please don’t laugh at me. It was the first time I’d seen any footage at all, and it was very powerful and emotional. Of course, when the actual movie finally came out, I read the bad reviews and ended up not even seeing the movie. I still haven’t seen it. I can’t help but hold a grudge that, at least according to what I read, the movie didn’t live up to the powerful trailer.
A movie that, IMO, held up to the powerful and emotional trailer was, and I know a lot of people disagree, Titanic. After months of hearing nothing but bad reports and nasty buzz, fully expecting that it was going to be the worst movie and the biggest bomb in history, we saw the trailer without warning on the big screen and were STUNNED. The trailer, and the misty eyes that went along with it, wiped out all the negative buzz and made my hopes soar for the movie. To me, it lived up to my hopes.
I just saw a trailer that made me cry, though it’s not an “epic” the way those other movies were billed. Maybe I’m tired and need to get to sleep, but I sat here and sobbed for a few minutes after seeing it. Please, oh please oh please, I hope this movie lives up to the trailer.
I remember hearing about this when it happened, but it was all vague and unformed. Some guy killed a couple of other guys and one of them was gay and there was something about twinkies or something. It wasn’t until years later that I learned much much more about what had happened and how important Harvey Milk was and his place in history as the first out elected official. I hope this movie does Harvey Milk, the time and place, and the brave people who were involved in gay rights at the time, justice. The trailer seems to do that. In any case, I cried.
you should watch pearl harbor. Even though there were a lot of bad reviews you should still see it and get your own perspective on it. Anyways i thought reservoir dogs was a pretty sad movie, atleast at the end when he tells Mr. White that he was a undercover cop after all.
Throughout the trailer I was thinking “this looks good, I hope it’s good” but the trailer was not going for pathos or outrage. Then at the end, at the words “His Life Changed History…His Courage Changed Lives” I lost it.
I hope the movie gets a lot of attention. There’s already awards buzz for Sean Penn’s performance, which is good because that in itself brings attention to the movie and the subject. It would be up to those who actually knew Harvey Milk to decide how accurate Penn’s portrayal is. I’ll be very interested in reading what those people, and others who lived and were involved during those times, think of the movie.
marochko, I’ve always figured I’d see it one day, it just hasn’t been a priority. Making the focus on a love triangle seems much more offensive in a movie about Pearl Harbor than the Titanic, for some reason. Maybe it’s because DiCaprio and Winslet are much better actors.
I’m definitely gonna see Milk. Looks like a great movie, and his story deserves a great movie.
I saw the trailer for “We Are Marshall,” that movie where I guess pretty much a whole football team died in a plane crash or something, when I was pretty down in the dumps. It made me tear up. Never saw the movie, probably never will.
Opening the Toronto Film Festival is a movie by Paul Gross (Due South, Slings and Arrows, etc.) called Passchendaele. Before seeing the title, but knowing it was a Paul Gross film and patently set in WWI, while watching it I was expecting that it would be about Vimy Ridge. Gross based it on the experiences of his grandfather who fought in the Battle of Passchendaele in WWI. I first saw the trailer for it several months ago, and it was, well, emotive.
I note Wikipedia says it will be going into wide release in mid- October. I had previously read that it would open around Remembrance Day.
I remember tearing up at the “Free Willy” trailer.
Heck, I’ll sniffle at commercials that push the right buttons.
I was living in SFO when Milk was elected. The trailer moved me, and I am sure I’ll see the movie.
You really should. It isn’t the type of film most people praise, but I thought it was exceptionally well done and transcended sports better than most sports movies.
Titanic is actually a very good film and set a precedent for epic films to follow. It was only overshadowed in my eyes by Good Will Hunting, which incidentally is directed by the same person who directed Milk.
I am extremely excited about this film. I first learned about Harvey Milk when I read And the Band Played On. I knew the film was being made but am surprised to see it’s already here.
And yeah, I did tear up at the end – thinking of him, wondering if he could have ever guessed how his courage would change history.
Extremely good timing too, I might add. It seems historically apt.
I can’t remember tearing up at any particular trailer, but I cry at commercials and stupid cheesy movies, so it all balances out.
I knew this was going to be about Milk before I opened the thread. I saw the trailer this weekend as well and it looks fantastic. Thank god Robin Williams never got his furry claws into it like he’d been threatening for decades.
His story has already been the subject of a great movie, the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk. It won the Academy Award for best documentary feature. I cannot get through it without crying.
I’d like to add, since this was once pointed out to me and makes perfect sense when you think about it, that the powerful effect of trailers is due mainly to a very skilled film editor. When I learned/discovered this, the point was that while an excellent facial reaction or what have you, is due to the talent of a skilled actor, there’s also a tremendous amount of talent to capture that “slice” of a good reaction shot, and time the length of the shot properly, to capture a certain “mood” in a scene. In other words, timing and juxtaposition. That’s an Oscar category, isn’t it? If it is, I can see why.
For an awesom version of how editing can affect “mood” check out Requiem For A Day Off that turns Ferris Bueller’s Day Off into heavy duty dramatic thriller.
Not only is Film Editing an Oscar category over 70 years old, but no other craft/“technical” category more consistently corresponds with the eventual Best Picture winner.
And yeah, I knew Milk was the film in question as soon as I saw the thread title. When Van Sant brings his A-game, his films are awesome.
I’ll check this trailer later, if I can. I think the most moving trailer I’ve seen was for The Elephant Man. I saw it just recently on YouTube. You can see why VO heavy Don Lafontaine named it as his favorite. The writing is earnest and it’s something to see.