I got news for you, Glenn. It does need to be saved, but from dangerous lunatics like you.

What I can stand — and very much enjoy — is watching Jon Stewart rip him to shreds.

There are trailers here for movies that ended [...]]]> I wanted to put a list together of what I’ve found to be some of the more effective movie trailers I’ve seen. It’s not meant to be any kind of absolute list, just a compilation of the ones I’ve liked over the years. Your mileage may obviously vary.

There are trailers here for movies that ended up being mediocre, and some were downright horrible — I don’t care. I’m not reviewing or grading the movies themselves, just the trailers.

So what’s my definition of effectiveness? Pretty simple. It makes me want to see the movie. But I’ll also add that most of these, for me at least, have some kind of emotional resonance that goes pretty deep. I can be very moved by music, and music with the right imagery can just kill (and isn’t that what movies are all about anyway?).

Yes, these are mostly recent movies. They’re somewhat fresh in my mind, for one thing. For another … well, there is no another. They’re fresh in my mind and I like them.

These are in no particular order. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Superman Returns
Say what you will about the tepid end result, this trailer (okay, this is actually the teaser, but it’s still great) is firing on all cylinders. It still has the power to give me chills.

Star Trek
The drama and action, coupled with brilliant music (which my wife used in our wedding for her entrance theme!), spot-on dialog from Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike (“He saved 800 lives, including yours. I dare you to do better.”) and Eric Bana as Nero (“Fire everything!”) hits this one out of the park.

Inception
Again, perfect visuals, perfect music, and just enough hints at a tantalizing concept that doesn’t give too much away. Beginning with the avalanche, the music and emotional cues really kick it up a notch or three.

The Empire Strikes Back
The sequel to (at the time) the biggest movie of all time. I practically vibrated out of my chair with excitement. The scene where the door opens and Vader is standing at the table was a complete Oh shit! moment. (After watching it again for the first time in decades, I swear that it’s Harrison Ford doing the voice over, attempting to disguise his voice.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
I could have put the trailers for all of them here, but I figured I’d limit myself to the first one for movies that I’d been waiting my entire life to see … and it looked like they got it right! (“You! Shall not! Pass!”)

The Fountain
The end result didn’t live up to my expectations — it was too cold, with a lot of talk about emotions without any real feeling occurring — but the trailer itself highlights the mystical and intriguing aspect of the film. Beautiful, and intriguing, and moving. Bonus points for the repeated use of the same camera angle in three different time periods (ancient South America, the present day, and the far future).

The Matrix
What is the matrix? I sure as hell had to know after seeing this.

Pearl Harbor
Yes, the movie is ass, but the trailer is another one that brought chills. The music is from Terence Malik’s A Thin Red Line, and I still listen to it quite a bit.

The Social Network
The movie isn’t even out yet, but wow … who would have thought such a dull-sounding concept (“college kid invents Facebook”) could look positively Godfather-like in its sense of backstabbing and betrayal.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Another sequel, and the best of the series. The visuals had me looking around on the floor for my jaw where it had fallen off.

(Thanks to my buddy Blake Charlton for the link.)

Enjoy.

At the beach at Cape Canaveral, nineteen-year-old Josh Scurlock looks out at the water.  The larger than normal waves look rough but not too rough so he and a friend go out in them to play.  A strong swimmer – Josh loves the ocean and his new Florida [...]]]>

Joshua Scurlock in 2003

At the beach at Cape Canaveral, nineteen-year-old Josh Scurlock looks out at the water.  The larger than normal waves look rough but not too rough so he and a friend go out in them to play.  A strong swimmer – Josh loves the ocean and his new Florida home just five blocks from the beach. It’s Saturday and the sun is out and there is no school and nothing at all is wrong in the world.

Having recently moved to Florida from Indiana, he doesn’t notice – or even know how to notice – the rip current that will sweep him out to sea and away from his friend.  Once caught in its pull, his instincts are to head back in.  The land is where safe is and something is pulling him away from it so he fights. Swimming as hard as he can for as long as he can – with his friend on the beach now yelling for help – Josh Scurlock tires and drowns. And though a heroic surfer eventually makes it to him and brings him to shore – he cannot be revived.  Josh never sees twenty.

Read the rest here. Lots of good advice on safe swimming, how to spot rip currents, and what to do if you get caught in one. Having just come back from the beach where the waves were very strong (and having been caught in a current that gave me a helluva scare), I can say that this is important stuff.

Some details below. Go here for the full article. The idea [...]]]> Interesting, if true. I’m curious why they aren’t scaling up Android for use on their tablets the way Apple scaled up their iOS from the iPhone to the iPad. Could Oracle’s patent lawsuit against the Java engine driving Android have something to do with it?

Some details below. Go here for the full article. The idea that this would be given away for free with a data plan is complete fantasy bullshit, but the rest of the information seems legit.

So what will the Google tablet pack for hardware? It’ll likely be based on NVidia’s Tegra 2 platform and sport a 1280×720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, minimum 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity, GPS, webcam, and possibly expandable storage via a multi-card reader.

The video [...]]]> I’ve been thinking that zombies have pretty much been played out as a monster, but when I heard Frank Darabont — director of the brilliant Shawshank Redemption as well as the creepfest The Mist — was adapting a graphic novel called The Walking Dead as a miniseries for AMC Television, my curiosity immediately piqued.

The video below is a behind the scenes look at the creation of the “bicycle girl” zombie. I can imagine that someone with claustrophobia would have some difficulties dealing with this kind of total immersion in makeup. But the results are excellent.