The Wire's Movie Trailer Power Rankings: By a Nose, Steve Carell's Latest 'Foxcatcher' Clip Reigns
Every week here at The Wire, we're bringing you an up-to-date ranking of the trailers that are already making us laugh, cry, and consider sponsoring one of our many Olympic-caliber American athletes. Our methodology involves staff-wide rankings and YouTube views, and we're incredibly swayed by Eva Green and Daniel Radcliffe.
This Week's Trailer Debuts
We've been gone for two weeks, and we've compiled quite a few trailers in the interim. Stephen Daldry is taking his Oscar nomination streak into the garbage piles of South America with Trash; Jason Reitman gets an all-star cast texting up a storm in Men, Women & Children; and the fruit of Jon Stewart's directorial labor is headed this way with Rosewater.
And then there's the small matter of this bootlegged/virally marketed teaser for Quentin Tarantino's Hateful 8.
Movie Trailer Power Rankings as of August 29, 2014
10. (tie) Gone Girl (last week: 4) The new teaser that premiered during the Emmy awards gave us a bit of a broader look at the film, particularly Rosamund Pike as Amy. While not as mind-blowing as some previous trailers for Fincher films, studios still know enough to sell the intrigue.
RELATED: What Kept 2014's Would-Be Songs of Summer from Immortality?
10. (tie) Whiplash (last week: --) The Sundance hit is preparing to enter the fall festival circuit and make a run at year-end awards. From the look of the trailer, JK Simmons could demand a lot of attention.
9. Birdman (last week: --) After taking a week off, the clip for Alejandro González Iñárritu's film (which just took the Venice film festival by storm this week) is back in a big way. That's good news for a trailer that looks both captivating and deeply strange.
8. Horns (last week: --) We've already gotten one very good Daniel Radcliffe movie this year (the romantic comedy gem What If). This one could be a second. It looks different, at the very least, and it's opening in time for Halloween, so it's got chutzpah besides.
7. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (last week: 5) DO YOU GET IT? SHE'S A SYMBOL!
6. The Imitation Game (last week: --) Classic awards-bait trailer, boasting big ideas, stars you like (or stars people you know like), and a stirring piece of music.
RELATED: Jack O’Connell Announces Himself as a Major Talent in Searing Prison Drama ‘Starred Up’
5. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (last week: 6) Long after we're dead, Billy Boyd's angelic singing voice will echo through the hills of the land once known as New Zealand, reminding whatever life forms come after us that we were here, and we were capable of great beauty, and there were also orcs.
4. White Bird in a Blizzard (last week: --) Gregg Araki is an odd one. On one level, you know exactly what you're going to get. An Araki movie has its hallmarks. You can see it in the POV shots, the bright colors, the defiant otherness of the characters. But on another level, it's impossible to know if a given Araki movie will be any good. With Shailene Woodley and Evan Green, it makes for an easy sell.
3. Interstellar (last week: 9) We've already gotten somewhere around seventeen Interstellar trailers, and STILL huge swaths of that film's cast have yet to be seen. Or only seen briefly. Whither Casey Affleck, Ellen Burstyn, Topher Grace, Wes Bentley, David Oyelowo? Or the uncredited Matt Damon, for that matter?
RELATED: Beyoncé Wrote a Poem, and It Is Not Flawless
2. Big Hero 6 (last week: 7) The drumbeats are getting louder for Disney Animation Studios' comic-book adaptation. You get Wreck-It Ralph vibes from this one, but also Despicable Me vibes, and the difference between those two fates could be huge.
1. Foxcatcher (last week: --) Yet another trailer, this one a bit longer and back on the Steve Carell tip. The push on this one's going to be a marathon, not a sprint.
This Week's Single Best Moment from Any Current Trailer
We've all kind forgotten about the trailer for Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings, haven't we? Mostly because it's pretty bad. But one moment has stuck with me since the trailer first emerged, and I return to it in times of struggle and uncertainty. As expertly captured by Esther Zuckerman, I give you Unexpected Sigourney:
Not since Anne Baxter have we looked forward to a white lady playing Egyptian royalty with such abject fear and wonder.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/08/the-wires-movie-trailer-power-rankings-by-a-nose-steve-carells-latest-foxcatcher-clip-reigns/379367/
Read more from The Wire
• 'Project Runway' Remains One of Reality TV's Greatest Comfort Foods
• 'The Daily Show' Celebrates the 'Good News' of Rick Perry's Indictment
