Looking at Trailers

The trailers for Joss Whedon's adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing are luminous and delightful:

I complain sometimes that more big-name directors should shoot small, quick, low-budget projects as a way of keeping their creativity flowing freely - thinking, of course, of the estimable Steven Soderbergh, who does just that. Here, Whedon has made a movie with friends, at his own house, during a two-week break between the principal filming of The Avengers and its post-production; and the results are being acclaimed in virtually every review that I've read:

http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/much-ado-about-nothing-evocateur-2013-6/

http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/movies/much-ado-about-nothing-directed-by-joss-whedon.html

http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/much-ado-about-nothing/5046358.article

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/61215/much-ado-about-nothing-2013/

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2013/06/joss_whedon_s_much_ado_about_nothing_reviewed.html

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/pick_of_the_week_joss_whedon_does_shakespeare/

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/much-ado-about-nothing-2013

http://ellenandjim.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/whendons-much-ado-about-nothing/

The last paragraph of David Edelstein's review brought a smile:

I’m sure that academics will have ­objections, although Whedon has stood up to far worse than the Shakespeare (or Earl of Oxford) mob. He has been to Comic-Con. I’d be pressed to imagine a more sure-footed Much Ado. When Shakespeare’s done right, you can’t ­imagine him ever being done wrong. The clarity is blinding.

As I mentioned in my last post with respect to The Spectacular Now, if I am going to grouse about certain tendencies (or the lack of them) in contemporary culture, then it is absolutely incumbent upon me to cheer when I spot examples of the heartening.

I will go to see any movie about business or Wall Street, so naturally, I was interested to take a peek at the trailer for Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street:



Now, that is surely crisp, but I am honestly not sure if I should expect to learn anything from this movie that I did not know before, or have any experience that I have not had before. In other words, it really doesn't look as fresh as Margin Call.

And don't we see just a little too much of Leonardo Di Caprio? Like Matt Damon, he seems to be in everything. (Although, as far as Leo living the high life, I'd rather watch this movie than The Great Gatsby.)

Amusingly, one shot in the trailer, from a deck above a swimming pool, is virtually identical to a shot in the Spring Breakers trailer. The two movies very likely have some spiritual affinities.