I had mercifully forgotten about the monstrosity that is “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” a sequel to the infamous 1992 Harvey Keitel corrupt-cop vehicle, until the new trailer for it popped up a few days ago. To be fair, the theatrical trailer here is much better than the rough one that came out several months back, but it still looks absolutely god-awful. The visuals are dated, the dialogue stilted, and Nicholas Cage is still in it. For some reason this is all directed by Werner Herzog, the eccentric German filmmaker who made “Grizzly Man” and “Rescue Dawn.” Anyhow, for those of you excited about the prospect of Nicholas Cage doing drugs with Xzibit and hallucinating about iguanas, eat your hearts out.
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Moving in a more interesting direction, we have “The Messenger,” a tale about two soldiers who are assigned to notify the relatives of soldiers killed in action. The trailer makes a strong impression, avoiding most of the easy tear-jerker moments and opting to showcase the talents of Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, who portray the two main characters. It will be interesting to see how Foster will do playing a sympathetic character, given that he is best known as Charlie Prince in “3:10 to Yuma,” but I think he has the skills and intensity to pull it off. Harrelson can be uneven in his roles, but he looks at home here, so I expect good things from this film.
A new full-length trailer for “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is now up, giving fans a clearer look at the role Heath Ledger never completed. Like pretty much every Terry Gilliam film, it looks to be visually stunning, and the trailer plays heavily on that. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell take over where Ledger left off, and despite their collective talents, it could be a bit jarring to have four actors playing the same person. Nonetheless, Gilliam is always worth a look, especially with this strong of a cast under his command.
Finally, straight out of my worst nightmare, is “Takers.” Starring the likes of Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Chris Brown, and T.I., it looks to be an adventure in clichéd mediocrity if the trailer is any indicator. Bank robbers in dark suits with cigars? Check. Scantily-clad girls drinking champagne in a hot tub? Check. Main characters walking away from an explosion in slow motion? Hell yes. Not even Elba summoning up his inner Stringer Bell could save this worthless-looking movie. Check out the trailer below if you loved such cinematic fare as “Cradle 2 the Grave” and “Swordfish.”
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