George A. Romero is inarguably a legendary horror director, but from the looks of things, even legends get their budgets slashed. The new red-band trailer for his latest “…of the Dead” installment, “Survival of the Dead,” makes this abundantly clear, with its cut-rate special effects, hammy acting, and lack of any major stars. 2005’s “Land of the Dead” was a decidedly big-time affair, featuring Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo, but things took a turn back towards the low-budget roots of “Night of the Living Dead” with “Diary of the Dead” in 2007. I’d be entirely dismissive of “Survival of the Dead” if a 2 AM viewing of “Diary of the Dead” on HBO hadn’t convinced me that Romero still has some tricks up his sleeve. He’s still the father of the zombie apocalypse genre, so check out the trailer for his latest below.
Love him or hate him, Nicolas Cage’s financial troubles seem to have made him one prolific bastard. He seems to have a new film being released about every three months, and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is one of them, featuring Cage as well, a sorcerer with an apprentice. The first full-length trailer for it was just released, and it appears to be a pretty by-the-numbers flick, with an average Joe lead character who will presumably realize his magical potential, get the girl, defeat the villain, etc. Cage turned in a startlingly good performance in the totally unnecessary but apparently entertaining “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call-New Orleans,” so maybe he can work similar magic here. And also, apparently Jay Baruchel is a star now?
Who greenlit “Marmaduke?” Was there seriously a demand for a movie based on a chronically unfunny comic strip that debuted in 1954? And why are there so many big-name stars in it? Alas, you will find the answers to none of these questions in the full trailer to “Marmaduke,” but you will find horrible CGI, flagrant misuse of Tupac Shakur’s “California Love,” and two instances of severe trauma to William H. Macy’s crotch. And although Marmaduke, the titular Great Dane, is theoretically portrayed as a lovable, mischievous, scamp he really seems to cause more property damage and trouble than would warrant his owner’s keeping him around. As much as I love dogs, the trailer for “Marmaduke” makes me want to ship that damn hound off to the nearest pound without an ounce of remorse in my heart.
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