SIA’S SEVEN STAVES.

a playlist

by Hunter Jon

TRACKING.

a pick six

by Hunter Jon

I used to love commentary tracks. When DVDs were at the height of their popularity I couldn’t get enough of them. More so than learning about the inner workings of any given movie, I found a sense of solace in them. Because when you love or even just like a movie a lot, it’s hard to find people who share that level of enthusiasm. At least it was for me. But who knows and/or is willing to talk about a movie more than the person(s) who made it? And there is something about commentaries that can satisfy even the slightest social itch. There’s no way you’re going to that dinner or party or whatever it is. You don’t want to go anywhere... but you don’t want to just sit home in silence, either. And music isn’t quite right. You kind of crave something that resembles a conversation, preferably an informative one. So when it comes to not wanting to be alone but not wanting to see or talk to anyone, tracks are a great way to have your cake and eat it, too. At least, they were. I can’t imagine they are being listened to nearly as much as a decade ago. Every once in a while I’ll notice one is featured in the iTunes extras of a new movie, but I have to assume they are recorded rather rarely these days. I guess most people now get from podcasts what I used to get out of commentary tracks. Someone should start a podcast that is just directors (or anyone involved with the project) doing brand new commentaries for movies old and new. Maybe there already is such a thing. I should probably look that up.

Meanwhile, here are my six favourite commentary tracks.

(I’ve included the appropriate amount of honourable mentions)

What you want here is the the 35th anniversary Blu-ray. It’s got the latest commentary with John and Jamie Lee. I believe they recorded a previous track years ago for a DVD, but their thoughts on and memories of this movie only get better with age. It’s a treat to hear them (mostly her) reminisce about what I think was a genuinely fun shoot because it was kind of the last moment in both of their careers when no one was expecting anything from them. Pressure is one thing. You’re always under a tremendous amount of pressure making a movie. But expectation - that’s the real killer. I love that it still bothers Carpenter that there aren’t enough fallen leaves in the background of one shot. There’s a very simple drinking game you can play here - take a drink any time he doesn’t remember something or she points out how scary something is… finish your drink if she says it’s “friggin” scary.

It’s like you’re attending a high school party with three guys who probably never attended a high school party. They drink beer throughout, order pizza and then invite the delivery guy to stay and watch the movie (he doesn’t). If this is any indication of how they cooked up said movie than no wonder it’s so dumb and fun. It’s actually really nice to hear them listing off all the things they wanted or tried to do but couldn’t afford. They even go so far as to point out how cheap or fake things look or jokes that don’t quite work. It’s a welcome relief to hear directors be so self deprecating and express such dissatisfaction. Maybe it’s ‘cause they’re drunk. But the point is they don’t actually take this movie seriously and neither should you.

Jackson always seems a little tired, doesn’t he? Yet he never seems annoyed or at all inconvenienced when asked to talk about something he’s passionate about, like a movie he loves or one he’s working on. He brings his cozy sleepiness to this wonderful commentary, thankfully with Boyens by his side to keep things lively and on track. He may have barely survived his own journey there and back, but deep down I think Jackson’s just a boy who loves Skull Island and the endless array of monsters and creatures lurking around every corner. It perks him up. By the end of the movie he’s got about a dozen new ideas which, as he puts it, he’ll have to put away in the cupboard at the back of his brain for another day. And we’re talking the extended edition, remember, which means you get an intermission between disc one and two. When you press play on the second Pete welcomes you back and hopes you’ve gotten a cup of tea and maybe a piece of toast with jam. I always make sure to have both at the ready, because once he proposes the idea you crave them immediately.

You’re looking for the 40th anniversary DVD. It’s a double disc set but the second disc is a CD of the soundtrack (a brilliant idea, I might add, that I believe “Matchstick Men” was the first to do). On disc one, though, you’ll find a commentary track by Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh. Two directors who, if you ask me, have got the ratio right throughout their eclectic careers - 40% time and attention paid to photography and general aesthetic, 60% spent on performance, character and narrative. And they never need to let the audience know it’s them pulling the strings by applying signature stamps all over the place. Ideally, quality is their only trademark. That’s rare. They seemingly shared a lot of the same ideas. They’re also just both very entertaining guys. Although what’s truly surprising here is how casual and comfortable Soderbergh seems and sounds. He’s not nervous nor showering Nichols with kiss-ass compliments. He’s simply there to talk shop. And it’s amazing to hear a master of one generation do so with a master of the next. Skip a day of film school, stay home and enjoy this.

It was such a great idea and it delivers. Fifteen years after the fact, reunite a child star with his director and have them look back at the movie they made. Make that child star one who grew up to be a little bit of an enigma, make that director one who’s a little bit washed up and you have one of the most compelling commentaries ever. Not that any of that is spoken of - they focus on all the fun memories and generate a lot of family friendly gibbelishing. But the underlying subtext is there and it’s fascinating. What they do cover though is all delightful. They do a great job of reminding us that this was the little-movie-that-could. We’re so used to seeing it as a blockbuster hit that it’s cool to hear them discuss all the limitations they faced while shooting and even point out a few cast members who were less than enthused to be making a smaller ‘kids’ movie. And they get everything else right; honouring Candy and praising Hughes (who was alive at the time). It’s a great way to reinvent your annual holiday viewing if you’re starting to feel as though maybe you’ve seen it one too many times.

Tarantino doesn’t record commentaries for movies that he directs. He, like Spielberg, feels the movie should just speak for itself. Fair enough. He does, however, record them for other movies. Usually ones he wrote and/or acted in. Sometimes ones he’s just a fan of. His track with Rodriguez for “From Dusk Till Dawn” is a lot of fun, as is his and Edgar Wright’s “Hot Fuzz” one. But he goes it alone here and the result is kind of incredible. It’s not so much a scene by scene breakdown as it is him telling you the story of how he came to sell the script. Which is basically his secret origin - how a movie fanatic became a moviemaker. It’s a wonderful tale that’s wonderfully told. Very inspiring for anyone who dreams of making it in La La Land. And he spares no essential details, which is so refreshing. Too often you’ll hear - “Yeah, so I packed up and moved to Los Angeles, then my agent called and said they were looking for - ” - wait! How did you go from just arriving in LA to having an agent? You left out the most important and possibly helpful bit. But here Quentin thoroughly explains every little thing that led to that other little thing that led to another little thing and so on and so on until his foot is finally in the door. It’s full of fascinating revelations and fun facts that will only make you appreciate him, Tony and the movie itself more and more. Also worth noting is that he isn’t really ‘on’ here. His very distinct voice is uncharacteristically calm and he really takes his time spinning the yarn. You feel like you have a more complete picture of who he is when it's all over. Perhaps this was intentional, because even he admits that this is his most personal script. It’s very clearly a young video store clerk’s down-the-rabbit-hole fantasy. Actually, maybe the fantasy wasn’t living the adventure, but to simply write the adventure for a living.

I like to read things by Nora Ephron when the power goes out. A script, an essay, her one play, her recipe for mashed potatoes featured in ‘Heartburn’ - anything. Because of this habit, I get a little excited when I lose power. I don’t like to read her stuff when I have power, though. That would just be ridiculous. So I often listen to this to tide me over until the next outage. She recorded it with the great Lauren Shuler Donner, who also produced “Mr. Mom” and “Deadpool”, as you do. It’s quite an awesome education to hear them breakdown how to make a proper ‘Hollywood movie’ movie. Ephron particularly explains how, when writing a big budget picture like this that’s aimed at the masses, you’d be wise to not only subscribe to the three act structure but make sure each of those acts has three acts within them. She’ll update you throughout the commentary, saying things like, “Oh, so that there was the end of the second act’s third act, which means now we’re into the first act of the third act.” And she is, of course, her usual brilliant self in other wonderful ways. I love it when, during the moment Ryan is telling Hanks that he’s taking too much caviar as it’s merely meant as a garnish, Nora calmly inserts something to the effect of - “She’s right, by the way. You can’t hog a garnish like that.”

Kevin Smith makes sure that he gets two bites at the apple. He once told the following story - he was coming off stage after doing a Q&A following a screening of “Clerks.” back in the day, and as the audience filed out he overheard someone say something like - “I didn’t like the movie but the Q&A was pretty funny.” So, much like a post-show Q&A, Smith sees commentary tracks as a chance to win us over a second time. And he always does. Each of the View Askew entries has a commentary just as fun as the movie itself. In fact, you can now listen to these and hear Smith’s podcasting training wheels squeaking as they go ‘round and ‘round. For those who can’t get enough of his podcasts, try to remember there was a time when these and the "Even with..." series were all we had. And you didn’t get three a week, you got one every three years. Although he did provide a few tracks for movies he wasn’t involved in. He sits in with Richard Kelly on the one for “Donnie Darko” and he and über producer Scott Moiser recorded a very funny one for “Roadhouse”. I could have included any of his hilarious commentaries on this list, particularly the “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” one or the “Clerks.” one recorded specifically for the tenth anniversary, which you can find on the ‘Clerks X’ DVD. But for whatever reason I believe I’ve listened to this one the most. You’ve got the usual ‘Clerks’ crew, only this time Trevor Fehrman and Jennifer Schwalbach are in the mix and Mewes is awake. They’re having too much fun and so are you. Listening to this level of camaraderie is comforting and can surely cure the late night lonelies. Although as Moiser so wisely observes at one point - “Not every moment rules.”

Thank God this happened. I don’t know how, but it happened. John Hughes recorded a commentary track for “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. It’s my personal favourite movie of his, and one of my favourites of all time by anyone, so this is truly a treasure. To say Hughes didn’t do a whole lot of interviews over the years and lived a private life is an understatement. And once he unofficially retired I don’t think he made a official public appearance ever again. He really was our Salinger in that sense. Yet here he is, watching his masterpiece of juvenile joy and having a lot more to say about it than you ever would have suspected. For some reason when people shy away from the press there is an assumption that it’s because they’re a grumpy, grumbling asshole who swats away fans and press alike with a cane as Scrooge would street urchins and tax collectors. But here’s Hughes being everything you want him to be - as warm and welcoming as his movies. He takes you through everything from casting to song selection to script changes to everything else you’ve always wanted to ask the man about this one. If you’re a fan and somehow missed this, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s on the first DVD they ever released (perhaps the laserdisc, as well). I don’t believe you’ll find it on any ‘Bueller… Bueller… Edition’. My favourite moment is when he points out how long a set-up to one joke is (I won’t spoil which) and then is silent as the punchline occurs. After a beat he mutters, “Still not sure it was worth it.” It was, John. It all was.

If Kevin Smith’s commentaries are a party than David Fincher’s are a lulling bedtime story. I’ve never given meditation a proper try, but if I did I think I would do so to the sound of this man’s voice. His tracks are great to fall asleep to, and I don’t mean because they’re so boring that they’ll put you to sleep. I mean because they’re so soothing. For such relentless, wild, violent, merciless movies the man behind them could not be more mannered, calm, collected and precise. It’s a surprise that he doesn’t have a single writing credit on his resume because he’s so well spoken. Great with a turn of phrase, full of droll one-liners, and has a unique way of articulating things. Like saying Rooney Mara is easy to light because her face has “such great bones” and therefore sometimes looks like Audrey Hepburn and other times a boy. I’m a fan of his work but I might be a even bigger fan of his process. I could listen to him talk about crafting a movie, his or another’s, all day and I have. A lot of times I’ll listen to a director dissect whatever they're promoting and think, “This sounds incredible - gotta see this!” So I do and then think, “What the hell is this? Where are all those great ideas and themes and techniques they were talking about?” Not with Fincher. I actually enjoy hearing or reading interviews with him leading up to his latest release, because when I eventually see it I usually walk out and think, “Jesus, he wasn’t kidding.” I highly recommend any of his tracks. His ones for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “Zodiac” or “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” could have easily been on this list somewhere. But I’ve chosen to just save a single spot, the top one, for him and his commentary for this. I don’t really know why, but I’ve listened to it more than any other commentary track. I even have it burned on to multiple CDs so that I can listen to it on long drives like a book-on-tape. Maybe it’s extra interesting because it’s such a seemingly simple movie yet he goes into great detail about how it was the most complex shoot of his career (he did basically have to shoot the movie twice - long story). That alone is almost more astonishing and worth analyzing than what’s happening on screen, and he does just that with an astute eloquence that I personally can’t find in any other living director.

RAZZLE DAZZLE ME.

a pick six

by Hunter Jon

This post is a follow up to this one:

https://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/04/dazzle-me.html

In it I said I’d save my favourite musicals for another day, so here we are. However, two things must be addressed before we go any further… 

One: “Grease” is one of my all time favourites. But the movie and stage versions differ so greatly that no one can really claim they are the same musical. So I’ve left it off this list, because it’s the movie I love and not the original.

Two: I have not seen or listened to “Hamilton”.

Now, here are my six favourite musicals.

(I’ve included the appropriate amount of honourable mentions)

POST ‘ER TEASE.

a pick six

by Hunter Jon

I guess because of the internet movie posters don’t nearly serve the purpose they once did. They used to be the focal point of every marketing campaign. I imagine now they are a sliver of the distribution pie. One could even argue that above all the current purpose of a poster is to give websites and streaming services a profile picture for any given movie. But the idea of it providing necessary information such as who’s in the movie, who made it, what it’s about and when it comes out is no more. And if that’s indeed the case then all the more unnecessary is the teaser poster. I’m not sure when the idea of multiple posters for a single movie came into vogue, but when I was growing up most event pictures had a teaser poster. Now they have never ending teaser, character, banner and alternate Mondo-style posters. But back in the day you just got one tease and then the real thing. So you had to make each of them count. This may sound archaic but teaser posters were often the actual announcement of a movie. Unless you read Variety or kept a very close eye on the industry you wouldn’t know a movie was even in production until that first poster showed up on the wall of your local cinema. Or in a magazine or the newspaper. This is hardly the case these days. I think we can agree the good ol’ teaser poster has kind of gone by the wayside. But boy do I have fond memories of them. I actually think their apex was in my teen years. Sure, big budget movies still provide them. But most of the time those are fan service more than anything. They rarely provide any new information. It’s just cool to catch of glimpse of some superhero’s sequel suit and to see the title’s final font and/or logo. However, there was a time when teaser posters were a much bigger deal for many different reasons, a few of which I’ll cover as we take a look at my six favourites.

(I’ve included the appropriate amount of honourable mentions)

He was making a western. We didn’t know much, but we knew that. And the title. And that despite that title it wasn’t a “Django” remake or sequel. And we knew the basic plot and cast and stuff. Ok, maybe we knew a lot - but seeing this poster set it all in stone. It was happening. Officially. Hopes were high and this teaser made them climb even higher. It set the stage wonderfully. A simple visual that tells the story so well that a title isn’t even needed. Instead we get what has become a brand name - Tarantino. Like Hitchcock and Spielberg before him you can now sell a movie with just the man’s last name. If I remember correctly this design actually began as fan art that someone made after the movie was announced. Everyone, including Quentin, loved it so much they reached out to the artist and turned it into the official poster. The broken chain imagery would go on to become a logo of sorts for the movie.

All those late nights of watching fan-made trailers on YouTube, fantasizing about just how awesome a solo movie could be. The endless possibilities and potential. You’ve got a built-in blockbuster vehicle for one of the most famous and talented people on the planet - and she’s dying to do it. Why has this not happened? It was kind of infuriating, to be honest. They hinted that something was maybe, sort of, possibly, kinda in the works for about a decade. And even though we knew it was finally happening months before this posters release, it was still very emotional and exciting to finally get such solid visual confirmation. What a wonderful visual it was, too. Her symbol. Big, bold and bright. Studio logo on top, release date on the bottom. That’s all we needed. You could see this poster from across the street and know what it signified. And of course there she is, looking fierce and ready. Now they just need to release the damn thing.

This list wouldn’t feel complete without it. Because it might be the most iconic, memorable teaser poster of all time. It set the standard. In fact, maybe this right here popularized the very concept. Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words, or even just speaking for itself. I honestly think that had more people loved (or simply enjoyed) the actual movie this poster would be beyond beloved. But sadly, it’s a bit of a downer. It not only reminds you of something you didn’t like, it very specifically takes you back to a moment in your life that was filled with hope, promise, and you had something you were looking forward to more than anything you had before - something you never dreamed wouldn’t deliver. So seeing this poster is a bit like seeing a photo of an ex or simply a happier time in your life. It’s bitter-sweet but mostly bitter. But a brilliant poster, none the less.

I started to see it in magazines and comic books - a simple image that caused a lot of excitement. Not only did it mean I’d get to see a Batman movie on the big screen for the first time, but I would get to do so for my Birthday, which fell during the week of it’s release. For a while I didn’t even know the actual title because this poster doesn’t feature it. But it didn’t matter. I of course knew that symbol and certainly knew what a question mark wrapped around it signified. Every time I see this one I’m hit with a wave of nostalgia.

For me, this poster was a huge deal for three very distinct reasons. Let’s go bottom to top. One - the title. Since it we’ve had everything from “Man of Steel” to “Dark Phoenix”, but you have to remember this was the first ever superhero movie not to have the hero’s name in the title. Calling it just “The Dark Knight” was pretty brave. Not to mention a risky financial gamble. I was absolutely sure they’d get cold feet and change it to “Batman: The Dark Knight” by the time the marketing campaign kicked off. So when they released this poster I was a little shocked, a lot delighted and thoroughly impressed. And that simple, small, stark font. That was kind of fresh and bold, as well. Two - had anyone ever used a red bat symbol as the Joker’s smile before? I’d certainly never seen it done. It seemed so obvious yet so brilliant. Plus, the public hadn’t gotten a full, official look at Ledger’s Joker yet, so this was a wonderfully effective tease. A way of hinting toward his look without using a single image of him. And they were true to their poster. He did indeed have black circles around his eyes, a permanent wide red smile and a white face - all painted on. A very clever design that is still remembered fondly over a decade later. Three - that tagline. Just like that the Joker had a new chilling catch phrase which, thank god, he ended up saying a handful of times in the movie itself.

This is a rare recent instance of a poster actually revealing something about the movie that we didn’t know prior. We knew Bo Peep would return, but my jaw nearly dropped when they put this out and she looked like she does. Her staff now a weapon. Her skirt now a cape. Her heroine stance. I could not have been happier or more excited. Sheriff Woody is perhaps my favourite character ever, so naturally I’ve always been fond of his love interest. I understood why she was left out of the third movie but definitely wanted better closure than that “Yeah, even - even Bo…” line we got. But never in my wildest dreams would she pull a Sarah Connor and return as a warrior. And again, like most of my picks here, we’re given nothing else but a release date - the absence of a setting with a bare, muted colour tone background is daring for marketing aimed mostly at kids. Her and her empowering transformation was more than enough and they wisely knew it. I want this on my wall.

This one means a lot to me because it hung next to my bed for about a decade. An original print - straight from the theatre wall to mine. This was the game-changing superhero spectacle of my youth that followed in the footsteps of Batman ’89 and Superman ’78. He’d been done in live-action before, but always on the cheap and dripping with cheese. This was Spider-Man finally on the budget he deserved and they made sure the first teaser poster showed that off. Perfectly composed. He looked slick and modern, as did the font, yet they smartly didn’t mess around with his costume. This was the look we all wanted and they nailed it. You shouldn’t be able to convey as much emotion in a motionless, masked face but somehow they did. It was the dawn of the 21st century and a trust worthy old friend was going to guide us through a new kind of blockbuster.

I’m cheating here because I’m now certain this poster never existed. This one I’ve featured seems to have been made available for purchase in the years since the movie’s release. The official poster used at the time had the title front and centre. But for whatever reason that’s not the way I remember it. I picture this on bus stops and magazine pages and movie theatre walls with no title. Zero text, in fact. Just the whimsical shot of the boats approaching Hogwarts. For a kid who loved the book(s) and was the exact right age to be taken on this magical journey, seeing this poster was too good to be true. There it was, the wizarding world brought to life… and I’d be there any minute. Forget them coming soon to you - this posters aim was to make you believe that you would soon arrive in their fantastical world. Perhaps I’ve forced myself to remember it with no title because this inviting scene is ten times more enchanting without it. Even being able to clearly spot Hagrid in the lead boat blew my mind. I can’t think of a better teaser poster. The only reason it doesn’t take my top spot is because it only really exists in my memory.

My mum was paying for popcorn and candy and things so like any kid I immediately wondered off to explore. That’s when I saw it in the distance on a wall. It was like a scene out of a movie as I slowly approached it. Surrounding sounds fell silent. The rest of the world faded into darkness and the only remaining light was shining down on this poster in front of me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I grew up loving the animated TV movie more than almost anything. One Christmas my mum even got me a framed, certified animation cell from it. It remains one of my most prized possessions. And at nine years old when you see this poster you don’t think - “Well, that’s never going to come close to capturing the magic of the original and therefore is nothing but an unnecessary cash grab. And I cringe to think how they’re going to pad the perfect-as-it-is short story to make something feature length.” No. You think - “They’re… making… a live-action… Grinch movie… and Jim Carrey… is playing him? Why this is going to be the greatest movie ever made!” And, I mean, c’mon - it’s a pretty perfect poster design. A furry green monster’s hand dangling a broken red bulb - the perfect symbol of a ruined Christmas. What else could those two things mean? They didn’t even need to include a title with such iconic imagery brought to life (they did anyway… just to be safe). That’s what it was all about, by the way. Seeing him brought to life, even if it was just his hand - the ultimate tease. It was all too much for me. And the moment I saw it for the first time remains the greatest movie poster memory I have.

OFFICIAL TEASER.

a pick six

by Hunter Jon

I think the teaser trailer is dead. I haven’t seen what I consider to be a proper one in a long time. I guess you could say that’s because most movies just have a single, two and a half minute-ish trailer. No teaser necessary. This is true. But you know I’m not talking about those kinds of movies. I’m talking about any type of movie with multiple trailers built into it’s marketing campaign. So basically summer stuff and Oscar hopefuls. And when it comes to releasing that first trailer, what are most common these days seem to be full length ones that show a ton of footage yet don’t give too much story away. These usually cover every bullet point of the first act and maybe tease a bit of the second. Other trailers that follow show off more and more from deeper and deeper into the narrative until all that’s left to see for the first time on the big screen is the grand finale. Look no further for one of these ‘teasers’ than the first look at “Suicide Squad” shown at Comic-Con that was three minutes long. There was a time, though, when these tentpoles all had true teasers. I’m talking about those minute to a minute and a half previews that would genuinely tease the movie - that is to say what the movie was, not the movie’s plot. The “Batman Begins” teaser comes to mind. They tease an ominous, mysterious movie and it’s meant to be a big reveal at the end that it’s a Batman one. It only showed us a brief flash of the Bat himself - blink and you missed it. The teaser for “The Dark Knight” showed us even less, because merely hearing dialogue and the Joker’s voice was more than enough to get the hype machine up and sprinting. The closest thing we get to these old school teasers today are the extremely brief ads letting us know when a trailer is going to premiere. And although they usually only last about five to ten seconds and therefore are the very definition of a tease, these are not teaser trailers. They are trailers for the trailers. Even more redundant is the fact that now they attach these ads promoting the trailer to the beginning of the official trailer on YouTube. So you’re basically shown all the money shots and highlights from the trailer that you’re about to watch before it even begins. To me this seems as pointless as if you paid to see a movie and one of the trailers shown before it was for that same movie. Why promote it to us? We already know. You’ve got us. We’re here. It worked.

Anyway, I miss the days of actual teasers. For one, even the worst movie can look promising if you take all the best footage and squeeze it into just over a minute. Nearly every teaser for a while there was enticing as a result... so that was fun. Secondly, because some studios, marketing departments, and even filmmakers themselves used it as an opportunity to get creative. There'd be plenty of time to be safe and traditional with the full trailer, right? So this was the moment to experiment. Some of my choices here are the results of those bold, outside the box ideas that played around with the very concept of what a movie trailer was. Others are their very own works of art - short films unto themselves that almost do a better job of telling us a story than the actual movie. In fact, a lot of these movies were incredibly underwhelming considering how awesome the teasers were. Masterpieces were suggested. Cloverfields were delivered. But I’ve done my best to completely separate my feelings between the advertisement and the product. Know that any eventual disappointment with any of these movies themselves simply doesn’t matter and didn’t come into play at all when assembling this list. I'm judging the trailer and the trailer alone. Each one I've chosen here did a fantastic job at getting me extremely excited and hyped for whatever they were teasing. Some of them even ruined the movie for me a little (or a lot), as trailers can do. You'll fall in love with that one music cue or specific cut/edit or inflection on a line reading... only to find something different in the finalized movie. Or you take the pieces presented and complete a puzzle yourself ahead of time, only to find out later that you and the movie had different pictures in mind. It can be crazy frustrating, but it's really a huge compliment to the teams behind these trailers because, in my eyes, it means each one is its own great piece of stand alone filmmaking and can be enjoyed as such. I’ve watched many that made this list at least a hundred times each. I’m the kind of movie nerd who will enjoy a trailer I love over and over and over again until I know every frame and sound by heart. A pastime that is ideal for teasers - the shorter the trailer the more time you can devote to poring over every single frame of it. Eventually, regardless of your feelings for the full movie, you grow to enjoy the trailer on its own - just like a song. Sometimes all you need is that perfect title track and the rest of the lacklustre, bloated album nicely fades away.

Lastly, I must admit to having trouble deciding what officially qualified as a ‘teaser trailer’. But I finally settled on the following definition: under two minutes and doesn’t spoil too much. That’s it. So for anyone who would like to point out that some of these were not technically labelled nor are considered ‘teasers’, we’re going to have to agree to disagree for the sake of this list. I do apologize, though. You’re probably right.

Here are my six favourite teaser trailers.

(I've included the appropriate amount of honourable mentions)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqQzvfn_s30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86ww

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsKjfJ1sUIk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MLBHeV5RGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me2B0pc4RJg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFo67gEQVU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDKHWRbK2_Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xhUyYQdCf8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h__0LShs9JY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3W-QJQjsu4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bezyl7ZDp44