Trailers of the Week: 3/31/2011

Sorry this one took so long to get out, internet wasn't cooperating this week, and as a result I don't have any videos to go with this post. Instead I included the links to watch the trailers on youtube, so enjoy and I should have a new post up early next week (if all goes well).

13 Assassins

I love samurai movies. I love Takashi Miike movies. I love when Takashi Miike makes samurai movie. So of course I'm going to love 13 Assassins, Miike's latest film that tells about the 13 assassins of the title going on a suicide mission to kill an evil lord in feudal Japan.

Miike is well known as a prolific director (this marks his 40th film in less than twenty years) who uses perverse amounts of violence and themes most people stay away from to make his films stand out...and indeed they have. His first international success was his 1999 psychological horror film Audition, which scarred many a movie goer and forced Miike to say "I just don't understand why people would walk out of a movie." He has since caught the eye of the likes of Quentin Tarantino (who had a small role in his Sergio Leone homage Sukiyaki Western Django) and Eli Roth (for whom Miike would cameo in Hostel).

Based on this preview and the director's reputation, it looks as though 13 Assassins is going to be a brutally ass-kicking festival of bloody action, and while the setting might be a turn-off for some (I know people who tend to not be fans of historically set movies), but take a look at the trailer and tell me it doesn't look freaking awesome.

13 Assassins hits theaters in a limited capacity starting April 29th

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-IzbkXo7bo

Hobo with a Shotgun

I dare you to say that title without wanting to smile just a little bit.

The latest feature film to be made from what started out as one of the fake trailers during Grindhouse, it features Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), who these days has been reduced to bit supporting roles, as...well...a hobo with a shotgun. Essentially the movie is about a hobo who arrives in a new town, snaps, and goes vigilante on all of the corruption and filth around him...with a shotgun.

What I like about this movie is simple, it knows what it is. By that I mean it isn't going to try and be pretentious or take itself seriously, its going to be violent and over the top, and it looks like its going to be a lot of fun too.

Hobo with a Shotgun is actually available to rent on iTunes, but will be hitting theaters starting May 6th

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASomc2O6eqY