Trailers Weekly: Michael’s Top 10 Trailers of 2011

This edition of Trailers Weekly won’t feature any new trailers today. For one thing there were no new trailers debuting this week, and the other thing is because its the new years. If you’re an avid movieviral reader, you know we pick the best and most talked about trailers its debut week. Throughout the year, we’ve had green band, red band, and even NC-17 green band (yeah that’s new to me too), and we’ve seen many amazing trailers, but have also watched ones that made us wish we could have two and a half minutes of our life back. Writing this weekly feature for almost a year, I found that these are my top ten best trailers of 2011. This is a very subjective list, and I am not saying this top ten means its above all top ten best lists. What I want to let you know is that these ten trailers left the biggest impact for me, when I watched them for the first time. So hit the jump to see my top ten trailers of 2011.

10. The Avengers
One of the most action-packed trailers on this list. The first trailer for The Avengers has it all, IRON MAN, HULK, THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA, S.H.I.E.L.D., LOKI, and many more. There aren’t too many movies that feature such a large roster of heroes and the fact that it brings some (because Mark Ruffalo is the newest name on the cast) of the biggest names from their respective movies for this giant collaborative project is something to be very excited about.

9. The Muppets
We’ve covered The Muppets ever since we saw the Green with Envy parody trailer early this year. Since then, we’ve posted the trailers that parodied The Hangover Part II, The Green Lantern, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But the one trailer that delivered the most laughs was the final parody trailer, the one where it was a parody of itself.

8. Super 8
Another viral we’ve covered since 2010. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been covering this movie for that long. The teaser led us to believe we would be getting something spectacular from a J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg team up, and the trailer below amplified that ten fold, because it looked like a love letter to Spielberg’s work. I just wished that the movie itself followed through.

7. We Need to Talk About Kevin
Perhaps the most haunting trailer of 2011. The trailer for We Need to Talk About Kevin may start sweet and happy because of Buddy Holly’s Everyday, but the tone takes a dark turn when the music disappears. A deep chill runs down your spine as you see Kevin’s progression from a constantly crying infant to a fully developed sociopath. This trailer doesn’t even begin to show the commanding performance that Tilda Swinton delivers in the movie, in fact its just the tip of the iceberg.

6. Midnight in Paris
I love the whimsy storytelling in the trailer for Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Its fun, jazzy, and somewhat adventurous. The trailer certainly delivered on its promise that the movie would be a fun romantic comedy that is chalk full of Woody Allen’s signature style.

5. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
A trailer for a good old fashioned spy film. No laser watches, high speed car chases, or new Hollywood starlet, just unsuspecting turns at every corner. Between the music and the editing of this trailer, you don’t know what you will get when watching this espionage movie, and that is a very good thing.

4. Shame
The movie takes a real hard look at a destructive disease. The trailer itself conveys that message through style, tone, and pacing, and as a result it made me very intrigued to watch the movie itself.

3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
While I may not have been completely overcome with the movie as other people have, I thoroughly enjoyed the power of the trailer for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Karen O and Trent Reznor’s rendition of Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song was twisted, dark, and shocking, just like this trailer. I just wish I could find that red band trailer.

2. The Hobbit
So it pretty much came down to the final these final two trailers. Watching the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was like visiting an old friend. Peter Jackson has always made use of the vast lands of New Zealand, and turned it into one of the greatest set pieces in film history. While the trailer starts out with a couple of familiar faces, we soon see our Martin Freeman taking on the very important role of Bilbo Baggins, and judging by the looks of the trailer, it seems like it was a role he was born to play.

1. Prometheus
The teaser trailer for Prometheus shows what Alien DNA strands will be in the movie itself by playing like the first trailer for the 1979 film. And that is just enough to make it my number one favorite trailer of 2011.

Honorable Mentions
The Dark Knight Rises
The Artist
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol