Trailers Weekly is a feature in which we bring you the most popular and talked about trailers of the week. Sharing trailers is a classic viral practice, and trailers are still the most mainstream way for people to learn about movies. That’s what I have said for the better part of the last two years writing this column.
Since this is the final week of the year, what better way to post a new edition of Trailers Weekly than to post a top 10 list of the year. As you might have guessed, these are the top ten trailers of 2013. Some of these films may have one trailer, while others have more, but what these trailers have demonstrated is that, you have to be entertaining to get people excited. Because if you don’t, why even care. So hit the jump to find out what the top then trailers of 2013 are.
10 – Spring Breakers
Any trailer that can bleed neon pink, spread violence, and still end it all with Britney Spear‘s “It Me Baby One More Time,” certainly deserves to be on any top ten trailer list (well on mine anyway). The first trailer for Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers has just the right amount of exposition without going off the deep end and telling your the entire story of the film in under three minutes. Perhaps one of the most strangest things to come out of this trailer was James Franco‘s performance as Alien, a white rapper living the Spring Breaker life. Backed by Skrillex‘s music, this trailer grabbed by attention almost immediately, and got me interested in the film. Isn’t that a trailers job anyway?
9 – Godzilla
Taking a cue from the teaser for a teaser, teaser footage from the Godzilla actually debuted in the MUTO viral site. This made the film that much more interesting considering they were hoping to get a full glimpse of the King of Monsters. They didn’t even tease it at the San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year. But that’s what makes the trailer so great. It’s that it is shrouded in a veil of mystery, offering just enough footage to make fans want more. Thus making this Godzilla trailer a true representation of what a teaser should look like.
8 – The Conjuring
This was the most freighting movie of 2013. Plain and simple. A seemingly happy family moving into a new home. Kids are fighting over rooms. Family game time. James Wan knows how to craft a horror movie, and the first trailer for The Conjuring is an indication of it. If you felt a jolt of fear or jumped out of your seat during the day time while watching this trailer, just imagine what it could do to you at the dead of night with all the lights in the room turned off. I’ll never be able to hear The Zombie‘s “Time Of The Season” the same way ever again. And I think I will take a pass if I am offered a chance play that clapping game. Just watching Lili Taylor play it was scary enough as it is.
7 – Pain & Gain
Michael Bay‘s passion project cost less than a Transformers film? Is that even possible? Well when you make a movie about two muscle bound knuckle heads (Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie) who team up with an ex-con (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) to kidnap one of Miami’s most wealthiest men (and watch all go south; it proves to be one of the most interesting trailers of the year. While the story may be fascinating, especially since it’s coming from Bay, the director doesn’t forget to add his signature racist humor or slow-motion action sequences.
6 – The Amazing Spider-Man 2
With a very strong showing at the San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, the trailer for Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was expected to feature some of the same footage that was shown. But that wasn’t the case. Taking the internet by storm, the trailer followed in the footsteps of other trailer for tentpole films, by debuting trailers for the trailers. But those trailers even undersold the final product because what fans saw was more than they could ever ask for. Teases for Doctor Octopus, the first look at Rhino, perhaps the Green Goblin, and of course Electro. Oh there were also fun hidden websites just in case you were wondering.
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5 – The Lego Movie
Like the song in the trailer says “Everything is awesome.” At least everything about this trailer. The second trailer for The Lego Movie takes away the fact that the film looks like a large product placement commercial by giving us interesting characters voiced by an impressive cast. Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, and Liam Neeson are just a few names who lent their voices to this film. Surprisingly hilarious to a fault, and chock full of quotable lines, this trailer for The Lego Movie had me hooked.
4 – Dom Hemingway
Richard Shepard‘s British crime dramedy Dom Hemingway stars Jude Law as a loud, lewd safecracker just coming off of a twelve-year stint in prison. Looking to collect what he is owed after keeping his mouth shut during his prison tenure, Hemingway reunites with his former crime boss and his daughter. But the story isn’t the fun of it. It’s the fact that Law’s character is rude, crude, and dabbles in debauchery. While overseas critics weren’t too fond of the film itself, the trailer is very entertaining to look at, and offers at least some hope that American critics will think differently.
3 – Grand Budapest Hotel
A trailer for a film like Grand Budapest Hotel should not go unnoticed. It features that signature whimsy humor and romance that Wes Anderson is so well-known for, which is then topped off with a bit of an art heist and murder mystery. Then, he casts Ralph Finnes in a rare comedic role. A rather refreshing turn for the actor’s career. There is just so much to look forward to from this movie, especially since Anderson’s meticulously detailed sets and costumes, and go-to cast are just some of the few highlights of this absolutely wonderful trailer.
2 – Gravity
What separates the trailer for Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity from all the others is that it isn’t just a compilation of clips with the BRRAAAHMM sound; it’s the fact that it is a one shot take from the actual movie. So this trailer (or clip) shows the degree of difficulty to which this film was shot, at least on a technical level. The fact that Cuaron was able to accomplish such a feat has received some well-deserved recognition. And while the film may not have needed the help from the trailers to begin with, the trailers did a good enough job of teasing those intense technical moments.
1 – The Wolf Of Wall Street
The first The Wolf Of Wall Street is the epitome of what a trailer should be. It’s full of spirit and energy, and plenty of moments in it for the internet to turn Leonardo DiCaprio into an animated gif. The trailer, which takes us back to the 90s, is perfectly paired up with Kayne West’s Black Skinhead, and addresses how having things in excess is never enough for those who have access to excess. From pumping his fist to motivate his stock firm to him dancing (admit it, that was just damn sexy), watching DiCaprio in this trailer was more than enough to get me interested in this film.