Trailers: Dredd, Taken 2, Hotel Transylvania, Anna Karenina

So, is Magic Mike, opening this weekend, really about male strippers and the entrepenurial spirit in America? I think it's stripping American institutions and undermining traditional values; great director Steven Soderbergh is taking this topic on for a reason and I expect he's doing it to "expose" something he doesn't like. While I am female, I am not looking forward to this, although I respect Channing Tatum who I believe to be a fine actor that takes his craft seriously and wants nothing but to improve and make films that matter, I am confident we are on opposite sides of the spectrum in every issue.

So many reader comments!
Thank you so much for asking your questions & sharing your observations! It does, however, take me a bit longer to respond than for you to leave your comments, so please be patient, I am trying to get to everyone as quickly as possible! I have plans to see Brave and Seeking A Friend For the End of the World but we know what happens when I say I am going to do something: it doesn't happen. BUT... if you are on Pinterest, or have thought of doing so, I have added 100 new boards to The Fine Art Diner so please check them out by clicking on the Pinterest button on the right-hand column; if you don't have a Pinterest account, I would be happy to send you an invitation!

I finally get to see Wes Anderson's newest film, Moonrise Kingdom, so between Magic Mike and this and People Like Us, I don't know if I will be getting to see Ted this weekend; that's not to say it isn't important, there is only so much time and things always come up. If I don't get to it this weekend, I will next week!

Lots of new films out on DVD/Blu-Ray this week, including The Artist, which won best picture (my review BANG! The Artist & the New Agenda In Film) Mirror, Mirror (The Peacock vs the Swan: Mirror, Mirror) Wrath Of the Titans (Wrath Of the Titans: Transcending Political Chaos) 21 Jump Street (21 Jump Street: Covalent Bonding)  and A Thousand Words. I did see A Thousand Words with Eddie Murphy and I thought it was a much better film than the critics did, but I didn't have time to get a review up for it. It's well done but, as you can imagine, there is prolific profanity; while no nudity, there is a sexual scene but it would be worth a Redbox rental if you are even vaguely interested. By the way, we won't have to wait as long as I thought: Jeremy Renner's newest film, The Bourne Legacy, opens August 10 (I thought it was originally opening in September, but they moved it up, then moved it back so Dark Knight Rises can have an extra week of no competition viewing). 
To the newest trailers being released, Dredd, starring Karl Urban (Lord Of the Rings) and Lena Headey (300) opens September 21:

A reader and I got into a bit of an argument about The Raid: Redemption, which takes place in the Philippines and I interpreted it as a Muslim-jihad film; the reader said that if the film was remade in the US, it would be a pro-Christian film with the Christians taking over the world and I said, no, it would be a class against class film. Well, I might be wrong, but Dredd is that remake of The Raid: a group of law enforcers going into a building controleled by a drug dealer and they have to fight their way to justice. Right now, this film looks like an anti-Washington film to me, that our government has led us into a post-apocalyptic world and the government has been selling a drug to make people see reality differently than what it is, but tailers can be mis-leading. Opening in October is Liam Neeson's Taken 2: in the first one (which I didn't see) he had to save his daughter; I don't think it's an accident that it takes place in Istanbul.

Another film about someone "taking a daughter away," is Adam Sandler's Hotel Translyvania (opening in September) which has a new trailer: the Count operates a high "stakes" resort for monsters only to protect his teenage daughter; when a human shows up and falls for his daughter, he tries to keep them apart (this almost sounds like the opposite of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter). What's important is that children symbolize the future, so Dracula, being an investor-type, is probably going to be a mockery of Republicans who don't want to wed the future to an "alien" (the human). It's important that the girl mentions she's 118 years old; what happened 118 years ago that "gave birth" to a little ghoul? Well, in 1894 a lot of things were going on, and that will be the basis for a historical interpretation of the film:

In a similar "vein," (I don't know why I am attempting so many puns today), is Alex Cross, due out in October (just before elections)  that  I see to be the exact opposite of Taken 2 (above): the wife asks how her husband how he is going to get her "to leave Detroit," and since President Obama is taking credit for "keeping Detroit alive," we might interpret Alex Cross to be Obama with the crazy white guy serial killer being Republicans crazed to get Obama out of office and "torturing and mutilating" what Obama has done (or, hasn't done, to some of us):

Likewise, Russia might be the new metaphor for capitalistic America: Anna Karenina might be a romantic tragedy about a young America "falling in love" with socialism and wanting to "break free" of the loveless capitalism America married when we were such a young country (but who knows with trailers):

That's the newest trailers for now, but I am trying to get back to the theater to see both Brave and Seeking A Friend For the End Of the World and will get those posts up ASAP!
Eat Your Art Out,
The Fine Art Diner