Trailer Park: Dealing With Loss

Not to bring the room down, but one of the truest tests of a person's character is how he or she deals with loss, whether it be car keys or of something or someone genuinely important. This week on Trailer Park we're looking at films about dealing with loss.

Ghost Rider
What greater loss is there to deal with than the loss of ones immortal soul? In this film, based on the Marvel Comic, Nicolas Cage stars as Johnny Blaze, a renowned stunt motorcyclist. Years ago he made a deal with a devil called Mephistopheles (or just Mephisto to the comic book purists) to save someone he loved. Now at night in the presence of evil, Blaze becomes Ghost Rider, a demonic flame-skulled creature riding a Harley from hell and rounding up those who have escaped Mephistopheles' wrath. Cage missed out on an opportunity to play Superman a few years ago, and at first Ghost Rider might seem like quite a step down in the super hero world, but this one looks like fun, mixing super heroics with elements of horror. Peter Fonda's presence as Mephistopheles is obviously a nod to his role in Easy Rider, another biker movie in which his character was often referred to as Captain America, another legendary Marvel character. For another opinion on this trailer, see what Cinematical's Mark Beall had to say.

1408
Stephen King has written a lot of great stuff, but the short story on which 1408 is based, while not bad, is not one of his more memorable works. John Cusack plays a man who, after the loss of his daughter, becomes obsessed with finding evidence that the paranormal exists. His search takes him to a hotel whose allegedly haunted room 1408 has caused 56 deaths over the years. Needless to say, scary things start happening. Samuel L. Jackson has a quietly sinister performance here and Cusack's work is usually worth a look. The trailer shows promise and I hope the movie will overcome my ambivalence about the source material. Here's what Cinematical's Ryan Stewart thought of it.

Fired!
While not on the scale of the previous two examples, losing a job royally sucks. Annabelle Gurwitch's experience of being dismissed from a play by Woody Allen forced her to examine the experience of being fired. Based on her book Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed, this preview reminds me a bit of The Aristocrats, and even some of the same celebrities are interviewed. Could be interesting, but is the idea strong enough to fill out the length of the movie? At present, I'm middle of the road on this one. Karina Longworth has a mini review of the film here.

Rush Hour 3
The connection here is the U.S. losing the space race to The Soviet Union. I know, just bear with me for a moment. First the Russians beat us into space, and now they get the Rush Hour 3 trailer before us, as I could only find it on this Russian website (other than the grainy version on Youtube, that is). I suppose if you're a fan of the first two films, you will find it worth the trip. This time Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are headed for France, and the trailer treats us to a duet of the two singing "Lady Marmalade." I'm getting tired of this particular style of trailer in which the audience is led to believe we are going to see something dramatic and socially relevant, until something wacky happens and we all realize it's a comedy after all. The joke is just getting old. Erik Davis talked about this trailer here.

Delta Farce
Martha Fischer first posted about this flick back in May. Don't let the clever word play in the title fool you; based on the three minutes of my life lost viewing this trailer, this is a film to be avoided at all costs. The movie stars Larry the Cable Guy and his Blue Collar Comedy cohort Bill Engvall as U.S. Army Reservists called to active duty in Iraq. Due to a plot twist worthy of Three's Company, the pair are air dropped into Mexico by mistake, although they don't realize they're not in Iraq. Just as I'm betting the film can be judged accurately from this horribly unfunny trailer, the trailer itself can be judged by our first view of Mr. Cable Guy dressed in (shudder) an adorable little red cowboy outfit with a tiny hat. Watching C-Span would be more entertaining.