Trailer Park: The Video Age

Seeing is believing, and modern audio visual technology lets us see things in ways we couldn't have dreamed of just a few decades ago. This week on Trailer Park we look at The Video Age.

The King of Kong
Donkey Kong, that is. You remember, back when Mario was still just a supporting player? Possibly the most whacked idea for a documentary since Air Guitar Nation, The King of Kong tells the tale of Billy and Steve, the two greatest Donkey Kong players in the world. I'm not sure how seriously I'm supposed to take this, particularly Billy's over the top arrogance (we see him referring to himself in the third person and saying how controversy surrounds everything he says, much like the abortion issue). I love the retro 80s look of the trailer, and all those classic arcade games remind me of the many misspent quarters of my misspent youth. This looks like a fascinating glimpse into an ultra-geeky subculture. Here's Scott Weinberg's review of the film, and you can have a look at the trailer here:

Hitman
A bald dude has a bar code on the back of his head and a pair of guns he's not afraid to use. I didn't realize going in that Hitman is based on a series of video games, but I correctly assumed so just by watching the trailer. I guess it has that style over substance look. Things explode, there's a sultry woman in a red dress and an insignia gets tossed around so many times I got the impression that I was supposed to recognize it, and I'm sure those who have played the games will. What's it about? Who knows. I've yet to see a truly great movie based on a video game (the first Resident Evil was OK), though I suspect this will be a cool looking movie at the very least. Might be worth a look, but I'll need to know more. Here's Scott's take on it.
The Hunting Party
Video technology has, of course, changed the way the average person sees war, which is one of the themes of this Richard Gere vehicle. Gere and Terrance Howard respectively play a journalist and cameraman who go looking for a man known as The Fox, who is the most wanted war criminal in all of Bosnia. Their idea is to score an interview, but their intentions are misinterpreted and the situation gets very dangerous indeed. There's talk of CIA conspiracies, and when Gere's character tells his colleagues to "trust nobody," I felt for a moment that he was channeling David Duchovny. Based on true events, this looks to be an interesting slice of international intrigue.

Eastern Promises
I first discovered the films of David Cronenberg when he was making the most amazingly off the wall horror films like Scanners, Rabid, and (for the purposes of today's category) Videodrome, an incredibly trippy look at the then new phenomenon of home video. Cronenberg's more recent films like A History of Violence tend to be more mainstream and reality based, but interesting nonetheless. Eastern Promises, which Martha Fischer first mentioned here is set in London with Naomi Watts playing a midwife who runs afoul of the Russian mafia. Viggo Mortensen is both sinister and convincing with his Russian accent. I have high hopes for this one.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Not based on a video game, obviously, but the game based on the film is available for pretty much every gaming platform. This particular trailer is for the Imax version of the film. Its short and sweet, and packed with way cool imagery. We get flashes of his noselessness Lord Voldemort, a soul-sucking Dementor, and some weird CGI beastie with bat wings (it's been awhile since I read the book, so I forget what they're called). It seems like we've been waiting forever for this one, but it will hit theaters on July 11


And there's a bunch of new trailers this week at Moviefone:

• Secrets of the Code: Explores the global obsession resulting from The Da Vinci Code.
  
• Vantage Point: An attempt on the life of the U.S. President is examined from five different perspectives.
  
• The Brave One: Jodie Foster plays a woman whose life is irrevocably changed after a brutal assault.
  
• Hot Rod - Trailer No. 2: Second trailer for this comedy about an accident prone stuntman wannabe.
  
• This is England: Set in England during the early 1980s, this film tells the tale of a twelve year old boy who joins the skinheads.
  
• 2 Days in Paris: Julie Delpy wrote directed and starred in this comedy about romance and culture shock in Paris.
  
• 3:10 to Yuma: In Arizona in the late 1800s, a Civil War veteran escorts a murderer to trial.
  
• No Country For Old Men: Multiple dead bodies, a load of heroin and two million dollars in cash set this tale in motion.
  
• Dans Paris: Paul returns to his family, depressed and suicidal after the break-up of his marriage, to live with his divorced father and amorous younger brother.
  
• Feast of Love: A look at romance amongst a small group of people in an Oregon community starring Greg Kinnear and Morgan Freeman.
  
• Dynamite Warrior: Revenge, cattle rustling and martial arts. Who could ask for more?
  
• Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium: Dustin Hoffman stars as the eccentric owner of a magical toy shop. Check it out: