Honest Trailers

[Mitch Henessey]

So I was browsing YouTube the other day, and I stumbled across Screen Junkies' Honest Trailers channel. These trailers provide a short and thorough critique of popular Hollywood blockbusters. The narrator for Honest Trailers takes the satire approach, while exposing plot holes and rip-offs of other movies. But I will warn you, most of the Honest Trailers are mean-spirited (mainly the Twilight one), but the Honest Trailers can provide some good laughs (depending on your sense of humor), and most of the trailers provide valid criticisms. Let's take a look at each Honest Trailer:

Transformers

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Love him or hate him, Michael Bay always brings a passionate reaction out of moviegoers. Some people hate his uninspired and flashy style of directing, but other moviegoers enjoy his mindless blockbusters.

I know I'm in the minority here, but enjoyed the first Transformers film as a popcorn flick. But it's hard to ignore the overwhelming amounts of product placement, and the close-up shots of Megan Fox's body. Bay loves his close-ups of hot women, and if you don't believe me, just watch Transformers Dark Of The Moon. The FIRST shot in the movie is a close-up of Rosie Huntington-Whitley's ass.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

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Well, I do agree with some stuff in this trailer. Making more money was the only goal for The Phantom Menace's 3D re-release. The vast majority of Star Wars' fans hate this film with a burning passion, but a good amount of loyal Star Wars' fans (including myself) payed for the 3D version in theaters. Personally, I never had a big problem with the Phantom Menace (Attack Of The Clones is much worse), and I own a DVD and special edition VHS version of the film. As far as the racism stuff goes..... please, just stop. It's one thing if you don't like The Phantom Menace, but playing the racism card is a little bit absurd.

Prometheus

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Here's the thing about Prometheus. IF you went into this film expecting a true Alien prequel, then yeah, you probably walked away from this one disappointed. But I thoroughly enjoyed the wonder, the action, and the adventure. The unanswered questions obliviously pissed a lot of people off, but Prometheus provided a great experience for me.

Avatar

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Avatar isn't a bad film at all. A lot of people just have a real problem with Avatar holding the #1 spot on the highest-grossing films of all-time list, and the "overrated" criticisms will never go away. Plus, Cameron took a lot of heat for the insinuations of big bad corporations threatening the small local tribes/small communities.

There's nothing wrong the directing and the acting, and as far recycling storylines goes, it's nothing new. The losing, underdog sports teams battling adversity to earn a triumphant victory (Bad News Bears, The Replacements, Mighty Ducks,) is a prime example of redundancy. Storylines will be reused and reinvented in different ways for years to come.

Twilight

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Eh, I can't common on the entire Twilight franchise, because I never made it pass the first film. I also never had the urge to read the books, so I can't comment on Stephenie Meyer's writing. Boring is the word I would use to describe the first Twilight film, and Kristen Stewart can't act.

The Hunger Games

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Still haven't seen The Hunger Games, so I can't say anything about this trailer.

The Dark Knight

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The Dark Knight is a very good film. Horribly overrated, but still, a very good film. Heath Ledger's untimely death left a void for a lot movie fans. His performance in The Dark Knight was simply phenomenal, and the "what could've been" stuff will never go away, because Ledger had some real talent.

The convenient amount of school buses and other tricks might raise some questions, but sometimes you just have to use suspension of disbelief for movies.

The Avengers

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Didn't have a problem with The Avengers, and it's easily one of the best summer blockbusters I've ever seen. Watching The Avengers communicate without earpieces seems illogical, but again, you have to use suspension of disbelief sometimes. If you nitpick every little detail, you're just going to ruin the movie for yourself.

Titanic

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Like The Phantom Menace's 3D re-release, Titanic 3D was unnecessary, but people still payed money to see it. Titanic is remembered for genuine emotional moments, a heartfelt love story, and spectacular visuals. But it's kind of hard to forget about Kate Winslet's famous nude scene. Personally, I never had a big problem with Titanic. Of course, I think Titanic is probably James Cameron's most overrated film. And I will never sit through it again (3+ hours for any type of drama is just too much for me), but I don't hate Titanic.

So what are your thoughts? Do you agree with any of the Honest Trailers? Do they raise valid points, while providing some harmless fun, or are the Honest Trailers just one big joke?

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I watched these all a couple of weeks ago as I was coming down off of my "Teens/Elders/Kids watch/listen to..." videos high and I loved them. Some of the criticisms were exaggerated for sure, but the recurring "Starring..." joke with either products or wrong names was pretty good.

They are videos that people have asked him to do as it seems quite common for popular things that are sometimes overblown to be brought down a peg or two. There's nothing overly malicious in the videos and they seem like a good humoured retort to the official trailers that can jam in the best minute of footage, then when you see the film you feel let-down by the remaining 89 minutes.

If Hollywood can over-pomp their trailers then folks on YouTube should be allowed to counter the Hollywood machine with their own views.

 

[Alastor]

I loved most of the jokes. The Prometheus one covered most of what me and my friends were discussing after we saw the film earlier in the year. Shame he didn't put in starring National Geographics at the end too for the 30mins of brilliant scenery at the start.

I think honest trailer hit hardest with popcorn fluff film trying to be pesudo-intellectual only to fall back on relying on action scenes to maintain the audience attention, which 95% of sci films will fall into.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

New trailer!

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I'll give the Paranormal Activity films credit for delivering pulse-pounding finales, but the overwhelming amounts of boredom before the ending bother me. Also, the story never goes anywhere. We're four films into the series, and they still spend a significant amount of time explaining PA 1, PA 2, and this trend continues in PA 4. The runaround storylines are bad enough, and the cheap special effects don't help anything.

But PA 4 is a box office success so far, and Paramount already confirmed a fifth film. The Paranormal Activity franchise reminds me of Saw in a lot of ways. It started out with a bang, but eventually, the series devolved into a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if Paranormal Activity made it to an eighth film, because this franchise has a strong fan following.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

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The Amazing Spider-Man wasn't perfect, but it was better than I originally expected it to be. I know it's only one film, but personally, I thought Andrew Garfield was a better Spider-Man/Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire. More charismatic, more humorous, and more engaging. The long run time didn't bother me one bit, and Rhys Ifans was an entertaining villain.

Anyway, the Honest Trailer narrator critiques another Hollywood blockbuster with some good sarcasm and, and whether you enjoyed Spider-Man or not, you can't ignore the enjoyable and harmless fun for this trailer.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Screen Junkies put up a bunch of new Twilight trailers, but it's basically three or four videos of the same crap. Oh, and for those people, who haven't seen the movie, this trailer is loaded with spoilers.

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Well, you had to expect this one sooner or later. The Dark Knight Rises hits DVD and Blu-Ray today, so it's perfect timing for the release of this trailer. The only thing that jumped out me here is how Bruce got back to Gotham after Bane threw him in the underground prison. It's the only gigantic loop hole that really bothered me, but I didn't have a problem with Bane's voice. I dunno about everyone else, but I understood every word that came out of Hardy's mouth. And for it's worth, I actually enjoyed the final fight between Bane and Batman, because it was a gold old-fashioned man to man slug-fest.

The run time felt too long (I think it was close to 3hrs. or something like that), but in the end, I think hype and unrealistic expectations hurt The Dark Knight Rises. The long wait, having to surpass The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's Joker, and facing the challenge of being the best superhero film of 2012 (going up against The Avengers). The Dark Knight Rises is a good film, but it was never going to exceed or live up to the expectations of the enormous hype machine behind it.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

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Screen Junkies is continuing the trend of releasing their Honest Trailers before the theatrical and video releases of the films they choose to mock. The Hobbit hits theaters tomorrow, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a trailer for the Total Recall remake next week.

I've watched every Honest Trailer, and The Lord Of The Rings trailer is my new favorite. They were able to condense the entire trilogy into one trailer, but it doesn't feel cluttered or messy. There's a nice flow to it, and even if you're a die hard LOTR fan, this trailer has to bring a few chuckles out of you.

Honestly, The Fellowship is the only film I can watch over and over again. I own all three extended versions on DVD, but I can't finish The Two Towers or The Return Of The King. I haven't done it three or four years, and I don't plan on changing anytime soon.

If I watch the Two Towers, I'll usually fast forward to this part, and turn the movie after I'm done with it:

Spoiler

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The Return Of The King just drags and drags and drags. A few entertaining battle scenes along the way, but when I used to watch it, it would take me at least one week to finish the entire film.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

So what are your thoughts? Do you agree with any of the Honest Trailers? Do they raise valid points, while providing some harmless fun, or are the Honest Trailers just one big joke?

Well they go by the other side of the movies and turn only on criticism. I enjojed them because they ripoff Transformes and Michael Bay, Twilight(which I hate because girlfriend made me watch it and I think its an awfull franchise written for deluded teenage girls and cougars) and I dont like Avatar and dissapointed by Prometheus(expected more getted much less).

What I do like is that they are very good at pointing at the logical mistakes and flaws in movies or characters in that movie. What I dont like is that they forgot about other aspects of movies. For examle, The Dark Knight Rises is fun and good movie despite all those "overly complicated plots" and "Banes barely undestandable voice". Granted, there are stuff that bother me also but its a very good and entertaining movie to me.

Btw Sheriff, I recomend that you also watch(if you didnt allready ) "How It Should End". Very funny stuff also.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Btw Sheriff, I recomend that you also watch(if you didnt allready ) "How It Should End". Very funny stuff also.

Yeah, I've seen the How It Should've Ended series. Good stuff, and I LOVED the Aliens video.

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Ah, they finally got around to Inception. First and foremost, I was sucked into the Inception hype at first. I thought it was a brilliant and groundbreaking sci-fi/fantasy film........until I bought it on DVD. The Inception mystique disappeared, and after watching it three or four times, the plot holes really started to annoy me. And I can't forget about that ludicrous scene with the van falling backwards into the water.

Plus, the Nolan hype train was in full swing after The Dark Knight, so anything with Nolan's name attached to it was considered to be a masterpiece. Inception has the right cast, but this film takes the cake for Nolan's most overrated non-Batman film.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

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The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is a target for the vast majority of Indiana Jones' fans. Personally, I didn't fall in love with The Crystal Skull, but I don't hold a grudge against it. I dunno. I've only seen it two or three times, and The Crystal Skull doesn't have any lasting effects on me.

Anyway, another hilarious trailer, but I enjoyed South Park's satire of Spielberg and Lucas more. There's the one episode, about the mission to stop Spielberg and Lucas from re-releasing Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Kenny, Cartman, Stan, and Kyle are trying to convince Lucas to stop the re-release, but Spielberg is controlling Lucas.

Then, there's the other episode, where Stan, Kyle, and Kenny fight for the arrests of Lucas and Spielberg for "raping" Indiana Jones. And I'm 99% sure one of the flashback rapes was an imitation of Jodie Foster's infamous rape scene in The Accused.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

These are funny. I'm not sure if I like these, or "How it should have ended" better. Though, I will admit, one of the reasons "How it should have ended" is so great is because of the banter between Superman and Batman. "I'm Batman."

I haven't made it through all of these yet, but I have completed "How it should have ended."

 

[Mitch Henessey]

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Probably the weakest Honest Trailer I've seen so far. They're REALLY stretching to make something out of nothing here. Mocking Dench's scowling isn't funny, because she actually scowls throughout the movie. And I barely remember anything from Quantum Of Solace (only saw it once in theaters).

I finally found an opportunity to watch Skyfall weeks ago, and I was blown away. 10/10, 5/5, 4/4, or A+, it doesn't matter what type of scale you decide to use, Skyfall is a great film, and it's the best Bond film I've seen in years. I dunno, the Honest Trailers guys should take a shot at Battleship, or maybe Dark Of The Moon and Revenge Of The Fallen, because this Honest Trailer is too desperate and with the exception of the cast names at the end, unfunny.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Decided to bump this, because I was browsing YouTube, and saw more recent Honest Trailers. I stopped paying attention to them for a while, because I was getting tired of the constant Twilight bashing. Not a supporter of Twilight at all, but their "we're just shitting on Twilight because everyone else does it, so it's cool!" approach reached a too tiresome point for me.

I agree with a lot of the points in the Harry Potter trailer. Star Wars, a legendary film franchise has six films over a time span stretching twenty-eight years, but Potter has eight? Order Of The Phoenix was utter shit, and Part I one of The Deathly Hallows was just a set-up film for Part II.

Independence Day? I still enjoy it as mindless fun, but I could do without the upcoming sequel. And I wouldn't care either way if Will Smith returned or not, but he desperately needs a comeback film, because After Earth is probably his worst film since Seven Pounds.

Although I love the movie, the Jurassic Park trailer is my new favorite, and I've softened a little on my disdain for Origins. Also, I don't get the reason behind making Honest Trailers for Batman & Robin and The Last Air Bender, because I'm sure everyone will agree both movies are shit, but the trailers are still funny regardless.

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[Dowdsy McDowds]

That Batman and Robin one just reminded me of the sacrifice people will make to complete their collection of all the Batman films. I still think Silverstone is a cutie though.

I thought it was in the Independence Day honest trailer already but apparently not; the way the main cast just about ticks all the ethnic diversity boxes was quite funny and I wonder if they will do something similar with the new one.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

That Batman and Robin one just reminded me of the sacrifice people will make to complete their collection of all the Batman films.

I only have Nolan's Batman films and the campy 60's film in my disc collection. I still have Burton's films on VHS, but I don't think I can ever bring myself to pay money for Batman & Robin. And when it comes to buying films for the sake of completing every film in the series, I'm probably one of the most obsessive movie collectors you'll ever run into (I still feel kind of dirty for buying Pirates Of The Caribbean At World's End and the Chucky set that includes Seed & Bride).

I still think Silverstone is a cutie though.

Too true, and she was probably the best part of the movie for the sake of eye candy. Although, Silverstone will always have Clueless, still one of my favorite satire comedies ever.

When you think about it, Clooney is the only one, who truly survived this debacle. Joel Schumacher will always be known as the guy, who almost destroyed the Batman franchise, Arnie's mystique has faded away, and for the life of me I can't remember the last time I saw Chris O'Donnell in anything relevant.

I thought it was in the Independence Day honest trailer already but apparently not; the way the main cast just about ticks all the ethnic diversity boxes was quite funny and I wonder if they will do something similar with the new one.

Especially the stuff between Goldblum and Judd Hirsch. I could seriously do without Smith in Part 2, though. Name value should be enough to sell the sequel, but I wonder how they plan on spinning the story, because you know, they basically destroyed EVERYTHING in the original (command center in outer space, the mother ship in the US, and other ships all around the world).

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Found a few more amusing Honest Trailers.

The majority of us agree the original Matrix is a classic, but the series clearly ran out of steam with the sequels. I didn't have a big problem with Reloaded, but Revolutions was awful, and seeing another anticlimactic Smith VS Neo battle didn't help anything.

After Earth is just....really boring, and putting so much focus on Jaden Smith killed the movie.


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"Guaranteed to depress adults and frighten small children"

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