Clips from 'The Bang Bang Club'

Trailer for 'Setup'

With Bruce Willis, 50 Cent, Ryan Phillipe

Quick Cut Trailer for 'The Lincoln Lawyer'

I'm sensing trouble with the story here. Super-fast cuts are used to promote action pictures, especially ones with lots of eye candy vfx. TLL clearly isn't that kind of movie. It's loaded with dialogue-heavy scenes, I suppose a certain amount of procedural police/courtroom stuff, and some violence.

TLL doesn't deserve the quick cut trailer treatment. It doesn't fit for this type movie.

Problem is, first trailer was much more conventional, with far longer cuts, and the story it was selling bored me. Going the other way hasn't helped. What is it about the story that can't support a normal trailer?

If they're trying to entice the target demographic, which is used to seeing flashcut trailers for movies like, say, 'Fast and Furious', I don't think it'll work. Those guys can sense when they're being taken for a ride. If the target demo is 30-somethings, well, they're looking for story, and the trailer doesn't really promote that. Besides, does that age group really want to see this movie?

It's a jangly campaign for a movie that occupies a gray-zone as far as who it appeals to. Curious to see what the strategy will be for rollout of future promo materials.

Marisa Tomei is certainly a draw.

Praise For Cooper In Breach

"Breach", the story of traitor Robert Hanssen, which stars Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillipe; directed by Billy Ray and written by Ray, Adam Mazer, and William Rotko, is getting some very fine ink -- all of which praise Cooper's performance.

Here is Manohla Dargis' take, Kenneth Turan's and David Edelstein's reviews, and my favorite of the bunch, Steve Inskeep's interview with Cooper. (8 min.)

I especially like the way Cooper keeps Inskeep (one of NPR's senior reporters and a veteran interviewer) just a bit off balance. It would seem Cooper has very much internalized some tinker/tailor pyschological orientation.