The Fighter
Buzzworthy: Nah

Why? Why saddle a potentially great film with such a lame teaser? The Fighter boasts an excellent cast, an interesting director, and a feel-good true story, so why does the trailer have to give away the entire story? We’ve all seen the “out-of-luck street scrapper with heart gets a shot” movies (I saw Mark Walhberg do this already in Invincible), but when the tension with Mickey’s brother (played by Christian Bale) surfaces halfway through the trailer I got interested. Unfortunately, by the 2:15 mark we see that his brother gets out of jail, makes up with his family, and is in Mickey’s corner for the pivotal fight. I’ll probably still go see this film because of the talent involved, even though the insipid teaser ruined a potentially very interesting part of the story.

Natalie Portman in The Black Swan (via Movie Jungle).

Read the trailer review here!

Buried
Buzzworthy: Yeah

I know there’s a more recent teaser for the upcoming thriller Buried out there, but this first release is still my favorite. It doesn’t give as much backstory as trailer #2, but it does such a good job of setting up the film with little exposition (and mostly no visuals). I wish more trailers were this assured. The beauty of this teaser is how completely it captures the minimalist but crafty idea the film is built on, and I didn’t need any more to want to see how it will play out.

Somewhere
Buzzworthy: Nah

I guess life is rough when you live at the swanky Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. You have to pass super-models in the hall and there’s always some annoying hot chick in a tiny bikini on the balcony beneath yours. And don’t forget the pole dancers in your room! To make matters even worse, your young teenage daughter shows up and you have to, like, take her to awards shows with you and lounge by the pool together. I liked Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation, and was looking forward to Somewhere until I saw the teaser. If there is more to this film than a look at how rich and famous people have a few glitzy problems, they should’ve cut a little some of that in.

Red Hill
Buzzworthy: Hell Yeah

They’ve been saying the Western is dead for as long as I’ve been alive, yet it seems every couple years it’s Western films (True Grit anyone?) that get everybody talking. Red Hill is the film that has critics buzzing, and the teaser is the perfect vehicle for it. Not a scrap of dialogue, just affecting music - this film must be so good they don’t need to give us a breakdown of the story! And the visuals alone do a fantastic job of luring us in. From the opening shots of a loner on a horse riding into town with shadowy figures waiting in ambush to a cowboy watching a house burn, this looks like high plains drama. Slowly, what looks like anachronistic objects (a sniper rifle, a radio, a hoodie) slowly sink in - this “Western” is actually a contemporary action/thriller. Long live the Western!.

Monsters
Buzzworthy: Yeah

You really can’t go wrong with a teaser for a giant monster movie. Set up the place the monster is going to destroy, introduce the characters that will run and possibly be stepped on by said monster, and then onto some fast clips of something getting smashed. And never, ever give away what the monster looks like. The teaser for Monsters sticks to the book, although I wish they had some better-lit scenes to work with. Otherwise, they do a solid job of setting up a story that adds some innovation to the genre in a District 9 kind of way.

European poster for Let Me In (via Dreadcentral)

Read the trailer review and watch the teaser here!

The Adjustment Bureau
Buzzworthy: Yeah

Interesting that the teaser for The Adjustment Bureau has surfaced so far in advance of its March 2011 release. I’m thinking, from watching the trailer, the studios believe they have something original on their hands that they’ll need a lot of time to build buzz about. The set-up is standard - Matt Damon, a guy running for senate, captivated by a mysterious lovely lady - but the flash-cut and music quickly alerts us that this isn’t a just a story about romance. Sure enough, it takes a turn towards The Twilight Zone, and the shot of the “man in the hat” watching them sleep at the foot of their bed is enough to hook me. It may go on to give away a little too much, but (like the teaser for Julia’s Eyes) it’s a challenge to capture an innovative story in 2.5 minutes.

I’m Still Here poster (via IMP Awards). Read the trailer review here.