Sucker Punch Explained

This was a single article which got split into two. This is the spoilers section. The review of the movie Sucker Punch is here.
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SPOILER ALERT
By the truck loads. There is no way to explain how to see the movie Sucker Punch without giving it away entirely. Which makes it hard for word of mouth promotion or any promotion at all. So you end up with the focus on the action and the girls.
The best way to understand the movie is to accept that what you have seen most through the movie was the imagination of Baby Doll on two levels. This is like the Kaiser Sozey myth of the Usual Suspects. Whatever you watched, you saw, never really happened. Or happened in a different way.
In the beginning of the movie, as Baby-Doll was being brought into the asylum, she saw the elements she needed to escape. She knew she only 5 days to escape and went about getting those items quickly. She was also befriended other girls who were with her on the scheme. The asylum was run on the inside by the orderlies led by the orderly called Blue in the movie. The escape plan went wrong and the girls were hurt badly but in the end, Baby-Doll realized she had to sacrifice herself so that Sweet Pea could manage to escape. As she was about to be lobotomized, she imagines a dream world. In this world, she replaced the asylum with a brothel. Baby-Doll probably had been able to build dream worlds to replace reality during the times she was molested by her father. This is what she did and what we saw during the brothel sections of the movie was a mix of her reality in the asylum and her imagining it as a brothel. This was her final escape before being lobotomized. You could see the world of the asylum crept in her dream world like the visions of the kitchen, the dorm and the grimy hallways. Whatever was replaced by the brothel imagery (of lights and stages and costumes) were probably pushed out by Baby-Doll from her mind. When she began dancing and entering her dream sequences, she was basically replacing her experience of stealing the items with her fantastic imaginary worlds, only keeping the memory of the excitement and the rush of adrenalin pumping through her. So like a Russian doll, the movie begins with the real-world (asylum), goes into the dream world (brothel) with the imaginary worlds (action scenes) at the center. The movie re-enters the dream brothel world and ends in the real world.

The title of the movie is spot on. Even at the most basic level, the ending will leave you wondering whose story is the movie really about. Despite of what the movie narration alludes to, it is still Baby-Doll's story. Since Baby-Doll goes catatonic, she never really sees Sweet Pea get on a bus. That probably is part of her dream world, too. The return of the wise man, is probably an indication that the vision we see is hers, justifying her sacrifice in exchange for Sweet Pea's escape.
Although the structure of the story seems unique, it has been done before but better. In comparison, the sucker punch was truly delivered by the Sixth Sense.

Prometheus Review: Prometheus Delivers Something Else

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace
Category: Sci-fi Action Adventure Horror

If you are a sci-fi movie fan, this movie is for you. If you like monster movies, you will like the second half of the movie. If horror movies are your thing, there are plenty of moments in this movie that will make you happy. If you are an Alien franchise fan, this movie is not meant for you. You can enjoy it as one of the others kind of movies but if expect this adds to the Aliens lore and the world that it lives in, you may not like what you see.

Prometheus generated a lot of interest because of it's links to director Ridley Scott , who directed Alien and the fact that it is a movie about aliens. It wouldn't be impossible to draw links to it and the Aliens franchise. The genesis of this movie is in fact from a pivotal scene in first movie, Alien. This is when the crew of the Nostromo walks into a cavernous chamber and find it filled with Alien pods on the floor. At the center of the chamber is a giant creature sitting in throne of something that looks like a telescope pointing skyward. The brief image and the question of who is the Space Jockey has been a source of popular fascination in the Aliens popular lore.

The Space Jockey in Alien

There have been no clues in the other movies so the identity of the Space Jockey is a mystery to most people. The novel Aliens: Original Sin doesn't count.

So it this movie a prequel? Yes and No. You will have to read the spoilers section at the bottom for an explanation.

The movie starts with a mysterious figure who looks like he committed suicide. That's a great way to start a movie, a mystery that will make the audience talk about after the movie. The problem is that it encourages the audience to think and look for clues that may answer that mystery. Unfortunately, this movie is enjoyed best without doing that.

Another view of the Space Jockey in Alien

The movie then jumps to two archaeologists who make a startling discovery in a cave: a pre-historic cave drawing of people pointing to a group of planets. They take this as proof (to them at least), that we were visited by aliens at different times in our history. And that they wanted us to go to them on their planet. (Really? Is that the first thing that comes to mind?)

The Weyland corporation then sponsors them to go to this planet. The group consists of a company representative played by Charlize Theron, the ship's crew, the two scientists, some other scientists, some security personnel and an android. The android has a disturbing fascination with Lawrence of Arabia and spends time on the ship, while the human crew are in stasis, watching the movie and dying his hair blonde. Lawrence of Arabia is not a great choice for an android to be taking lessons from. The main character is manipulative and rather unstable. Two traits you don't really want in a robot.

They reach the planet and find a hill with a landing strip that they think holds the key to the identity of these aliens. Then the movie gets out of hand. The scientists, in the spirit of Christmas, go headlong into the hill, exploring it's caves. They are giddy as children with a new gift and as reckless.

They make more discoveries that lead to more questions. Things start to go wrong and they discover that they are not alone. Not alone on the ship and not alone on the planet. Some of the crew get infected and all hell breaks loose. The movie then moves from science fiction to more action and horror elements.  

Prometheus has everything going for it. A great cast, a good premise, huge budget, a good director and a strong interests from an existing fan-base. So it's not hard to expect great things from it. The movie is good but unfortunately, not great. It'll keep you talking and thinking when the movies ends but not for the right reasons. The movie does not live to it's full potential and having everything going for it makes it harder to swallow.
The cast were underutilized. Not quite up to the level of Clash of the Titans but the movie does have Charlize Theron just standing and glaring for the most of it. Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender do the hard lifting in the acting department and scenes where they are the important ones in the movie. Like the what the Weyland Corp. did in the movie, the producers could have just hired a generic support crew.
The movie has an epic quality to it. Definitely, a huge chunk of the budget is on-screen. But it is more so when it comes to size. Everything is scaled to make the humans look small. Huge hill/mound in a valley surrounded by towering mountains. Enormous sandstorms. The fact is, the aliens are quite big. You can see that even in the original Alien movie. The Space Jockey was a giant. The message here I think is clear: Humans are not the biggest beings in the universe. Now behave like it.

I also made the epic mistake of watching the trailer despite having understood the hidden code of trailer makers. I enjoyed the movie less because I watched the trailer. If you want to enjoy this movie, don't watch the trailer or forget what you saw.
Having said all that, this movie is still quite good. Come to it with no expectations and you will not be disappointed. 

Source Code movie a source of confusion?

Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Jake Gyllenhall

Category: Science Fiction, Thriller
Source Code is hard to pin down and harder to categorize. While it clearly makes itself out as an action-suspense thriller, the main thrust of the movie is science fiction. The idea behind the movie is that the military has found a way to go relive another person's life for 8 minutes in the past. They could send someone, in this case pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), to re-live the last 8 minutes of someone else's life who has died. Stevens is re-living the life of Shawn Fentress, victim of a train bombing. He is riding the train with Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan) on the way to work.

At first Stevens is disorientated but with the guidance of Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farminga) he begins to learn the limitations and capabilities of his capability. Goodwin and Dr Rutledge, the man who build the machine, want Stevens to focus on finding the bomber, who they believe is on the train. But Stevens wants to find and disable the bomb. Goodwin and Rutledge try to convince Stevens that the reality he is in is a simulated world and that the events have taken place. So disabling the bomb is useless. At the end of each 8 minutes, Stevens is pulled out of the world and back into the machine. Each time he is sent back, it begins at the same place and the same things happen again. But Stevens begin noticing that although each 8 minutes he re-lives is basically the same, some small differences do happen, which gives him hope that he can change things.
Meanwhile, he begins to learn of his fate and how he came to 'pilot' the machine. He learns about the lost time in between his last memory of Afghanistan and where he is now. He also begins to connect with Christina and falls in love with her, much to the chagrin of Goodwin. But it is this connection that keeps him going as he falls into a state of despair as each attempt fails to reveal the bomber.
The movie is quite successful in being suspenseful despite working within cycles of 8 minutes and recurring events. Stevens goes through a process of elimination as he investigates each suspicious passenger. He evens 'builds' a plan to get a gun in an attempt to go after a suspect, making progress after each 8 minutes.
Halfway through the movie though, I struggle to push out the spoiler thoughts while I tried to enjoy the movie as it is. For those that can tune out, this is a great 'ride' movie. But to even a casual science fiction fan (if there is such a person), its very clear where the movie is heading even though they don't know how it will end. 
The characters were believable in their own way. Stevens is the driven hero but is made human with his regrets. Goodwin is sympathetic to Stevens' situation although as being in the military, she will follow orders when given. And even though her character is somewhat limited and repetitive (being the only main character that exist only in the 8 minute cycle) Michelle Monaghan, is able to make the most of it and able to portray Christina as a woman clearly at the crossroads in her life when it comes to love and life. The one most identifiable to me is Dr Rutledge, the myopic scientist in pursuit of his goals (some of them not necessarily scientific in nature) and discarding other conclusions than his own.

Is Fringe trying to out-Lost Lost?

Starring: Anna Trov, Joshua Jackson, John Noble
Category: TV
Things are getting complicated in Season 4.
In the beginning, Fringe was the show that tried very hard to bring you into their world slowly. Very slowly. Key story concepts were re-introduced almost ever week. Things were overall complicated but it was easy to understand if you just watched two or more episodes.
Then something happened. Probably because they were moved to a difficult time slot. It was as if the writers said, 'Screw this. We're taking the gloves off". At first, it was the revelations that most seasoned sci-fi fans figured out already, like the true identity of Peter Bishop. These came out in fast succession. Probably to say what every fan knows and just get it out of the way. Even so, it was done so well and advanced the overall story arch. This is not unprecedented. Star Trek: Enterprise got really interesting in it's last season when the writers did what they were holding back.
In Fringe's season 3, things were settling down. Almost every one understood the 'rules' of the world of Fringe. The conventions and relationships were established and strengthened. The thought that came to my mind was that they were going to make the world familiar enough so that the storylines would shift back to the characters as opposed to building and expanding the mythology. Boy, was I wrong. There kept on expanding and building on the mythology at an accelerated rate. Towards the end of Season 3, things were moving so fast that I didn't have time to enjoy the story being played out. I knew things were coming to a head but it was getting ridiculous.

Now, Season 4 seems to be almost a reboot. Nobody is who we are used to. Established relationships were shifted and altered. Characters now have different motivations than in the past seasons. For a good reason, too. These are not the same people we are used to. But familiar enough to not break the connections we have made in the past. Now, instead of focusing on characters, the focus is back on the mythology and storylines are going everywhere. Past story arches are being revisited. So much so that it feels that the series has at least 4 long-term story arches. And every week, there seems to be a threat of adding more.
Is Fringe getting too complicated to follow for the average viewer? Are they closing the doors to new viewers and saying 'Go back and watch the previous episodes.' ? After three seasons, they do have that right. With all that is available now, going back to watch previous seasons is not all that hard. It is easier to watch previous episodes than it was a when Fringe started. Watching a TV series and immersing in the world of that TV series is no longer just an option, it is required to fully enjoy it. Making it hard to jump in could just be a way of making viewers work harder and making the experience more valuable.
It could also be a way of the writers to reward long time viewers who have stuck with the show. With their difficult scheduling slot, the majority of the viewers by now are long time and hardcore fans. Those who do find the show would not be as inclined to watch it now but could be intrigued enough to watch past episodes to figure out what is happening on the show.

The Good, the Bad and the New of TV: The New

This season, it seems like there are a lot of new shows. I waited for a few episodes to pass by before saying anything. I feel like not talking about shows that don't make it because it will be another Love Bites all over again. So frustrating. Here are the new shows I am watching in no particular order.

• Person of Interest - Jesus with a gun. Jesus kicks butt. The saviour saveth the damned and the guilty alike. He is the right arm of god and while the other guy used to think he was. I could go on and on but I'll spare you the more cornier taglines. Whatever the reason is, people love watching Jim Caveziel save people; either all at once or one at a time. And the creepy guy from Lost is back in the shadows pushing buttons, just where we like him to be. It got creepier last week because he crossed into the area of the consequences of changing fate. 
• Whitney - The first episode was a bit too loud, both in terms of music and characters but it got better. It pushed the wrong buttons initially with me but by the third episode, its found a solid footing to build on. Definitely this year's quirky-sexy sitcom in the tradition of Friends and How I Met Your Mother. For once, it is not set in New York but in Chicago. But since most of it is on set, you won't notice the difference. This situations that the characters find themselves in are both unsettling and funny. One to watch. 
• The New Girl - Zooey Deschanel's shtick is cute in movies and the directors usually tame it within the context of the story and with editing and directing limits. It works great that way. I'm not sure it should be unleashed to its full force weekly. Partly, the problem is her co-stars. I'm sorry, but you have to bring your A game to go up against Zooey and her energy. Every week. Right now they are just two-dimensional, over-sized adolescents. Not in a funny way. While she is alive and quirky, the other characters seems bland and often cartoony. It has gotten a pick-up but I think unless things change, this could be a single season series.
• 2 Broke Girls - Kat Dennings is in her element as a smart-mouthed waitress (the other type being the waitress with the heart of gold) who takes in the privileged daughter of a rich embezzler. Her father's assets are frozen so all that she has left is what hers. Which is just her wits (and often lack of). They both want to open a bakery and are saving up for it. It is a nice mix of street-smart humor and fish-out-water situations. Strangely enough, there are depths to the main character that are revealed regularly and makes the series stand above others. 
• Unforgettable - Think of Psyche without the humor. Falls into the "crime solving with a super power" category. Poppy Montgomery is Carrie Wells, a detective with the ability to remember details from any day of her life. Although not the center of the series, it does act as a key feature. She is drafted by he ex-boyfriend to help him in difficult cases. The nice thing about this series is that it has several running themes: the leads past relationship and their near flirtations, a long-running arc about Carrie's search for the person who killed her sister and Carrie's relationship with her mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. I just can't get it out of my head how similar Carrie is to Olivia from Fringe. 
• Prime Suspect - Gritty cop series with a less than cordial squad room. I think they were aiming for House with guns. At the center is a unlikeable but efficient detective, who solves the difficult cases. Constantly with a chip on her shoulder, she gets what she wants at almost no thought to others.
• Terra Nova - Family-centric drama set in the pre-historic times of Earth. It's great that they spend more time on the family drama than the whole adventure aspect. Haven't seen much yet. But good actors, quality scripts and a strong storyline will make this a one to savor. 
• Hart of Dixie - Medical student Zoe Hart is forced to move Alabama and do General Practice for a year by her professor when he points out her terrible soft skills (bedside manners, interviewing skills). She is about to give up when finds out that the practice she has inherited is from her real father and decides to stay. Full of typical fish-out-of-water scenarios, this soft-focus series on life in the South has it's charms but is still feeling about its ways. At first more Doc Holywood than anything else, then taking a lesson-of-the-week format, it needs to bring those long story arcs into the forefront to make it stand out.

There'll be more on each series as the season progresses.

9 : Hard Movie to Dislike But Must

Starring (Voice): Elijah Wood, John C. Reily, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau
Category: Sci-Fi, Drama
9 is a post-apocolyptic movie with a twist. It's unlike most movies of the genre, where a group of people survives a global holocaust (usually nuclear) and tries to survive and rebuild. In this movie, nobody survives. At least, no humans.
It is a world where humans fought machines and the humans lost. However, the devastation was so complete that the machines themselves were nearly wiped out. What survived are small mechanical dolls that are as much alive as they are machines. They have name/numbers given to them by their Creator who is also apparently a Scientist. He made them unique in a way and obviously had plans for them although they rarely acknowledge his existence.
It is a hauntingly beautiful world. There is beauty in the stillness of post destruction, amongst the debris and carnage left behind. It is this world that the mechanical doll with the number 9 wakes up to. And it is in this world he is thrown into a quest he does not fully understand but knows he must take. 9 is driven by his sense of what is right but he is not at all righteously pretentious. That mantle is 1's. 9 is brought to 1 and discovers other dolls like him. This is after he survives an attack by a cat-like machine. In that attack, 9 is saved by 2, the first doll he encounters. The cat-machine takes 2 instead and 9 knows he must rescue 2. It is his first quest of many that becomes the thrust of the movie.
The world of 9 is very atmospheric yet keeps a unique look to it. It still looks at times like a beautiful painting. A beautiful painting of a devastated world. The action sequences in the movie are frantic and is shot with the best of them, with vista shots and pulls to show the scale and speed of the fight. I can go on and on about the visual aspects of the movie. Unfortunately, I can't do the same to the story.
Where do I begin? The stereotypical characters were uncalled for. Not for the depth of the actors involved in providing the voices. Christopher Plummer is unmistakable as 1 and Elijah is yet on another quest as 9. But beyond them, there is not much depth. Although the other dolls have their own interesting, unique characters, they need a wee bit more character development for the movie to work on a higher level. I wish the director focused less on the scenery and put more work on the characters.

The movies also hints at a potentially deep back story. The world before the apocalypse could be understood from the perspective of 9 who is constantly adapting to it as he is learning his way around.. However, the background and the way it is explained away too thoroughly leaves little to the imagination. The mystery of the world is lost to us as all questions are answered through explanations and vignettes. It deprives the story of it's mystery and scale. What could have been rich with possibilities is exposed a flat and predictable.

The strange and ambiguous ending also didn't help it's cause. I understood the role of pseudo-science and alchemy in the story to explain the existence of the dolls. But the ending and it's use to explain the survival of the world seems out of place and a bit jarring. I understood the "physical-renewal-through-spiritual renewal" angle the story was trying to push. But that need to push it instead of making it come naturally, makes the ending feels forced. In the end, the viewer is neither gifted with an uplifting ending nor does it make it clear that  a renewal is happening to the audience. I may have understood it but the fact I had to explain it to the people watching it with me is the reason why the movie didn't take off as it deserved.

The World of Starship Troopers: A Utopian Dream?

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Neil Patrick Harris, Director: Paul Verhoeven
Category: Sci-Fi, Action
Warning: The post is political. If that offends you, please don't read the rest. I am not usually political but the intrigue and maneuvering between the Republicans and Unions in Wisconsin in the news triggered my mind to an an old unfinished post. The main part of the post below was originally written many years ago but was never finished. I just went over it once over and posted it.
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Starship Troopers was viewed as a popcorn action movie starring teen movie actors when it came out. It was more notable as a special effects extravaganza of it's day. Looking back, director Paul Verhoeven also brought to life the world of Starship Troopers. Starshup Troopers and it's world was first thought up by it's author, Sci-Fi legend Robert Heinlein. Verhoeven added his visual touches, bringing the world to life. But if you look past the Nazi-like uniforms, you will find both a world that are heading for as well as a world that we already in.

TV: Fringe

Starring: Anna Trov, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick
Category: Sci-Fi
I just watched the seventh episode of the third season and I am excited beyond belief.
I've been watching this since the beginning and for a long tine I introduced it to friends as a more edgier, more Sci-Fi X-Files. FBI unit investigating the strange and unknown; that bill fits them both. Similarities don't end there. It was also threatening to be like the X-Files that it had story arches and stand-alone episodes. Especially the first season where you could see they were carefully repeating the lore each and every episode so that you could broadcast some episodes out of order. Another way it was also mimicking the X-Files was the way it was threatening to become insular, self-referencing and plain old confusing to the average viewer. Show creator J.J. Abrams went through great lengths to distance this from his other TV creation, Lost, which invented new levels of confusion. His promised to keep Fringe accessible to all and for the first season, it worked.
Then in mid-second season something snapped. That is the only I can describe it as. Suddenly, it abandoned it's hand-holding pace and script structure (repeating introductions, etc). It was as if the people driving the show suddenly pressed the accelerator. All of a sudden, events that were hinted on and inevitably to occur in some future episode a season or two away, occurred in rapid succession. It was as if someone threatened to pull the plug and the story writers decided to tell as much as possible before someone did.
This has happened before in other series, where the pace of story development picked up so much that soon there was nothing left or new to tell. That was the problem with the X-Files too. Once the nature of the aliens and their human conspirators were known, everything else after that seemed bland and seemed tacked on. They even began repeating themselves by making Mulder missing yet again.
However, for Fringe, it was as if someone decided that their viewers were smart enough and if some people didn't get it by now, those people would never get it anyway. They knew that not only were their viewer smart, they were smart enough to see the plot points that they were building up to. So instead of making a spectacle out of it or milking it for all it's worth, they simply got it over with and moved the story forward.
Where they moved to is something really interesting. This is where I can't decide whether I like it or not. Spoiler alert ahead. One one hand, the concept of two worlds colliding is really great. The show even has a different color opening titles to help users orient themselves as to which world the episode is primarily set in. But having two parallel character sets can be confusing. To make it more confusing, one character from one world has crossed over and taken the place of the other, pretending to be the version of themselves in that world. This is coming close to Lost-confusing levels. So far, a lot it is managed through distinction. By having distinct characters that does not exist in the other world play major parts (and have a lot of screen time) clearly indicates the different scenarios and essentially hints to viewer which world they are viewing. This could be quite confusing to watch but show is juggling this story very well.
Fringe has turned out to be a delight to watch and follow. Even if you don't normally like Sci-fi, the show also works as a drama, with plot twists that are surprising but not as mind-bending as those on Lost. If you are new, the background story is getting a bit thick by now. It is worth watching the DVDs for the first two seasons to catch up and watch the slow burn turn into a raging fire. Like real fire, I hope the show writer can control it and not get consumed by it.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe - really I do

Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson
Category: Horror, Mystery

10 is a long time and the world continues spinning, like it or not. 10 years is a long wait for another X-Files movie and the question is whether there's anybody left who cares about another X-Files movie.
Good thing the passing of time was not lost on Chris Carter. Instead of simply picking up where the TV series ended, he let time take it's course and began the movie where the characters would most likely be now or at least where the progression would have reached a holding pattern or stalemate.
And that is where the characters are caught in. A stalemate in their lives. Scully is back to being a doctor, doing what she wants, finally making a difference. Mulder is hiding, sort of. Officially, the FBI are looking for him. In reality they know where to find him. But they are probably just as happy to leave him be. Just in case he becomes useful again.
editor's note: This post got truncated. Half of it is lost. My apologies and I will restore this soon.

Commentary: Movie Trailers and their evil existence

Trailers are supposed to entice the public to see the movie. Have you ever noticed that trailers are always uncredited? Often, it's not the moviemaker who creates the trailers. Sometimes they don't even have a say as to what goes in it. Yet the success, financially at least, of a movie rests in part on trailers and the buzz they generate. So the reason for a trailer's existence is to make people want to see the movie, regardless of anything else. Even if it means including scenes that never make it into the movie. Even it it means showing scene from the ending. Whatever it takes to make moviegoers want to see the move and go to see the movie. Given this nature of which trailers are born and the controversy it stirs up with the moviemakers, the trailer-makers would probably prefer to remain anonymous.

From the various DVD commentaries and interviews I've heard, what usually happens is that after principal shooting is over and the editing process begins, the marketing people look over all the raw footage and choose what "works" or what might interest people. Damn story or any sense. That's why in trailers you'd see things that either do not make it into the final cut (nor in some cases even the extended cuts) and things that are right at the end of the movie, giving it away.

Not all trailers are like that. There are teasers. These just give glimpses of what the movie will be. It may not even contain any actual part of the move. Just look at the Harry Potter movie teasers or the Terminator 3's teaser's. The best of these are Pixar's. Their teasers tell something about the movie but doesn't contain any scenes from the movies. In fact, it is accepted fact that Pixar's teaser scenes will not make it into the movie. Yet, it does what it's supposed to do: make people want to watch the movie.

I think that there is a hidden code in trailers put in by trailer-makers that goes something like this, "If the movie is bad or I don't like it, the trailer will include a scene from the end of the movie or close to it or include something that'll give the movie away." Maybe it's a way of telling other trailer makers what they think about the movie without breaking confidentiality agreements. Perhaps some trailer-makers think they are doing a public service by doing so. That way, when you get close to the ending, you go, "Hey, I've seen this already. He'll do this and she'll do this. What the..? The ending is given away in the trailers". Those who understand this will pass it along... and the result is the movie not liked and watched by few.

But this has become a trend in trailers that even good movies suffer. I have watched movies and liked it while watching it only to be disappointed to see that the ending was shown already in the trailers. I understand it if the movie was a 'ride' movie, something that you get on and know what the end of the ride is going to be. However, this 'format' of trailer making is the norm now. It has come to a point that I don't even watch trailers anymore, fearing it might spoil my movie-going experience.

So the thing that was created to garner interest has done exactly the opposite. What a shame. I used to really enjoy trailers. The movie might be months away but by the time it comes, I really want to watch it, having watched the trailer for the upteenth time. Now, I don't bother. And I am not alone. If those marketing types have detected this trend, they are not flinching. They keep on following the same format. Doing otherwise would be an admission of guilt.