May 18, 2006
World Trade Center Movie Trailer Is Up (and It Sucks)
The trailer for the Oliver Stone movie,
World Trade Center movie, will be shown during previews this weekend. And Paramount Picture will have a warning before it plays, given how some people were upset when the Flight 93/United 93 trailer came out in March. In fact, some theater chains will be posting signs to warn moviegoers. Well, Gothamist hopes it's a sign warning them that the trailer is terrible. World Trade Center is based on the accounts of two Port Authority police officers who were trapped under WTC rubble; Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena play the officers, Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal play their wives. Story and casting aside, the trailer sucks on these grounds:
- It has one of those treacly, cornball musical scores, you know, it's like something out of a Hallmark movie to Make. You. Feel. Like. You. Have. Had. A. Moving. Unbelievable. Experience. And. That. You. Must. See. This. Movie. It makes the trailer seems half a step away from one of those "In a world where bad things happened to good people" cliched movie trailer lines...Maybe the trailer will play well in parts not near NYC, but it really seems to trivialize what happened, to assign emotions to an event many people already have very strong emotions about. When Gothamist thinks about September 11, we don't have a sweeping soundtrack telling us to cry playing. We hope there's more naturalistic use of sound in the movie, because the trailer is telling us in big letters not to see it. Luckily, at the very end of the trailer, there is something that looks good: A cool shot of Cage and Pena under the rubble, and the camera pans up. Well, Paramount will have until August 11 to release another trailer.
- The trailer cuts from horror on the streets of downtown Manhattan to a woman (maybe Maria Bello) tenderly hugging fresh laundry for support - we don't know why it bothers us so much, but maybe because imagery is so overwrought
- All the dialogue seems stilted and hokey - again, maybe not an issue with the movie itself, but in the trailer, it's like a lead weight
Watch the trailer and tell us what you think. And the film was shot mostly in LA, with some exterior work in NYC.
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As long as Oliver stone and the movie studio make a single dollar off this movie. This movie is tainted. Fuck the movie studios!!!!!!!
Oh Jesus, not Nicholas Cage. That doesn't bode well for subtlety. He's a walking "treacly, cornball musical score."
From the bits I have seen on TV it looks really bad. It is way too early for these types of "entertainment" films and wrong for people to make money off of 9-11.
What's wrong with making a movie about 9/11? What about "Munich" or "Saving Private Ryan" or "Apocalypse Now"? How are those profitable movies any different?
Nic Cage is the fucking WORST. He can't act his way out of a paper bag. And to put him into this movie is an insult to all Port Authority Police alive or dead. You would think that Oliver Stone would pick someone that had some sort of talent, but instead he just picks Scorsese's nephew. Ugh nepotism sucks.
The collapse scenes look awful, you can tell they were done on a sound stage. This movie stinks. What an abomination. This is even worse than Flight 93.
fuck those guys
to hypocrites: for one, there's something to be said for time healing wounds. munich and private ryan both have decades between event (real or fictional) and representation. it doesn't change the substance of the film, but it does make a difference in terms of style point, i think. while i agree with you that it is stupid to single out 9/11 as "off limits" as opposed to world war two or anything else, comparing world trade center to a bunch of other violent "historical" dramas is pretty much beside the point. for one, the other films you mention not raised as ideal pieces of cinema by anybody. let's judge wtc on it's own merits (or lack thereof). if we do that, it seems like there's a pretty convincing argument to be made that turning 9/11 into the premise for a tear-jerking action movie is tasteless. from what we can tell in the preview, this movie doesn't seem to speak to what 9/11 might mean for us, what produced it, or what came from it. instead, this movie just wants us to sit back and cry "oh, the horror." and as jen said in her post, nobody needs oliver stone or nicholas cage to tell them that 9/11 was horrible.
p.s. you look hot in a toga
I agree hypocrites. Everyone else's responses are so typical.
p.p.s. from the linked NY1 article, regarding the placement of wtc trailers before the davinci code:
'"We wanted to pick a movie that was appropriate for the audience for this film. It's an adult movie. It's a more serious movie. We didn't want to go out with a comedy or some action film,' says producer Michael Shamberg."
the davinci code is a 'more serious movie'? gods help us.
p.p.p.s. the responses are 'so typical', eh? real acute analysis there, ybs. tight stuff.
i don't think it's too soon to make a movie about 9/11--there are already books, even fictional ones, about it, and nobody's complaining about those. and god knows every tv show set in nyc (and even elsewhere) had their own 9/11 episode, again, with few complaints.
but for my money, it's always too soon for an overwrought schmaltzfest about that day. at worst, it's disaster porn at its most tasteless, at best it's just an ephemeral retread of a shared experience. you treat it intelligently and with the complexity it deserves, or not at all.
Three words: Oliver. Stone. Restraint. Don't often see them together, do ya?
There's nothing wrong with a movie about the eleventh, unless it's a BAD movie about the eleventh.
I thought I was pretty hardened, but I teared up during that trailer. I agree about the music, and that line "the world saw evil" of some such -- I'm amazed you ddn't bring that up. You meant to, right, and forgot?
But two times I teared up. And again, I thought I was done tearing up.
nicholas cage is the robert conrad of this century. this mawkish movie-of-the-week is not even in sensaround. falls into the same 9/11-porn category as the 'flight 93' movie.
yeah it's lazy and manipulative and cornball and offensive and nic cage has sucked in everything since valley girl (and maybe in that, too) BUT i gotta say i was totally crying throughout the whole trailer... like real tears falling down the cheeks. i'm not sure that'll ever go away.
ps: in my opinion, if you want some amazing 9/11 art, read "extremely loud and incredibly close" by j s foer. that is a powerful, funny, loving, unbelievably sad book that earns every emotion.
I don't think there's adequate historical perspective to create a film yet. Yeah 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Munich', etc. made profit, however they were a few decades out and were detached enough from the social mindset.
NY1 had a great segment on 'The Call' last night, regarding the trailer. A running theme coming from contributors was, "I'm not ready to see this... but I feel like the rest of the world needs to"... meh.
P.S. Nick Cage blows.
Not to digress from the topic at hand, but isn't the shadow of the plane headed the wrong way in the trailer? At about 00:31, we're looking at the south face of that architectural monstrosity at 42nd & 8th (note the Loews marquis & associated billboards). The overhang of the Port Authority Bus Terminal appears in the upper left. That means we're facing north, and if I'm not mistaken, the shadow is headed north as well.
American 11 flew south from Boston and entered Manhattan airspace via the Hudson. Am I missing something?
In theaters August 9- I'm wondering why they didnt just go all out and have it come out on 9/11- 5 yrs after the fact. Come on man- thats the ultimate marketing synergy. While I'm opposed to seeing a piece of garbage like this, I guess I can't fight with the fact that it was made. One might argue that the whole event is a reminder that one is free to make a movie like this. I don't actually believe that last line of crap I wrote, but it makes sense I suppose. Rights supercede taste in most cases...Nic Cage still sucks.
Maggie would never date a police officer; THAT is tainted...
Wait, unless she's his secretary...
JD - THANK YOU for mentioning that - that bit was so jarring to me. I actually yelled, "Come on!" when watching it. It's like they are trying to pull out the stops to heighten the drama when they'd be able to do that effectively without making up stuff.
Only in America can movies about 9/11 be completed faster than the new WTC.
We should also observe how the administration will time the release of the rest of the Pentagon videos with the release of WTC and the mid-term elections. To wave the bloody shirt once again to scare us into voting for this assholes.
Ollie the Rock has every right to make this movie, and I have every right to think he's a fucking meathead for doing it, and to hope it flatlines faster than Charlie Sheen at an amyl nitrate promotional giveaway.
Too bad they couldn't get Tom Cruise for the Nick Cage (nee Coppola) role: that would give this movie the extra touch of class and restraint it needs.
Everyone needs to admit that this film just hits a soft spot, the very existence of which (having a soft spot for anything) that this if-you-can-make-it-here-you-can-make-it-anywhere city usually fails to acknowledge.
There is no difference between this and any other disaster film out there. Yeah, there’s one: it actually affected us. So we cry foul. This habit is usually contained to movies about disasters overseas, which is necessary as there aren’t enough good real disasters in the US to make films about.
“The Killing Fields” was heralded as one of the best movies of 1984. This was but 4 to 5 years after the Khmer Rouge’s re-education (extermination) of millions, a figure by far shadowing the thousands of 9/11. Did we care then?
Ditto “Salvador”, which came just 6 years after the massacres there. (Also Stone’s work by the way AND based on a true story.)
Add to these army disaster films like Deer Hunter (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979) and Black Hawk Down (2001) all of which came out within 6 or 7 years of their respective tragic scenarios. But none of us are in the military, so…
When these and other similar movies come out that somehow capitalize on tragedy to tell a story, we rarely, if ever, raise our arms in any kind of protest. Just the opposite, we often reward them with golden statuettes.
Lastly, despite all the hubbub about these trailers, I don’t think I’ve found a single peep (and I’ve looked) about the teaser trailer for The Omen, which appears to use real life footage from the south Asian tsunami of just two years ago.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO03cyGLGts&search=the%20omen
I like it, music and all. A typical good movie from Hollywood.
The shadow of the plane is facing the wrong way? Fuckin' hell, get a goddamn LIFE. I hope you realize noone else in the country gives a shit about this piddling semantic inconsistency, and I would gather New Yorkers could care less as well.
Hey, you know what? 555 numbers don't work in movies either.
I think I'm against this movie for the sole fact that it's such blatant propaganda? "The world saw evil." What is that? Does no one else get upset over that?
Oh, and the info about the direction of the plane? Not something I would have picked up on my own, but really interesting. Thanks for pointing it out.
"Fuckin' hell, get a goddamn LIFE. I hope you realize noone else in the country gives a shit about this piddling semantic inconsistency, and I would gather New Yorkers could care less as well."
My point was this: if you go to the trouble of making a multimillion dollar feature film about one of the most well-documented and emotionally-charged events in recent history, you should take two minutes to study the fucking geography of Manhattan. That plane is headed for Columbus Circle, which, you know, would somewhat change things.
Bottom line: I think it represents a carelessness on the director's part -- one that plenty of other posters have already latched on to. I don't begrudge you for not caring about cinematographic details, but that doesn't change the fact that Oliver Stone can't tell north from south, you aristocratic dipshit.
JD: You're right about the inaccuracy in that 2 second clip, but it's really not THAT serious.
I disagree with Gothamist hating on the music in the trailer. I have not lived one day of my life off Manhattan Island and on 9/11, after towers 1/2 collapsed, I couldn't get myself to summon one tear over what I was witnessing. I was just completely shook and speechless. The first time I actually cried over 9/11 was a full year after, when I saw HBO's "In Memoriam". The part when the FDNY carried the fallen firefighter up into the ambulance with the dramatic music in the background had me crying like a little bitch. - Music, at least for me, is a way to open up and take emotions in to the fullest. I wouldn't mind at all if there was a dramatic score in "World Trade Center".
At least the Flight 93 film used unknown actors. Oliver Stone is just so damn tacky, especially in his ridiculous overuse of music in soundtracks.
And NewYorkMantle, the reason you were crying like a little bitch is because you're referring to Barber's "Adagio for Strings," which does it for me every time during "The Elephant Man."
"And NewYorkMantle, the reason you were crying like a little bitch is because you're referring to Barber's 'Adagio for Strings,' which does it for me every time during 'The Elephant Man.'"
damn, how'd you know exactly what song i was talking about? lol - thank you for that, good call.
Barber's Adagio for Strings is also the closing piece in "Platoon." Charlie Sheen - you could sniff cocaine off prostitutes' asses until your 80s and I'll still love you for that movie (and "Wall Street").
New Yorkers will always hate anything forced down our throats concerning experiences with which we have personally dealt and internalized.
On the other hand, this movie may allow the rest of the world to remember the solidarity they felt with us before the Bush administration destroyed it almost beyond repair. If this film fails to do that, then it is useless, pointless garbage.
I apologize, I have to DISAGREE with almost everyone of you shit heads in here. I know we all have different feelings about what happen that day. I seen the preview yesterday before seeing "devinchi Code". I happen to want to see the move and would love to cry every min it plays.
About "Devinchi Code", SHITTIEST movie ever seen. The critics are right. Dont pay 9 dollars unless you have nothing better to do for 2 hours.
I side with badger and agree with Senor Brightside's comment about rights. It's virtually impossible to stop the pop culture machine from generating 9/11-related products.
If I remember correctly, TV series started addressing the general theme of terrorism very shortly after the tragedy. Now, movies and Web sites ("Pentagon Strike", for example) are addressing specific events closer to home and testing emotional boundaries.
We're left, as we should be, with the right to vote with our mice, remotes, feet and wallets....
As for the remake of "The Omen", the Reeler desribes a recent dispute over its use of 9/11-related imagery in this post.
Regarding the direction of the plane: IT IS CORRECT!!!!!
At first, there is a shot of the cop, played by Michael Pena, standing in front of the 8th ave. entrance to Port Authority. We are looking West from East. He is facing West (toward us as the viewers) and the shadow of the plane goes from right to left, which would imply that the plane is moving South.
So that is correct.
The next shot shows a view of the Loews Theatre, a "Zoolander" poster and the South side of the Westin New York at Times Square as if looking uptown from Michael Pena's POV. Apparently, he is looking North. The shadow of the plane moves from the top right of the building toward the bottom left making a diagonal.
From 8:30-10am in Manhattan, the sun is still over the East River, thus all shadows are cast toward the West, not directly below as it is at say, 1pm and the sun is directly over head.
Because of this fact, the shadow would be going the opposite direction if in fact Oliver Stone and his editors David Brenner Julie Monroe miscalculated the shadow as so many of you adamantly imply.
You are wrong. The plane IS heading South and put most simply, SO IS THE SHADOW. It only appears at an angle because of the sun at that time in the morning.
(And just to point out, even with OUT the angle of the sun, the plane is still heading TOWARD the South. If it was heading north as JD so strongly believes, the plane would appear to go from the bottom right to the top left of the Westin Hotel.)
Everyone is going to the pick the hell out of this movie for good reasons, but Oliver Stone is not going to make a mistake like that in the editing of this film for exactly that reason.
OOPS! Talk about bad editing! haha.
In my first paragraph, I said that Michael Pena is facing West...no, he is facing East. I MEANT TO SAY EAST, i just messed up...With that taken care of, my argument still stands.
My point is still valid
:-)
Cage has one more Academy Award then you or I.
And for the records: Oliver Stone is from Manhattan.
So today I saw a trailer for World Trade Center. Original title, huh? Anyway, I could tell what it was from a mile away, and I was immediately repulsed by the fact that, as we saw with United 93, it was too soon for money-hungry Hollywood moguls to capitalize off the tragedy. And then, what began as repulsion turned into revulsion. The trailer for this film includes the following:
* Footage of the towers as seen from the streets, engulfed in smoke and fire
* CGI footage of the interior of the towers with rubble crashing down around the main characters
* CGI of said rubble falling on and trapping people
* Scenes of the main characters lying crushed beneath the ruins, gravely injured and struggling to live.
Now, I know that while some people are ready to see these hero stories told, I personally think that not only is this too soon, but it's WAY TOO MUCH!!! I felt sick to my stomach seeing this kind of horrific thing on the screen, hearing sound effects of the falling towers. And knowing that NO ONE has control over the trailers they have to see before movies, I feel terribly sorry for any family member or friend of a victim who comes to see a movie with his or her family and is subjected to seeing this HORROR put onscreen. These people would be forced into seeing images that relive a day that is forever seared in their minds. It was brutal, cruel, and insensitive on the part of the producers of this film to include these images in a trailer that some innocent person might have to see without any notice whatsoever. There was no statement about the content of the trailers posted anywhere in the theater where I saw it; furthermore, the green screen before the trailer says in huge letters, "The following preview has been approved for ALL AUDIENCES." WTF?
I think these trailers should be removed from the theaters until they have been edited in such a way as to not include material that could bring a person to tears. And if they won't, I move the trailers be pulled entirely.
Because you know what? Up yours, Hollywood. Your lust for money and shock value does NOT give you the right to mess with the minds and emotions of these victims' families and friends.
Hello everyone, I am still drying my eyes, I do not think that the fact that we do not like Nicholas caige or the fact that there is corny music or words that say "the world Saw Evil" in anyway a reason to be flaming this trailer. Here is my opinion, and remember, it is just mine.
ON 9-11-01 WE DID SEE EVIL, UNFORTUNATELY. We should never ever forget that day, or how we felt, or how any one of those people would trade places with us right now, is it too soon? i say no, again, my opinion. this is a disaster on our soil, not war provoked, not soldiers, but men, women, children, moms dads, grandmas, uncles, aunties, pilots, HEROES! DO we have the right to judge an actor or actrss who plays in this film? Lets remember they are portaying a real live human being who sufferd more than any of us will ever know, my heart aches wheneverr i see the numbers 911 together, my eyes tear up when i speak of that day. I am a dance Studio owner and our theme this year was AMERICA! we opened with a very moving tribute for all of our victims of that tragic day, living and dead, and all of those who have volunterred to serve our country and protect us from such future tragedies! Again this is my opinion. I hope we can put our hatred for actors and directors/producers and cheesy music and remeber what hthis film represents. Maybe it will give some of us closure. I saw united 93 and there was not one dry eye in the theater. I pray we never see a day like 9/11/01 again. but it did happen and the evil still lives on.
I'm a New Yorker and I'm beyond upset! WHAT'S THE MATTER OLIVER STONE AIN'T GOT ENOUGH MONEY HE HAS TO MAKE "GRUB MONEY" OFF OF 911!!!!!!!!!!!! The victims and families who are still suffering don't need another reminder!
I'm a New Yorker and I'm beyond upset! WHAT'S THE MATTER OLIVER STONE AIN'T GOT ENOUGH MONEY HE HAS TO MAKE "GRUB MONEY" OFF OF 911!!!!!!!!!!!! The victims and families who are still suffering don't need another reminder!
Heh - Money > All - this is disturbing and yet it's like being able to watch a trainwreck in slow motion. Not the movie, but the idea in motion by Hollyworst and good old Ollie that there's money to be made in that cloud of rubble.
The sad fact is - better sit down for this - we live in a society that places the grabing of cash far far above any remote semblance of morals and taste. wtc the movie.... Good grief.. you know what is really sick? They'll make 80 million off it here in the states alone.
You know what, I wish never came across this site. I don't care weather or not it sucks, I didn't ASK YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! One thing I have learnt is critics know nothing and are a joke, each man for him self I say. As far has too soon, it's never to soon, forgetting about it is saying it never happen WHEN IT DID!!!!!! YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT LETS FORGET ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN THIS EVENT AND THE SERVICE GUYS WHO DIED TRYING TO SAVE OTHER, I SAY NO YOU SUCK!! And for Flight 93 which I saw with my girlfriend who lost her dad in 93 had the courage to relive it again and wanted to see what may have happen on that flight. Now of course the images are disturbing and very moving BUT they are not OFFENSIVE!! It is a fact and can not be changed nor forgotten. If 9/11 stuff offends you then DON'T PUT !@#% on people who may and do want to see these films. As far has families who lost their loved ones, these films are in memory and don't profit from it. They are not over rated. What about "Titanic" "Pearl Harbor" "Saving Private Ryan" "The Thin Red Line" "Kokoda" "Wind Talker's" and all based on real event movies because WTC and 93 are not the first. Every one has their own word on this, you think this is a waste of time? Well. I'M NOT YOU!!
hey i was wondering if anyone knows what song is playing in the trailer? thanks
Coldplay- Fix You
The movie is nothing but propaganda designed to trick the public into believing the official lies about what happened that day. People are waking up, and wising up to what is really going on.
Will the collapse of the WTC7 building be in the movie? What about all the police and firemen who say explosions brought down the buildings? Buildings cannot just collapse in the manner in which all three of the WTC buildings did unless it is done as a planned implosion.
just more propaganda to fool all of you into believing the crock of shit the government is pushing.
Spam: coo coo!
Dear No Spam,
I agree with your ideas about the WTC collapse. I AM TOO full of conspiracy theories and agree that it was a planned colapse to a degree.
But that is not what the movie touches. It doesn't have anything to do with political theories. It is a biopsy about 2 men on one day of their lives. Not about Afganistan, Bush our political or social position. It is about tragedy. AND IT IS JUST A MOVIE.
Im glad there making this movie, itll give ppl a chance to see more of what happened on that day. and nic cage ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so some people think that hollywood shouldn't exploit tradgedies. Hey where will they make money then. bad things happen and sadly it can be turned to be entertainment. sure it was a big event but so was the holocost. most people in the US will either have to see it or will refuse, but everywhere else in the world just sees it as entertainment. not saying that we shouldn't mourn that the world is such a sad place but everywhere has had tradgedies and all the other places in the world let hollywood make money off of it so why not an American tradgedy. bad things happen everyday, especially in a country that has more people with guns per capita than any other major power country in the world. It is only a matter of time till the movie makers turned to themselves to make movies from.
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.... MUST WATCH LOOSE CHANGE MOVIE. SEARCH FROM GOOGLE. WILL PLAY FROM COMPUTER. VERY WELL RESEARCHED. ABOUT 2 HOURS LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry Search "LOOSE CHANGE MOVIE 2ND EDITION"
I was wrong about the movie being propaganda. I just read this...
"While the movie Flight 93 was based on lies, Oliver Stone's movie deserves some praise for historical accuracy. We want to credit Stone with the depiction of explosions and molten steel in the towers and the actual footage of the collapse of the forty-seven story World Trade Center Building 7."
I assumed it was lies, maybe i was wrong
what was the name of the song that was player during the trailor
No Spam:
You need to know a little something about engineering. when these towers were finished being built in 1970 and 1972, the fastest and biggest plane that could have possibly crashed into the buildings was no where near as powerful as a 747. this was taken into consideration. do you realize how tall those towers were and how much weight those towers had to support? the wind factor for one causes the towers to sway, constantly weakening the structure after it was struck. the steel inside the structure also was only designed to withstand only a certain amount of heat. a product called mono-coat protects the steel beams for fires but only for long enough for evacuation purposes. once this is burnt through, the steel will begin to melt, weaken, and collapse.
once the portion of the first tower collapsed, it was all downhill from there. the initial collapse caused the structure of the rest of the building to weaken and the entire building collapsed. after the first tower went down, the movement of the foundation of the second tower and the massive wind created by the fall of the other tower, amongst other things, created instability and the second tower fell. this is all simple physics and engineering.
as far as the explosions go that the police and fire fighters heard, one question comes to mind, have you ever heard a building collapse? its not quiet. have you ever heard a branch fall from a tree or a can getting crushed? imagine that 100 million times louder. i'm sure it did sound like explosions. not to mention, there were electrical lines probably everywhere hitting who knows what, possibly causing little explosions, but none were probably caused the way you are thinking.
This was a sick terrorist attack. it was and still is a sad time in our nations history, but instead of stewing on it, we should move forward.
Emily: the song is Coldplay- Fix You
No Spam:
You need to know a little something about engineering. when these towers were finished being built in 1970 and 1972, the fastest and biggest plane that could have possibly crashed into the buildings was no where near as powerful as a 747. this was taken into consideration. do you realize how tall those towers were and how much weight those towers had to support? the wind factor for one causes the towers to sway, constantly weakening the structure after it was struck. the steel inside the structure also was only designed to withstand only a certain amount of heat. a product called mono-coat protects the steel beams for fires but only for long enough for evacuation purposes. once this is burnt through, the steel will begin to melt, weaken, and collapse.