If I was sketching out an absurdist one-sentence parody of a present-day Oscar-baity project; “a Sandra Bullock movie where Tom Hanks dies on 9-11, told from the perspective of a precocious pre-teen boy, directed by Stephen Daldry with a trailer set to that same fucking U2 song” would make the shortlist. Easily.
In spite of that, I’d say this trailer for “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” actually looks pretty good…
Seriously, though – is there ANYTHING more irritating than hearing “Where The Streets Have No Name” kick up on ANY soundtrack?
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
I'll say this first just so I get any “emotional” shit out of the way. I must say Bob that I stand in violent opposition to your stance on “Where the Streets Have no Name.” I'm not a fan of U2 (though I can't say I dislike them… Bono excluded) but that particular song is just about the only thing of theirs that I can really listen to and get any kind of deep, personal meaning out of. So much so in fact that I chose to have it played during a portion of the slideshow at my Father's funeral (he having been a legitimate fan of U2) so no… I could think of a great many more songs profoundly more irritating than this one in its stead (a sappy country ballad for instance… that would have killed just about any feeling I would've had for this trailer).
But all things considered, this is actually a pretty solid trailer. It definitely has the stink of Oscar bait all over it, but it certainly seems like it's trying to be a bit more than just that. For as much as we're all trying to move forward from 9/11, we still have yet to truly do so. Hopefully this story can do its part to ease the tensions of the past 10 years. I'd definitely be willing to give it a look at least.
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Got to agree with you 100 percent Bob. I'm a fan of U2, but Streets gets overplayed, and the description from you sounds fucking awful on paper.
And then I watch the trailer and I'm kinda vaguely looking forward to it. Whaddya know?
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Unfortunately thanks to one incident in high school band where we played at a political rally for a future prime minister, I now associate that song with political cynicism. Although I guess lyrically it sort of fits the trailer.
I am impressed at how Max Von Sydow continues to work his ass off well into his 80s. Go Max!
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I'm so dissapointed to see this…the book is one of my all time favourite, and that trailer is in no way representative of the Jonathan Safran-Foer novel.
and sandra Bullock?? and old U2 song? uuggh.
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The trailer did absolutely nothing for me, but it brings up an interesting trend:
Why is it that even when a movie is 100% ABOUT a kid, the actor playing the kid NEVER gets top billing? OK, yeah, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock are more marketable, but still, the trailer makes it clear that the kid is the star, and yet he is third billed (doubt his name is anywhere on the poster, too).
Just something that always irks me.
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@The Mason
Trust me, by the time a kid gets billing, top or otherwise, on a poster or trailer, you will start to wish you never heard of the kid.
i.e. McCaulay Culkin, Shia LeBouf, Taylor Lautner
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Is it just me or did the kid sound terrible throughout the whole thing?
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Bob this looks totally terrible. What's up with you?
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Wow, that movie looks awful. I *was* a fan of U2, and they are just a sad shell of who they were these days. It's depressing. That they're attaching their overplayed hit to this nonsense is typical and depressing. I wish if they'd stuck anything to it they'd used “Please”, their weird, inadvertent 9/11 song.
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The book upon which this film is based is one of my favourites ever. Of course, I'm bound to be disappointed, so I guess that's all I can say.
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What's wrong with me that I've never heard this song before (I may have somewhere but I have no specific recollection.) and also what trailers have you been watching that have this play in them all the time?
I just hope Sandra Bullock doesn't take the spotlight from the kid like she did that black guy in that story about a black guy.
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Why is it that some of the best trailers are for bad movies? Someone out there whose job it is to make trailers for some of these turkeys is a genius at their work.
The trailer for the recent “Clash of the Titans” was amazing. Not so much for the movie it went with.
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