by Ed Owens

 

 

ANGEL EYES (F)

Aside from revealing its own hopelessly derivative nature, the trailer commits the cardinal sin of giving away the ending. In a format that is meant to tantalize, the trailer goes one edit too far in drawing connections between things that spill the beans about what would certainly have been its "surprise" ending. This is particularly disheartening after poor Jim "I talk to dead people" Cavaziel has gone on record as saying he can't really discuss the film for fear of revealing too much. Apparently the marketing people never got that memo. Even if we assume that the J-Lo vehicle has one or two turns beyond the one so shamelessly on display in the trailer, they would have no choice but to fall flat after you've waited an hour and change to get to a narrative point the trailer reached in under three minutes.

JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS (C-)

Even as a devoted fan of the aging director, I am still not completely without objectivity (albeit some of it comes in the form of comments from a friend wiser than myself in matters Carpenter). The trailer, at best, is average, which means you can see it one of two ways: 1) they're saving the better parts for the movie itself in a genuine attempt to avoid the mistake so common among trailers today, or 2) the movie's genuinely sucks and no amount of fast edits or catchy music was going to make the trailer work. Either way, Ice Cube and a pseudo-nude Natasha Henstridge mean I have at least two reasons to see the film above and beyond my fanatical loyalty to the name above the title.

CineScene, 2001