Trailers

Does anybody remember the 80s movie CAN'T BUY ME LOVE that launched nerdy Patrick Dempsey into becoming a sex symbol?

Don't worry if you missed it, because with CBS Films' and Lionsgate's THE DUFF you'll get another shot at the plot. Mae Whitman plays Bianca, a high school student who learns by accident that she is the DUFF of her group -- the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, whose job it is to make all the others look better by comparison. Determined to make herself over, she recruits the popular athlete (Robbie Amell), offering to tutor him into passing his science exams if he will teach her how to de-DUFF herself. But she runs into opposition from the school's Queen Bee (Bella Thorne) who doesn't like it when people try to bust out of the labels she's slapped on them.

Almost as regular a tradition as Charlie Brown now is the Doctor Who Christmas Special. And, bonus, it's always something new instead of a repeat!

The teaser for this year's Chrissy Pressy from the TARDIS looks almost nothing like Christmas, and a whole lot more like a Ridley Scott outer space thriller! But fear not -- as The Doctor so aptly puts it, "It's Christmas, at the North Pole! Who are you going to call?" Well, it's sure not Ghostbusters! (Can I squeeze a third Sigourney Weaver flick into this description? Probably not.)

So just enjoy the teaser below, and start counting down the days til the arrival of that magical man in the strange flying conveyance who can get around the world without even a second passing. (And I may or may not be talking about The Doctor!)

My favorite version of ANNIE is the 1982 version with Albert Finney and Carol Burnett -- even though every version out there is the same story, with the same songs. All you can basically do is change the actors and alter the dialogue a bit. That's a challenge to any director who wants to make his mark on the long-running franchise about the plucky little orphan girl who goes from rags to riches by warming the heart of a tycoon.

He's got no string to tie him down -- just a boundless curiosity, an eager enthusiasm, and metal parts.

Neil Blomkamp directs and co-writes this Hugh Jackman / Sigourney Weaver vehicle that, at first blush, appears to be a little bit of WALL-E and a whole lot of SHORT CIRCUIT. And to be certain, a lot of the memes of the latter are evidenced in the trailer for CHAPPIE, as we see the robot go through scenes of artistic expression and melancholy, scenes of comic misunderstanding and of panic when attacked for being different. If I could put a tagline on the film, it would be something like, "You will believe a robot can cry."

In this trailer for Blomkamp's modern PINOCCHIO, I found my initial cynicism dissolving until, by the end, I was actually excited to see this film. With MARVEL'S AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON also coming next year, 2015 may just be the Year of the Artificial Intelligence.

Check out Sony's trailer below and see if you dig it as much as we do.

Syfy knows its audience. With so much fan support for CONTINUUM, it makes sense to bring in another time-travel story about someone from the future trying to prevent a catastrophe by going into the past. This time, the network looks to an established storyline, springboarding off the Bruce Willis film, 12 MONKEYS.

A haunting version of Pinocchio's "I've Got No Strings" trills chillingly through this trailer for "Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer, and the action we are seeing here is the most intense of any Marvel movie to date. Thor vs. Tony Stark. Iron Man (in the Hulkbuster armor) vs. The Hulk. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in action. The broken shield of Captain America, symbolizing, perhaps, the broken S.H.I.E.L.D. post "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."

It's the kind of trailer that makes you want to run out right now and buy a ticket, then wait in the front row for the lights to dim -- until you realize there's still six months left to go before you'll see the actual film.

James Spader's narration over the trailer is convincingly menacing, as we watch the separate stories our heroes have just completed converge into a connected arc, with the world falling down around them. You will believe this could be the end of the team as we know it.

Liam Neeson returns to the big screen one final time as Brian Mills -- the family man with a "certain set of skills." But this time, his efforts to protect his family fail -- and his wife is murdered.

Wanted by the police, the FBI, and the CIA, Mills must disappear, while simultaneously protecting the only person left in his life: his daughter.

Olivier Megaton's trailer for TAKEN 3 has just the right amount of explosions, car crashes, gunfire, and cool fighting moves to draw in the action movie audience. The music is well timed to the action, with just the right build to a crescendo, setting up the perfect silent moment for one of Neeson's coldly delivered tough guy phrases.

If you're a fan of the TAKEN series, you'll definitely want a seat for this 20th Century Fox offering as the story comes to its conclusion. But be warned that it's going to be a bit of a wait -- TAKEN 3 gets teased today, but it isn't in theaters until January 9, 2015!

The spies are back in business... in Hollywood, that is. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a strong television following, Scorpion is kicking off, "The Equalizer" is debuting in theaters, and the original series starring Edward Woodward is also getting a full-series release. And that's just scratching the surface.

"Kingsman: The Secret Service" is a blending of James Bond with "Men in Black." Colin Firth is Harry Hart, a seasoned spy and man of action. Taron Egerton is Eggsy, a young delinquent in whom Harry sees untapped potential. And Samuel L. Jackson gets to play the bad guy, Valentine (not the one in "The Mortal Instruments" but a different one), a little bit more unbalanced than his "Mr. Glass" portrayal in "Unbreakable."

It's been a bajillion years in the making, but the much-awaited stop-motion animated film from the makers of "Coraline" and "ParaNorman" is finally headed into theaters this September 26.

Welcome to a whole new breed of family -- The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) in the amazing cavernous home they’ve built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town’s villain, Archibald Snatcher (Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley), comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, “into the light,” where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnifred (Elle Fanning). Together, they devise a daring plan to save Eggs’ family.

The Hunger Games has to be one of my favorite books. Mockingjay -- the third and final installment of the trilogy? Not so much. In fact, it was such a deviation in tone, style, and characterization that many readers felt let down, so much so that an essay on why people hated the third book made it into Smart Pop's collection, The Girl Who Was On Fire.

So it almost seems as though Lionsgate is adding insult to injury by taking "the worst of the three" and extending it out over two movies, drawing out the agony.