Happy Trails: Super Bowl Edition (2012)

Another year, another football championship.  And another batch of promos for this year's upcoming blockbuster tent-pole films.

First up, Paramount's "The Dictator" -

Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame stars in this comedy about a silly Middle Eastern dictator.  I don't know too much about this one, but parts of this spot look reasonably funny.  I did enjoy "Borat," and Cohen was pretty funny in "Talledega Nights" with Will Ferrell.  Here's hoping.

Next, Paramount's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" -

The Rock quotes Jay-Z in this one.  Not too much in the way of new footage, and I still don't know much about this film in general.  But it looks like it has some impressive action sequences, and the potential of the Rock teaming up with Bruce Willis is exciting to say the least.

Here's Disney's "John Carter" -

Based on the pulp novels, "John Carter" adapts "A Princess of Mars" and gives it a way lamer name.  I really dig the epic rearrangement of Zeppelin's "Kashmir," and it does look like a cool movie... I'm just not sure how much in common it really has with the book.



And Universal's "The Lorax" -

Every couple of years, one of these CG animated Dr. Seuss movies comes out, and honestly I've not watched a single one of them.  This one says it's from the makers of "Despicable Me," which I enjoyed,  so maybe one day I'll rent it.

Next, Fox and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" in 3D

Y'know, the only thing that could possibly make the "Star Wars" prequels any worse is releasing them in 3D.  I'll be skipping these, happily.

Another repeat, here's Universal's "Battleship" -

This movie, based on the popular board game (somehow), still looks and sounds like a sequel to "Transformers," but with lots of cool special effects and Liam Neeson on board, it might actually be worth it.

We also got a glimpse of Relativity's "Act of Valor" -

If it weren't for the fact that this movie stars real-life Navy SEALS and strives to be technically accurate, I'm not sure there's much about this one that would really interest me.  It certainly looks cool, and I like action movies (duh) but I don't think I'd be rushing out to see this one if not for its unique production.

Finally, Marvel's "The Avengers" -

This spot is so full of win.  I'm very excited for Joss Whedon's superhero epic.  For the first time, one big crossover film brings together some of the biggest superhero hits of the last few years.  While I'm a little concerned over Mark Ruffalo being the third Bruce Banner in as many films, the more I see of "The Avengers," the more jazzed I get.  Plus, HULK SMASH.