Borat
CELLULOID GOLD
Makes me want to get up and cheer. Patton Oswalt—the funniest stand-up comedian in America—saw a preview screening of this and said that he made the projectionist stop midway through because he was laughing too hard. I don’t actually laugh at the trailer, I just marvel at it. It makes you forget about the inevitable pain that you’ll feel when you have to sit through the build-ups to the punchlines in the interviews. Just enough to entice, not so much as to disgust. Just like the full-body Speedo that Borat wears in one shot of the trailer.
Rocky Balboa
CELLULOID GOLD
What can I say? The theme music alone exists in a space beyond all critical judgment. It sets the plot up for you, gives you shots of Stallone in a porkpie hat, and has big slabs of meat getting punched in a freezer. A movie that should not exist, could not exist, and would not exist if it weren’t for the fact that America needs it now, more than ever.
Key
TRAILER TRASH Awful.
CELLULOID GOLD Awesome!
Warning: quality of trailer does not necessarily denote quality of film.
—Staff writer Abe J. Riesman can be reached at riesman@fas.harvard.edu.
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