This seems like the kind of story that could make for a great movie in the hands of a great director and a great writer. Unfortunately I don’t think that James Gray (The Yards) qualifies as either. But I do think he is competent enough to turn this into a tight and thoroughly enjoyable little thriller.

I’ll be totally honest here: I didn’t like Casey Affleck’s acting in the trailer, but it is possible that I’m being too hard on him because he is the brother of the director, who happens to be a well known movie star. I hope I’m wrong, because the trailer indicated that there is a very strong story behind this movie, and many of the actors involved are genuinely great. So, if Casey turns out to be good, this could be a really interesting film.

Oh, I’m getting a really good feeling about this one. Sure, the people involved are enough to make this one to watch. Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe together? Great. Ridley Scott directing? Awesome, sign me up.

But now the trailer is giving me even more evidence that this could be a great movie. Strong, immediately relatable characters and a powerful storyline. Or at least it is what it seems at first. The visuals are also impressive, but that was a given with Ridley directing.

We have to wait until November for this movie, but it just might be worth the wait.

I don’t know the legal terminology, but, what would you call it if there was a movie you knew was going to be bad, and yet the trailer looked very interesting and you found yourself wanting to see it?

I just know this movie has a bunch of extremely silly and forced plot points ans scenes. And yet, the trailer does a good job of hiding that and showing something that could be an intriguing movie.

Damn those marketing people!

It’s Rear Window, the teen edition!

Honestly, the trailer makes it look like this film might have some fun bits when it’s trying to be light and funny. But I’m just not buying the thriller aspect of it. And since this is, you know, a thriller, I’m thinking that is a big problem.

Disturbia is coming out way this Friday.

Maybe this film is actually a lot smarter than the trailer let’s on. There is some indication towards the end that there will be some kind of twist. But just going by the trailer, I have to say that this looks pretty bad.

Journalist gets involved with dangerous man in order to unmask him. Been done before. And done better I think. What that trailer shows makes the story seem shallow and one note. And it fails utterly at making us fear for the Halle Berry character. The sense of dread and of danger that a trailer for a film like this should convey just isn’t there.

I think I’ll keep away from this one.

The Hoax opened this last weekend with little fanfare in only a handful of theaters. And it’s performance in even those theaters was nothing to write home about, which doesn’t bode well for the films chances of receiving a bigger expansion.

Which is too bad. The movie seems to tell an interesting story, and I like pretty much everyone involved with it. Sure, the story of a man who writes an unauthorized biography of Howard Hugues and lies about it actually being authorized and based on personal interviews isn’t one of the most exciting ideas for a movie ever. But it’s the kind of thing that can turn into a solid and entertaining movie for adults.

I will say this about the trailer tough: using The Who’s Who Are You was a bad choice. That song has become to connected to CSI and it feels strange to hear it in the context of this trailer.