Trailers - Milk

The latest trailer to come out (pun not completely intentional) is for Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic. I first heard it was released during lunchtime in the office - I can use the internet but not stream files - so I was able to read comments by the editors and users of some websites that I respect and enjoy such as The Film Experience, Awards daily and In contention without being able to actually see the trailer until I came home.

The praise has been deafening - all over the blogosphere people are declaring love for this trailer, and advising Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin to prepare their Oscar acceptance speeches. I'm not so sure.

I know Milk has everything going for it: big name actors in tragic true story, critically beloved director with a mainstream film, Academy guilt over Brokeback Mountain/Crash. I will even admit my interest, which was already there, has increased a little. In that way the trailer must be working.

However there is little here to say it's going to win gongs later in the year, in fact much of the trailer seemed to be edited as much like a thriller as a biopic with the steadily quickening cuts and the muscial breaks hitting with the death threats. Maybe I'm wrong - feel free to berate me in the comments.