Trailer: The Soloist
By Craig Kennedy - September 11th, 2008; 7:10 am
On paper, this thing stinks of Oscar bait and there are glimmers of that in the trailer, but damnit it worked on me. Damn you Downey, Jr!
The Soloist opens November 21.
Filed under: Trailers
Tags: Jamie Foxx, Joe Wright, Robert Downey Jr, The Soloist
I don’t want to be cynical, but this looks like they reversed the racial divide and added music to Reign Over Me.
Still, Downey makes it worth keeping an eye.
Your cynicism is welcome and encouraged. The trailer seemed more buoyant and humorous than I’d imagined the story would be, but as I’m fond of saying: Trailers lie.
Now THIS is more like it.
I know Jamie Foxx is talented. But he can go fly a fricking kite, He just doesn’t interest me.
But, on the other hand, RDJ and JOE WRIGHT…?
OH HELL YEAH.
You won’t be able to wipe the smile off my face with a sledgehammer if RDJ ascends to the stage of the Kodak theatre in 2009. I’m starting to think it’s not such a long shot any more.
Here’s hoping.
But I do remain a blackhearted cynic. That’s as far as this Irish blonde can go..
The trailer, expectedly, does nothing to make me want to see this. I like RDJ’s characterization, but it’s just another step in his Paul Avery / Tony Stark continuum. Jamie Foxx looks and acts ridiculous — this must be his Simple Jack. He was good in Collateral and a fair match for Ray Charles. What the hell happened?
I am intrigued by the chase sequence around a Frank Gehry building, but I think that’s better suited for a thriller than this dreck.
So, yeah, put me down in the skeptic column.
OK, I’m sorry but I can’t help feeling even more cynical about this movie the more I think about that trailer (Miranda, forgive me) but is it just a tiny bit ironic that RDjr does Tropic Thunder this Summer, which goes out of its way to mock Oscar-baiting actors and films (the Brokeback Mountain satire was great) and then his next movie is this?
Still curious about his performance, but I agree with WJ that it has a distinct taint to it so far.
“this must be his Simple Jack” ahahahhaha
Joel, it would be more ironic if RDJ was playing the Crazy Homeless Guy Musician part.
I feel both of your cynicism, but when I saw this on paper I was ready to run away screaming and it looks far better than I imagined. Still not exactly my cup of tea, but at least I don’t think I’ll have to mock it.
joel, you’re a good guy. You have never done anything to offend me here – and that definitely DIDN’T.
No worries.
When I saw this, I thought “Oscar bait” then I thought “Tropical Thunder,” but not in a good way. As in it seems like one of those films they would’ve made fun of. It seems to be treacly and manipulative, at least from the trailer. But what can you tell from that?
If I was a gambling man (and I am), I’d bet that the cynics will probably prove correct, but I’m interested now where before I wasn’t.
Well, since the trailer showed me the whole movie…
Agh. The machine ate my comment.
Anyway, I’m with Craig. On paper, it sounded like utter dreck, but this looks compelling despite the presence of Jamie Foxx (the XX in his name are for the size of his ego). I’ve never been much of a fan of his, but as for RDJ, I’m a devotee of Allison-like proporitons.
Though this is only his 3rd feature, in the past two Joe Wright showed a knack for taking what could have been stiflingly languid period pieces and giving them a fresh, modern energy (more so with P& P than Atonement, but still). It looks from the trailer at least like he’s applied that same kinetic inventiveness to this one, sans corsets.
I’ve gone from Soloist eye-roller to Soloist anticipator.
Though it could still suck, I suppose.
Aha, my name is now a defining force. ;-)
I’m on the fence about this movie. Could be awful, could be great. Of course I’ll probably see it because of RDJ. I think Jamie Foxx is a good actor, but like jennybee points out, the ego is a bit too much. I’m kind of sick of him.
“the XX in his name are for the size of his ego” ahahhaha. JB, we’re on the exact same page here. I’m willing to allow it could fall on its ass, but it’s way better looking than I was expecting.
Like the Beaufort Scale measures wind force and the Richter Scale measures Earthquakes, the Alison Scale measures RDJ madness.
I’ve never been impressed with Jamie Foxx (he certainly did not deserve to beat out Leo and Don for Best Actor four years ago). I’m with you all on that.
That said, I like what I see here. Jennybee is absolutely right about Joe’s talent. When I first saw previews for ATONEMENT, I wasn’t that impressed. Then I started reading reviews and decided to give it a shot. I was truly surprised by how fresh and lively it felt.
The case is similar here. I wasn’t expecting the humor the trailer had, but given that RDJ is in it, I shouldn’t be surprised. He was always the main reason I wanted to see this, and he is one of those actors who makes a film good/great just by being in it. I doubt IRON MAN or TROPIC THUNDER would have been as good as they were without him. If he gets Best Actor for this, you won’t hear me complaining.
I just finally saw Tropic Thunder on Thursday, so seeing this trailer this morning, all I could think is, “It must be a heretofore-unseen phony trailer from Tropic Thunder.”
Maybe I’m just becoming too cynical, or maybe it’s Tropic Thunder’s fault. It might be better than this trailer makes it look. As Craig says, “Trailers lie.”
As you know, I”m with elessar and JB. I get the Tropic Thunder references, but this one seems to have it’s own built in (intentional humor). It doesn’t seem as precious or pretentious (and thus eligible for mockery) as I thought it would.
Like elessar points out about Atonement, it’s got an edge of freshness to the same-old same-old material
I agree that Robert Downey, Jr. and apparently some of the screenplay and direction play up the humorous dimensions to the story, which is quite welcome. I’ll probably end up seeing this, like many LiCers, for RDJ.