Movie Teasers

All-Time Favorite Trailers: ‘Pale Rider’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

With Tony Farinella’s ever so enthusiastic review of Clint Eastwood’s 1985 western “Pale Rider,” I was quickly reminded of the various trailers made for it back in the day. Each trailer and television commercial made for it was dominated by the music of “Best Endeavours” which was composed by Alan Hawkshaw. That piece of music alone was enough to get me super excited about this particular motion picture.

But one particular trailer for “Pale Rider” which excited and stayed me throughout the years was its teaser. I first watched the teaser when it was included in the VHS release of “City Heat,” a movie which teamed up Eastwood with Burt Reynolds and eventually became one of my most inescapable guilty pleasures.

What makes this trailer for “Pale Rider” stand out for me is how it is composed simply of still images. Like the Italian movie trailer for Dario Argento’s “Suspiria,” it is the images which, in their stillness or frozen moments, spoke volumes. While Warner Brothers might have preferred more in the way of moving images, the still ones had much more of an impact on me.

Plus, it has a narrator telling us how Eastwood had previously directed the last great western back in 1976 with “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” This made the trailer’s promise of “Pale Rider” being the next great American western all the more thrilling. Whether or not you think “Pale Rider” proved to be such the thing, I admired the case the narrator sold us on.

As much as I wanted to see “Pale Rider” when it arrived in theaters, I was only ten years at the time, and it was rated R. The best I could do was watch Siskel & Ebert review it as I got to see movie clips there, and I did get to read the movie’s novelization which was written by Alan Dean Foster. For some odd reason, my parents never kept me from doing that.

I didn’t get to see “Pale Rider” until many years later, but that is a story for another time. And from now on, Alan Hawkshaw’s “Best Endeavours” will always forever be the “Pale Rider” theme to me. To others, it may forever be the theme for the British program Channel 4 News, but Channel 4 never secured permanent exclusivity rights for it at the time, so there!

Please check out the “Pale Rider” teaser trailer down below.

First Trailer For ‘Alien: Romulus’ Has Been Unleashed

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

For my money, both Sir Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” were worth the price of admission as the famed director dared to take this franchise he began back in 1979 in a different direction as they both dealt what happened before the events of the original. But regardless of Scott’s intentions, audiences were very critical of both films as many were expecting something along the lines of what they got before. After watching the teaser trailer for the upcoming “Alien: Romulus,” I get the feeling they will get what they want, but are we also charting our way back into familiar territory?

The start of this trailer features familiar visuals as we visit a spaceship which looks very much like the Nostromo. From there, we see a couple of capsules which I assume the humans hibernated in, and one is quite the bloody sight. From there, we see characters running through corridors, we see a female getting something very long and possibly deadly being pulled out of her throat and mouth. It all culminates with Caliee Spaeny wielding an “Aliens” looking weapon as she carefully traverses the corridor, terrified of what might be waiting for her around the corridor. Looking at the way she is dressed and the weapon she has in her hands, it is very clear Spaeny is being introduced as the Ellen Ripley of this franchise installment.

Looking at this first trailer, it has me wondering if 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox) was adamant that it look like something which stoked the nostalgia of the “Alien” franchise’s most die-hard fans. Clearly, they feel the need to give the fans something they want after the commercial under-performance of “Alien: Covenant.” But if that is the studio executives’ intention, can they succeed in doing so as nothing can ever compare to the original? Moreover, there is no guarantee that the fans will be accepting of the same old thing when they get it.

For what it is worth, however, the image of those numerous facehuggers galloping out of a certain room to land on the faces of the unsuspecting is quite the sight. It gives new meaning to the term, “I want some head.”

What really gets me excited about this particular “Alien” installment is what I have read about it thus far. It is directed by Fede Alvarez who directed the “Evil Dead” remake which I was lukewarm about, but he also made the 2016 film “Don’t Breathe” which proved to be an excellent thriller and a great exercise in handling suspense in a motion picture. If Alvarez can make “Alien: Romulus” every bit as unnerving as “Don’t Breathe,” then we are in for quite the cinematic ride.

Also, this film is a interquel, a sidequel and a prequel as it takes place between the events portrayed in “Alien” and “Aliens.” Furthermore, it has the sincere approval of the directors of those two classic movies, Ridley Scott and James Cameron. Scott has been quoted as saying the rough cut he has seen is “fucking great,” and Cameron has praised the same cut as well. If that is not the best endorsement a filmmaker can get, what is?

While I am obligated to keep any expectations I have for “Alien: Romulus” in check as I do with most movies, I do look forward to checking it out when it arrives in theaters on August 16, 2024. Please feel free to check out the trailer below.