Movie trailers often display as much artistry as the filmmakers whose works they're "teasing" — sometimes more. So it's nice to see an acknowledgment from the motion picture industry .
This week, the first Golden Trailer Awards were handed out, to honor the best in feature-film trailers. Monica Brady, one of the show's organizers, described it as "the movie-awards show guaranteed against attention-deficit disorder. . . . It celebrates the people who condense 120 minutes of movie into a two-minute minor opus."
Taking home three awards was the trailer for the upcoming satirical thriller "The Stepford Wives." Editor Adam Agard and creative director Peter Frankfurt won for Most Original Trailer, Best of Show and Summer 2004 Blockbuster. And I have to admit, it's a good one.
Of course, the "Stepford" wins did start something of a minor controversy, since one of the judges was actress Glenn Close, who just happens to be in that film. (Also on the panel were actor Benicio Del Toro, directors Neil Jordan, Rob Minkoff and Steve Carr, film editor Karen Schmeer, composer and editor John Ottman and film critic Greg Dean Schmitz.)
Other Golden Trailers winners were:
Best Action: "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" (Doug B. Brandt, Joel Plotch and Chad Misner, editors; Marin Kistler, creative director).
Best Animation/Family: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (Kevin Childress, editor; Blair Rich and Jeff Lamont, creative directors).
Best Comedy: "Elf" (Dave Parker, editor; Laura Carrillo, creative director).
Best Documentary: "Spellbound" (Christy Wilson, editor and creative director).
Best Drama: "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (Jennifer A. Horvath, editor; Barbara Glazer, creative director).
Best Foreign: "Osama" (Scott Storm, editor).
Best Foreign Independent: "City of God" (Jon Epstein, editor).
Best Horror/Thriller: "Dawn of the Dead" (Bill Neil, editor; Scott Bramlett, creative director).
Best Independent: "Lost in Translation" (Mark Woollen and Margareta Schiappa, editors; Mark Woollen and Myles Bender, creative directors).
Best Musical: "The Triplets of Belleville" (Matt Silk, editor; Ed Glass and Barry Schoor, creative directors).
Best Romance: "The Cooler " (Pete Demirai, editor; Kenji Thielstrom, creative director).
Best Voice-Over: "21 Grams" (Mark Woollen, editor; Mark Woollen and Myles Bender, creative directors; Sean Penn, voice-over talent).
Golden Fleece: "Northfork" (KO Creative Team, editors and creative directors).
AREN'T HIS 15 MINUTES UP YET? Unfortunately, the host of the Golden Trailers show was alleged comedian Tom Green. Tom Green? It's hard to believe that a comic who is this painfully unfunny has managed to have a career that has lasted longer — much longer — than your average movie trailer.
AND THE WINNER ISN'T. . . . One film that probably won't be taking home a Golden Trailer next year is "Catwoman," the superhero movie starring Halle Berry. The trailers make the film look so silly that even audiences at promotional screenings have been laughing at it.
Of course, maybe the cheesiness is intentional. And maybe the film will turn out to be something completely different . . . something good.
Yeah, and maybe Halle's cat-helmet doesn't really look like one of those Disneyland mouse-ear hats.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com