I love watching trailers. They get me excited, or get me sad, or make me laugh.. all within a few minutes. Trailers for the most part suck. They usually give away too much story, or just follow a simple formula that’s so obvious that it’s annoying (I’m looking at you March 2011 Captain America trailer). But once in a while… a rare while, a trailer comes out so good, that I have to download it and watch it again and again.
And once you have enough of these trailers, you gotta make a page like this.
Here are my favorite trailers in orders:
16.) Comedian
I love Jerry Seinfeld. I love Stand-Up Comedy. I love a movie about Jerry Seinfeld doing Stand-up Comedy.
Comedian is one of my favorite movies as far as watching movies for entertainment. But, this movie serves a different purpose for me as an aspiring stand-up comedian. It teaches you what stand-up is all about and motivates you like nothing else. So, I do watch this movie frequently, but not for the same reasons you guys watch movies frequently – I need this to get pumped up for shows.
This trailer was funny and creative – a parody on the trailer making process. Normally, something like this wouldn’t have much replay value once the effect wore off(no cool action sequences, no real music), but the old guy’s goofy expressions are so funny, that I find myself watching this trailer again and again. Great job – A great trailer for a great movie.
15.) X2 (X-Men 2)
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Either my favorite or my 2nd favorite movie of 2003, I can’t remember which…
The X2 trailer showed us all the mutants we’d be seeing, a glimpse of all their abilities, and a whole lotta Wolverine running around with his claws drawn and screaming.
It also gave us a glimpse at the Nightcrawler attack on the president, one of the best action sequences of all time.
14.) Troy
A mediocre movie that (in my opinion) was put into the “pretty good/good” territory thanks to Eric Bana’s portrayol of Hector.
But this trailer was pretty awesome. The music above all… but then the shots of the ships, the armies.. it all added to it. I think the movie would have been much better if it was just this trailer along with all the scenes Eric Bana was in.
13.) The Matrix
The Matrix marked the next big special-effects revolution after Jurassic Park, and this trailer was the first sneak peek at it. Definitely some high replay value here. I just wish the movie was a little better. I enjoyed it, but not to the degree that this trailer made me think I would.
12.) T3 – Teaser Trailer
Maybe I like this trailer a little bit more than the average joe because Terminator 2 is my favorite movie of all time and I was waiting for this movie like no other.
Terminator 2 was revolutionary for its special-effects, in particular, the liquid metal. The teaser trailer did exactly what it needed to get us Terminator fans talking by melting the Warner Brothers logo, and then turning it into the T3 logo. And all over the music we’ve loved from the first two Terminators.
I was wow-ed – I just wish the movie itself was better.
11.) Vanilla Sky
More along the lines of the 1st half of the trailer is what I really liked. The fast paced music and everything got me excited about this movie. But then there’s like this farting sound, and the music changes, and then the trailer gets sucky. It redeems itself towards the end though and gets you interested in the movie. So good job trailer!
Too bad the movie was shit. What the hell went wrong there? And could someone please tell me what the hell a Vanilla Sky is?
We’ll keep the trailer, but please take the movie back.
10.) Eraser
I don’t even remember anything from the movie, but I remember loving this trailer. To the point that when I rented this DVD (it was one of my first DVD rentals), I tried to copy the trailer to VHS and learned the cold hard truth about copy-protection of DVDs. It was sad…
But what a great trailer. The best part: the music. I don’t know what techno/dance/trance music is playing in it (mainly towards the last part), but its awesome. Add to that a bunch of great action sequences: Arnold flying out of a plane near a flaming engine to grab a parachute, weird green lasers exploding buildings, and Arnold shooting an alligator in the mouth. Wow!
High replay value, even today.
9.) The Corruptor
Chow Yun Fat was my new hero after I had seen Replacement Killers like a hundred times. I had always heard about him, but hadn’t seen him in action until Replacement Killers. Then I saw his Hong Kong movies Hard Boiled and The Killer to really understand what all the hype was.
This trailer was for the movie I was hoping would get made. The trailer had everything: fast paced action in chase scenes, shootouts, an interesting story, and Chow Yun Fat! The music was amazing too.
If only the actual movie matched the energy of this trailer. Total waste of talent, and a false advertisement. Thanks Oliver Stone! (It’s ok, I’m not too mad at him, he won me back a few years later with Any Given Sunday).
8.) Speed Racer
When this came out, I watched it in HD and it was so visually stunning that I couldn’t stop watching it. Some of it’s cheesy but it’s just so fast paced, so mesmerizing, it deserves a spot in the best list.
7.) The Dark Knight
So during Comic Con, we saw this teaser that just had joker’s voice really. But finally, at the premiere of.. ah I can’t remember the name of it.. that disappointing Will Smith movie with the zombies.. well whatever, they showed the trailer and a few images in, we see the new Joker – the most haunting image of this movie.
Then more lines, action, the music, (a rough idea) of the concept and you have a quick compilation of what is for many (not me) the best superhero movie ever made.
6.) Spider-man 3
They premiered the trailer for what would ultimately be the final (and worse) Spider-man of Sam Raimi/Toby Maguire’s trilogy before Superman Returns. I was hyped enough for watching what would ultimately be the also final (and also worst) Superman movie of that 70s-00s movie series (remember, Superman Returns takes place after Superman II). This trailer sadly would be the best thing I saw that night. It had a nice format with the fading in and out, was paced well, had good music, and showed what seemed like it was going to be a very good storyline – unfortunately, that last part wasn’t true.
5.) Superman Returns
I hate that I saw this trailer during an episode of Smallville after they hyped it up all episode. I wish I saw this trailer in the theater having no idea I was about to see it. But even after seeing it the way I did, I still love it.
Why’s this trailer so great?
a) the music. The usage of the original John Williams score to Superman 1 (the best movie score ever in this author’s eyes) – and my favorite piece from this score.
b) a few glimpses of everything we need to see to understand – the kent farm, superman taking (what I assume) is one of his first big jumps, the spaceship, the daily planet, and superman’s flight
c) a few select Jorel verses from Superman 1
d) No story leakage! (we need more of this!) The trailer gave nothing away from the story (and between then and the release date of this movie, I tried to avoid anything that would give away story).
(Shahryar’s note: For all the Independents fans who are reading this, this trailer was actually an inspiration for a future episode of Independents which will be written soon)
4.) MI:2 – Mission Impossible 2
My favorite movie of… 2000? I think.. whenever it came out.. this was a great movie.
Mission Impossible 1 was cool, but too complicated. This movie was a little dumbed down, but a great fast paced action flick. John Woo at his best. As of the time of this writing (May, 2006), I don’t think I’ve seen a John Woo movie since then that I’ve really liked – and I’m a pretty decent John Woo Fan.
This trailer was an energy ride (that stayed faithful to the movie – unlike The Corruptor’s trailer which didn’t). From the start, where we see Tom Cruise mountain climbing and getting “located,” until the very end with the heavy guitar strumming and all the loose action sequences. The music deserves special mention in this trailer, playing consistently throughout, but varying in heaviness to match what we were seeing.
Very high replay value – I was watching this trailer almost every day for months at Circuit City where I was working at in college (it was part of the demo DVD we got from corporate for our TVs). I never got sick of it.
… And I liked Tom Cruise’s hair grown out…. yeah, I said it.. now, moving on…
3.) Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Totally didn’t know this movie was coming out. I was just sitting in Bad Boys II, minding my business, and then all of a sudden, I see a trailer for this movie. I’m a big Desperado fan so this movie being made was my dream come true. After experiencing the trailer, I didn’t even care about Bad Boys II.
The best parts about this trailer:
a) The music – “Pistelero” from Juno Reactor is still one of my favorite dance/techno songs. It went perfect with this movie trailer. They made this like a music video.
b) Glimpses of the fast, creative action I would expect from a Robert Rodriguez movie – specifically the handcuffed chase scene down the wall.
c) Finding out the cast – holy shit – Johnny Depp, Eva Mendez, and.. Enrique Inglesias? Bailamos!
d) Antonio Banderas’s great lines (which only work in Rober Rodriguez movies or in Zorro) – “You leave me no choice, but to kill you all…”)
I downloaded the movie trailer and I think watched it like every day until the movie came out
2.) Sin City
Hands down my favorite movie of 2005 (and in the top 10 of many critics’ favorites too). And another Robert Rodriguez flick.
I hadn’t watched the trailers (there are two of them that are kinda different, but very similar) really prior to the movie. I just wanted to see the movie because of all the hype around it. But then after loving the movie so much, I had to get more of it… so I downloaded the trailers and found myself watching these trailers almost every day for a very long while. The addictive music, the fast paced action, the cool shots, the classic quotes.. the everything. An Amazing, amazing trailer, for an amazing, amazing movie (very, very rare).
1.) Spiderman – Teaser Trailer
It doesn’t get any better than this. I knew the Spiderman movie was coming, but was yet to see anything. And at this point of the game, trailers weren’t really the big deal that they are now (thanks to the ease of internet and Quicktime getting trailers all around).
So rewind to the experience. I’m watching some random movie, can’t remember which one, and I see this fast paced robbery going sequence. As I’m watching, I’m thinking to myself, “hmm… this is kind of cool.” Then all of a sudden, the helicoptor gets stuck in a web… in between the twin towers.
Wow…
And then I see Spiderman… for the first time.. looking amazing (and not goofy at all like I feared).
Final thoughts on trailer: So here, the replay factor may suffer a bit. But it doesn’t matter, the wow factor just can’t be topped. This is the best trailer ever, and I don’t see how it can ever be replaced now that trailer watching is the norm.
Updated 3/26/2011
This isn’t the first time I’ve had a dream about Dexter. 
I had one earlier to which revolved around the surprising events. That was another scenario proposed by my subconscious which took place in a hotel with Dexter wandering room to room looking for answers. The difference between what happened in that dream and what happened really on the show was that Dexter didn’t know what had happened.