Here are a few new trailers (including one Red Band one) for you to peruse on this Mother’s Day weekend:

The Campaign

On paper, the combination of Ferrell and Galifianakis makes sense as they are both popular and have made careers out of acting as themselves with just a slight character change (I know you know what I’m talking about). Here we see a cross between Ron Burgundy, Ricky Bobby, and his SNL impression of George W. Bush as a multiple-term congressman running unopposed until a what-seems-like-a-wrong-place-right-time nitwit takes him on. Hilarity is supposed to ensue. I gotta admit, though, that the laughs are few and far between in the trailer and for me, the few that did occur was mostly due to Jason Sudekis, who follows up his hilarious turn in Horrible Bosses with this. Ferrell adds some laughs when he does his Yell Nonsense routine, but overall I was very unimpressed. I’d say rental at best.

♥♥

The Watch (This is the Red-Band one)

Formerly titled Neighborhood Watch (the title was undoubtedly changed because of the association with the recent Trayvon Martin incident) this comedy is reuniting Vince Vaughn with his Dodgeball co-star, Ben Stiller, and adding in a little Jonah Hill to boot. There’s some really funny stuff here, but I have to admit that I’m a little lost as to what the film is all about. Are we actually going to be dealing with aliens, because I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. And some of the jokes here are also out of the context of the film (or seemingly so) and I don’t think that bodes well either. Yes, funny is funny, but you still have to hope for some semblance of a story in order to make the film actually work. I’ll give it the nod of approval for now, but further green band trailers will have to be the ultimate judge.

♥♥1/2

End of Watch

Switching gears to more serious fare, this POV, shaky cam cop feature promises to bring strong performances and intense action. I’m not a hater of the  Gyllenhaal (he can be quite good – Jarhead, Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac – and quite bad – most notably in Prince of Persia) like some are and I feel like something like this is just what he needs. Throw in some Michael Pena (consistent, if anything) and the writer of Training Day (in my Top 5 All-Time films) and I’m sold. I’m not exactly sure where the film will end up going (and even more specifically, where it could end) but that’s a good thing, I think. This is not an average cop flick, and that might be just what the doctor ordered.

♥♥♥♥

Gangster Squad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc3Ab52uqM8&feature=player_embedded

This seems to have all the makings of a classic gangster film (a badass Josh Brolin, a sexy Emma Stone, a reluctantly heroic Ryan Gosling, an as-always gravelly Nick Nolte) and with that being released in mid-December, you’d have to imagine that the filmmakers believe in the potential of this one very strongly. There are just two things that I would caution you about before you get really excited: 1) the director is Ruben Fleischer. Now, he was very successful in his debut film (Zombieland) but his follow-up, 30 Minutes or Less, left quite a bit to be desired. Even still, jumping from the comedic fields to something so different makes me the hesitant one. And 2) The Sean Penn as villain thing. This could either go really well (see: De Niro as Capone in The Untouchables) or it could flounder and lead to Penn overacting like, well, like Sean Penn is known to do. And I think those two concerns go hand-in-hand. If Fleischer is able to reel in Penn a bit and get him to bring his A game, this could do very well, especially come Oscar time. If not, we could have a very pretty-looking mess on our hands.

♥♥♥1/2

What do you think? Let us know below!