I’ve written here about how much I love movie trailers. I truly believe it’s an art form. It isn’t easy to condense a 2-hour movie into 2 minutes without giving away too much, while still enticing you to see it, and while realistically representing the experience you’ll have. Some trailers get it exactly right, while others miss the mark so much that it actually worsens your opinion of the film. After all, expectations are everything. Here are a few trailers that so severely misrepresented the films that I couldn’t fully appreciate what the films had to offer.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.

5. The Village

What the trailer promises: a Puritan horror film, focused on a treaty and perpetual territory struggle with mysterious creatures in the woods, featuring Joaquin Phoenix as the man brave enough to face them.
What the movie delivered: a dull, barely frightening fake-Puritan-in-modern-day film, featuring Joaquin Phoenix lying wounded in a bed for over half the film, while we mourn the anticlimactic “twist.”

4. The Squid and the Whale

What the trailer promises: a quirky, darkly funny comedy involving a family going through a divorce, focused on their unique and honest relationships and the family members who are doing their best during a difficult time.
What the movie delivered: a cynical, rarely funny drama involving a family going through a divorce, focused on the manipulative, dishonest, and resentful relationships and the psychologically dysfunctional and completely unlikeable family members who are doing their best to hurt and alienate one another.

3. The Family Stone

NOTE: Although this trailer is misleading, I actually did enjoy this film.
What the trailer promises: a joyful, family Christmas movie about a young woman trying to woo her boyfriend’s difficult and judgmental family, filled with plenty of laughs and physical comedy.
What the movie delivered: a tearful, family Christmas movie about a young woman trying to woo her boyfriend’s difficult and judgmental family, filled with plenty of laughs and physical comedy… however the rock of the family, his mother, is dying of cancer.

2. Everybody’s Fine

What the trailer promises: a journey across the country for a newly widowed father provides the opportunity to learn more about his grown children who want nothing more than to make him proud and in the process learns a lot about himself.
What the movie delivered: the journey for the widow reveals he knows little about his grown children, who lie with great effort to hide their true lives from him, while secretly trying to help their brother who gets arrested and eventually dies while dealing drugs in Mexico.

1. Bridge to Terabithia

What the trailer promises: an epic Jumanji meets Narnia adventure where the impossible is real, featuring two unlikely but heroic children.
What the movie delivered: a coming-of-age drama, featuring two misfit children who escape to an imaginary “world” they create in the woods, one of whom tragically dies leaving the other to imagine Terabithia on his own.

For some good trailers: watch some of my very favorites here and here.

Ever since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by paintings. I loved looking at them, studying them, and especially trying to create them. Another fascination of mine has been Catholic tradition, architecture, and storytelling. Although I’m not Catholic, I’ve always appreciated the tremendous artwork that has been created from those beliefs and reverence. I can think of no other building that so beautifully and intricately embodies the strength of religious tradition and the utter brilliance of a master like Michelangelo. The walls and ceiling are magnificent, perfectly visualizing the doctrine at the heart of Christianity in stunning fresco. The space itself is enormous, adding to the awe and admiration I feel. I hope that everyone could see the Sistine Chapel sometime in their life, religious or not. The art, history, and architecture would be more than worth the trip.

Clay’s parents flew in for Thanksgiving this past weekend. We decided it would be fun to take a day trip to Sedona. Although we didn’t spend the whole weekend, I’m crossing off another item on my 26 before 26 list, #2: Take a weekend trip to Sedona.

I’ve been to Sedona a few times growing up, but never to tour and learn more about the city. I’d intended to go up there when the weather is more desirable than here in Phoenix, but the opportunity presented itself and we took it. I simply love road trips and the two-hour drive there was relaxing and beautiful. We booked a trolley tour and picked up some walnut fudge from the Sedona Fudge Company. The weather was freezing, but the scenery was amazing. I particularly like the cohesiveness I felt there; They’ve done a great job at keeping all the architecture, roads, and homes along the same design aesthetics. It all feels very quaint.

After the tour we headed to the lookout near the Sedona Airport and ran into a snow storm. We certainly were not prepared or dressed properly for that kind of chill so we decided to head home for dinner (missing out on the rattlesnake at the Barking Frog restaurant, unfortunately). The day trip was fun and relaxing and we are all excited to make it out there again for a better planned weekend. I’d love to take a hot air balloon or helicopter ride over the city.