Trailer Stash: Shutter Island, The Time Traveler's Wife, Inglourious Basterds, More

And now, a look at some of the notable trailers lighting up the internet:

Just as Shutter Island was an unusual book for Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) to write, so it is an unusual movie for Martin Scorsese to direct. This pleasingly eerie new trailer hints at more of the plot than it should, and the elaborate set design and lush period detail look more convincing than the thriller conventions clearly at work in the foreground. Given the pedigree, though, it’s hard not to be excited for this. 

Move past the creepy overtones and soft-rock refrains and welcome a movie that seems poised to become one of the summer’s sleeper hits. Difficult-to-dislike stars McAdams and Bana add weight to this adaptation of the popular 2003 book about a man with a time-traveling gene and the tensions it creates with his wife. If this is all too annoying for you, understood, but this kind of romantic drama always finds an audience happy to be slapped around emotionally for a long couple of hours.

Cast: Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Release Date: Aug. 21

The full trailer for Tarantino’s WWII saga makes a pretty transparent effort to sell the movie as a straightforward Brad Pitt vehicle (which, everyone seems to agree, it isn’t). But trailers are about commerce, and the new footage here makes this worth a look, even if it promises a movie we know we won’t get. 

Cast: Dev Patel

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Release Date: July 2, 2010

M. Night Shyamalan takes an overdue reprieve from low-rent thrillers for this adaptation of the television series. The teaser pulls the usual stops for a summer event movie, and it doesn’t reveal much (nor does it include any glimpse of co-star Dev Patel, who signed up to make this his first post-Slumdog Millionaire project). Filed under “wait and see.”

Cast: Naturi Naughton, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally

We’ll spare you the whole “this-movie-is-so-unnecessary” tirade, but it’s hard to have any other thought running through your head during this trailer. That said, there are people whose hunger for screen musicals transcends all gripes, and for you, true believers, we sincerely hope it isn’t as generic as it looks.