We’re living in a strange era of the movie trailer—in an effort to boost hype and gain attention, ad companies and movie studios are coming up an increasingly bizarre series of attempts to make the movie trailer more interesting.  Some are successful (like the backwards trailer for The House at the End of the Street); some are not (just about every “trailer for the trailer” ever).  The teaser for Looper (itself pretty cool) not only has a series of behind the scenes previews leading up to its premiere last week, it now has a director’s commentary by Rian Johnson.

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Try saying that headline three times fast.  Then wrap your head around Looper’s premise: Mobsters from the future, in an effort to properly dispose of evidence, send their victims 30 years into the past to be executed by hired assassins called ‘Loopers.’  One such Looper is Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who one day arrives at the job to find himself with tasked with killing his future self (Bruce Willis), which is where the wackiness (including Gordon-Levitt doing his best Willis drawl under some subtle makeup FX) begins.

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We’re all for new forms of audience outreach and clever marketing here at ScreenCrave.  We’re also highly anticipating Rian Johnson’s new film, Looper, in which a young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is hired to be a “Looper” (an assassin who kills people sent from the future) and is tasked with murdering his 30-years-older self (Bruce Willis)—at which point things get complicated.  But one thing we’re getting sick of?  The trailers for trailers.  Or, in this case, the “sneak peak” to the upcoming release of the film’s teaser trailer.  Check it out below (and hey, we’re still excited about Looper).

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Have you ever noticed a striking resemblance between Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Eh, me neither. Deadline is reporting from Cannes that Willis has just joined the cast of Looper, a futuristic time-travel tale that reunites the Brick team of Gordon-Levitt and writer/director Rian Johnson. Before you get all smiley (assuming you’re a fan of the kick-ass Brick), let me introduce you to the premise…

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Do you ever watch the special commentaries on your DVDs? Now there is a way to watch a movie in theaters with the director’s commentary. I don’t think I’ve heard of anybody doing this, but the director of The Brothers Bloom, Rian Johnson, recorded a special track to watch with the movie via your iPod.

All you need to do is download the podcast for your iPhone or music player, and you are good to go. In case you don’t know what to do with it, the commentary tells you when to pause and start the podcast.

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The Brothers Bloom is Rian Johnson’s colourful, energetic and enjoyable follow up to his 2005 debut, Brick. However the fans Johnson won with his debut will be divided over his latest effort, which stars Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and the excellent Rachel Weisz.

The Brothers Bloom is the story of world’s greatest con men, who have made a living off of swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. The brothers team up with their silent partner and sidekick Bang-Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) for one last job, conning beautiful heiress Penelope (Weisz) by taking her on a tour of the world and relieving her of $2.5 million.

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Taking place at venues around Hollywood (Mann’s, Grauman’s, LACMA, Cinema Lounge, the Arclight/Cinerama Dome) from Thursday 30th tiil Sun day 9th, the American Film Institute’s annual festival this year features over 150 films from around the world. Take your pick from Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s semi-documentary about factory closure, 24 City (Mon 3, Sat 8), Beat Takeshi’s lastest, Achilles and the Tortoise, a meditation on art and money and life (Mon 3, Fri 7), or Paul Schrader’s Jeff Goldblum starrer Adam Resurrected, an unsentimental, semi-absurdist post-Holocaust flick (Sat 8, Sun 9).

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