Trailer Park: SOMEWHERE, SUCKER PUNCH and THE SOCIAL NETWORK

The newest trailers for some of the most noteworthy upcoming flicks.

By R. Kurt Osenlund, The Good Life film critic

SOMEWHERE
Sofia Coppola, who before Kathryn Bigelow was the first American woman to receive Best Picture and Best Director Oscar nods (for "Lost in Translation"), follows up her 2006 confection "Marie Antoinette" with another stylish drama, about a Hollywood actor (Stephen Dorff) and his relationship with his daughter (Elle Fanning).



I like Coppola's offbeat casting (Who even thinks about Stephen Dorff anymore?), and I love her imagery and worldliness. Much of "Somewhere" takes place at West Hollywood's Chateua Marmont, which the director makes appear as if it's in another country, expanding her cool instinct for enticing locales. This looks to be an intimate, artful story, and Coppola has more than announced herself as a filmmaker whose every project, for cinephiles anyway, is an event.


SUCKER PUNCH
Speaking of directors whose films are events, green-screen king Zack Snyder ("300," "Watchmen") will return in March with "Sucker Punch," an all-girl ass-kicking fantasy that continues our current fascination with alternate, dream-based realities. The first trailer debuted at this year's San Diego Comic-Con:



I hated "300," but I loved "Watchmen," as well as Snyder's freshman effort, "Dawn of the Dead." He's a superb stylist. With Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, and that chick from "Lemony Snicket," "Sucker Punch" looks like it will be among Snyder's better titles, with the limits nowhere in sight given the dreamscape setting. What's it all about? I'm not entirely sure. But it looks pretty damn cool.


THE SOCIAL NETWORK
The Facebook movie, directed by David Fincher.



I think this is really exciting. Set to open the New York Film Festival, "The Social Network" is so terribly current; it stimulates you not because it's about a hot-button topic, but a topic that's an integral part of the everyday lives of most people. At this point, it's like making a film about lunch, or peeing -- everybody does it, yesterday, today, tomorrow. Only lunch and peeing aren't nearly as fascinating or fun.