National Treasure: Book of Secrets Trailer!

The full trailer for Nicolas Cage's National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the sequel to the unfortunately successful action-adventure movie National Treasure, is now online. Personally, I found the first movie to be rather boring and stupid, but a lot of people seemed to like it (including my mother, who scolded me for disagreeing with her).

This sequel really looks God-awful. The movie has the same colorful look, and the plot sounds even more ridiculous (Cage decides to kidnap the President of the United States to get a book of secrets). The action looks pretty minimal, and the best punch lines are used in the trailer (and they aren't even that good... the highlight is Cage doing that "something has grabbed my hand in the hole" trick).

Not only is the trailer dull, but it shows way too much. It reveals what the book of secrets is, what the plot of the movie is, and more. How could so many good actors (Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris, Jon Voight and even Helen Mirren) get involved with a picture like this?

Also, wasn't Jon Voight's father in Tomb Raider? Isn't National Treasure just a male rip-off of Tomb Raider? Why does he do so many bad movies?

Movie trailer review: Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4)

The full movie trailer for Live Free or Die Hard (also known as the long-awaited Die Hard 4) is now online (watch the movie trailer here), and while the trailer isn't the greatest, it isn't too shabby either. The movie trailer is basically a jumbled mess of action scenes, but the action looks so cool and intense it really doesn't matter. Not much more of the plot is revealed, other than that it appears like the crazy dude from The Girl Next Door is some kind of military fanatic who wants to help the country by hurting it. When he kidnaps John McClane's hot daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), though, he is about to meet his match.

The movie trailer works in some ways and fails in others. It certainly establishes that there is lots of action, but at the same time the presentation feels very disjointed. It doesn't build the hype factor in the way I was hoping. After all, there hasn't been in a Die Hard movie in ten years, yet other than the mention of McClane's name once, there isn't much of a spectacle about the fact that this is a sequel. Maybe this is intentional, but I don't think the fact that this film is a sequel will hurt it much, if at all.

For a second movie trailer I would like to see something that flows a bit more, that has a bit more setup before jumping into the action. Perhaps start off with a sequence of McClane's daughter getting kidnapped, and then kick into high gear from there.

Read more about Live Free or Die Hard, or watch the Die Hard 4 movie trailer (same link!)

More DiCaprio news (plus Kate Winslet)

Leonardo DiCaprio is busy hooking up with people he's already worked with. He's re-teaming with Kate Winslet for the drama, Revolutionary Road, reports Variety; Revolutionary Road will be the first time the two have worked together since Titanic.

Sam Mendes (American Beauty) will direct and produce the film, which is based on the acclaimed 1961 novel by Richard Yates about post-war disillusionment. The book follows a seemingly happy suburban couple with two children in the mid-1950s who find themselves caught between their true desires and the pressure to conform - with explosive consequences.

Revolutionary Road begins shooting this summer. How can this not be good?