Trailer Wednesday: The Green Hornet, Conviction

One is a big commercial action property led by funny-man Seth Rogen and the other one of those early fall borderline awards season dramas. They have nothing to do with one another, but not every Trailer Wednesday can have a theme. It’s the movie version of the comic-turned-TV series “The Green Hornet” and the Sam Rockwell and Hilary Swank criminal justice drama, “Conviction.”

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The Green Hornet

Seth Rogen’s attempt to launch his career into another realm in the remake of this much-loved comic series and TV show (the one that co-starred Bruce Lee) was initially slated to have been out already, but several date switches have landed the film in eyebrow-wrinkling territory: this coming January the 14th. Not exactly a lot of confidence exuding from Sony/Columbia with that move despite stars Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz and (awesome in my opinion) Edward James Olmos.

With a story from Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film comes off just as you’d expect: action with a sense of humor. There’s nothing mind-blowing here, but good fun. Rogen might be skinnier, but I’m not so sure about being the lead. He appears to be every way inferior to his sidekick Kato, played by Jay Chou. For January though, it could be solid entertainment.

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Conviction

Having spent some time learning about how fallible our criminal justice system is in America, a film like “Conviction,” which is based on a true story, earns a special place of interest for me personally. With talents like Sam Rockwell and Hilary Swank and the only indie company to perennial produce a big Oscar film every year in Fox Searchlight at their back, this is something I think could be particularly worth noting. Oscar nominees Minnie Driver, Melissa Leo and Juliette Lewis co-star.

Rockwell plays a man convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for a crime he presumably did not commit and Swank plays his sister, who applies to law school just so she can prove his innocence years upon years later. This type of story happens more than you’d expect in this country, which makes a film like this important to see more than interesting in many ways. “Conviction” has no official release date, but expect it to hit festivals later this year and appear sometime around October-November.