Tom Burns

CHICAGO – Now that we’re so close to the holiday season, it means that the whole movie trailer landscape has changed yet again. We’ve spent the last three months watching the previews for the Christmas season blockbusters and the end-of-the-year Oscar hopefuls nonstop.

CHICAGO – The summer movie season is officially over (sigh), and now it’s time for Hollywood to show off what they’ve got planned for us next. (If we had to guess, we say bet on more “Pirates” movies and less “Green Lantern” sequels.)

CHICAGO – However, unexpectedly, the past few weeks have seen the release of some major trailers for movies that are targeted for typically off-season release months (September, October, January), and most of them look fairly awesome. While a few underwhelm (looking at you, “Paranormal Activity 3”), the rest feature some of the coolest, most exciting movie trailers that we’ve seen all year.

CHICAGO – It’s Comic-Con week, so you know what that means – a whole lot of sweaty cosplayers questing to hook up with the Sailor Moon of their dreams and a whole lot of new movie trailers. Comic Con is movie trailer nirvana.

CHICAGO – It might sound like sacrilege (or even sound redundant) to say this, particularly on a day that sees the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two,” but I just have to say it - Daniel Radcliffe can’t be Harry Potter forever.

CHICAGO – Since the early days of cinema, trailers have always been the best part of going to the movies. Forget about the movies themselves.

CHICAGO – Even though the summer movie season is barely halfway over, it seems clear that, when we reminisce about summer 2011 later this year, one of the biggest surprises of the season will have to be the simple fact that it was possible to make a “Thor” movie that actually works.

CHICAGO – Comic book fans, particularly X-Men fans, have been pretty spoiled lately. Anyone over the age of fifteen might not remember this, but there was a time back when it was essentially impossible to imagine seeing an honest-to-god movie version of your favorite comic book character on the big screen.

CHICAGO – When “Thor” hits theaters this Friday, it will be 22nd Marvel Comics movie to make it to the big-screen since “Blade” rebooted Marvel’s box office potential back in 1998. There have been more Marvel movies if you count such Marvel-owned properties as “Men in Black” or “Kick-Ass” (or if you count the cheesy straight-to-VHS Marvel movies of the 80s and 90s), but “Blade” was the first “modern” Marvel superhero flick.

CHICAGO – Every summer movie season aims to be one thing above anything else – BIG. Summer movies are supposed to be spectacles, larger-than-life, they are specifically designed to overwhelm.