Sometimes I enjoy films with multi-layered stories and intricate characters, and then there are times when I just want to see people blowing sh*t up. I blame the testosterone. This week we've got five trailers that are all about the action.

Hell Ride
No, he's not directing, but Quentin Tarantino is producing this one which should turn a few heads, as will the fact that this is a red band trailer that earns its crimson hue. Three bad ass biker types played by writer/director Larry Bishop, Michael Madsen, and Eric Balfour are out for revenge against a rival gang for killing one of their bros. Dennis Hopper and David Carradine are in their too. The trailer embraces its b-movie action roots, not even caring that the shot of three figures nonchalantly walking away as a building blows up behind them has become something of a cliche. In his review of the film, Cinematical's Eric Snider makes the point that grindhouse style cinema is a niche market that appeals to a restricted number of people. True enough, though on a purely personal level, I'm a big fan of the old school grindhouse flicks and this looks like it's going to be pretty awesome.


Black Dynamite
Along with Hell Ride, this makes two films on this list that look truer to the actual grindhouse experience than Tarantino and Rodriguez's Grindhouse. "Hey all you jive hustlers," the trailer calls. "You stone foxes, you mean dudes." Black Dynamite is a dead on homage to the blacksploitation films of the 1970s, going so far as to make it a period piece, which makes for some awesome fashion statements. The trailer has the weathered washed- out look of an old neglected reel, but I'm not sure if this look extends to the actual film. I'm a little fuzzy on what the exact plots is, but I don't think it really matters. Dynamite is one tough s.o.b. who used to work for the CIA, and they're trying to recruit him back into the fold, and apparently there's some kind of revenge angle. What really matters is all the gun play, martial arts, and multi-ethnic group sex. Some of the dialog is badly looped in, which may or may not be intentional, but like Hell Ride I think this is shaping up to be a pretty cool piece of retro-sploitation.

Max Payne
I've never played the game this one is based on, otherwise I might have a better idea what those creepy angel of death type characters are all about. Like a lot of films based on video games, this film noir-ish crime drama looks amazing. Whether there's any substance remains to be seen, and the trailer is pretty stingy with the plot details. Mark Wahlberg stars as the title character, and while he's done good work before, The Happening and We Own the Night are still fresh enough in my memory to make me leery. It's an eye-catching trailer, but I'll need to hear more. Here's Erik's take.

Tropic Thunder
Rain of Madness is the name of this new mockumentary-style trailer for Ben Stiller's spoof of Vietnam war movies. Obviously the name is a play on Hearts of Darkness which was the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. The fake film festival accolades are a hoot and I'm especially impressed that Rain of Madness won Tijuana's Shrieking Donkey Award. Stiller's wearing that bizarre snow gear from the previous trailer, but rather than the CGI pandas strapped to his chest he appears to have two human babies. Man, I want to see this one. Here's Monika's take.

Mutant Chronicles
This one is based on a role-playing game set in a distant future in which the world is ruled by four corporations who are constantly at war with each other. A horde of subterranean mutants are unleashed threatening all of mankind and an ancient order recruits a battle-hardened soldier played by Thomas Jane to save the world. Ron Perlman also stars as does John Malkovich. Jessica pointed out in her recent post that this project has been floating around since 2006, which doesn't fill me with confidence. Still I like the muted color palate and the fact that the combatants are designed to look like World War I soldiers. I'll spare some cautious optimism for this one. There's a screening of it at Comic Con (on July 26), so maybe our Cinematical Con team will bring back word.

New trailers on AOL Moviefone:

• Burn After Reading - The latest from the Cohen brothers has two gym employees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) trying to exploit a disk they've found that contains classified information. Check it out right here:
  
  
• Full Grown Men - Suffering from an early mid-life crisis, a man seeks out his best friend from childhood and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
• Disaster Movie - Yet another film parodying recent films from the makes of the Scary Movie series.
• Harold - A fourteen year old boy finds it even harder than usual to adjust to a new school because of premature male patter baldness.
• Brutal Massacre: A Comedy - Comedy starring several horror icons including Gunnar Hansen, David Naughton, Ellen Sandweiss, and Ken Foree as well as Clerks' Brian O'Halloran in a story about a failed horror film maker's last shot at making a successful movie before funding runs out. Here's the trailer:
  
  
• Babylon A.D. - Vin Diesel stars in a futuristic science fiction tale as a bodyguard to a woman carrying a deadly virus.
• Virgin Territory - Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton, Tim Roth, Chris Egan star in this comedic romantic adventure set in Florence during the time of the black plague.