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Anticipation mounts for 'Indiana Jones' and 'Sex and the City'

BY GLENN WHIPP >FILM WRITER
Trailers for two of the summer's most anticipated movies … 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' and 'Sex and the City: The Movie' … have been playing in theaters and online, and they seem to answer fans' pressing concerns.
 
Yes, Harrison Ford is still spry enough to bend over and pick up his fedora. (Though that could be a stand-in doing the heavy lifting, for all we know.)
 
And, no, it doesn't look like Carrie and Big are going to tie the knot, after all.
 
Both trailers attempt to address the movies' blind spots. For 'Raiders,' it's whether Ford, 65, still has what it takes to be an action hero.
 
"Not as easy as it used to be,'' Ford's Indy tells Ray Winstone while surrounded by soldiers in a clip on the trailer. But that doesn't mean he can't get the job done 19 years later. We see Indy throwing a couple of punches and swinging on a rope en route to crashing through a moving jeep's windshield.
 
The message: New story, same Indy. Check it out in theaters May 22.
 
"The trailer caught on like wildfire, around the world, in all mediums,'' Gerry Rich, Paramount's president of worldwide marketing, told the Associated Press. Paramount is targeting moviegoers ``from 8 to 80. The response has been sensational, and it shows what technology can do when you have material that is so appealing to audiences.''
 
The trailer got a record 4.1 million views on the Yahoo movie site in the first week and 2.6 million on the official IndianaJones.com site, breaking a studio record.
 
With its prominently displayed American flag fluttering in the breeze, the ``Indy'' trailer also positions Mr. Jones as a Yankee Doodle Dandy hero for a time that desperately needs one. Unspecified-foreign-type villains don't stand a chance against his can-do Stars and Stripes spirit.
 
Of more interest: Cate Blanchett looks pretty hot in a black wig.
 
Speaking of hot, the ``Sex and the City'' ladies look positively fab in that film's three-minute trailer. (Wardrobe costs probably accounted for half of the movie's reportedly $65 million budget.)
 
But why should ``Sex'' fans shell out $10 to $15 when the movie arrives on May 30 for something they've been watching at home for free?
 
Answer: The revelations!
 
Big leaves Carrie at the altar! Steve cheats on Miranda! Charlotte gets pregnant on her own! Samantha still loves her one-night stands!
 
OK. Maybe the last one isn't a news flash.
 
If the trailer is supposed to have some crossover appeal, though, it fails miserably. Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie) still drones on, underlining the obvious, refusing to let the story speak for itself.
 
Shirtless hunks soap up in the shower, preparing to be sacrificed at the altar of Samantha (Kim Cattrall). The girls joke about bikini waxes and then proceed to rotate $1,000 pairs of shoes every five seconds.
 
And when men fail them, as they will … as they must … the women are there for each other, four sisters looking for new fairy-tale endings and a great sale on handbags.
 
And, who knows … maybe things will be different in the sequel.
 
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Glenn Whipp (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp@dailynews.com