Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are
to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal.)
Death Wish:
same old same old, shows no real sign of having been updated for the
modern day. It seems to be trying to bring in a little more humour,
but that's not enough to tempt me in.
Stratton:
very generic special-forces action; the special forces appear to be a
private contractor in this case, but does that really help?
6 Days:
and here's the real thing, or at least a filmic approximation of it.
The antagonism between negotiators and shooters seems a little forced,
but at least there's some tension beyond good guys vs bad guys.
Keep Watching:
your tech is watching you, middle-aged audience. But we're not going
to tell you that in a way that would enable you to do anything about
it, we're just going to make it into standard horror with jump scares
and so on.
Demon:
visually atmospheric, more than most horror manages, and maybe it'll
break away from the standard horror tropes the trailer goes to such
trouble to invoke. I hope so.
League of Gods:
I was prepared to give this generic fantasy beat-'em-up the benefit of
the doubt until the CGI moppet.
Mother!:
feels like a mainstream director trying to do horror but basically
having contempt for it whenever it's in conflict with showing off and
being clever. Doesn't grab me.
The Limehouse Golem:
good-looking Victorian investigation, and a sudden historical
character that even the stupidest audience member will recognise.
Looks potentially worth considering.
Call Me By Your Name:
the framing and style tell you that at least some of these people are
going to turn out to be badly broken; the only question is how. Still,
if we must have stories about young men growing up, here at least is
one that hasn't entirely been done to death yet.
Duck Duck Goose:
machine-made kidvid.
The Death of Stalin:
if you're going to go for comedy, go all-out; not a fan of the
physical comedy but there's a lot of potential here.
Molly's Game:
seems like more an Aaron Sorkin Film Experience than this specific
story. Could work, maybe, but I'm not grabbed.
Rememory:
it seems obvious from the framing that the machinery is the problem,
which makes our hero look silly for not thinking of it. Still, this
might hold together.
One Percent More Humid:
broken white people problems.
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected):
more broken white people problems.
Replace:
so basically it's
Jan in the Pan updated for the
more-or-less modern day? Have I just worked out the entire plot from
the trailer?
The Killing of a Sacred Deer:
at the very least I'm mildly intrigued. But not much, yet.
Gemini:
the crazy person is inside the house I wonder how that could have
happened. But at long as it sticks to being noir rather than horror
there's some potential for fun here.
Literally, Right Before Aaron:
this horrible man is supposed to be our protagonist. We're supposed to
want to see him succeed.
Little Evil:
the "son of Satan" thing is intrinsically silly and I'm glad to see
it getting a comedic treatment, but I'm not convinced by this cast.
Last Flag Flying:
now this is a trailer that gets things right: it tells me why I should
care about the characters, it gives some idea of what the film is
about, but it doesn't give away everything that's going on. I'm not
usually a fan of films about old men being sad, but this at least
leaves me interested.
Killing Gunther: comedy
action doesn't generally work for me; action is already something that
one can't take seriously, and if you ask me to turn my critical
faculties back on (to appreciate the comedy) then I'll notice how
ghastly the premises of the action are. (Honourable exception: The
Last Action Hero, which had respect for its action tropes while also
making fun of them.) Also, of course, Arnie's got old, and Taran
Killam loves the fast cuts.
Mark Felt - The Man Who Brought Down the White House:
could be great, but looks strangely bloodless, which may explain why I
haven't particularly heard of Felt before. Liam Neeson is looking like
a generic interchangeable actor.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (Teaser):
a guy looks emotionless and breaks things and people… but what do it
do molesworth what purpose hav it?
Blade of the Immortal:
this looks terribly old-fashioned, but more fun than at least half
the trailers I've mentioned here.
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