RogerBW's Blog

December 2017-January 2018 Trailers 15 January 2018

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I hate everything.)

The Clapper: one of those trailers that sums up the entire plot of the film. I suppose it might have something to say about celebrity, but I don't see much here to lure me in.

Ocean's 8: all right, it's another heist/con film (and can't quite seem to make up its mind which it is, which isn't a good sign), but… multiple female leads who get to have their own personalities rather than just being "the girl"! Definitely interested in this one.

Gringo: so why do we care about these people? The black guy is the only vaguely sympathetic character with more than a few seconds of screen time, and he's doing the sort of odious comic relief schtick that one might have hoped had been buried with Mantan Moreland.

Overboard: if rich people are Bad, then poor people must be Good, right? So everything the poor people do must be Good too. Yay.

The China Hustle: yet more means of separating suckers from their money. As though there were ever a shortage.

Little Bitches: why does this look terrible when Ocean's 8 looks good to me? They're both doing the multiple female lead thing, but this one doesn't take any time to engage my sympathies; all these people are horrid.

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again: probably of more interest to people who liked the first one. But at least it's being done competently.

Den of Thieves: how do they make an action-packed heist film boring? Gerard Butler is starting to look like a liability on the order of Ben Kingsley.

Mom and Dad: generic opening, and then generic pratfall comedy plus violence. With Nicolas Cage. Even he may not be enough to make this watchable.

The Open House: effectively creepy horror setup, and for once it mostly avoids the generic jump-scares. Though the "hide in little tiny place until heroine has taken her clothes off" power clearly works as well as ever.

Fade Away: well, at least it's not a generic injury-and-recovery sports film. Might even work.

Windsor: yeah, the best thing to do is obviously to give your life for other people who won't thank you for it or even benefit much, given the size of the problem.

Slender Man: starts with the generic horror imagery and doesn't let up. Wow, an actual dolly zoom, I haven't seen one of those for a while. Meh.

Truth or Dare: I know why they make films like this: they're cheap, and people pay to see them. But why do people pay to see them?

Game Over, Man!: um, and apparently this is funny.

Nostalgia: Yes, and? Does it have a plot, or just a great cast and lots of mood lighting?

Winchester: a proper trailer, but it's still too heavy on the jump-scares for my preference.

Golden Exits: the trailer doesn't do much of a job of saying what's going on, which may be a good sign. Decent cast too. But it could easily get up itself. One to consider.

The Vanishing of Sidney Hall: messing with the narrative sequence usually means a lack of confidence in the basic story. So does reiterating the basic story again and again just in the trailer.

Beirut: this time it's personal, just like all the other times. Negotiation turns into standard action.

Breaking In: so it's Home Alone with a black woman instead of an adorable moppet? Well, that's a huge improvement. Might actually work.

Traffik: having a black guy as the hero is the only vaguely original thing here. Good for that, but looks terribly standard otherwise.

Show Dogs: because Turner & Hooch had too much emotional weight.

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