RogerBW's Blog

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

Sonic The Hedgehog (2019): probably means more if you're a fan of the games; I have never played one. I note that 760mph is comfortably over the mach, so it's not so much "what the" as "where did all my windows go". The villain is so obviously more interesting than the hero that they have to make a point of his being an asshole, and even then he's less of one than many films' heroes…

Toni Morrison - The Pieces I Am: looks like the usual laudatory stuff, but reasonably well done.

Ladies in Black: 1950s Australia isn't the overdone 1950s USA, even if it has rather a lot of similarities. Could be interesting; at least the trailer doesn't make the story utterly obvious, and that's usually a good sign that it's not just another retread.

Crawl: oh, man, is that a sewer gator? That could almost be amusing crap.

Spider-Man - Far From Home: points out its own problems, that Spider-Man as a concept is basically a whiny adolescent – which doesn't really work on this scale.

The Lodge: so New Mommy is a cult survivor. Well, the connections between the generic horror and the personal story are certainly apparent, but neither of them really looks terribly interesting.

It Chapter Two (Teaser): may appeal more to people who like part one, or horror in general, or, well, anything about this really.

Judy: the trailer's happy to jump about in time; I hope the film is more content to tell a story in order.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette: looks rather more interesting than the teaser did.

Dark Phoenix (IMAX): well, this time they remembered to put in the fights; still doesn't grab me but looks a bit more credible as a superhero film now.

Maleficent - Mistress of Evil (Teaser): feels like an attempt to grind more money out of a character they own, rather than having anything actually to day.

Midsommar: now we get some characters, which is better than the teaser had. Maybe? At least worth a further look.

Always Be My Maybe: I don't care in the slightest about these people.

Angel Has Fallen: they're all dead from concussion about the 58-second mark. Might be mildly amusing trottle.

Aniara (Clip): yeah, still looks like self-important crap.

Downton Abbey: yeah, if you haven't seen the series (as I haven't) this isn't meant to bring you in other than by being pretty.

The Art of Racing in the Rain: ooooo… kay.

Toy Story 4: I guess. It'll probably work better at full length rather than just bits selected for three-second trailer shots.

Abominable: looks like the usual turn-the-handle extruded kidvid.

Terminator - Dark Fate (Teaser) and James Cameron promo: well, it looks better than the last few (and I haven't even seen 4 or 5 yet). Cameron doesn't actually say "all the films made by people other than me have been shit", but that certainly seems like the way they're going with it. Eh, I'll give it a look.

The Goldfinch: yes, one can grieve over the loss of a parent (though it happens to many people, even twice, and most of them don't have their lives destroyed by it). But is that all that's going on here? This seems more like a teaser than a trailer.

In Fabric: looks as if it wasn't being taken too horribly seriously, which I'm inclined to regard as a good sign (self-important horror rarely works well). Might take a look at this.