RogerBW's Blog

July 2019 Trailers 01 August 2019

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: the state abhors only one thing in the end, and that's the sound of laughter. Violence it can understand.)

Jumanji - The Next Level: the last one was cheap and made reasonable money, so of course there has to be another one. Now with added geezer comedy. Yay. I like the idea that the leads may have to play different people each time, but couldn't they at least be interesting people?

13 Minutes: maybe this kind of heavy-handed stuff is what the world needs. But it doesn't appeal.

Knives Out: a decent cast, but the visual style is turned up to 12 and it's just shouty non-fun. If I want that I can watch Parliament.

Mulan (Teaser): another of these live-action Disney remakes that nobody particularly wants, or pays to see, but they make just enough money to keep the engine ticking over. Why would I watch this when I could watch, oh, practically anything with Michelle Yeoh in it?

Maleficent - Mistress of Evil: may well appeal to people other than me. Great cast, lovely costumes, but such a dull story.

The King's Man (Teaser): oh, just a prequel to this tedious series.

Don't Let Go: looks at first like still yet more They Took His Family Now He Must Be Very Very Violent, but in fact it's just a Timeless ripoff.

Hustlers: Looks as if it's trying to be Ocean's 8, only with strippers. Might be better than that, but the trailer won't tell me so.

Playing with Fire: ho ho ho. Ho. And apparently that's not an underinflated Schwarzenegger suit, it's John Cena.

The Red Sea Diving Resort: doesn't seem like a lot of fun, but it might work.

It Chapter Two: I am not in the target audience. Didn't think much of the book, wasn't intererested in the first film. Fewer kids is good, I guess. 99 red balloons?

Ad Astra (second trailer): I really hope this is a film about space, not a film about daddy issues.

Cats: I don't suppose many people remember the musical given that it closed nearly twenty years ago, but known names always make filmmakers think there's money to be had. Sadly, they're often right. Oh, ha ha, Rebel Wilson still gets to play the fat girl comic relief. Looks very directly derived from stage settings. People are complaining about the uncanny-valley effect of the makeup, but it doesn't seem so terrible to me.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot: never bothered to see the original. This doesn't make want to see this one. Predictable jokes, and presumably they're the best they can offer. But as regular readers know I have no sense of humour.

Top Gun - Maverick: you know how when an author goes back to a story that seemed to be complete, ten years later, and adds another volume, it's hardly ever any good? Top Gun was released 33 years ago and this isn't coming out till next year.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: as with the other one, if you didn't grow up with the show… it's just another "Tom Hanks plays a saint" film, and he's been doing a lot of those lately, possibly as he's one of the few older actors who doesn't seem to have been assaulting anything vaguely female. I suppose it's better if a magical negro plot doesn't have an actual negro (or manic pixie dream girl) being the cause of the magic… is it? Or we could try not doing that plot any more.

Harriet: well, if every story of race must be a story of saints and devils, let's at least have a story of someone who's already part-mythologised and seems largely to have lived up to it.

Jojo Rabbit (Teaser): crotch injury in the first ten seconds. Yeah, that'll be fun. (The book on which this is based is not a farce.)

The Dreamlands: this is from the guy who made Die Farbe so it's meant to be the Dreamlands, but I see nothing Lovecraftian here. If there are no rules for the fantasy, there's also no tension; so are you going to show us some rules? Nah, spooky mirror. And of course He has to save Her. No reason to care about any of this.

Zombieland - Double Tap: this comedy leaves me completely cold. I'm sure it will work for someone.

The Hunt: Ho hum, The Most Dangerous Game all over again. With lots of gore.

The Parting Glass: looks arty and depressing.

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