RogerBW's Blog

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: It does not matter much what a man hates, provided he hates something.)

Atypical (series): seems very heavy-handed and dreary. But maybe it's just not my kind of thing.

The Photograph: well, "in the shadow of someone impressive" is a solid idea, but you need more than an idea; the cast seem to be having fun, but is that enough?

The Banker: yeah, all right, this might actually be enjoyable to watch.

Color Out Of Space: All right, I'm going to watch it because of the author… but early reviews suggest it's actually reasonably good, that Nic Cage manages to keep himself until control until it's time to play mad. Looking forward to this one.

Soul (Teaser): er. OK? There's clearly something here that's meant to intrigue people, but I remain resolutely un-intrigued.

The Invisible Man: OK, really very little to do with the actual well-known work of fiction by that title. And it doesn't look like much fun. But most importantly, if there were any doubt, the trailer makes it absolutely clear that the lead really is sane and really is being stalked by an invisible man, thus moving the tension away from "is this real" and towards "ho hum, when will anyone else believe her". This project has been dribbling along in some form since 2007, and it only got revived because of the "Dark Universe" attempt to cash in on the classic Universal monsters – which in turn has largely withered thanks to the poor performances of Dracula Untold and The Mummy. Well, sunk costs are sunk, and I suppose it might make some money.

Scoob! (Teaser): no series may be allowed to stay buried. There's always someone willing to get out the paddles and crank up the money machine one more time. It's not as though the original cartoons were marvels of characterisation, but all personality has been sanded off in this generic kidvid.

Fantasy Island: since I've never seen the original series (though I've heard of it) I'm not as offended by the inevitable changes as I might otherwise be. On the other hand I'm not engaged either; it looks as though there's no narrative innovation here, just the same basic story as the original series ("be careful what you wish for"), but the people are all horrible so there's nobody to cheer for.

Sonic The Hedgehog: well, it's not as bad as the last trailer, I guess. But, quite apart from the very generic look, making the bad guy into comic relief means there will never be anything like narrative tension. (Also, you covered Blitzkrieg Bop for this?)

Mad About You (series): reviving a show from the 1990s? Why not, I guess? Season 10 of The X-Files wasn't complete garbage, though nor was it great. And while I've never even heard of this sitcom, I have approximately no interest in sitcoms so that wouldn't be surprising even if it had been the most popular thing ever. But then again I still have approximately no interest in sitcoms

Seberg: yeah, it's powerful and dramatic, but is it fun?

Them That Follow: grim rural poverty with incidental interpersonal horror. Seems more gruelling than entertaining.

The SpongeBob Movie - Sponge on the Run: I am ← here. The target market is → over there. But yeah, I can see why Keanu took that part.

The Way Back: Sports Movie generally doesn't appeal to me, and this appears to be mostly Sports Movie.

Honey Boy: seems more like a teaser than a trailer, but it's enough to put me off; technically all right, I suppose, but holds no appeal for me.

Call of the Wild: well, you can have a heartwarming story, or you can make a film of the book. What's it going to be?

Antebellum (Teaser): OK, but I think I have some catching up to do.

Emma (Teaser): I am not in general the sort of person who gets on with adaptations of books. Since you can keep so little of what made the book good, why steal the name? I know… the answer is money. And at least some of the people who liked the Pride and Prejudice adaptations will go for "adaptation of another book by the same author".

Onward: the hero's journey is painfully obvious in this one. Maybe I'm just not in the market for Eighties nostalgia because I remember it.