Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are
to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: The success
of most Hollywood films these days is down to the fact that they're
comforting. They tie things up in nice little bows and give you
answers, even if the answers are stupid, you go home and you don't
have to think about it.)
Amulet:
an almost promising start, but oh well, standard jump-scare horror. If
there's more to it, the trailer won't tell me.
Made in Italy:
ah, it's time to Learn an Important Lesson. Sigh.
The Tax Collector:
yet another film in which all black people are criminals. (But maybe
it's OK if all the people in the film are black?)
An American Pickle:
a potentially interesting setup poured away on fish-out-of-water
comedy.
Halloween Kills (Teaser):
yeah yeah, all this is here for is to show us the name.
She Dies Tomorrow:
look, it's not that I'm opposed to horror; it's that I'm opposed to
samey film. Maybe this one actually has something to say.
Out Stealing Horses:
grim grim grim. But it looks good.
Endless:
pretty enough cast, but is this just Ghost with younger actors or
is there some flesh to it?
Project Power:
you got your superhero in my gritty revenge drama. Or possibly vice
versa.
The New Mutants (Teaser):
this is presumably intended for people who already know and love these
characters.
Hard Kill:
now we can freeze-frame screens of "computer code" (time 1:13). Yeah,
it'll look more computery if we sprinkle a few ".exe"s over it, won't
it? Will this be one of the very rare films that actually does
something with its decaying post-industrial setting? Probably not,
given that the plot is still warm from the Plot-o-Matic.
Rogue:
yeah, we're not just rescuing normal people, we're rescuing the
governor's daughter because that's more important. Shub-Niggurath save
me from the sexist attitudes here.
Sputnik:
that's not a Sputnik, that's not even a Vostok; it's blatantly a
Soyuz. But it looks as if this trailer is much more interested in
scary generic horror with a little bit of space trappings. Might work,
but I'm not optimistic.
After We Collided:
I hate all of these people. Since I probably wouldn't enjoy the film
either, the trailer has done its job.
Chemical Hearts:
…and I'm not enthused by these people either, but at least I don't
hate them. (If your teenage years are the best you ever have, how
terrible must the rest of your life be?)
Kajillionaire:
I'm not in the mood for another film about crooks with a heart… but a
film about how being one of the crooks with a heart might not be
enough? Yeah, that's kind of interesting.
Honest Thief:
while the setup is at least a little intriguing, all too soon it comes
down to the same old story of a Guy Who Doesn't Do That Any More
having to Do It One Last Time.
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