RogerBW's Blog

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

The Man From Toronto: fish out of water meets generic comedy meets even more generic comedy. Nothing here appeals to me.

The Menu (Teaser): is trying very hard to convince me it has nothing to say, but I am not entirely convinced.

Dreaming Walls - Inside the Chelsea Hotel: I think I can see what it's trying to do, but it's trying to tweak emotions I don't have.

Anything's Possible: it's so hard to be young and pretty. Also the trans element is reduced to a line or two in the trailer, presumably to try to avoid scaring people off.

Laal Singh Chaddha: my heart is resolutely unwarmed, but it looks gorgeous. (Is this an Indian Forrest Gump?)

The Princess: looks clichéd but it could be a lot of fun.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe: I would now pay actual money rather than watch this. So I suppose the trailer has done its job.

Strange World (Teaser): seems somehow terribly safe. Pretty, though.

The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Teaser): Oh, right, there was a prequel: how President Snow got that way. I have no interest, but people who want to see more of this world can now do so.

Day Shift: gunfights with vampires is something we've "never seen before"? Huh.

Don't Make Me Go: brutally heartwarming.

Prey: …and? That's all you've got?

She Will: horrible people are horrible? Might go somewhere but I'm not optimistic.

The School for Good & Evil (Teaser): has that air of being based on a book series, and sure enough…

The Sea Beast: causes me to realise how much I'd like to see a film of Deeplight. Done well, of course, in a way that films never are. This tries to get away from its focus-group shackles, but it's not going to happen.

Vesper (Teaser): very pretty, and that's about as positive as a teaser can get.

Black Adam: it could be the best film in the world and the trailer would still make it look just like every other superhero film. I'll wait for reviews.

The Munsters (Teaser): the working-class ripoff of the Addams Family… is still valuable IP. (All IP is valuable while it's sitting unused on someone's balance sheet and they can pretend there are still people who are interested in it.) Oh, and Rob Zombie is still getting work.

Compartment No. 6 (first eight minutes): slow, and perhaps subtle, perhaps just with nothing to say… but I'm intrigued.

Persuasion: "based on", but perhaps not just another slavish remake (there have after all been six television productions already)? Dare one hope? Probably not.

Brahmāstra: it may be that this is utterly clichéd in India and I'm just not familiar enough with it, but this looks like actual fun.

My Policeman (Teaser): yeah yeah OK so is it going anywhere? Wait for the real trailer I guess.

Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical: presumably you're meant to bring love for the books. If you don't have that, this seems quite lacking in interest.

Blonde (Teaser): an interesting approach but I am not instantly engaged.

I Love My Dad (Teaser): I'm meant to be heart-warmed, I think.

Hot Seat: ah, heroic firefighter/cops meet compulsion horror meets "the only people who think there's anything wrong with capitalism are eeeeeevil scary terrorists". With "bonus" Mel Gibson.

Cinderella: well, it looks a bit less utterly generic than some of the other live-action remakes.

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (teaser): I'm pretty sure I had one of these books as a child. This doesn't seem a lot like it.

My Old School: so, um, does this have anything to say?

Smile: looks like quite standard paranoia jump-scare stuff.

They/Them (Teaser): generic horror film teaser meets ooh these young people with their pronouns.

Barbarian (Teaser): ooh these young people with their AirBnBs, I don't really understand them but I didn't do them when I was growing up so they must be bad. Instant horror film premise.

Mothering Sunday: I have trouble seeing the appeal, but I suppose it is Glenda Jackson's first performance in 30 years.

White Bird - A Wonder Story: apparently you loved Wonder (2019), so you get more of it.

The Invitation: is the creepy not just a bit heavy-handed? And this is just the trailer? I guess the heavy-handed is what people are here for.

Wrong Place: oh Bruce. How many of these things are you doing? And why do they all look the same?

Hocus Pocus 2 (Teaser): haven't seen the first one, but this looks awfully predictable.

Resurrection: points for Hall, but Tim Roth can play abusive ex-boyfriend in his sleep, and "everyone but her thinks she's mad" has rather been done.

Thirteen Lives: slight points for Ron Howard, but this is basically a claustrophobia film.

See How They Run (Teaser): might be fun. For me the trick is to like your source material, to say that it's silly but you love it anyway. So just maybe.

South Park - The Streaming Wars - Part 2 (Teaser): not really a South Park fan. Shouty people, what fun.

Ticket to Paradise: obvious romcom setup is obvious. But the acting is at least amusing to watch. If I can't have a new thing, I can at least hope for the old thing done a bit better.