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…)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever:
seems to be doing a reasonable job of not just painting Black on
generic superheroes.
Emancipation (Teaser):
could work well, though Fuqua is often a bit style-over-substance for
my taste.
Shotgun Wedding:
the setup irks me: I don't care what happens to these people, go
criminals. Though maybe the leads can salvage something from it.
The Wonder:
why do I want to see this? What's the point of appeal?
Next Exit:
if it can resist the attractor that's generic horror, this might
actually be enjoyable.
Violent Night:
against all my expectations, this might actually work.
Causeway:
so are we Learning an Important Lesson here?
Run Sweetheart Run:
Shub-Niggurath defend us, it's The Most Dangerous Game all over
again.
Slumberland:
OK, Jason Momoa wants to bethe new Rock, the big friendly quirky guy?
Fair enough I suppose.
The Super Mario Bros Film (Teaser):
guys, it's just a video game. There is no underlying lore.
Especially there isn't an Ordinary Guy Just Like You Dear Viewer going
on a hero's journey.
Astro - Stargazer: Astroscope:
clearly aimed at people who aren't me.
One Piece Film: Red:
well, this too. I watched a bit of the anime back in the day, but it
didn't grab me in spite of the theme.
Wendell & Wild:
visually it's awfully generic kidvid. There may be something to it; it
would be nice to think that Peele hasn't simply sold out. But I can't
tell from the trailer.
Women Talking:
the title is a parody of an Art Film title. Heavy-handed colour
grading. Sarah Polley is competent, though, and it's a solid cast, so
maybe it'll work.
M3gan:
because it's James Wan and Blumhouse, any interesting ideas will be
squished under Generic Horror, because that's all they do.
Spirited (Teaser):
parodies of men getting in touch with their feelings, which just makes
the real thing harder. With two of my least favourite actors.
Paradise City:
another actioner from Old Bruce and Geezervision. Looks just like all
the others.
On the Line:
and talking of Geezervision… recycled plots, recycled actors.
Poker Face:
manly men being terribly manly.
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical:
this was a very popular book when I was of an age for it, but for
whatever reason I never read it. So I don't have the nostalgia that
might get me over some truly terrible performances, even based on just
what we see here.
There There:
depends on the performances at greater length, I think. If it's all
little gag stuff like this, no thanks; if they just picked the gags
for the trailer and the film has actual personalities, could be fun.
House Party:
I can sort of see what they're getting at, but this stinks of Comedy
Shenanigans.
A Christmas Story Christmas (Teaser):
I'm meant to know what this is about, aren't I?
Creed III:
if you want to get me on side (which the trailer editor doesn't,
fair enough) I need to know something about this guy other than "he's
a good boxer". So's the other guy. Why do I want this one to win? This
does a better job than many boxing-film trailers, but there's a long
way to go…
The People We Hate at the Wedding:
but I hate all these people.
A Man Called Otto:
grumpy old white man Learns To Have A Heart: the movie. The idea that
he might, in fact, have been happy before is obviously impossible, not
even worth considering.
Jesus Revolution:
may indeed be "based on" a true story, but my word it feels like a
great steaming heap of cliché.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania:
presumably, like all these things, it's more engaging if you've seen
all the previous ones.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special:
ditto. The target audience only knows the Star Wars Holiday Special,
or Holiday Specials at all, because they've been told about them by
other people.
The Son:
gosh, the poor men have such problems doing all the work and making
all the decisions, and women are just there to be fun-police and weep
on their shoulders.
Plane:
yeah yeah OK, so why do I want to watch this rather than Ghosts of
Mars again?
Taurus:
meh. Poor little rich kid.
The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie:
why even bother to trail this to people who haven't seen the series,
read the manga, whatever?
The Pale Blue Eye (Teaser):
good cast, but what are you going to do with them?
Savage Salvation:
bored with paternalistic torture cops, bored with wives fridged to
enable male revenge stories.
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