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 Eternal Daughter: "nobody knows whether the woman is going mad or actually being persecuted" is a genre now, I suppose. But this looks interesting and well-acted, and Swinton is always worth watching.

A Christmas Story: OK, I've gone and found out what the original was. But since I have no nostalgia for it, meh. And in case you have never met a story before, the plot is conveniently laid out here.

Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend: it's a bit generically The Driven Guy Who Has To Do It On His Own when I'd rather watch the story of this particular guy and why he's different.

Avatar: The Way of Water: that's nice dear. Where are the people for me to care about in this psychedelic fantasyland?

Spirited: forced personality change, and Will Ferrell, and Ryan Reynolds. Thanks for the warning.

Troll: big points on for Roar Uthaug, but even he can nod, and there's a lot of effects budget here.

Lady Chatterley's Lover: what is point? Any "controversy" was over by 1961. Strange as it may seem, conversations about mind and body and autonomy and class have moved on since 1928.

Chevalier: yeah OK, I can see it working, but I feel no sense of fun here.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: really ought to watch the first one, though this looks as if it may be trying to do the same thing again only bigger.

Mindcage: the echoes of The Silence of the Lambs are painfully obvious. There will be no new stories as long as Hollywood puts its money behind telling the old ones over and over again because the income stream is more predictable.

The Whale: very heavy-handedly trailed here as Art Film.

Pinocchio: the one that might have some actual thought behind it rather than the eternal Disney focus-grouping. But… so what? Can even Tilda Swinton make this worth watching?

John Wick: Chapter 4: clearly I shouldn't start here; the action looks good but I don't have the emotional weight built up over the earlier films.

Joyride: I guess if anyone can salvage this with good acting it's Olivia Colman. But I'm not sure anyone can.

A Christmas Mystery: kids yaaaaaaaaay. And it's more important to units in a lie than to tell the truth.

A Hollywood Christmas: pointing out how clichéd the romcom clichés are does not make htem less clichéd.

Empire of Light: cinema is the best thing ever, says Sam Mendes, who has a financial interest in you thinking cinema is the best thing ever. And again, Colman can make this worth watching if anyone can.

Holiday Harmony: definitely Christmas Movie Trailer Season. But basically this is Doc Hollywood, isn't it? Only with extra Heart.

Sr.: feels like the film you make when you've just been picked up for drunk driving again.

A Love Song: still looks like cliché, but unlike the straight romcoms here it looks as if it might actually be enjoyable to watch.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance: wasn't interested in the first one; this looks as though it might have something more to say.

Something From Tiffany's: generic romcom is generic, but I actually like the twist.

Emancipation: it looks very good indeed, but I can't see it being enjoyable on any of the levels on which I enjoy film.

Missing: at least it's not a missing child, I guess.

80 For Brady: …I guess? Just alien to me, really; the women of that sort of age whom I know and have known long since decided not to be boring old ladies so they wouldn't need to have this sudden breakout moment.

Elemental (Teaser): has the air of trying to be Zootopia all over again, with more romcom.

Enys Men: much more a teaser than many things released as such. Sort of rural folk horror-y? But there's a lot that that could be, good and bad.

Inside: doesn't speak to me at all, but I suppose it might work for people who aren't me.

The Old Way: the guy Doesn't Do That Any More but Has To Do It One Last Time… in the Old West. I mean, I have seen Unforgiven. Wait for the Cage Rage Countdown Edition.

White Noise: I'll watch Gerwig in nearly anything, but it seems like a very cutesey version of deadly disaster.

Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again: I haven't seen any of the live-action films, but a good friend is a fan. This seems pretty crass and simplistic, though of course the trailer will always select for the stuff that's easiest to understand at speed.

The Super Mario Bros Movie: here's that bit from that game you liked. But the guy you enjoyed playing is rubbish now. Woo.

When You Finish Saving the World: Julianne Moore can often make an underwritten role more interesting, but this feels very deliberately Worthy, like a middle-aged man claiming to Understand Teenagers' Problems.