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 Swan Princess: A Fairytale is Born:
this is number 11 in the series (the first one was loosely based on
Swan Lake) and the usual job of a series trailer is to advert series
fans to the existence of something new they can buy. On the other
hand, this series has been a regular thing since 2012, and I'd have
thought people originally in the target age group would be too old for
it by now, so this has to work as an entry point too. I don't envy the
writers.
Gran Turismo:
Greetings, starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League
to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada. Only with
extra macho BS because it's the 2020s.
Dune: Part Two:
presumably you're meant to have seen part one and already be a fan;
all this needs to do is say "more of the same", with a side note of
"if you haven't seen part one, dude, go and rent it". Which I guess it
does.
Back on the Strip:
the stereotypes, they burn.
Meg 2: The Trench:
they didn't have the sense to bring back Li Bingbing, who did a lot to
help make the first film better than it had any right to be. I mean, I
don't expect a lot from this series, but the desperate attempt to
bring in the Jurassic Park fandom really doesn't bode well. Still, a
helicoptersplosion was one of the main things missing from that film.
Bird Box Barcelona (Teaser):
Netflix is apparently planning a whole bunch of these spinoffs, with
the same basic gimmick as the original but made in various languages.
Run Rabbit Run:
more jump-scare horror. (Lemme guess, she killed her sister?)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3:
presumably not intended to be an entry point to the series.
Poor Things (Teaser):
Lanthamos means, to me, don't expect much in the way of conventional
filmmaking. It looks lovely, but I like narrative and character too.
Earth Mama:
could be an Issues Story, or might be about the people and actually work.
Extraction 2:
these days it all just looks like video game footage, only in the game
I'd get to be involved. Also, Hemsworth is just too pretty here to be
convincing as someone doing physical exertion.
Haunted Mansion:
yeah, they really are doing this. Again.
Five Nights at Freddy's (Teaser):
this has been in development since 2015. Or possibly they goofed off
for seven years and rushed out a script the night before filming
started. Hard to tell.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One:
See Tom run. Run Tom run.
The Creator (Teaser):
lovely scenery and set design. Clichéd-looking story. Which will win?
Killers of the Flower Moon (Teaser):
Scorsese isn't a recommendation for me, but many people like his work.
Theater Camp:
woohoo, horrid people, and they're in charge of unenthusiastic podgy
children. Yay.
The Color Purple:
many people love the original film, and it was a great starmaker. Was
it a reasonable use of resources to make the same film again, rather
than a film of a different story that the audience will now never
see?
Problemista:
might go somewhere. It seems to offer a little bit more than the basic
setup would imply.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles： Mutant Mayhem ｜:
this just assumes that you already know and like the characters, so
you're happy to watch them act like idiots. Or something.
Having done a hundred of these, and having I think got everything out
of it that I'm going to, I shall now stop.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.