Trailer Roundup Week 3

By Darian Scalamoni

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of Trailer Roundup! This is the column of our blog that covers the week in movie trailers. This week has been FILLED with trailers of all genres and ratings so without further ado, let’s go ahead and get started.

Beauty and the Beast (Teaser)

Starring Emma Watson, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson

This trailer is my first 10 of the year and I don’t say that lightly. Beauty and the Beast is one of the best and most beloved Disney stories ever told on screen. With their recent success with live-action adaptations of their original animated films like Cinderella and The Jungle Book, they have pushed the envelope with the fact that their doing this movie in live-action. Though we don’t seen any of the object based characters in this trailer such as Lumiere or Cogsworth, we do get to hear their voices. We also get a glimpse of Belle, played by Emma Watson. All I can ask for now is well done renditions of everyone’s favorite songs like “Be Our Guest” and “Gaston”. The trailer is done in such an elegant way that it’s hard to argue that one is not excited for this movie.

10/10

Finding Dory (Trailer 3)

Starring Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Idris Elba, Bill Hader

I am a HUGE fan of Finding Nemo. I believe it is one of Pixar’s greatest films and that’s saying a lot considering they have also created other amazing properties such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and Up. I was skeptical when I first heard that there was going to be a movie based around the blue tang fish with short term memory loss named Dory, but damn it, Disney keeps putting out amazing content with great results and this trailer is no different. This trailer gives me the same feeling in my heart I had when I saw the trailer for Nemo years ago. With DeGeneres and Albert Brooks returning as Dory and Marlin respectively, along with newcomers like Idris Elba, Bill Hader, Diane Keaton and Ed O’Neill, it is an All-Star cast of voice acting talent assembled for this beloved franchise. This trailer most importantly though, did its job. It made me want to see this movie more than I did previously before seeing this trailer. Disney steals it again.

9/10

Sing (Trailer 2)

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Taron Egerton, Reese Witherspoon, John C. Reilly

What an interesting concept by Illumination to create a singing competition with animals. It’s pretty remarkable when you think about all the original ideas stemming from animation nowadays and this is no different. The trailer is fun, though it’s not a Disney film, it’s still run by the company responsible for Despicable Me and Minions which were extremely popular. Along with Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and rising star Taron Egerton, this movie seems like a good one for not only children of all ages but also fans of music and seeing animals sing their favorites. Though there were a few problems with pacing within this trailer, I still think it’s good and I’ll be seeing it in the theater!

7/10

Morgan (Teaser)

Starring Kate Mara, Toby Jones, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh

I’m not the biggest fan of the genre of Sci-Fi so I might be a little biased here but I don’t know how to feel about this trailer. It is only a tease but it leaves me asking so many more questions. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what bothers me about this trailer though, the sanctuary in which Morgan is placed looks great but what does Kate Mara have to do with Morgan exactly? I need a bit more context to properly judge. Also, it worries me, though Mara is a good supporting actress, I haven’t seen her take on a leading role so hopefully she can prove me wrong but I don’t know if she is able to carry a movie herself like her sister, Rooney Mara. I want to see more though so it has me a bit intrigued but that’s all I can really say for now about this science fiction artificial being story.

5.5/10

The Space Between Us

Starring Asa Butterfield, Gary Oldman, Britt Robertson, Carla Gugino

Now here is a sci-fi film I can get behind, The Space Between Us follows a young boy who is born on Mars and returns to Earth to find adventure and love. This movie seems to be filled with genre cross pollination. I sense Sci-Fi, Adventure, Coming of Age, Romance all in this one trailer. The thing that worries me is that the trailer is so filled with content in its 3+ minute runtime that I hope it didn’t give too much away. The same problem arose when the second trailer for The Martian was released and people thought that the preview gave away too much which it didn’t. Because of that main concern, it does bump down my score a little but I am still VERY excited about this movie, especially due to this brilliant trailer. Asa Butterfield and Britt Robertson are also future stars in Hollywood and who doesn’t love to see Gary Oldman on screen in anything?

8.5/10

Collide

Starring Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins

Here we have an example of a movie that is filled with actors phoning it in to get a pay check. Sorry if that’s harsh but I have to call it like I see it. Nicholas Hoult, who’s best known for Mad Max: Fury Road or maybe in the most recent X-Men movies as Beast is a British actor who’s accent falls in and out throughout the trailer and it’s very noticeable. Along with that, Hopkins and Kingsley are brought on for the name recognition and Felicity Jones looks absolutely awful in this movie. It’s another action based movie with no real interesting/believable plot. This is an absolute failure of a trailer and I’m sure the movie won’t be any better.

1/10

The Infiltrator (Trailer 2)

Starring Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger, Amy Ryan

In a film that follows Bryan Cranston and John Leguizamo as US Customs agents trying to take down Pablo Escobar, you would think this could be another potential Oscar bait film for Cranston after being nominated this past year for Trumbo; unfortunately, this seems to be not much else than a glorified DVD rental. The first trailer was intriguing and didn’t feature anywhere near as much action and I think that’s what threw me off. Cranston isn’t known for being a gun-toting outlaw and at times, he seemed to be marketed in this movie as such. This movie could surprise people but I ultimately think it will be nothing more than a good movie to catch on cable after it’s released.

6.5/10

Wiener-Dog

Starring Greta Gerwig, Ellen Burstyn, Danny DeVito, Zosia Mamet

Our indie trailer of the week is definitely an interesting one. Wiener-Dog is a movie that follows a dog’s journey as it travels around the world having different owners over time. With an eclectic cast including Greta Gerwig who is an enigma every time she is on screen, acting vets Danny DeVito and Ellen Burstyn and even Girls star Zosia Mamet; Wiener-Dog has a quirky tone to it by the trailer and even feels like it could’ve written/directed by Noah Baumbach or even the Duplass brothers. I’m excited to see what this film entails completely in terms of humor as the trailer was filled with great lines and comedic/awkward conversation

7/10

Deepwater Horizon (Trailer 2)

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, Dylan O’Brien, Kurt Russell

Peter Berg is known to bring true stories to life and add spectacle; in movies like Lone Survivor and Friday Night Lights, Deepwater Horizon is a film that by the trailer, looks to be no different. With a fantastic cast behind it, which is evident in the trailer, the Drama/Thriller due out in September looks to be a realistic portrayal of what happened in the worst oil spill in US history back in 2010. You can actually see the horror in all of the crew’s eyes and even more so with Kate Hudson who plays lead character Mark Wahlberg’s wife in the film. Though I was more of a fan of the first trailer, this one provides an even better look in terms of scenes in the movie than the last one. I’m very excited to see what Peter Berg has accomplished with this film.

8/10