Any good trailers come out last week?

Also, two trailers use the same needle drop of “Nobody Speak” by Shadow featuring Run The Jewels. I have no analysis of this. Just a fun little tidbit.

Good Boys (Red Band)

Although I’m not usually a fan of anything that plays before a trailer, steering into the curve of making kids do/say things for a movie they wouldn’t be able to see is admittedly kind of cute, especially when one of your kids is Jacob Tremblay (who I’m realizing was in an episode of Last Man On Earth which means two-thirds of the leads were in that show). I’m curious to see how long this movie will be able to coast on the joke of kids doing things you typically wouldn’t see kids do, but these kids seem pretty endearingly naive, so it might be okay. I think this will especially be the case if they’re able to get a little bit of heart out of the movie, which is how movies like Superbad and Blockers rise above their sex comedy genres.

Booksmart (Red Band)

This looks tremendously funny, from the very beginning with that motivational tape taking a wonderfully crass turn, and then the two leads (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) seem to have incredible chemistry together, with the mace standing out in particular. It also seems to delve into moments of weird, with that brief moment where they see each other as dolls (this is a good way to do dolls, Zemeckis). (Zemeckis burn). (JK, Robert Zemeckis is one of our most storied directors, he just needs to chill with motion capture). Also, unlike Blockers (which again is a surprisingly heartfelt flick) this movie has the advantage of not only having a female director (Olivia Wilde, making her directorial debut), but also has women writing the script for two teen girls, which certainly helps their situation feel more realistic. It’s already getting praise after its debut at SXSW, which always bodes well.

Aladdin

Hey, they finally found a way to make this movie look palatable. That first shot of Naomi Scott’s Jasmine, as flower petals fall around her, is a genuinely breathtaking little shot, and Will Smith’s Genie looks much better (and the fact he isn’t blue the entire movie goes a long way, too). Throw in some very encouraging sounding song segments from “Never Had A Friend Like Me” and “A Whole New World,” and it genuinely seems like this movie won’t be an utter trainwreck. Has the movie found a way to convince me that it needs to exist? Abso-forkin’-lutely not, not even a little bit, but at least I don’t think I’ll hate myself when I see it! Progress!

Long Shot (Red Band)

I feel like I just talked about the green band version of this trailer, and I liked it a lot, and this red band continues to suggest that this movie will be surprisingly endearing. It helps that Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron are both very easy to like, and seem to have strong chemistry together. Overall, this doesn’t add a whole lot to the trailer released a couple of weeks ago, which usually makes me wonder why we even released them separately, but it’s still not showing me any reason to think that it will not work.

Avengers: Endgame

We are less than six weeks away from this eleven-year, twenty-two movie challenge ending, and we still don’t super know what this movie is going to be, other than the fact that Hawkeye has seen some things and some stuff that he would not recommend and that some people are for sure going to bite it for good this time around. I love it. It’s an amount of restraint that this franchise did not need to show at this point, but went for it, and it’s going to make the experience of this movie so much better. Plus I’m always a sucker for when the sound of gunshots match up with music, which Black Widow’s ice-cold shooting does. Throw in the deeply and sadly ominous repetition of “whatever it takes” and Captain Marvel and Thor just appreciating each other, and I’m hyped. I’ve always been hyped. I was always going to be hyped. But this nailed it. Whatever it takes.

Rankings and Summaries

Full disclosure, this is a tough week. I genuinely liked all of these trailers quite a bit. These rankings are always kind of a nothing way to sum up what I think about the trailers, especially in a loaded week, but this week in particular, you pick an order. They’re all great.

1. Avengers Endgame- Even with a strong week, this trailer did whatever it takes to be the best of the week (Fun Fact: I hate myself).
2. Booksmart- An incredibly promising trailer showing off the strong sense of humor of its two lesser-known leads, this feels like a vastly superior version of an already decent Blockers.
3. Aladdin- They made a movie that I thought looked drab and downright horrifying at times (don’t click this link) look like something I could enjoy in the theaters, and that really goes a long way.
4. Good Boys- Although the joke could wear thin quickly, these kids seem to be up to the challenge of making it last as long as possible, and, again, one of them is Jacob Tremblay, so it’ll be fine.
5. Long Shot– Only down here because I don’t think it really adds anything to the version we got a few weeks ago, this is still a very pleasant looking movie that I’m very excited to see.

 

Photo credit: http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/avengers-endgame-rocket-war-machine-600×246.jpg