Boogie

I’m not super familiar with Eddie Huang and what he does aside from the sitcom, Fresh Off The Boat, being based on his book, but I have heard about him from people who seem to have a bone to pick with him. Apparently, he’s been accused of appropriating black culture, and having attitudes rooted in misogynist attitudes, specifically towards Black women. I don’t necessarily want this to cloud my judgment of this trailer and the film because I don’t know enough about this guy, but honestly, even if I didn’t know all that, this trailer wouldn’t leave much of an impression. It looks pretty basic, and I find it odd that it’s making a big deal about this guy being a Chinese basketball player. I mean, I don’t know a ton about the sport, but wasn’t Yao Ming a really well respected player? I know he’s like the single big name, but that’s gotta count for something, right? I do hope the film is good, though.

Boogie hits theaters on March 5th.

 

Cherry

The word-of-mouth appears to be mixed on this so far, but I’m willing to give it a shot. It looks like a fairly compelling, sprawling, and dark character study, and we don’t get a lot of those with a sizable budget. I do find it hilarious that the Russo Brothers made their gritty crime drama more visually dynamic than any of their big budget superhero movies. Weird how that works. Either way, the big common positive from everyone who has seen it is that Tom Holland is great, which is cool, I think he’s very talented, and this looks like a meaty role, even if he is destined to look like a child forever.

Cherry will open in select theaters on February 26th before it is released on Apple TV+ on March 12th.

 

Bliss

I can’t say I have a grasp on what exactly is going on, but I am somewhat intrigued. I think I’m just more delighted by the fact that Owen Wilson is starring in a film like this, he definitely gives it a different energy than if it was just any other actor. I keep missing out on the work of Mike Cahill, who I hear makes rather divisive stuff. I’m not 100% on board, just based off the trailer, but I will probably give this a shot. At least, it’ll be something new.

Bliss hits Amazon Prime Video on February 5th.

 

True Mothers

This looks really good, and the premise is certainly fascinating. Naomi Kawase is not a filmmaker I’m familiar with, it seems like she’s been in the game for a while, so I might try to seek out some of her stuff to get an idea of what kind of artist she is. I always like discovering new filmmakers to check out, and since Japan has placed this as their Oscar submission, I imagine this being pretty good. I can’t wait to see it.

True Mothers arrives on Film Movement’s Virtual Cinema on January 29th.

 

The World To Come

Man, between Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Ammonite, and this, the lesbian period drama is reaching new heights. I do love Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, I think they’re both amazing performers, and Christopher Abbott is a terrific actor as well. It looks very well made, it’s got an interesting look. I hope its theming doesn’t feel too derivative of some of these other films to come out recently, but it does look like filmmaker, Mona Fastvold, is doing her own thing. I’ll definitely keep my eye out for this.

The World To Come opens in select theaters on February 12th.

 

Breaking News In Yuba County

Tate Taylor has become such an unpredictable filmmaker. After years being a not-so-great prestige filmmaker with The Help, Get On Up, and The Girl On The Train, he comes out of nowhere and makes the weird horror film, Ma, and then follows that with an action film, Ava, which nobody saw, not that you need to because it wasn’t very good, and now, it look like he’s harkening back to the sensibilities of his very first feature, Pretty Ugly People, with shades of stuff like Fargo. I’m usually iffy one these kinds of dark comedies that have an outwardly goofy presentation, but with Tate Taylor behind the camera, and this cast, I’m sure this will at least be interesting.

Breaking News In Yuba County opens in select theaters and VOD platforms on February 12th.

 

Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!