Trailer Talk: Booksmart, Good Boys, Aladdin, and more!

Booksmart

Hey, Olivia Wilde made a movie, and it looks really good! Four writers seems a tad excessive, but the word coming from its SXSW premiere has been excellent, so I’m pretty stoked for this. There’s been comparisons to Superbad, which I guess I can see, but you can only take coming-of-age movies to so many places, it’s kind of inherently derivative. What matters is the details, the characters, the ideas, etc. And it looks like this movie will be a lot of fun.

Booksmart hits theaters on May 24th.

Good Boys

Huh, another comedy that just premiered at SXSW that also happened to have “Nobody Speak” by DJ Shadow and Run The Jewels in the trailer. Weird how things work out that way. Honestly, this looks pretty fun too. Yeah, it looks trashy as hell, but the fact remains that children swearing is just inherently funny. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is. I’m not expecting this movie to do or say anything particularly smart or insightful, all it needs to be is raunchy fun, and it looks to be just that.

Good Boys opens in theaters on August 16th.

Aladdin

I’ve already expressed my general disinterest in this when I talked about the teaser, and this trailer isn’t doing much for me either. All it really does is make me want to revisit the original film’s soundtrack (because I don’t care much for the actual movie). I was hoping that, at the very least, I would see moments where Guy Ritchie gets to do his weird thing, like in those moments that made his King Arthur movie somewhat tolerable, but his touch seems largely lost here. But that could just be how the trailer is put together. I’m sure it’ll make money, so it’s not like my lack of investment in this will matter in the grand scheme of things.

Aladdin opens in theaters on May 24th.

Charlie Says

Mary Harron is one hell of a filmmaker, so naturally, I’m sold on whatever she does next, and as someone who reads a lot of true crime stuff, I find the subject matter here rather fascinating. It’s interesting to see a somewhat empathetic look at the Manson girls, who have largely been shown far more over-the-top in their depictions. I’m very curious about this.

Charlie Says will hit select theaters and VOD platforms on May 17th.

The Art Of Self Defense

This looks right up my alley. There’s a number of movies that played at SXSW that got trailers released, and this is another one that I heard really interesting things about. It looks dark, mysterious, but slyly funny. It also seems to know how to use a performer like Jesse Eisenberg in a very compelling way. It’s from Riley Stearns, the director of a 2014 film called Faults, which I haven’t seen, but I hear is excellent, so I’ll try to check that out soon, and hopefully get even more excited about this.

The Art Of Self Defense will release in theaters on June 21st.

Relaxer

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this, but I am very much intrigued. I heard from a few people that this one is really good, and the description below the video basically says it’s about a guy who takes part in a challenge to finish level 256 in Pac-Man without getting up from the couch while the Y2K apocalypse approaches in the backdrop. For you young folks, Y2K is…well, look it up because it was really quite something, and I almost still can’t believe it became a big a deal as it got. But anyway, the movie looks interesting. I don’t know how if it’ll be good, but I am curious enough to check it out.

Relaxer opens in select cinemas on March 22nd.

The Wind

Hell yeah, the world needs more horror-westerns. It’s a subgenre that is ripe for material, and yet, there’s so few. The last one I can recall is probably Bone Tomahawk, at least, in terms of being good and making an impression. I dig the idea of a weird demon thing haunting these people out in the middle of nowhere. Makes things both grand in scope, but personal at the exact same time. A good western can pull that dynamic off, and it looks like this has a firm grasp on that. I’m definitely interested in this.

The Wind will open in select theaters and VOD platforms on April 5th.

Non-Fiction

I’m honestly not as well-versed in Olivier Assayas’ filmography as much as I would like. I’ve only seen Clouds of Sils Maria, which I was not a fan of, and Personal Shopper, which I really loved. I’m all up for catching up on his work, since he seems to be driven by big ideas with an intimate execution, and I liked the way he played with genre elements within Personal Shopper. With this, it certainly looks charming and amusing enough. Not enough to immediately grab me, but I love Juliette Binoche, and there’s a few funny moments in here. I’ll certainly give it a shot.

Non-Fiction will release in theaters on May 3rd.

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