Dark Phoenix
Nah. I mean, it honestly looks like it’s making all the same mistakes that The Last Stand made, in terms of adapting the Dark Phoenix storyline. I just can’t fathom the idea of taking that story and just turning it into “just another installment” of the franchise without also taking away the impact that the comics had. Plus, now that Marvel Studios has the X-Men, among other properties, in their hands, what’s the point of even seeing this? They’ll likely recast and start from scratch, which would be the right/smart move. Plus, since we barely got to know these younger versions of these characters, there’s way too much work the filmmakers will have to put in, and it’s work that I don’t see them pulling off, so why are we even bothering with this? These X-Men movies have never really done it for me, the best I can hope for is some competently made entertainment, and I suppose it’ll be interesting to see Simon Kinberg take a crack at writing and directing for the first time.
Dark Phoenix will be released in theaters on February 14th, 2019.
Burning
When I first talked about this back in June, the film hadn’t received distribution, but it looks like we finally got it, courtesy of Well Go USA. My thoughts on this haven’t changed. I think it looks really good, and it’s cool to see Steven Yeun branch out in more interesting directions with his career post-The Walking Dead. The buzz on this following its Cannes premiere has been nothing but positive, so I’m excited to see what we have here.
Burning will hit theaters on October 26th.
55 Steps
I’m sure this is a significant story, as the trailer implies, but everything about it just screams “hollow prestige drama.” It doesn’t look bad necessarily, I’m sure the performances will be fine, and that it will be relatively well made. But it doesn’t look like it’s doing anything particularly inspired or interesting with the story here.
55 Steps will be released on VOD October 16th, and select theaters November 11th.
Border
This looks different! In a good way! This is another festival film that I’ve heard some good things about, but I hadn’t totally learned what it was about. Now, having seen the trailer…I still don’t really know what the deal is, but whatever it is, it looks interesting. It certainly has my attention, and I hope some of you out there might find it interesting as well.
Border will hit select theaters on October 26th.
Bumblebee
I really loved the teaser we got for this a while back. I was really enticed by its intimacy and small scope. This trailer kind of undoes a lot of that stuff, expanding the scale all the way up to having scenes on that Transformers planet to having large, destructive action set pieces here on Earth. Not saying that I’m mad or even disappointed. It is still a Transformers movie after all, and while it’s not something that really appeals to me, being that I didn’t grow up with this show, it still looks like the best version of this story we’ve gotten so far. Six entries, and we finally have a good one, hopefully.
Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21st.
Creed II
Yup, still really into this. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this turns out great, but I’m keeping myself prepared that it won’t. Without Ryan Coogler this was always something that was going to be up in the air, but I imagine the people involved are well aware of the pressure to deliver. There hasn’t been much of Drago in these trailers, and I do hope there’s more to them than just being the antagonistic force. Either way, I’m definitely curious to see how this pans out.
Creed II will be released in theaters on November 21st.
Galveston
Not much else to say about this that I haven’t said already with the last, unofficial trailer. Despite mixed word-of-mouth, I’m curious to see what Mélanie Laurent brings to this as a director, I like the actors here, and there seems to be enough compelling character dynamics to keep it engaging.
Galveston will be released in select theaters and VOD platforms on October 19th.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!