Trailer Talk: Harriet, Jojo Rabbit, Cats, and more!

Harriet

Huh, this trailer didn’t do much for me. I like the cast here. Cynthia Ervo really impressed me with her one-two punch of Bad Times At The El Royale and Widows, plus Janelle Monáe being here is pretty awesome. It just looks really generic, like a standard biopic operating on history lesson mode more than anything else. I suppose it’s because this story hasn’t been dramatized yet, but I am underwhelmed by the way this looks. I hope it turns out great, though.

Harriet will release in theaters on November 1st.

Jojo Rabbit

I’m looking forward to this because it’s a new Taika Waititi film, and there hasn’t been a film of his I haven’t enjoyed. However, the trailer itself is not particularly great. I don’t think it does a good job of selling the conceit of the film, which you can read about in the description under the video’s YouTube page. It also doesn’t help that it seems to go out of its way to spell out that it’s an “anti-hate satire,” as if people wouldn’t be able to get that from the get-go, which…honestly isn’t that hard to believe, which is sad. But still underwhelming trailer, still pumped.

Jojo Rabbit hits theaters on October 18th.

Zombieland: Double Tap

So, I am not much of a fan of Zombieland, its humor didn’t really do much for me, but Bill Murray’s cameo was a saving grace. And it seems like they really upped the cameo aspect here. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s for the better. This does not look good, and perhaps, it might just be because making comedy trailers are really hard, so who knows. I did genuinely laugh at that last bit at the end, but even that was ripped right out of Shaun of the Dead. I don’t have any expectations for this one way or the other.

Zombieland: Double Tap opens in theaters on October 18th.

The only comic-con trailer that mattered, if we’re being honest here. I love this trailer, and it’s so odd to me because I have zero attachment to Top Gun. It’s a perfectly serviceable movie that I really like mostly for aesthetic reasons and a top notch soundtrack. It’s by no means one of my favorite Tom Cruise flicks, or even one of my favorite Tony Scott movies. And yet, this deeply nostalgic teaser worked like a charm. Plus, as one of perhaps a dozen Joseph Kosinski fans out there, I gotta support whatever this guy does because he hasn’t let me down yet.

Top Gun: Maverick hits theaters on June 26th, 2020.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Yeah, this looks wonderful, I can’t wait to cry my eyes out when I see it. It’s a testament to not only his ability as an actor, but his cultural presence that despite neither looking nor sounding like Mr. Rogers, I totally buy Tom Hanks as him. He looks great, as does Matthew Rhys. Plus, with Marielle Heller at the helm, I have faith this will be great. I can’t wait.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood opens in theaters on November 22nd.

Light Of My Life

The trailer is perfectly fine, but I’ve just been having fun reading some of the jokes people have been making about this because the premise involves a world where women have been wiped out, and it’s written and directed by Casey Affleck, who has been accused of harassment by several women. I mean, that aside, the film looks OK, pretty standard for the genre, I’m sure it’ll be competently made and well performed, but man, way to say the quiet parts loud, am I right?

Light Of My Life will be released in theaters in select theaters and VOD platforms on August 9th.

Daniel Isn’t Real

That sure looks like a trip. I’ve heard some pretty good things about this from its festival run, and I haven’t been disappointed by many of Elijah Wood’s outings as a producer. The trailer isn’t super informative, but it has a lot of mood and strange imagery going for it, which honestly might be more than enough to get me interested. I recall not being super impressed with Patrick Schwarzenegger when I saw him in Midnight Sun, but maybe a turn in a more weirder movie might do the trick.

Daniel Isn’t Real opens in theaters on December 6th.

Cats

Aside from the tiniest bit of information that I learned through cultural osmosis, I know next to nothing about Cats. Having seen the trailer, I still know nothing. But it looks weird, Hooper’s taking a mighty big swing, and…well, it just looks weird, and I usually like weird, so I’m in. That’s literally all I have to say about that.

Cats will release in theaters on December 20th.

Weathering With You

This is from Makoto Shinkai, who has made films such as The Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters per Second, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and his biggest success, Your Name. I’ve been following his work for a while, and I continued to be impressed by his storytelling and especially the animation style, which borders on photorealistic at times – except for the characters, but still brings enough personality and visual splendor to make an impact (unlike another recent film that went full ultrarealistic with its animation). I can’t totally tell you what’s going on here except something about a girl who can control the weather, but whatever it is, I’m interested.

Weathering With You does not have a release date set yet, but GKIDS will release it in early 2020.

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