Mowgli
Eh. I like Andy Serkis a lot, but his directorial debut, Breathe, wasn’t particularly good, and honestly, I just don’t really have much patience for more Jungle Book adaptations by white dudes who seem to largely avoid the uncomfortable colonialist subtext of the books. I didn’t like the Jon Favreau film either, and this honestly looks way too similar – speaking purely on a visual standpoint. I can see why WB pushed this well after the Disney release.
Sure, the performances seem fine enough, and it does look nice. This just isn’t my jam. Though, I am curious to see how audiences will respond. They largely enjoyed the Favreau film, but what are they going to make of this? WB also released a brief behind the scenes look, and a good chunk of it was spent on just about how “different” this is going to be from the Disney version. If anything, the marketing is going to be interesting.
Mowgli will hit theaters October 19th.
The Sisters Brothers
This looks so up my alley. I haven’t heard of this before, but it’s already climbed its way to one of my most anticipated films for the rest of the year. It’s from the director, Jacques Audiard, whose last film was Dheepan, and it does look like it’s easily his most lighthearted work to date. I love the playfulness of the the main characters, and having John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix play brothers is so inspired. I’m very excited for this.
There is no release date for The Sisters Brothers yet, but Annapurna will release it in the fall.
Skyscraper
Wow, that sure gave away a lot.
I mean, you’d think with a premise that can be so easily described as Die Hard meets Towering Inferno, they’d keep the trailers short and sweet, but nope. This three minute trailer went out of its way to seemingly break down most of the plot points.
It honestly doesn’t bother me personally (actually, it does, just not in the whole, “oh no, the movie is ruined” kind of way), but aside from that, I’m still pretty sold on the idea. I like Dwayne Johnson, he seems to have a solid track record of picking projects, I like that this one is a bit more stripped down, and contained. Sometimes you just wanna see Dwayne Johnson kick some ass, and this looks like it will do the trick.
Skyscraper will hit theaters July 13th.
Wildlife
This is Paul Dano’s directorial debut (which he also co-wrote with Zoe Kazan in adapting the Richard Ford novel), and the word from its festival run is that it’s really good. And yeah, it does look pretty good. Even if it does seem to look like every mid-20th century “sad white people” drama I’ve ever seen, I can still dig it. When done well, they can be one hell of an experience, and from the looks of it, this is one that does it very well.
Wildlife will be released in theaters October 19th.
City Of Lies
This could be an interesting, pulpy, conspiracy thriller, but it’s hard to get excited for anything starring Johnny Depp nowadays. Even if it wasn’t him just being an abusive asshole, he’s just halfheartedly mumbling his way through this entire trailer while Forest Whitaker acts circles around him.
It’s based on the book, LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal, by Randall Sullivan (I can see why they changed the title for the film), which was met with acclaim and controversy. Could make for an interesting film, but a lot of this looks pretty standard.
City of Lies will be released in theaters September 7th.
The Happytime Murders
When this trailer played in front of Deadpool 2 last week, it absolutely destroyed. I have a pretty strong feeling it might end up being a sleeper hit. As for my own thoughts, I think it looks fun. Granted, I have also seen Peter Jackson’s Meet The Feebles, so I’m not totally blown away by the mere notion of muppets acting naughty. My biggest hope is that the film isn’t as try-hard edgy as the title.
It’s directed by Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson, so all the actual puppetry looks really good, and certainly up to par with their other work. It’s not like Sausage Party, which definitely looked like it was working with a limited budget. Like I said, I hope this is good, I’m not 100% sold yet, but the trailer is rather amusing.
The Happytime Murders will be released in theaters August 17th.
Papillon
Yeah, sure. I guess a period prison break movie can be pretty compelling. Granted, we’ve already had a movie based on this story in the 1973 movie starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, so I’m not sure what this movie’s angle is other than, it’s been a while.
This does look well made, and the cast is solid. But you see one prison break movie, you kind of seen them all, so I can’t say I’m expecting much from this.
Papillon will be released August 24th.
Damsel
This looks delightful. I love westerns, and this looks like it’s bringing something genuinely fresh to the genre, or at least, a perspective we haven’t seen in a while. I like how it seems to lean on a lot of screwball influences, and this cast is aces. This is by the guys who made Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, and that was a great film. This looks very different, and I’m glad to see this kind of range from them. I’m excited for this one, and I’ve heard nothing but good things coming out of Sundance earlier this year.
Damsel will be released on June 22nd.
Shock And Awe
It’s been a long time since Rob Reiner has made a really good movie, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this will change that streak. There’s definitely something interesting to explore with the discovery of the lack of evidence behind the claims of weapons of mass destruction, which led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
However, this just doesn’t look very interesting. It’s like everything that people who didn’t like The Post accused that film of being. Except The Post was great, and this doesn’t look very good. It’s a shame because I’m digging this cast, and if you follow Rob Reiner on Twitter, you know that he is in pure rage over the current administration, so I would’ve hoped he could apply that fury in a more creative way. I hope the movie is good, but I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Shock And Awe will hit theaters July 13th.
Lust Stories
It looks like Netflix has been expanding their outreach in India recently, especially with their original show, Sacred Games, coming later in the summer. The guy behind that, Anurag Kashyap (one of the best filmmakers in the world, fyi) is also doing on the shorts in this anthology film about love and sex in modern India.
The other three directors involved are Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee. These folks have done great work before, and they each have a fairly distinct voice, so I’m excited to see what they each bring here. It kind of reminds me of the film, Lipstick Under My Burkha, which was one of my favorite films of last year, and I’m glad to see more stories like this coming out of the Indian film industry.
Lust Stories will begin streaming on Netflix June 15th.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to comment below!