No Sudden Move
I don’t even need to see the trailer because I’m sold on a 50s crime thriller from Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomon. I know the two have previously collaborated on the interactive drama Mosaic a few years back, but I haven’t gotten around to that. However, I’m very excited for this, not just because the subject matter is right up my alley, and I dig the hell out of the creatives involved, but the cast assembled here is terrific. I feel like aside from a few exceptions, Don Cheadle is usually relegated to supporting players, so I’m pumped to see him take the lead in something like this.
No Sudden Move hits HBO Max on July 1st.
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
This is a film I’ve been hearing about for a while, and I was not sure what to make of it. I have vaguely heard of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, but I don’t know much about them, I have little in-depth knowledge of the televangelist world. I mostly like what I see here, especially Jessica Chastain, she looks incredible here, love the makeup and the voice she’s pulling off. However, I can’t say Andrew Garfield is disappearing into the role as effortlessly as her. I’m also not digging the clean, digital sheen of this movie, it makes it look like cheap TV production. Michael Showalter is not a big visual stylist, I’m aware of that, but some grain, any kind of texture would be nice. That said, still looking forward to this, it looks interesting.
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye opens in theaters on September 17th.
The Last Mercenary
Look, if you can tell Jean-Claude Van Damme is having a good time, then chances are we’re gonna have a good time watching. This looks like so much fun, and I like that the trailer seems to balance a light tone with genuinely well done action sequences, I’m hoping the trailer is a good reflection on the film as a whole. I’m not aware of the French filmmaker, David Charhon. From a little research, it looks like he’s mainly known for comedy, though he did one action-comedy in 2012 called On The Other Side Of The Tracks starting Omar Sy, which I have not seen nor heard of.
The Last Mercenary will be released on Netflix on July 30th.
Ron’s Gone Wrong
I was watching this trailer waiting for the hook to arrive, and it never did. The boy gets a robot, it’s a bit glitchy, and…that seems to be it. Unless their trying to hide something, though not much seems to indicate that it is. I’m actually more intrigued because of it though. I’m just glad it’s not another robot apocalypse movie, and it really is just a story about a boy and his robot and friendship and all that stuff, with no major stakes. We don’t get a lot of lowkey animated movies like that. So, that makes sense that this is actually a British production through Locksmith Animation, this is their first film, co-written and co-directed by one of the founders of the company, Sarah Smith, who was also behind Arthur Christmas, which I love. I can’t say I’m super sold by the trailer overall, just as a trailer, but there’s some stuff here that has me curious.
Ron’s Gone Wrong opens in theaters on October 22nd.
Mama Weed
It’s nice to see Isabelle Huppert in something that is fairly light. Her comic timing is probably one of her most underrated assets as a performer, and she utilizes it well even in some of her darker, more intense roles. I’m sure she’s done plenty of comedies, but not all of them seemed to have crossed over and gained much exposure or popularity here. Anyway, this looks pretty fun, even if I’m sure I can call every single plot point just from watching this. There’s been so many stories about people getting into selling drugs, and they don’t have a ton of variety, but a little personality goes a long way, and it looks like the film is all about having fun. I’ll keep an eye out for this one.
Mama Weed will be released in theaters on July 16th and VOD platforms on July 23rd.
tick, tick…BOOM!
Lin-Manuel Miranda is having a hell of a year, between this, In The Heights, Vivo, and Encanto. Dude’s keeping himself busy, good for him. I’m not very familiar with the play by Jonathan Larson that this is based on, though it does look to be semi-autobiographical in nature. I’m having a bit of a problem with the way this is shot, a problem pretty similar to the one I had when I saw the Dear Evan Hansen trailer. The contrast between the musical numbers and the realism of the cinematography is really at odds. It’s not as bad here, as they do bring in some dreamy and surreal imagery later on. Although funnily enough, this film version of the play is written by Steven Levenson, who wrote the play and the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. It doesn’t look bad by any means, and Andrew Garfield is taking some great roles this year, so I’ll be cautiously optimistic.
tick, tick…BOOM! hits select theaters and on Netflix at a currently unspecified date this fall.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!