Trailer Talk: Sputnik, Rogue, Centigrade, and more!

Sputnik

Looks like a fairly standard Alien riff, but it does seem like an interesting and moody interpretation of that setup, especially compared to something like Life from a couple years ago. Sure, it’s going to hit a lot of familiar beats and even the creature design – from the little we do see here – doesn’t seem all that inventive, the Soviet setting brings an intriguing element to the proceedings, and I’m curious how the filmmakers will try to take advantage of that context.

Sputnik hits select drive-ins and VOD platforms on August 14th.

Rogue

Megan Fox is severely overdue for a big comeback. This, however, is not what I would have hoped. Although, if I’m being honest here, aside from a questionable CG lion, this doesn’t look half bad. Granted, I’ve seen enough DTV action movies in my life that the modest-to-bare-bone production values of this doesn’t bother me, and some of the action beats do look like they could be interesting if executed well. I haven’t seen Silent Hill: Revelation, so that bit in the trailer means nothing to me, but I’m actually a little sold on this. I hope it’s good.

Rogue will be released on VOD platforms on August 28th.

Centigrade

Well, things certainly escalated quite a bit in the end there. I don’t know about this one. I think it’s a neat concept, but more for a short than a full on feature. I guess I can imagine the filmmakers seeing this as some kind of interesting challenge, but it’s probably gonna end up making for a rather simplistic movie. I hope I’m wrong though. I hope they make the most of their self-imposed limitations, it’s not like this kind of thing hasn’t been compelling before like with Buried, so who knows, maybe this will turn out solid.

Centigrade opens in select drive-ins and VOD platforms on August 28th.

Work It

This feels like a parody of those hip-with-it movies from the early to mid 2000s where some white kid proves themselves in a space that is largely taken up by Black people. I mean, the actual first thing we hear in this trailer is the main character saying “Queen Bey,” and pronouncing it like “bay,” despite the fact that she correctly pronounced “Beyoncé” just before she said it. She calls Lemonade a “short film?” What? There is some strong “how do you do, fellow kids” energy in this trailer. Look, I like a good dance movie every now and then, but this is not doing it for me.

Work It will be available to stream on Netflix on August 7th.

The Bay Of Silence

Is it just me or is Olga Kurylenko a much better actress than she seems to get credit for? I mean, it’s not like she takes up a lot of starring roles to begin with, but I don’t recall many times when I’ve seen her, and thought she was bad. In fact, she’s usually very good. Maybe “underutilized” is a more appropriate term. Anyway, this looks interesting enough, I suppose. I’m intrigued by the general idea, it builds a compelling mystery, so I would say the trailer definitely did its job. Not much else to go on really.

The Bay Of Silence will be released in select virtual cinemas and VOD platforms on August 14th.

Bill & Ted Face The Music

Yeah, this looks like an absolute joy, I can’t wait. Not much else to say about it really. I only felt compelled to include it here since the powers that be realized the film won’t be able to make it to theaters, so they’re going for a premium on demand release like other studios have done. It’s a smart move, and honestly kind of perfect for a film like this. So, yeah, super excited for this.

Bill & Ted Face The Music hits select theaters and VOD platforms on September 1st.

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