The Secret Life of Pets 2
The first Secret Life of Pets was…fine, I suppose. It’s main problem is simple that it’s as generic a kids film can be, and my hope is that they’re able to do something new this time around since, like, what else are you gonna do? They’re apparently releasing several trailers focusing on different characters, but I’m just going to focus on this one. It certainly has what I did like about the first, which is applying big personalities behind things you’d see certain pets do, and the comedic potential behind that. I’m not holding my breath for this by any means, but I do hope it turns out better.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 will open on June 7th, 2019.
Five Feet Apart
I know it probably says terrible things about me that the first thing I thought of when I read the title was that one vine that showed two guys in a hot tub in the distance and the guy holding the camera sings “two bros chillin’ in a hot tub, five feet apart, cause they’re not gay.” Yeah, sorry to have brought that up, but there’s not a lot to really say about this trailer. It feels like one of those lower budget films that should’ve been released in the wake of The Fault in Our Stars because that’s all this really reminds me of. But I can’t get too mad at this, the leads do look charming, and I’ve loved Haley Lu Richardson in everything I’ve seen her in (reminder to check out Support the Girls if you haven’t already), so even if this does end up like generic, I’ll at least have some solid performances out of it.
Five Feet Apart will hit theaters on March 22nd, 2019.
Missing Link
I love Laika, even if I don’t necessarily love all their films, but the craftsmanship that goes into these are enough to warrant a ticket on opening night. This looks utterly delightful, and to make things even more exciting, it’s from the writer/director of my favorite Laika film, ParaNorman. The humor is on point, the animation is obviously wonderful, and the voice cast is rock solid. This looks great, and I can’t wait to see it.
Missing Link will open on April 12th, 2019.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
The last time I talked about this, it was for the teaser back when it was a Warner Brothers’ release. My feelings on it are still pretty much the same (though it appears the teaser has been removed, but it’s a lot of the same footage). I didn’t care for the Favreau film, not a fan of the book, but I did like the original Disney animated film, mostly because it keeps things simple. I’m not sure what this is going to add, but Serkis is a great talent, and I hope this one doesn’t turn out too bad.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle will play in select theaters on November 29th before streaming on Netflix on December 7th.
Capernaum
This is one I haven’t heard much about outside its festival run, but it does look interesting. Though, I don’t think this trailer does a good job at getting me as enthused as those pull-quotes say I should be, but that’s probably just for the trailer. We don’t often get to see stories from this part of the world out here in western media, and I think a story like this could do a lot of good. The trailer itself is whatever, but I am very curious about the film.
Capernaum will play in NY & LA on December 14th.
Unstoppable
No, this isn’t a remake of the 2010 Tony Scott film, this is a South Korean action film from Kim Min-ho, and it stars Don Lee, who you might recognize from Train To Busan. The guy has been acting for well over a decade now, but it’s nice to see him get some recognition from the west, which allows his projects to come over with at least some fanfare. This admittedly looks pretty basic, but if it’s a couple hours of Don Lee just punching dudes to death then I ain’t complaining.
Unstoppable will open in select theaters on November 11th.
2.0
I wasn’t originally going to put this here, but there’s not a lot of trailers this week, so I figured this would be a fun one to end on. It certainly looks different, right? Sorry for the lack of subtitles, but honestly, do you really need them, when the images just tell you everything you need to know about this? My knowledge of the South Indian film industry is rather minimal, so I can’t bring a lot of context to this, but I know that their blockbusters have a tendency to go really over-the-top, and I know the star, Rajinikanth, is the most popular actor in that particular industry, and that’s about all I know. Anyway, good luck trying to make sense of that trailer.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!