Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino is at this point one of a certain old guard of Hollywood auteurs—popular enough to be casually mentioned by surname, like Spielberg or Kubrick. “It’s a Tarantino movie” is all a studio needs to say to carry a movie—even one such as Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, seemingly borne of a challenge to pack as many A-list actors as possible into a coherent script, taking on Hollywood itself as its subject matter. 

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The Secret Life of Pets 2

The Secret Life of Pets 2

The Secret Life of Pets 2 is the plainly-titled sequel to 2016’s original film, both produced by Illumination Entertainment (best known for the Despicable Me series, and others). Whereas earlier trailers in the campaign for The Secret Life of Pets 2 were built around minute-long “character trailers” that are in essence designed to for quick social sharing and splicing into gifs, here is a trailer in a more conventional sense—a narrative-driven affair that does include some humour, but leans into feel-good, family fare.

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Star Wars: Episode IX

Star Wars: Episode IX

After forty-two years, Disney is dangling the promise of closure to this storied saga. While there is perhaps unsurprisingly nothing truly new on offer as the myriad narrative threads on this franchise begin to tie themselves neatly (for now, at least), the trailer does hold interest through a carefully executed aural procedure of anticipation, epic exposition, and a surprising—yet narratively satisfying—ending.

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Joker

Joker

On paper, it’s an absurdist theatrical challenge: humanize the Joker—the one DC universe villain who comes off as more of a force of nature, void of empathy, perhaps than any other. By the same token, Warner Brothers knows the opportunity inherent in forging a compelling cinematic backstory for one of the silver screen’s most mesmerizing super villains.

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Ma

Ma

The trailer for upcoming thriller Ma, via Blumhouse and Universal Pictures, was releases recently. Starring Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, Juliette Lewis, and Luke Evans, the choices of music in this trailer present both a classic fake-out and a classic motif-based musical theme that speaks to the film’s originality. The concept here is that Sue Ann (Spencer, as “Ma”) is a hermit resident of Ohio who is asked to buy some alcohol for a new teenager in town, and her friendliness gradually devolves into terrorizing control.

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The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

As a cornerstone of modern literature, it’s oddly appropriate that the Man Who Killed Quioxote (directed by Terry Gilliam—Monty Python; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) extends the mythos that gave us the word quixotic by adapting its story for today’s world. It’s a delightfully meta concept: here we have an old Spanish shoemaker (Jonathan Pryce) who starred as Don Quixote in a student film a decade prior; now, he believes he is Don Quixote. The original novel was predicated on the idea of a character under the illusion that he could inhabit a medieval, chivalrous character. It’s a concept reminiscent of films like Synechdoche, New York (2008), leaning into the novelty of its premise with the promise of delivering in the details of its execution.

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Rocketman

Rocketman

2018 was a banner year for musical biopics: Bohemian Rhapsody, and A Star is Born were heavy-hitters in the recent awards season, having undoubtedly shifted the lives of musicians and the circumstances of their music a little further into the public consciousness. 2019 appears to be little different, with the Sia-backed Vox Lux on the way, and now, the semi-eponymous title Rocketman, promising a deep dive into the life and times of Elton John.

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Shaft

Shaft

While we are currently between major trailer seasons – not quite close enough to summer blockbusters, too far away from the holidays – and in the midst of awards, the Super Bowl always yields a new crop of audiovisual advertising to pour over. Leading this draft comes Shaft, a remake/sequel of the 1971 film of the same name and its 2000 reboot.

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Russian Doll – Season 1

Russian Doll – Season 1

Tommy James and the Shondells’ 1968 classic “Crimson and Clover” is the song of the day here, and you can already guess which lyrics are being highlighted: as the character (Natasha Lyonne, of Orange is the New Black fame) falls down the stairs to an untimely demise or recklessly staggers into oncoming traffic, the words “over and over” softly drift over her lifeless body as the day is made to repeat once again.

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