Another series that enjoys occasional resurgence (Rambo III was released 1998; Rambo IV, 2008), the trailer for Rambo V recently dropped and with it the use of a recent popular song that itself balances old and new with a judicious blend of hip hop and country. Throughout the trailer we hear a movie that celebrates what can be called at this point its heritage, while also serving the action and aesthetics of 2019.

On May 29th, the 20th annual Golden Trailer Awards were held at the Ace Theatre in Downtown LA. Once again, we learned that Trailaurality covered many of the trailers that would go on to be recognized for their excellence, not least due to the role that music and sound plays in their narrative power (though the GTA officially has only two awards exclusively devoted to music).

The Terminator franchise has returned to the hands of producer James Cameron, and along with this change, we get to see Linda Hamilton reprising her role as Sarah Connor. This back-to-basics approach reminds one of last year’s Halloween reboot, which similarly simplified the plot line while bringing back the key, original actors to reprise their role (in the case of Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode).

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. 

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.

With a semi-autobiographical screenplay and direction by Lulu Wang, The Farewell is a family dramedy starring rapper-come-actress Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, Ocean’s 8) and a top pick at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. 

The latest (and final) trailer for director Michael Dougherty’s take on the Godzilla mythos has arrived, with Alloy Tracks supplying their epic take on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” 

Although it is framed as a teaser ten days out from its theatrical release, Marvel has really released a two and a half minute trailer that looks forward to the culmination of its cinematic universe ideas much as it provides a sweeping retrospective of its successful 11-year (thus far) run in film production. 

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.

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.

As the comments section on the YouTube video embedded above suggests, it’s likely this fourth filmic entry in the Toy Story franchise, going for nearly twenty-five years, might appeal at least as much to teenagers and adults who saw the first one in 1995 as it will to today’s kids.

The launch trailer for Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season is here, and with it comes a wide range of suspenseful sonic design to placate the the senses before its premiere in April. 

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.

It’s a simple concept, well executed: what if no one had heard of the Beatles, and their songs were reintroduced—some 49 years after their breakup in 1970? For any musician given the opportunity, it’s both a fantasy come true and an absurd moral quandary, and that’s the hypothetical terrain that Yesterday explores head-first. 

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.

The Guild of Music Supervisors recently announced their nominees for their 9th annual awards. Naturally, we’re particularly interested in the “Trailers & Promos” category.