It was only about eight years ago that popular media began to really reckon with Hollywood’s whitewashing of American cowfolk. After the original 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven by John Sturges, a 2016 adaptation recast its heroes in a way that better represented historical reality. Other attempts, such as those by Tarantino (Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight) grapple with such issues—without quite letting go of the narrative conventions that made the Western genre racially problematic to begin with. Concrete Cowboy, co-written and directed by Ricky Staub and featuring Idris Elba, not only stands to further correct the aforementioned fictions, but also presents a compelling story in its own right.

Premiering April 1st on HBO Max, Made for Love is an adaptation of a novel by Alissa Nutting exploring the dystopian experience of Hazel Green (Cristen Milioti: How I Met Your Mother). Her husband Bryan, a billionaire technology entrepreneur, implants a chip in her brain, thinking total surveillance of Hazel’s thoughts and feelings would somehow be an acceptable idea.

Following Soul, Pixar’s latest follows the young boy Luca on adventure by the seaside Italian Riviera—the catch being that Luca and his friend transform into sea monsters whenever they are exposed to water. Directed by Academy Award nominee Enrico Casaros, the voice talent includes John Ratzenberger and Drake Bell.

The latest film to receive the Disney Plus Premiere Access treatment, Raya and the Last Dragon is a story based on Southeast Asia featuring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico in the latest Star Wars films) and Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians; Jumanji: The Next Level). The most recent trailer, released January 26th, uses an edit that places the dialogue front and centre, while balancing action with comic relief.

Arriving simultaneously on HBO Max and theaters (where possible, of course) April 16th, the latest film edition of Mortal Kombat is an entry that will slot in nicely for those watching Godzilla vs Kong later this month and feeling ready for more. At a healthy 2:42, the trailer earn a steady build-up to the gory scenes the most clearly mirror its video game namesake. Notably, the aesthetics feel a little more at home in a popular cinema landscape dominated in recent history by superheroes, with the music taking a similar cue.

Disney’s latest foray into the world of retellings and backstory for their most-loved films takes a closer look at 101 Dalmatians’ Cruella de Vil. At least judging by this trailer, however, Cruella (Emma Stone) challenges us to embrace the flaws of her character instead of giving us a reason to understand her as a tragically flawed or misunderstood hero (as Maleficent did for Sleeping Beauty’s villain or Joker did for The Joker). That unapologetic spirit partly fits the film’s new setting, in 1970s London and the context of the burgeoning punk rock scene.

Despite being a less competitive game than one might hope for, for many sports fans’ event of the year, Super Bowl 2021 fully delivered in its slate of trailers promising film and television delights to come this year, with many challenged to fit a tight 30-second slot to fit the budget that the Super Bowl demands. From Disney+’s latest Marvel-oriented offerings to M. Night Shyamalan’s summer thriller fare, here’s our run-down, with our usual focus on music and sound.

In evaluating a new Godzilla or King Kong trailer, subtle is probably not the first word that comes to mind. Yet, last time we did so in 2019, we found trailer music houses Alloy Tracks and Imagine Music supplying interesting, trailerized takes on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and "Claire de Lune,” respectively. Doing so almost humanized the creatures, focusing on their majesty and beauty in a way that brought out the sublime in them. Seeing that in Japan they are known as kaiju—strange beasts—it was a nod to the heritage of the franchise.

Not so much for this trailer, however: This is a crossover that more closely resembles a fantasy round of Ultimate Fighting Championship—a stark change that didn’t go unnoticed in the YouTube comments for the above video.

Coming up on a full year of the first pandemic wave last March, the trailer for Locked Down will look—and sound—familiar to anyone accustomed to the work-from-home lifestyle: A ringtone and the notification that someone’s entered the room in Zoom (replete with the potato camera quality of laptops, to match).

It’s been a year (or rather, what feels like many years), but despite the all-but-closure of movie theatres around the world, the industry has managed to soldier on, perhaps most obviously through an accelerated shift to streaming services. Disney+ has received multiple exclusives (Mulan, Soul) once designated for the silver screen. Elsewhere, the entire Warner Bros slate has moved to HBO Max, gaining exclusives like Dune and the much-anticipated fourth instalment of the Matrix series (albeit not without vocal grumbling by the Christopher Nolans of the world).

In the midst of such a sea change in economics and strategy, it’s worth asking whether this has changed the shape of trailers that are now predominantly Netflix-native. The short answer? Not so much. In fact, the service that dared most to be different, Quibi, was something we found to be simply watered-down rather than innovative, per se—and that assessment was born out after a paltry six-month shelf life.

This is not to say that 2020 didn’t feature a rich assortment of uniquely persuasive, tightly-edited bites of sound and image, however. Let’s run down some of the highlights.

Our first trailer review of the new year is a simpler one, but it shows that simplicity can be effective. It’s a minute-and-a-half in length, but no time is wasted as the music is closely cut to moments from the film to portray a very rough sketch of the plot. Due in part to its brevity and lack of dialogue, the music is arguably more critical than ever as a device both to propel the narrative and maintain audience interest.

The Radiohead classic “No Surprises”, from 1998’s OK Computer, enters at 0:23 after being given a custom orchestrated introduction. Stems are certainly being used, as there is also a countermelody in the strings against the clean guitar line that wasn’t present in the original recording.

Equinox is an upcoming Netflix mini-series that is cut from a similar cloth to Stranger Things or Dark, subtracting the 80s nostalgia and adding some Nordic flair. The tagline—“there’s another reality behind the one we’re living in”—is certainly evocative of the aforementioned series. With Tea Lindeburg directing, it promises to be a bit more subtle, with the trailer’s sound design confirming that.

Following a successful reboot of the show on Cartoon Network from 2014-2019 and now on Boomerang, Tom and Jerry is a bid to carefully scale and translate that success to the big screen.

Steven Soderbergh’s latest leans in on his historical strengths, both with leveraging an ensemble cast (as in the Ocean’s series) as well as his penchant for exploring the frontiers of independent or auteur filmmaking (such as his last release, Unsane, predicated in part on the self-imposed constraint of filming entirely on smartphones). For Let Them All Talk, the conceit is right there in the title: Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest on a cruise ship together, under the guide of Streep as an author taking pains to figure out her next book.

Arriving by way of Amazon Prime Video, Small Axe is an anthology of five films directed by Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, 2013).

It’s been said on this blog before, but the past few years have shaped up to be something of a minor Renaissance for musician biopics. Besides Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody and a cavalcade of lesser-knowns, we now have one for the inimitable Frank Zappa by way of Magnolia Pictures, with Alex Winter (yes, that Alex Winter, of Bill & Ted fame) directing.

Mank is a biopic on the life of Herman J Mankiewicz (aka Mank), best known as the co-writer of the seminal Citizen Kane. Mank faced both personal challenges and creative differences with the director and producer of Citizen Kane, Orson Wells; this film promises to explore both.