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« Dean & The Meddler: A Grief Dramedy Double Feature | Main | Last Chance: Anna Karenina, Lost in Translation, Shivers, and Big Trouble »
Saturday
Apr232016

YNMS: Magnificent Seven, Girl on the Train, Cafe Society

It's a triple trailer mini breakdown. Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So on these three pictures?

Girl on the Train Trailer

YES. Emily Blunt deserves a big hit and she's always so watchable. Also: How is Allison Janney always so perfect? It's one of the great mysteries of the universe. The supporting cast is filled with solid players: Justin Theroux, Rebecca Ferguson, Luke Evans, Lisa Kudrow.
NO. Seems like the kind of picture that will be ruined before it opens with spoilers
MAYBE SO. Tate Taylor directed The Help which is better than people give it credit for being. Can he handle the thriller genre? That's quite a different skill set.

Magnificent Seven Trailer

YES. Chris Pratt being adorable again. He really sells it in this trailer. Denzel is reliable... even when he isn't trying (though we always wish he would try). The other cast members get no time in this trailer but Peter Sarsgaard is the villain and he deserves a showy role again. Also we welcome more Byung-hun Lee in our lives.
NO. Guns. guns. guns. Hollywood is like its own gun lobby really. All guns all the time. I bet like 40% of all movie posters have guns on them or something.
MAYBE SO. Is it is good as the film its remaking The Magnificent Seven (1960) which was itself a remake of The Seven Samurai (1954)

Cafe Society Trailer

YES. Jeannie Berlin looks fun as Jesse Eisenberg's mom and the premise has so much potential. Also Parker Posey as a platinum blonde sarcastic writer? Yes please. 
NO. Mobsters and showbiz? Good luck living up to Bullets Over Broadway. Dangerous film to reference cuz it's so damn funny and Woody movies haven't been that funny since. 
MAYBE SO.  Jesse Eisenberg says he's "half bored half fascinated"... even if that's true of the movie that's a win for modern day Woody pictures. We'll take half fascination. I don't know what any actor can bring to the stock hooker part anymore but if there's anyone that can maybe Anna Camp?

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Reader Comments (20)

Darn! That trailer for Girl on Train looked so good and then you had to go and dash all my hopes by saying the director of the Help made this. Expectations lowered.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAnonny

I'm a big YES for "Girl on the Train" - I read the book and I love Emily Blunt. Rebecca Ferguson who was so good in Mission Impossible last summer is also in this so that's icing on the cake.
Tate Taylor is good with actors and is fine by me as a director. He is good at doing things from a women't point of view.

I couldn't care less about someone trying to redo Sergio Leone, and Woody Allen is no longer someone I bother with in the theatre.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterLadyEdith

Jeannie Berlin is a gift we don't appreciate enough!

I loathed the novel of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, but Emily Blunt's character is easily the best aspect of it. The role's a perfect fit for her, and I'm verrrry fascinated that they're going for an erotic thriller angle for the film.

Me watching THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN trailer

April 23, 2016 | Registered CommenterChris Feil

Chris Pratt is insufferable - he was insufferable in Guardians of the Galaxy, and insufferable in Jurassic World - and I'm sure he'll be insufferable in this...

He hasn't been cute, as you put it, since Parks and Rec.

I'm much more excited about Haley Bennett, who's both is this AND Girl On The Train - I've been a fan of her for a while and she really deserves to make it big.
Maybe these movies can be the final breakthrough for her.

..Cafe Society looks really beautiful - courtesy of the great Vittorio Storaro, and the period feel
feels just right.
But I'm sure Woody's script will turn out to be as half-assed and lazy
as his other later period films.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterUlrich

I'm hoping "Girl on the Train" is good, though I can imagine it doing better critically than financially. It feels like even "Gone Girl" came and went without making much of a dent in the zeitgeist; I don't hear people talk about it much. But re: "Train" - I like the relatively low profile casting giving us a chance to be surprised by people, I'm surprised that the trailer makes this seem so "80's erotic thriller" since that's not the vibe I recall from the book, and I'm overall happy to see adult, dialogue driven mystery/thrillers trying for a comeback.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterDave S.

Blunt looks like she's going to be really great, and everything else looks more interesting in the Girl on the Train trailer than I expected. I'm very excited for Theroux and all the women. Say what you will about Tate Taylor, he can direct ensembles and shape fantastic star turns.

Woody Allen trailers always seem fun, and I like the look of it. Carell and Posey look interesting, and the costuming on Kristen Stewart feels so against-type (if not against-persona) in a really neat way. If anything, maybe this'll be the jumping off point for her to lead a Woody Allen movie as one of his anxious, philosophical, narcissistic stand-ins. Something like that sounds ideal for her.

@Chris Feil - I think it kind of makes sense? All three women have a lot about ex's and new relationships going on, and it could also just be a marketing thing to boot. Why brand yourself a Thriller when you could be a Sexy Thriller instead, no matter how true it is?

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterNick T

I'm on the Tate Taylor train. The Help had a million fantastic actressing moments. If Emily Blunt gets even 10% of that, I'll be happy.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered Commentermurtada

So, I'd assume The Founder is getting it's own article to itself. I'm a YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! based on that trailer.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

I read The Girl on the Train a year ago and damn they really put way too much in the trailer. I read it not knowing a thing about it and recommend not to watch the trailer if possible.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAndrew Rech

Volvagia, I'm not gonna watch the trailer, but might you be implying that my prediction (made right after his Spotlight snub) about Keaton taking the next Best Actor statue is correct?

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPaul Outlaw

Paul Outlaw: Absolutely, and Nick Offerman has a strong likelihood of a Supporting Actor nod.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

Now, based on these three?

The Girl on the Train: Maybe, leaning yes.
The Magnificent Seven: Even maybe.
Cafe Society: Maybe, leaning no.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

Chris Pratt as a cowboy YES! But do we need another " The Magnificent Seven" ?

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterJaragon

Girl on the Train: Yes, why not? Great cast, and a director who knows what to do with a great cast.

Cafe Society: No.

Magnificent Seven: No.

I think the 1960 version is wonderful for gazing at sexy men. The long, loose limbed grace of James Coburn, sex on a stick; the panther like prowl of Yul Brynner, making us all weak at the knees; Steve McQueen, as natural as breathing. And then there's 4 more to choose from.
All of them filmed seeing the whole body in motion, good guys doing the right thing, what could be more appealing?

But the new one has lead actors that don't make you want to gaze at them in movement. They are faces and personalities. The body just props the face up. You just know it'll all be close ups, with the new secondary guys getting short shrift, lots of "action" scenes, a stupider script, and probably with a new smear of self satisfied misogyny.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered Commenteradri

The Help is one of the worst "Oscar" movies I've ever seen, politically and cinematically and everthinglly. It is so bizarre how best actress was a contest between two actress in two of the worst movies of this century. You don't have to give this Tate Taylor any credit for Viola Davis's performance. As How to Get Away With Murder taught us, she can be arresting and excellent in some of the worst shows and movies ever. She learned that from Streep, maybe?

Could anyone whisper in Todd Haynes's ears: CAST VIOLA DAVIS IN A LEADING ROLE. She needs to be saved. NOW.

April 23, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercal roth

These are all a no for me. Pity that Emily Blunt is not given better material.

April 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterTom Ford

yes
no
maybe

April 24, 2016 | Unregistered Commenterpar

"She learned that from Streep, maybe?"

Or maybe she learned it at Julliard...

April 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPhilip H.

The Girl on the Train--could go either way. I'd like to say yes but the preview seems so eager to remind us of Gone Girl that I'm a Maybe So.

Magnificent Seven--I love Westerns with all my heart but that trailer is so laden with clichés that I don't see where there's room to squeeze a movie in. Unless reviews are stellar, I'm a No.

Cafe Society--I don't do Woody Allen. Y'all enjoy yourselves.

April 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterDeborah Lipp

Oh fun, Magnificent Seven looks like another movie to get the "Well, the shoot-out sequence wasn't as good as Open Range, was it?" treatment.

Cafe Society looks fun although Stewart looks somewhat miscast. We'll see though.

Girl on the Train. I mean, I'm not sure? It looks like it could be fun pulp, but could easily swerve into dangerous territory. Gone Girl got it right, but I'm not sure if Taylor is a filmmaker capable of doing that.

April 25, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterGlenn Dunks
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