Ben Platt and Kaitlyn Dever in "Dear Evan Hansen"Besieged by movie trailers we are. Movie studios hopes you'll go back to the movie theater ...sort of. They also hope you'll join their streaming service, whatever it is, and stay at home. Have any of these movies -- Dear Evan Hansen, Stillwater, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, or The Green Knight -- already sold you a ticket?
Let's look at their trailers after the jump...
DEAR EVAN HANSEN - in theaters September 24th
Yes - The musical has wonderful ear-worm songs (it's not just "You Will Be Found" which is the only song played in the trailer) and the cast is top-notch (on paper). Also we love Kaitlyn Dever in everything so excited to see her get a plum role in a movie that *might* be an Oscar player.
No - Ben Platt (the original Evan Hansen) is too old for this role now at 27. Of course it's a standard but oft-ridiculed movie practice to cast late 20-somethings as highschoolers. There are some very morally dubious moments in this musical (though they're believable as people aren't saints and the teenage years are very emotionally and hormonally fraught and confusing). We're not looking forward to the online discourse which can never handle morally icky stuff without defaulting to lecturing and virtue signalling, rather than discussing what the art happens to be saying.
Maybe So -- We're still quite confused that Julianne Moore, who isn't a singer as far as we know, gets the key sad mom role of Heidi. That role has a big juicy 11th hour solo "So Big / So Small" while Amy Adams, totally perfect for musicals, gets the less interesting other sad-mom role, Cynthia. Cynthia doesn't have any solos but sings a few times with others. Unless Julianne Moore has been hiding a powerhouse voice for 60 years, or unless they've significantly rewritten the book, shouldn't they have swapped roles? (The first number in the stage version, "Anybody Have a Map?" is a duet between the two moms, both despairing over feeling disconnected from their children)
2021 is going to be crowded with musicals which is a nice and rare feeling. We're getting Dear Evan Hansen, In the Heights, and West Side Story all in a seven month stretch!
STILLWATER - in theaters June 30th
Yes - Tom McCarthy usually makes good movies: Spotlight, Win Win, The Visitor, The Station Agent. So even though this looks generic (in trailer form) we're curious. Also the screenplay is by Thomas Bidegain whose European screenplays (Rust & Bone, A Prophet, Saint Laurent, Our Children, Dheepan) are generally quite critically well received and gritty.
No - We realize it's probably just a trailer problem -- that very loud "THRILLS!!!DRAMA!!!" scoring and quick hyper cutting but it feels like overcompensation nonetheless. Also the backstory here has both queer and racial elements but the creative team is straight and white which doesn't necessarily bode well for sensitive handling. Or at least it doesn't bode well for reception of the story. McCarthy's films have largely been quite sensitive but it will be an easy target.
Maybe So - Oscar nominees Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin feel like they could go either way, performance wise, don'cha think?
THE GREEN KNIGHT - In theaters July 30th
Yes - It's one of the most visually striking trailers out there and the trailer tells exactly the right amount about the story... i.e. not much at all. We get only a glimpse of a intriguing and quite strange setup and who the central characters will be. It's bewitching in two minute form. How will it be at two hours? Bonus points for Dev Patel in the leading role. He just keeps becoming more of a MOVIE STAR and this looks like the biggest test yet of his charisma and skill.
The exciting costume design is by Malgosia Turzanska whose highest profile project was season 1 of Stranger Things. Will this prove her breakout movie?
No - No "no" on this one. It looks special. Or at the very least something that will be visually ambitious and we're there for those movies, regardless of the final quality.
Maybe So - David Lowery has his fans after Aint Them Bodies Saints, Pete's Dragon, A Ghost Story, and The Old Man and the Gun but we aren't fully onboard yet. There's obvious talent there but maybe this will convert us?
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE - in theaters September 24th
Yes - So... Woody Harrelson knows the kind of movie he is in. That's a good sign for at least one performance that will be fun to watch. Or so bad that it's good.
No - We skipped the first one and this did not entice us to catch up. Also when you give your ostensible female lead (Michelle Williams) this little time in a trailer that's not a good sign. Carnage vs. Venom will be a battle with no actors present but just gooey CGI tentacles slapping at each other so those are going to be some boring action scenes!
Maybe So - Maybe it will funny instead of merely try-hard funny as the trailer conveys. If you saw the first one, what do you make of this trailer?