Yes No Maybe So: 'Lightyear', 'Jurassic World Dominion', 'Firestarter', and 'Men'
Friday, February 11, 2022 at 3:00PM New trailer roundup!
Let's discussing upcoming prequels (Lightyear), sequels (Jurassic World Dominion), remakes (Firestarter) and one original (Men)... at least there's one! We'll do quick Yes No and Maybe So for each after the jump...
YES Already in love with "Socks" so mission accomplished for the merchandising teams? This definitely has lots of potential... though the "realism" of traditional CG animation to illustrate a human who inspired a toy rather than a toy... feels a bit, oh, wheren't the differentiation really. Why not a live action film?
NO Where is the humor? There are a couple of gags but they seem a bit flat as bits. (We'll try not to resent this movie but being the only Pixar that Disney will let see the inside of theaters anymore. Talk about damning the new creators while milking nostalgia for the earlier team's triumphs.)
MAYBE SO The way things are going for Pixar (the new powers that be at Disney just don't cherish their best division anymore) we'll try not to resent this movie for being the only Pixar that Disney will let see the inside of theaters anymore. It reeks of alack of respect for the new and suddenly much more diverse creative teams while milking every last penny for nostalgia for the earlier triumphs from the company.
YES - "Ellie Sadler"/"Alan Grant" ... we're so used to believably rendered prehistoric monsters now that the biggest thrill in this trailer is unquestionably the return of Laura Dern and Sam Neill. But that split shot of dinosaur mouth and girl underwater is great. The trailer also appears to set up an interesting conflict with the heroes of the original knowing we can't co-exist with dinosaurs while the heroes of the Jurassic World trilogy are trying to save their lethal pet dinosaur.
NO - The original film thrived off of a scientific ethical / capitalist dilemma in a sly way but the new trilogy has been much dumber so how are they going to resolve any of these conflicts in a satisfying way?
MAYBE SO - Will it be fun enough -- it looks pretty self-serious (yikes)-- to make it easy to suspend disbelief about silly inconsistencies like Bryce running away on foot from a dinosaur while Pratt stays no further ahead of the same species while on a motorcycle?
And shouldn't we have a break from legacy sequels? I loved this exchange on twitter about it...
It's so true, don'cha think?
YES -"I don't wanna hurt anyone but it feels kinda good" - perhaps this will have some camp appeal? We're still trying to get used to Zac Efron in fully daddy mode. He's 34 now but still. Thankfully they've fixed the racially problematic casting of the original and chosen rising Canadian star Michael Greyeyes (double-nominated at the Spirit Awards this year!) for the Cherokee assassin "Rainbird" (which was the villainous George C Scott role in the original film if you remember)
NO - One of those trailers that shows you the whole movie basically. And it doesn't look particularly exciting/inspired.
MAYBE SO -The original isn't exactly a classic so it's not sacrilege to remake it but it would be tough for any child actor to measure up to Drew Barrymore's popularity in the early 80s. Good luck to little Ryan Keira Armstrong in the titular role.
YES -How about this sound mixing?! We love a teaser that gives virtually nothing but "mood"... and we know writer/director Alex Garland is good for it after one instant classic (Ex Machina) and one more divisive but fascinating film (Annihilation). That reflection of the A24 logo at the start is a stylish touch.
NO -We got nothing. There's no reason not to be excited about
MAYBE SO - Jessie Buckley is a fast-rising wonder but this is a big step/challenge, carrying a whole film without much help in the way of a supporting cast (at least via this teaser and the vague plot synopsis). It's about a woman on a solo vacation in the country shortly after her ex-husband's death
Reader Comments (7)
That is a great tweet about fan service culture, but it also makes me feel very old.
The only one of these movies I really care about is Men, because I loved Alex Garland's first two films and I give A24 the benefit of the doubt.
If Jessie Buckley can pull focus away from Olivia Colman she's capable of carrying a film.
Are people on social media still making snarky cracks about A24 being for pretentious hipsters? I know that was a thing for a while, and I’ve got to say, since they’re seemingly the only American studio currently getting a lot of exposure for producing original movies, that definitely echoes what Robert Hamer said there quite well about being “a selfish, infantilized generation of pop culture consumers.” If originality is met with contempt and ridiculed as pretentious on arrival simply by virtue of not being a nostalgia cash-in or part of a familiar franchise, then film culture — whatever that means anymore — is truly in a sad state.
Yes on all of these trailers but... Firestarter better have the song by Prodigy in that film. It wouldn't feel right to have a movie called Firestarter w/o that song.
"Firestarter" is missing that All Star cast of the first one, but does look closer in spirit and style to the novel. However, Screaming Child might get awfully tedious.
I'm still there of course.
To be fair, Hollywood has been churning out remakes and franchises since almost the beginning. Universal had its monster movies, Thin Man and Charlie Chan even Pa and Ma Kettle had several sequels, and when classic movies started appearing on TV, they were being remade by the generation of kids that watched them- Body Heat is a reimagining of Double Indemnity and a whole bunch of Sci-Fi remakes including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing, and The Fly started to appear. We have been eating the same recycled comfort food for generations.
Was wondering why the Firestarter kid looked familiar -- and then it struck me: it's the evil kid in the latest American Horror Story. Perhaps a good casting choice? But certainly not Drew Barrymore.