The Superheroes Are Coming. After the Oscars.

Travel with me into spring 2016 - it will help you to appreciate the now of prestige season more! 2016 is arguably the year in which we see just how insatiable the public's appetite for spandex crime fighting is. Especially now that they can watch the same on TV regularly for free with Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, Supergirl, Flash, Agent Carter, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham all on the air now or by the end of 2016. I'm not an expert on the topic but this feels like the most based-on-comics material that movies/tv have ever seen in one calendar year (There was almost even one more but Channing Tatum's Gambit movie is now looking at 2017 since it hasn't started filming.)

2016's Superhero Schedule
Feb 4th   Deadpool (Fox)
Mar 25th Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (WB)
May 6th  Captain America: Civil War (Marvel/Disney)
May 26th X-Men: Apocalypse (Fox)
Jun 3rd   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (Paramount)
Aug 6th   Suicide Squad (WB)
Nov 6th   Doctor Strange (Marvel/Disney)

So far awards bodies like Emmy and Oscar haven't much cared about the genre at all. Apart from two things...

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YNMS: Hello, My Name Is Doris

Manuel here. I caught Spotlight this weekend and among the endless trailers I had to suffer through before getting to watch Todd McCarthy’s dazzling film, the only one that piqued my interest was Hello, My Name is Doris. The Sally Field film premiered back at SXSW and is now scheduled to come out March next year. If the image above hasn’t already clued you in, the film gives the two-time Oscar winner the showiest role she’s had in years. The film was written and directed by Michael Showalter, who you might remember as “Coop” from Wet Hot American Summer (and Netflix’s recent prequel series).

“She’s like a good weird.”

That's how one character describes Doris and you really can't beat that for a description of Field's latest role. And so, without further ado, let’s put the trailer to our patented Yes No Maybe So test:

YES

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Yes, No, Maybe So : The Huntsman Winters War

Here's Murtada deconstructing the trailer for the ridiculously titled The Huntsman Winters War.

YES

- The actresses of course. Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron = a formidable trio.
- Chastain as a the Warrior. Yes!
- Blunt and Theron as dueling evil sisters. Yes again! May campiness rule the day.
- The oversize gestures of Blunt and Theron as they wreak havoc. Give me more!
- So it’s obviously all about the actresses. Oh and the possibility of a shirtless Chris Hemsworth.

NO

- From the producer of Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland….. NOOOOOOO.
- Hemsworth gets top billing?? I guess he's The Hunstman.
- The CGI doesn't look very convincing.
- “Men have forgotten what it means to be afraid. We will bring fear”. Hmmm cheesy line. It could be fun if the tone is over the top campy. The trailer is playing it straight so we are dubious.

MAYBE SO

- Does Blunt’s ice crown look odd above her face? It certainly is not as fierce as Theron’s crown. Is Colleen Atwood showing favorites?
- No enough Shirtless Chris. Will it be just the one scene like in Thor?
- Chastain is almost mute in the trailer. Only one line. More Warrior Jessica!
- Will we get enough of the British supporting cast of Nick Frost, Rob Brydon and Alexandra Roach as supposedly the dwarfs. They are hardly in the trailer.

It's a maybe so despite the fabulous trio of actresses. What’s your verdict?

YES, NO, MAYBE SO: Anomalisa

Coco here, ready to talk about the trailer for Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa. 

YES

- Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine... Even if you don't love Synecdoche New York, a Charlie Kaufman project deserves enthusiasm.
- We don't get enough stop-motion animation in our screens, and even fewer animated movies aimed at adult audiences.
- In a sea of computer generated mediocrity, it's always nice to see a strong voice be inspired by the medium of animation, which seems to be a good way for auteurs to find revitalizing force. Think, for example, of Wes Anderson's wave of success after Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

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Dirty Grandpa Poster

Manuel here getting your week started with a poster that is hard to come to terms with.

Everything we know about this upcoming comedy comes courtesy of all the on-set shots of Efron which were deliciously skintastic. (JA has been dutifully (un)covering them at his blog.) There's also a trailer below, but the poster is more fascinating. How well-known is that Hoffman/Graduate shot among the young ones the film's tone is obviously courting. 

Or, perhaps it's an attempt at finding a middle ground between the Zefron fans and the De Niro fans? Are you at all excited about this very random pairing of inter-generational leading men?