Yes No Maybe So: Nobody Owes "Joy" Anything...

It's been amusing for months now to see Oscar pundits fall all over themselves declaring Joy and Jennifer Lawrence frontrunners sight unseen. Unbroken anyone? It's never smart to declare frontrunners sight unseen. But now that we're finally getting more of a peak at the actual movie --  though it's still anyone's guess as to the final quality and perceptions thereof -- It does have the making of an entertaining 2 hours at the movies. So bring Christmas on. Deck the halls. Etcetera.

The new trailer beautifully sequelizes the conceit of the teaser, in which Joy's grandmother (I think) lectured to her. Now Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) is the one imparting wisdom... to her daughter. Of the every-man-for-himself cynical variety but still. Yes No Maybe so breakdown after the jump... 

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

If you yearn to go into the movie theater cold -- as I am longing more and more to do -- can you resist watching the official trailer. Can I? I'll try but the Dark Side (of Hype) is strong...

On the Yes No Maybe So scale this is a yes without hitting the play button given that it's a culture event. One hates to be a slave to nostalgia but Han, Luke, and Leia returning pushes certain buttons that cannot be unfelt. But, personally speaking, it's a yes without the mania that is felt in most quarters of the internet. Yours truly has no willful amnesia about how utterly terrible the last three Star Wars films were. But let's all hope this one is good for the sake of the masses (ourselves included) who would taste test even if it came with a poison label.

Yes No Maybe So: A Tale of Love and Darkness

Manuel here checking in with Natalie Portman. We know her Jane Got A Gun project has been battling some sort of curse of bad luck every since it began shooting (after endless behind-the-scenes kerfuffles, it apparently comes out next February) but her other project from this year is A Tale of Love and Darkness, her directorial debut.

The film premiered at Cannes to muted (one might say mixed?) reactions. And while it has yet to be picked up for distribution, we finally got a first look at the film in the form of a(n English-subtitled) trailer. Yes, the film is entirely in Hebrew, so Portman (née Neta-Lee Hershlag) gets to show off yet another set of skills, ones slightly less contestable than her ballet-dancing ones.

And so, while I know exactly where I lie, I’m going to go ahead and give it the YES/NO/MAYBE SO treatment in full.

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Hail this Teaser for "Hail, Caesar!"

Hail the teaser for the new Coen Bros picture, which will launch a thousand internet memes! Since it's mostly a collection of catchy images and title credits we'll leave the full Yes No Maybe So treatment for later but know that we're "Yes" on literally every shot therein. Zany Coen Bros comedies are to be cherished when they arrive. I still remember my first times seeing both Raising Arizona (1987) and Burn After Reading (2008) in theaters and just hurting from laughter. 

5 favorite things (and boy was it hard to narrow down) in the trailer after the jump...

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YNMS: The Big Short

Manuel here. Every year there are a number of late-breaking releases that suck up all the oxygen in the room, commanding every conversation because of their timeliness. Of course, every year also sees a number of well-made films get lost in the shuffle. Adam McKay’s The Big Short, set to close out the AFI Fest, is obviously hoping for the former. Based on the true story and best-selling book by Michael Lewis (The Blind Side, Moneyball), the film is set against the ticking bomb that was the collapse of the housing market. Does it stack up to other Fall prestige releases? Let's find out by putting it to our patented Yes, No, Maybe So test:

YES

“There’s some shady stuff going down.”

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