The Internet Awakens

Not that it ever sleeps. But the arrival of a Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser, a second one, shook things up. I mean Chris Hayes on MSNBC, the host of a political news hour, devoted a whole quarter hour to this trailer! At one point today all of my feeds were only Star Wars. I wasn't sure if it felt celebratory or oppressive and came to the conclusion that it was definitely both.

The heighth of my own personal Star Wars mania -- everyone seems to go through it though many never come out of it -- was 1983. One entire wall of my young bedroom was devoted to Return of the Jedi with posters, magazine pages, collectible film stills, you name it, stickied on. Princess Leia, Jabba the Hutt and (the shame the shame) ewoks took up the most space. Sorry Han & Chewie!

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Suffragette & Youth Teaser Trailers

Manuel here bringing you two teaser trailers that will surely whet your appetite for fall movie season.

Suffragette, directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan, focuses on the early twentieth century fight for rights for women in England. It stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Whishaw and Meryl Streep. With the hashtag #VotingMatters, it’s clear the film is aiming for a zeitgeist-like marketing campaign (for those of us in the US, the UK election is coming up next month).

And then, well, then there’s this gorgeous teaser trailer for Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth (which we’d discussed back when we checked out what former Foreign Language Oscar winners were up to). The teaser doesn’t tell us much but boy does it show us. I feel we could make an entire Hit Me With Your Best Shot episode on this teaser alone! The film stars Michael Caine, Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz, Jane Fonda and Harvey Keitel.

Other than making you excited for these two films, do you also find it fascinating the stark contrast between the teaser trailer approaches? Makes you wonder what hashtag Sorrentino should be using for his film, perhaps #YouthMatters? #CaineMatters? #WeiszMatters? 

"You've got a secret. Something you can't tell anyone."

What do you suppose this "Certificate of Temporary Guardianship" means in the Spectre teaser? Moneypenny says it's recovered from Skyfall so it must be important. Temporary Guardianship hmmm. Was Daniel Craig's Bond once Bruce Wayne's boy wonder legal ward and boy wonder? Was he raised by Oldest Bond, Sean Connery in the wilderness like Hanna.  

Have you any theories?

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Yes No Maybe So: Southpaw

If this post were a sportsmovie, it would be like the first hint of a redemption arc to come after a downward spiral. Yes, I'm (gasp) over 48 hours late saying "yes" to Jake Gyllenhaal.

It's always "yes" so what's the rush?

The occasion is the first trailer to Southpaw, Jakey's new boxing movie from director of dark violent machismo programmers Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Olympus has Fallen, The Equalizer). In other words, we'd have no interest at all if it didn't star actors we obsess over. But we're already jumping into the Yes No Maybe So breakdown so let's just get the eternal "yes" that is Jake Gyllenhaal and our Gyllenhaalism out of the way first.

The only thing that could make slo mo and fetishisizing body shots of Jake Gyllenhaal's physique better is if his tattoos were more relatable, like...

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Yes No Maybe So? Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Someone needs to do a supercut of all the things Tom Cruise has hung from in his career like a daredevil, an action martyr or a human sacrifice: there've been helicopters, cliffs, glass skyscrapers, Scientology campaigns, cables, and now a big jet plane. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation has a lot to live up to now that the series improbably peaked as late as its fourth installment, Ghost Protocol. 

After the poster, let's breakdown the trailer with our trademark trifurcation...

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