YNMS: Detroit - Trailer #2

by Seán McGovern

Detroit could make Kathryn Bigelow's style definable. Both Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker tapped into a social, political and very American psyche of the moment. And unlike other filmmakers, hearing that Bigelow is to bring the 1967 Detroit riots to the screen seems absolutely appropriate. Bigelow has always had an eye for life teetering on a knife edge, of people on the fringes - be they wandering vampires, Soviet submariners or black market memory peddlers. Her two most recent films have cemented her as an auteur with a distinct vision but it's adjectives like tense, visceral or full-throated that define her. A director who has long appreciated genre pictures, it's thanks to her historic Oscar standing that her films now arrive with a sense of expectation.

A new trailer for Detroit has recently been released, doing what all good second trailers do: it tells us a little bit more, and hints to something different, both of which will be revealed after the jump...

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Yes, No, Maybe So: "Flatliners" trailer

by Robert Balkovich

Today in "time is a flat circle" news we've got the trailer for the reboot/remake of the 1990 Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland thriller Flatliners. The plot of this film seems to mirror the plot of the original movie: a group of med students attempt to discover the secrets of death by killing themselves and then bringing themselves back to life which, of course, has unintended supernatural consequences. This version stars Ellen Page, Diego Luna, and Nina Debrov of The Vampire Diaries fame. The trailer and a YES, NO, MAYBE SO are after the jump...

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Yes No Maybe So: Jacob Tremblay is a "Wonder"

by Nathaniel R

From a distance the forthcoming film Wonder (2017) looks like Mask (1985) for the junior high set. The film is based on the novel of the same name by RJ Palacio about Auggie, a boy who enters school after years of home schooling due to his many surgeries and complications with a rare facial deformity. Jacob Tremblay, in demand post Room, plays the main character Auggie. The film is directed by Stephen Chbosky who already has some experience with transferring YA novels to the screen since he transferred his own for his directorial debut The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). Wonder is his sophomore effort though this time he left the screenwriting to another. Steven Conrad, who previously adapted The Pursuit of Happyness and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to screen, adapts. 

Let's compartmentalize the first trailer with our Yes No Maybe So™ system after the jump...

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Yes No Maybe So: "Battle of the Sexes" (plus some Holly Hunter trivia)

By Nathaniel R

Keep talking, Bobby. The more nonsense you spout, the worse it's going to be when you lose.

One of this fall's potential crossover films, in that it has both crowd pleasing and awards appeal (should it be any good that is) is the retelling of the super-famous Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs tennis match from 1973. Though I was alive at the time, I was way too young to know anything about that. I grew up in the age of Martina Navratilova vs Chris Evert and John McEnroe vs Everyone, though, and that match was a common cultural reference point. And tennis was the only sport I really fell in love with. Why? Couldn't say for sure but I suspect it was because it has more easily understood interpersonal dynamics (just two people... or four) at war... only non-violently. My best childhood friend and I even played tennis regularly together. I never got very good but later in high school he made the team! Which is all a terribly long way of saying, tennis movies hold instant interest in theory. They don't make them very often and they're largely unsuccessful when they do. Don't believe me, try to name more than one or two! (I'll wait).  

So let's breakdown the first trailer to Fox Searchlight's Battle of the Sexes after the jump. Are we optimistic, worried, or somewhere inbetween?

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Teasing "The Last Jedi"

Click to see the poster largeStar Wars: The Last Jedi opens this December to once again hog all the media attention and all the box office and probably 3 or so Oscar nominations, too. (Here is the new poster to the left.)

The hilariously drama queen thing about the title and Luke Skywalker's pronouncement at the end of the new teaser is that we (i.e. everyone on the planet with any sense) know there will never be a "last" Jedi. Not with literally billions to be made every single year from milking this franchise until no one cares anymore ... an event that surely won't occur in our lifetimes. 

Exhausting as it can be sometimes to live inside a film culture that wants the exact same things annually: two Marvels, two DCs scattered from spring to Fall, a Star Wars movie each Christmas, at least 15 concurrent bi-annual franchises and a few ever-discussed franchises that are infrequent (James Bond for one), Disney has done a bang-up job stoking the fire for annual Star Wars adventures, a fire that would burn bright without any stoking whatsoever!

But they stoke well you must admit. Here is the excellent teaser for The Last Jedi, which is mostly focused on Luke and Rey with a few key shots reminding us of the other players. 

What'cha think?