Yes No Maybe So: Johnny Depp and Yet Another Hairpiece in 'Black Mass'

Margaret here... Johnny Depp is struggling -- as much as anyone who commands a ten-figure salary and goes home to a private island can be said to be struggling. His last real hit was the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie in 2011, and it's been even longer since critics have had much nice to say about one of his performances. He's looking for a comeback, and it looks like he may have one in Scott Cooper's Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass, due later this year.

Warner Brothers recently debuted footage of Black Mass at CinemaCon, and the buzz was very positive. The first official trailer was released not long after, which means we can now weigh in on whether the people who are starting to throw the O-word around are on to something, or just experiencing the power of low expectations.

trailer and YNMS breakdown after the jump 

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Superman v Batman v Fantastic Four v Spider-Man v Indifference

Tom Holland for Spider-Man?We all know that eventually the superhero bubble will burst. But until then, they will dominate cinema. Still, even in their new golden age of popularity, there is a growing semi-intangible resistance out there to caring about each and every one of the films. I've been feeling that about Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice especially and it's a little strange that the Fantastic Four reboot has been so non-buzzy since the internet loves talking superheroes like little else. (Both films recently got new trailers, t'was time to discuss)

Spider-Man
Not that this indifference or in some cases outright hostility affects the box office mind you. Everyone seemed to hate The Amazing Spider-Man 2 last summer but it didn't stop the movie from making $708 million globally and it certainly hasn't dampened enthusiasm at Sony or Marvel for Spider-Man as a cash cow. They're already busy recasting Spider-man for the third time in less than 14 years. They've supposedly narrowed it down to five actors...

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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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