Oh hi there! It’s been a while, huh? January just sort of has that lull. Game releases have slowed to a crawl, just as the accompanying trailers. This week, however, has some real bangers. So good, in fact, that we just couldn’t ignore it.
Well, let’s clear that up a bit. There actually are a few noteworthy games coming out soon. Next Tuesday has both Resident Evil VII: Biohazard and Yakuza 0, two monumentally Japanese releases. A collected release of Knee Deep‘s three episodes on January 31 should then hold you over until February 14 when For Honor comes out.
So chin up! There’s plenty to look forward to. Now let’s watch some trailers!
Power Rangers — It’s Morphin Time!
First off, that “I’m black” joke has the same lazy feeling as the “you people” joke in the Baywatch trailer. Second, it’s pretty interesting that the movie is making the powers added to these regular folk is more discrete. They basically go through a Tobey Maguire Spider-Man transformation, and I’m actually way into that.
I’m less into the use of Kanye’s “Power” in it, though. It’s not just that it’s super on the nose (power rangers? Get it? GET IT?!), but it’s also just way overdone and it has been for years. It also seems like the costumes are all digital, which looks kind of…odd. They lack the verisimilitude of, say, the all digital costumes of Marvel movies. The movie hits theatres on March 24, 2017.
Logan — Trailer #2
Shit, that little girl is awesome. But also the premise of the movie, which is also somewhat based on Mark Millar’s Old Man Logan, is super interesting. I guess someone went around and chronicled the real X-Men, and this little girl (Laura Kinney, aka X-23) grew up obsessed with the comics. Either this or her rumored status as a female clone of Logan has rendered her a feral, violent, dangerous child with nearly identical powers.
That’s super cool. That almost feels like a commentary on those that grew up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Like, his iconic portrayal is certainly formative in what heroism looks like to many fans, and her murderous obsession of that is a logical and terrifying end to that. There’s also the fact that the entire film feels like an expansion of the most interesting part of The Wolverine where he loses his healing powers. It hits theatres on March 1, 2017.
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore — Official Trailer
You know what is really neat? The fact that Elijah Wood has completely and totally refused to let his legendary turn as Frodo Baggins at all define his acting career. He went through a string of voice acting roles like Happy Feet and Red vs. Blue, acted alongside an imaginary dog in Wilfred, and played a crazed serial killer in Maniac.
And now he’s a weird, awkward, slightly sociopathic junkyard brawler in this low-key indie feature. It sounds pretty interesting, too. Melanie Lynskey plays a nursing assistant going through an existential crisis that soon turns into a burning desire to exact revenge and lands her in some way hot water. I can’t wait to see how that plays out. It releases on Netflix on February 24, 2017.
Before I Fall — Official Sundance Trailer
That’s pretty interesting. The gist is this girl dies in a horrific and somewhat graphic car crash but wakes up to find that it’s the morning of her eventual death. In fact, she keeps reliving that day over and over again Groundhog Day-style. (This is also an adaptation of the novel of the same name.)
Obviously, based on Groundhog Day, the key is to change yourself rather than change the things around yourself, eventually effecting a better world through a better you. That’s just basic science. And the problems seem kind of obvious here (e.g., stand up for what’s right, don’t drink and drive, etc.) But hey, I like Zoey Deutch and I like Ry Russo-Young. Sounds like a winning combination to me. It hits theatres on March 3, 2017, and premieres at Sundance on January 21, 2017.
David Brent: Life on the Road — Official Trailer
Whoaaaa, now this is an ambitious notion. This takes Ricky Gervais’ David Brent character from the UK version of The Office, sets him 12 years after that television mockumentary, and follows him on the road as a traveling salesman/touring musician with his band Foregone Conclusion, which itself is an extension of the fact that Gervais toured in 2013 as David Brent with a real band that went by the name of Foregone Conclusion.
That is fully and unequivocally bonkers, right? Please tell me I’m neither crazy nor alone in thinking that. Admittedly, this already released in the UK back in August 19, 2016, to relatively positive reviews, but I’m still interested in seeing this just to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes. It hits Netflix on February 10, 2017.
Collide — Official Trailer
There’s an almost irresponsible collision (ha!) of young and old acting prowess here. Nicholas Hoult has been crazy killing it since Warm Bodies and X-Men: First Class and Felicity Jones last year alone had both A Monster Calls and Rogue One. And then there’s Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins who, well, you know, are Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins.
But then the fact that you smash them together into a German action film seems kind of nuts but in a good way. There’s also the possibility we’ll just never see this at all. It was set to release originally in October of 2015, but since Relativity Media’s bankruptcy, it has been pushed back four times to the current release date of February 24, 2017. Here’s hoping we’ll see it someday.
American Fable — Official Trailer
Wow, this looks absolutely fascinating. The idea that a child’s strife manifests in something fantastical is actually somewhat traditionalist, but turning that into some sort of taught psychological thriller is stupendous. It’s as if real life is fighting back against the normalization of the oft overlooked sociopathic tendencies of fairy tale elements.
I saw that this was at last year’s SXSW but didn’t manage to actually see it, nor am I at all familiar with those involved in making it save for Richard Schiff as the dude in the silo. And I couldn’t be happier. It’s rare nowadays I go into a movie without knowing much about it. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised when it hits theatres on February 17, 2017.
Deidra & Laney Rob a Train — Official Trailer
Hot damn, this looks like the exact sort of quirky indie thing that I love. Two teenage sisters decide to start robbing trains to scrape by in life and high school? Yes, one hundred percent yes. The idea alone of robbing trains is so deliciously old fashioned I can’t stand it.
I haven’t seen anything the two leads Ashleigh Murray and Rachel Crow have been in, but I do like that Tim Blake Nelson plays a somewhat inept (or rather appropriately inept) rail detective (also deliciously old fashioned) and the director Sydney Freeland killed it with Drunktown’s Finest. So here’s hoping it’s actually good in the end. It releases on Netflix on March 17, 2017.
The Belko Experiment — Official Trailer #2
Oh nice. James Gunn produced a Battle Royale-style horror film. (Director Greg McClean is less intriguing given his spotty history.) The premise is that 80 office workers are locked into their building with the requirement that 30 of them must die within two hours, otherwise 60 of them will be killed at the hands of the company itself.
It also feels a bit like the vaults of Fallout since it is touted as a social experiment. Locking people into a confined space and forcing them to do something to see the outcome? Yeah, that’s definitely Fallout-ish. Reviews out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival have been mostly positive, too, so here’s hoping. It releases on March 17, 2017.
Sandy Wexler — Teaser
Who the hell is still saying yes to Adam Sandler’s pitches?
