What's In A Trailer?
I don't want to jinx it, but trailers are getting better. Sometimes.
Two years ago for this very newsletter, I wrote about movie trailers. I was pretty irritated with what had become the norm: Way-too-long 2-3 minute clip montages that gave away the entire plot of the movie. The only thing worse than a bad trailer is a bad trailer that never ends and gives you every goddamn plot detail.
Maybe things are getting better, or maybe the algorithms that be are understanding me better, but it does seem like we’ve left those dark days behind … a bit. I’ve yet to write about the two Kinds of Kindness trailers, the new Yorgos Lanthimos-Emma Stone movie dropping in June, but they are exactly what a teaser should be. Some quick shots, a general vibe, who’s in the cast and a catchy song that makes you nod your head along.
To be clear, I have no fucking idea what this movie is about, but I do know that it’ll be off-kilter, chockful of some of the best actors we have right now and feature Emma Stone dancing next to a purple muscle car and a woman in a wheelchair. I’m sold. Yorgos, please take my money.
I do understand that the purpose of these trailers is to sell movies to a general audience, but there has to be a middle ground between these more experimental ones and the run-of-the-mill ones that are made to spoil the entire movie.
Along with Kinds of Kindness, I’ve been really impressed with the enigma that is Megalopolis, the new Francis Ford Coppola film starring Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza. From the director of The Godfather is more than enough for me, but I understand that for many that concept isn’t enough.
The American Zoetrope team has done a pretty savvy job showing the scope of what’s to come and the general ideas of the movie without revealing the actual story.
I can’t imagine watching both of these clips and feeling like you need more. You’re either 100% going to see it or not. At a certain point, that’s all these studios can do.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Okay, after I wrote this, the new Wicked trailer dropped, and it’s 210 seconds. You’ve gotta be kidding me. Forget everything I just wrote. It’s so over.
Some Quick Reviews
I feel like we’ve done a lot of lists, random anecdotes and drafts of attractive people recently, so I wanted to get back to what this newsletter is about. Me giving opinions on movies, and you scrolling through this because you no longer want to have my email unread in your inbox. Here are some takes on things I’ve watched so far this month.
The Fall Guy (2024): A stellar Ryan Gosling performance can’t save this nothing movie that has more in common with recent Marvel blockbusters than fun action. It’s winking at the audience scene after scene and has some of the more bland dialogue in recent memory. I’d rather have just watched Gosling and Emily Blunt behind the scenes, hanging out and shooting the shit, for two hours than this one. Has some charm that dies out by the end.
I Saw the TV Glow (2024): A beautiful, sometimes meandering horror-ish movie that gets better the more I think about it. I went in expecting something scarier, which is my fault, and this subverts your expectations becoming a metaphor of sorts for living inside a body that isn’t yours. Great performances and excited to see what Jane Schoenbrun does next.
Evil Does Not Exist (2023): I know that this is Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Drive My Car, but I gotta be honest, this one did very little for me. An environmental thriller that takes its time, the last act felt super disjointed despite being the part of the story I was most interested in. Wish it started in the last 15 minutes and told the story from there. Disappointing but maybe I’m just an asshole.
The Idea of You (2024): Very fun to watch with others. Is it good? No. If someone told me that experts came to a conclusion that Anne Hathaway is the most beautiful person alive, I wouldn’t be able to counter that idea. The movie itself is exactly what it is, a non-romantic’s idea of what romance is like. It’s poorly written, but that’s to be expected from a straight-to-streaming movie based on a book based on Harry Styles fan-fiction.
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999): Maybe skip The Idea of You and watch this romantic museum heist instead. Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo have insane chemistry as two individuals on opposite ends of a crime. It’s fun, sexy and features two ingenious ways to steal from the Met. Yes, I’m taking notes.
Rope (1948): I’ve been trying to watch Hitchcock movies because … I don’t know, I just am. Rear Window is still my clear favorite but there's a lot to like about this one-shot (kind of) dinner party after a murder. I may be the first one to say this, but Hitchcock is pretty good.
Inside Out (2015): Despite seeing most Pixar movies, I had somehow never seen Inside Out and now that I have, here’s my take: It’s fine. Certainly not top-tier Pixar for me but still cool to have Bill Hader, Amy Poehler and Richard (Goddamn) Kind in an animated Disney movie. The story is so much like an episode of Parks and Rec that I was almost taken aback. Like the plot beats are exactly the same. Joy is basically Leslie Knope with blue hair. Bing-Bong forever, of course.
Babes (2024): Thanks to Betches (and Betches’ No. 1 employee), we got into a free screening of this one. We also got unlimited drinks, candy and popcorn, so it gives me no pleasure to say that I really didn’t like this one. It’s a real streaming movie that you turn on and don’t pay attention to, which is one of my least favorite genres at the moment. These super-loose streaming comedies that are held together by rubber bands and people making funny voices are always grating to me. I’m definitely harsher on the direct-to-streaming comedy than most but this type of thing is just not something I have any desire to watch. And it annoys me that people just throw them on and half-watch and then they make more of them. Again, maybe I’m just an asshole.