The new Toy Story trailer ups the laughs, but I’m not thrilled about this plot. Why exactly is it so important that Sporky be rescued? First of all, I don’t love the idea that a homemade craft secretly comes alive in this universe, and also- is the lesson supposed to be that Bonnie must lose her plastic fork like all kids lose the crap that they make at school within a couple days? Because if it’s not, if they actually save this stupid fork thing, then they just couldn’t come up with a better excuse to make another Toy Story movie. Sporky must die, people.
The King and Queen Visit 'Downton Abbey'
Well, I don’t quite know what to say about this trailer, except…it looks like Downton Abbey all right. Fans of the show should be entirely satisfied with what appears to be an extended episode. The only thing I wonder is what warrants this being a theatrical release over a typical BBC Christmas special.
60's Hollywood Shines in Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'
In a few hours the first reactions will drop for Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, which is premiering in Cannes ahead of its release in theaters in just a couple months. But for now this brand new trailer combines two of the director’s greatest loves- late 60’s music and late 60’s movies. Along with a massive, star-studded cast of course. Sounds right up his alley. I can’t wait.
Doris Day 1922-2019
One of the last surviving Golden Age Hollywood stars, Doris Day, has passed away at 97, after contracting pneumonia. A singer, actress and animal welfare activist, she was one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood in the 1950’s and 60’s, known primarily for musical comedies and later the three romantic comedies she starred in with Rock Hudson. Known for her wholesome image and big band style voice, her success as a singer came first, with her movie career beginning in 1948 in the Michael Curtiz film Romance on the High Seas. After that, her most notable films included Calamity Jane (1953), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), Alfred Hitchcock’sThe Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), which won Best Original Song for “Que Sera Sera,” which she performed in the movie, and The Pajama Game (1957), before co-starring with Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). The peak of her box office success came in the early 1960’s, teaming up with Cary Grant in 1962 for That Touch of Mink and James Garner in 1963 for The Thrill of it All. She then starred on the CBS sitcom The Doris Day Show from 1968-1973, after which she largely retired from acting. Day received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood Foreign Press in 1989 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. Her only Oscar nomination was for Best Actress for 1959’s Pillow Talk.
Of Doris Day’s movies I’d recommend Pillow Talk of course, which is a kind of camp classic in its way. The rapport between her and Hudson was real:
Renee Zellweger Transforms Into Judy Garland in 'Judy'
This is one of those teasers where you can’t actually see what her acting’s like. And her singing does not sound like Judy Garland to me, so I’m not that impressed. I guess we’ll see but I’m already having a hard time buying it. I have to see a full trailer, but this doesn’t look convincing.
Jessica Chastain Faces the Past in 'It: Chapter Two'
The kids are all grown up in the sequel to It, the smash horror hit from a couple years ago. This is traditionally the less revered half of Stephen King’s book, but they’ve got some good actors to play the adult versions of the kids at least- Chastain, Bill Hader, and James McAvoy take over as the new leads. Unusual for a trailer, in that most of this is one long scene.
Awkwafina Stars in Sundance Hit 'The Farewell'
One of the most popular movies out of Sundance this year was this comedy-drama The Farewell, coming out in July. Looks pretty good, could be a real tearjerker, along with a breakthrough dramatic performance from Awkwafina.
Peter Copes With 'Endgame' Spoilers in New 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Trailer
I haven’t seen the movie yet but I have never been someone who cares about not getting spoiled. In fact, the shows and movies I was obsessed with in the past were always the things I aggressively sought out spoilers for the most. It’s never bothered me or hurt my enjoyment of anything to know what happens in it, and it’s kind of impossible not to know what happened in Endgame by now anyway, so I watched the trailer freely and unconcernedly. The thing I liked about the last Spider-Man movie was the high school stuff and the kids though, so I couldn’t care less about the action plot or the villain. It looks fun, but I’m hoping it has more in that vein than it’s suggesting. I don’t care about Nick Fury at all. I could take an entire Spider-Man movie about him hanging out at school, occasionally stopping neighborhood criminals, while dealing with teen stuff.
Sundance Hit 'Blinded By the Light' Gets a Trailer
The director of Bend it Like Beckham and Bride & Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha has directed this new comedy inspired by the life of a real life journalist that was a huge crowdpleaser at this year’s Sundance film festival in January. It’s slated for a summer release and looks a bit corny (but then, so did Beckham back in the day). It kinda reminds me a little but of Sing Street too, with its 80’s setting.
Jim Carrey Stars in 'Sonic the Hedgehog'
So yeah, this looks about as bad as you could have possibly imagined. Was there really no other vehicle for Jim Carrey to take as a return to his old school comedic persona? But what do I know, maybe there are so many Sonic fans out there that this succeeds based on 90s nostalgia for those video game sound effects alone (it sure won’t be because Sonic himself looks good- yikes).
John Singleton 1968-2019
After suffering a stroke twelve days ago, filmmaker John Singleton was taken off life support by his family and has passed away at the age of 51. His directing debut was the 1991 classic Boyz N the Hood, an enormous success that garnered him an Oscar nomination for Best Director at 24, both the first African-American to achieve that honor and the youngest person ever to be nominated in the category. He went on to have a directing career that included the films Poetic Justice (1993), Rosewood (1997), Shaft (2000), Baby Boy (2001) and Four Brothers (2005). Celebrate his too short life today by watching a film of his, particularly Boyz n the Hood if you haven’t see it, or the historical drama Rosewood, his most underrated and critically acclaimed film next to his debut.
Trailer for Boyz N the Hood:
Trailer for Rosewood:
The Monsters are Named in Final 'Godzilla' Trailer
Mothra and the rest show up and it’s Godzilla’s job to take them down as the humans watch helplessly in this new sequel. He’s the King of the Monsters, after all, so there should be no suspense about who’s going to win this fight. I didn’t like the last one much (and I’m not sure how much general audiences did either), so who knows if there’s a big appetite for this- but it definitely looks more action packed than the first one was.
