Trailer Review - June 2015

Though I love checking out the latest movie trailers that hit the web and sharing my thoughts instantly, I occasionally fall behind on them and/or become too lazy to write up an article and snap several images of it. So to catch up, I decided to group all of them into one big article. Sadly, in order to do this and speed up the process, I decided to remove The Briggs Breakdown section. This format may be a recurring thing from now on, depending how sloth-like I become by the end of July.


The Good Dinosaur
Teaser Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: No one really. Well, there is a green dinosaur, his human pet-thingy, and a bunch of other dinosaurs.

Scene Pop: Nothing.

Effective?: Not really. The pompous score tries to make wonders out of the generic actions being displayed ("My God, he's jumping!!!"). Plus, the premise isn't as exciting as it wants to be.

Check it Out?: Inconclusive until a formal trailer is produced. However, the many horror stories this long-digested project as endured, hammered in recently by the announcement of its complete change of its voice actors, has left me thinking it will erase all of Pixar's re-acquired goodwill from Inside Out.



Bridge of Spies
Official Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Tom Hanks is James Donovan, a real-life lawyer forced upon by the American government to represent a Mark Rylance's Soviet spy and to help negotiate a prisoner swap to save an American pilot. Amy Ryan also appears as Mrs. Donovan.

Scene Pop: Any of the Berlin shots as it is pure Spielberg.

Effective?: I would say so. It cleanly tells what's going on and the arduous tasks that Hanks needs to go through in order to complete. On the other hand, the brief CGI shots and the generic sound effects utilized are really distracting.

Check it Out?: Sure, especially since it's one of the early big Oscar wannabes of the season. I already have a hunch that Rylance may have a mighty chance to earn a Best Supporting Actor nomination.



The Martian
Official Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Matt Damon as the titular character/stranded astronaut, Jeff Daniels as the possibly pseudo-evil head of NASA, and Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Mara, Donald Glover, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, and Kristen Wiig as the rest of the Mars crew.

Scene Pop: "I'm going to have to science the SHIT out of this!"

Effective?: Yes, but it gives away the result of the film's first conflict (contact NASA ASAP) in order to build a Apollo 13-like dramatic conflict as the hook.

Check it Out?: Maybe worthwhile but I'm more pointed towards skip. Despite Drew Goddard on script-writing duties, director Ridley Scott hasn't made a true-blue good film in nearly a decade. Plus, Matt Damon isn't really an audience draw anymore, until the expected next Jason Bourne film comes along. Extra plus, the poster is generic as all hell; Michael Clayton much?



Zootopia
Teaser Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Jason Bateman as the narrating fox and barely present Ginnifer Goodwin as the rabbit cop.

Scene Pop: Nothing.

Effective?: Sorta. It's just another cute teaser short, explaining a few elements of its story but not the whole picture.

Check it Out?: Inconclusive until a formal trailer is produced.



The Secret Life of Pets
Teaser Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Louis C.K.(!) as Max and Jenny Slater as Gidget.

Scene Pop: Louis C.K. is the lead voice actor in an animated movie chiefly for kids!

Effective?: Dumb gags for the kids. That's all it is. Parents and others would see this as the perfect time to check out the phone one last time.

Check it Out?: I would say inconclusive again but I really don't see anything of true value coming from the final product. Looking at its plot, the film is going to be nothing more than The Odd Couple but with dogs.



Sicario
Official Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Emily Blunt as a FBI agent who should know better than to hang out with a black ops group consisting of Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro and Jon Bernthal.

Scene Pop: The spotter car. But really, any of Roger Deakins' beautiful cinematography on display.

Effective?: Yes, up until the sheer stupid use of the Goldeneye gun reload sound effect.

Check it Out?: Yes. Looks like a great little thriller from Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) and the buzz from Cannes was mostly positive.



Kung Fu Panda 3
Teaser Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: The same ole kung fu gang plus the new inclusion of Bryan Cranston as Po's biological father.

Scene Pop: I would say the training scene but that's old hat by now with this series.

Effective?: Meh. It's a two joke teaser and it doesn't really have a hook beyond pandas being reunited and feeling so good. Kids will definitely dig it more.

Check it Out?: Depends on your opinion with the last movie and/or the animated TV series. I was really disappointed with Kung Fu Panda 2 and don't really care for the franchise's future anymore. This may heal the wounds and be a better sequel or just be another one of Dreamworks' lackluster efforts.



Daddy's Home
Official Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Will Ferrell as the step-father, Mark Wahlberg as the biological father, and Linda Cardellini as the actress who deserves far, far, far better.

Scene Pop: The much hyped NBA halftime stunt.

Effective?: A cookie-cutter trailer for a most probably below-average comedy. This also makes the 2nd comedy-and-family-themed trailer to use an AC/DC song.

Check it Out?: No. Looks to be a solid PG-13, even though Ferrell and Wahlberg are better when they have no reins.



Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
Official Trailer
Watch It Here

Person of Interest: Another batch of unknown actors looking to be killed off at the very end of the film.

Scene Pop: Nothing.

Effective?: No. It's nothing but the usual jump scares and horror tropes, including "something is behind me?" and the cannon fodder priest. Plus, who really would want to view 80 regular VHS tapes in this era?

Check it Out?: No. Everyone pretty much gave up on the series after the first three, aka the good entries, and the the franchise is way long in tooth. This is supposedly going to be the final film in the series, until the eventual reboot, and what better way to treat than let it quickly die in theaters.


Other trailers to consider: The suspenseful and hard-to-watch 99 Homes, where Andrew Garfield helps illegally evict people from their homes under the guidance of Michael Shannon; Dragon Blade, where Jackie Chan and John Cusack fight Adrian Brody in ancient China (wait, what?); and we finally get to see Rock The Kasbah and it looks no good.