[Trailer] Avengers: Age of Ultron
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With May only two short months away, the hype machine is in full motion for Marvel and Disney to pimp out their next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Age of Ultron. Released earlier today thanks to a social media push that saw thousands of fans tweet and share a link for the film, the trailer features all new footage that will be sure to entice any superhero film fanatic.
For those that may not know, Age of Ultron features Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) developing an artificial intelligence platform to help protect New York. However, the AI becomes sentient and turns on him and the rest of the Avengers, leading Earth's Mightiest Heroes to protect the city from the program they enacted to... protect the city. It all will lead into next year's Captain America: Civil War, which may or may not feature everybody's favorite web-slinger's MCU debut.
Enjoy the latest Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, and expect a lot more from us when it's released on May 1st.
[Trailer] Champs
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Most sports documentaries tend to focus solely on a team or athlete and what helped elevate the subject to a level that would necessitate a documentary in the first place. The average sports documentary tends to cater to the subject, ensuring their brand is kept intact and sound. Furthermore, they have a tendency to not delve deep enough to create a compelling story/narrative. While this may sound negative, docs that can achieve this with the right direction and vision can be well-received, even if they maybe be a bit more subjective.
If this trailer is any indication, Champs appears to be something more than the average, run-of-the-mill sports documentary. Directed by Bert Marcus, Champs focuses on three of boxing's biggest heavyweight champions: Bernard Hopkins, Evander Holyfield, and Mike Tyson. Rather than simply focus on each boxers' rise to stardom, Marcus analyzes their individual paths to success through the scope of social issues that plagued them during their ascension, such as poverty, racism, drug and alcohol abuse, and more.
With Manny released in theaters last month, could 2015 be the year for boxing documentaries? Champs will be released in theaters and on iTunes on March 31st.
[Red Band Trailer] Straight Outta Compton
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Considering how police brutality has been at the height of the media's attention throughout 2014, the release timing for the N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, couldn't be more perfect. As illustrated in the special introduction by surviving N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, the group's ability to touch the world through their music helped shape rap's mainstream acceptance, as well as influencing the next 30+ years of music.
Straight Outta Compton, directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday) and starring O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, and Jason Mitchell as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E, respectively, tracks the group's rise from the late '80s to 1992 with the Rodney King riots serving as a bookend for the film's framing. Paul Giamatti also stars as N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller.
This first Straight Outta Compton trailer is how trailers should be cut. It's energetic, sets the tone extremely well, and offers enough to like for both N.W.A. fans and those unfamiliar with the group. Above all else, it fits into the current political and social climate to feel relevant now more than ever.
Straight Outta Compton will be in theaters on August 14th.
[Red Band Trailer] Spy
Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy have proven to be a formidable duo if their history together (Bridesmaids, The Heat) are any indication. While The Heat wasn't all too hot, Bridesmaids helped destroy the notion that women aren't funny and helped elevate McCarthy to the position she's in right now. Whereas The Heat saw McCarthy in a buddy cop comedy, the pair's latest, Spy, finds her the actress in a more suitable, if uncomfortable, position.
McCarthy stars as a desk agent (and the CIA's top analyst) who must enter the field after one of their agents is compromised. Starting alongside McCarthy are Rose Byrne (Neighbors), Jason Statham (Fast and Furious 7), and Jude Law.
Spy will be in theaters on May 22nd. You can read the film's official synopsis below.
Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is an unassuming, deskbound CIA analyst, and the unsung hero behind the Agency’s most dangerous missions. But when her partner (Jude Law) falls off the grid and another top agent (Jason Statham) is compromised, she volunteers to go deep undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent a global disaster.
[Trailer] Ant-Man
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Ant-Man lost a lot of early support last year when fan-favorite director Edgar Wright left the film's production over stylistic disagreements with Marvel. A few weeks later, Marvel announced Bring It On director Peyton Reed would fill in for the departed Wright and that screenwriter Adam McKay (Anchorman) and star Paul Rudd would re-write parts of the screenplay but still keep the general framework of Wright's original script. This was at a time where Guardians of the Galaxy was still a huge question mark for the studio, and showed Marvel Films could, in fact, make mistakes as Wright had been working on the Ant-Man script for years, even predating 2006's Iron Man, which proved to be the beginning of the superhero film renaissance.
Fast forward to last night when the first official trailer for Ant-Man premiered during Agent Carter last night. In a word, the Ant-Man trailer is underwhelming. Whereas every Marvel film up to this point had a sense of spectacle, character, and excitement, the trailer lacks every element that has helped Marvel films dominate Hollywood year-in and year-out. True, such judgment shouldn't be cast based on an introductory trailer, but it's hard to imagine that the film we'll ultimately see this July can replace what Wright had originally envisioned.
The media blitz for Ant-Man begins now and will continue to bombard us with trailers, images, posters, and more until the film's release on July 17th.
Geoff's Top 10 Trailers of 2014
2014 was one of my favorite years of moviegoing, played in no small part by attending my first Sundance. While I watched less films this year overall than I have in my four years of officially being part of the film community, I still watched more than my fair share of trailers. I know people that live for trailers; I also know people who refuse to watch them. Both groups have very valid reasons, with the former embracing the snippets of story and style to help determine their film choices amidst the world of ever-increasing ticket prices, and the latter wanting to enter the film experience full of surprise and intrigue. Listed over the next few pages are some of my personal favorite trailers of 2014. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I did.
[Trailer] It Follows
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While watching this trailer for It Follows, something dawned upon me: There really is a strong, visible connection between sexuality and horror films that I never noticed before. Whether it's playing on the genre's kitschy history or something much deeper and intuitive, horror films always have sex play into the film's plot in one form or another. By first appearance, It Follows takes the element and crafts the entire film around sex and adolescence.
Maika Monroe stars as a teenager who loses her virginity to a stranger. Following the event, she begins to have nightmares and visions of someone (or something) constantly following her. As is narrated in the trailer, "Somebody gave it to me, and I passed it to you. [...] All you can do is pass it along to someone else." Without putting too much judgment on the film (given this is just a trailer), It Follows could shape out to be an allegory for unprotected sex and STDs. Whatever it may be, it has me excited to find out more.
It Follows will be released in American theaters next March following its screening at next month's Sundance Film Festival. You can read the film's mini-synopsis below.
After a strange sexual encounter, a teenager finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her.