Trailing Off: The Week of the Endless Trailers (Part 2)

Scene from The Girl in the Spider's Web
Welcome to the sporadic column Trailing Off in which I take a look at a trailer from the past week and analyze its potential. This will be done using an obnoxious amount of analyzing and personal thoughts on the cast and crew as well as expectations. I will attempt to highlight films ranging from new blockbusters to lesser known indies and give them their due. Partially to spread awareness, I do believe that there is an art to the sell and will do my best to highlight why these trailers matter or don't with approval (trove) or disapproval (trash). So please stop by, recommend some trailers, and I will see you next time.

Starting on June 3, the week that followed produced an unfathomable amount of trailers for new movies. As much as I would love to dedicate an entire Trailing Off to each of them, it feels more productive to instead compile them into a singular entry. While there's no order to these, I will be critiquing them in the same fashion that I would the Super Bowl commercials, which seem weak by comparison. So without further ado, here's the week of endless trailers.

The Girl in the Spider's Web

While she has been an international icon for over a decade, Lisbeth Salander's stateside career hasn't been as hot. It's likely why it took awhile to get around to adapting the fourth book in the Millennium series, which is the first written since original author Stieg Larsson's death. With The Crown's Claire Foy filling in for everyone's favorite hacker, the story has all of the familiar dark notes in place and the sadistic vibe is on strong. It may not quite be as appealing as when David Fincher created a cold and calculated trailer set to "The Immigrant Song," but it's still effective in reintroducing a character that's likely to create an intense fancy when the film comes out. If nothing else, Foy has all of the chops in place and that's a good start.


Trove or Trash: Trove

Kidding

This may technically fall into the area of TV, but it does seem like a promising entry nonetheless. For the first time since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, director Michel Gondry teams with actor Jim Carrey on a series that looks to deconstruct the emotional struggles of a children's show personality. With all of the twee elements in place, it's everything that one would expect from their collaboration. It's not necessarily the most original or exciting premise, but there's enough there that could make for something interesting. Carrey's recent career hasn't necessarily been all that promising, so one could hope that bringing back Gondry will bring out something deeper and more exciting from inside of him.


Trove or Trash: Trove

Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-Verse

Considering that there was just a reboot of Spider-Man last year, it's weird to have yet another version out there. However, what makes this one particularly exciting is that it's an animated film that explores a world where there's a lot of people getting bit by spiders. It's doubtful that it's part of the MCU, but it does look to have a promising status as a standalone version for kids. If nothing else, it has some of the most charming and authentic takes on the character that has ever been seen on the big screen. It also helps that it looks for the most part like a comic book, and that is meant as a high compliment.


Trove or Trash: Trove

Bad Times at the El Royale

Following his Oscar nomination for The Martian, it's exciting to see Drew Goddard return to his realm of weird and abstract horror. It's hard to tell what's even going on in this film, but there's a lot on display with kooky promise. For a title as bold as that one, I can only hope that the film plays into Goddard's ability to mix humor, horror, and action in a way that makes for a good time. This trailer isn't lacking for personality and may be one of the few trailers that went from being unknown to being highly anticipated as a result of its effort. The cast is pretty interesting and diverse as well, suggesting that there's more where that came from.


Trove or Trash: Trove

Serenity (2018)

Yes, it's time for the other Matthew McConaughey movie of the week. This time he is back with Anne Hathaway on a story of planned murder. It's not necessarily the most exciting plot, but this is a strong example of how a trailer can be compiled to be more interesting. Using the percussive tricks from Dunkirk's marketing, it creates this pulsing worry of a plan that may or may not go wrong. The imagery is also staggering in a way that leaves a lot of mystery as to how this will happen. Again, it loses points for not being the most exciting premise, but it definitely is put together pretty well and elevates it from being just another mediocre movie.


Trove or Trash: Trove

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