What do you get when you cross two love stories about scientists with a whole lot of crazy and a little bit of musical theater? Why, you get this week's round-up of movie trailers, of course! SpongeBob is a superhero walking on dry land. Japanese street gangs are fighting to the death while breaking into song. The Leftovers is being recycled as a Nic Cage movie, and a couple of scientists fall in love. The Comic-Con International high tide has finally ebbed, and now we settle back into the gentle flow of global cinema's mixed bag of offerings.
Here's your holiday season heavy-hitter! Chicago director Rob Marshall has taken on this Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim musical and stacked it with Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt, and more. If you love the fantastic, Into the Woods is tailor-made for you. It's got Rapunzel, Jack and his beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and her prince charming. James Lapine wrote the original stage script and also penned the screenplay, which tells the intertwining tales of its characters and the consequences of their many wishes and personal journeys. With all that firepower, and the fact that Marshall also directed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, this could turn into an over-full night of too many stars—or, it could work perfectly and be amazing. With the Meryl card in our hands, we'll stay optimistic and choose the latter.
Pause at: 0:18, 0:27, 0:34, 0:42 and 0:54 to play Favorite Fairytale Character bingo. Stop at 1:11 and 1:30 for a wonderfully witchy and wicked Meryl.
Essential Quote: "I wish..."—Everyone in this trailer
Look. Christian Bale is great. And Adam West was the first major household name in the Batsuit. But our Dark Knight hearts will always belong to Michael Keaton. He was the perfect balance of billionaire-philanthropist Bruce Wayne and mysterious vigilante. He just was the accidental heir to a massive fortune who looked like a totally unassuming normal guy that no one would suspect fights crime by night, but who also had enough of an edge to be keeping a massive secret. So to see him here in Birdman playing a washed up actor known for starring in three cheesy action flicks decades ago and making one last run at professional legitimacy and personal redemption just feels right. And the team on this production is stupid talented. It's directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful) and co-stars Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan, and Merritt Wever. The complete title of the movie is Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance and it looks dark and funny and thoughtful and out of its mind in the best way possible.
Pause at: 0:02 to ask yourself, "How, exactly, is Michael Keaton floating?" At 0:19 we see Keaton's Riggan Thomson in his Birdman glory days. Here's something we never knew we needed to see until now: Ed Norton and Michael Keaton in a shirts-and-skins wrestling match at 0:51. Every time a meteor is summoned to Earth, a Birdman get his wings. What is that at 1:39?!
Essential Quote: "Face it, dad! You're doing this because you're scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don't matter! And you know what? You're right. You don't!"—Riggan's daughter, played by Emma Stone
DirecTV is keeping their original program fires burning with its third drama Kingdom. The story centers on a family of MMA fighters and the gym owned by its patriarch, Alvy "King" Kulina (played by Frank Grillo). It looks intense, and the fun thing about DirecTV is that it has to care as much about censorship as HBO, so no punches get pulled (ba-dum ching!) in the name of the FCC. If you like men being men and gritty dysfunctional family drama, this looks like an enticing bit of TV, and it's got littlest JoBro, Nick Jonas, playing a jacked-up fighter whose star is on the rise. You had our curiosity, Kingdom, but now you have our attention.
Pause at: 0:07, 0:32, 1:18, 1:21, 1:24, 1:29, 1:31, 2:11, 2:22, 2:36 and 2:39—yes that is is a completely yoked Nick Jonas playing prize fighter Nate Kulina, son of Alvy. Ouch at 1:55!
Song: X Ambassadors and Jamie N Commons, "Jungle,"
Essential Quote: "You're creating this emotional clusterfuck that I can't untangle."—Lisa Prince, telling us we're in for some good TV
In case you missed WIRED writer Graeme McMillan making his case for why SpongeBob will be the best superhero movie of 2015, read his compelling argument here. We got to see this trailer at Comic-Con International before it went wide, and we honestly laughed out loud a few times. So maybe put that side-eye away for a moment and surrender yourself to the surreal, subversive world of Bob and his strange friends in Bikini Bottom. We're keeping an open mind, and hope you are too.
Pause at: 0:15 to catch a glimpse of pirate Antonio Banderas. Then go to 0:37 and 1:41 for some classic Patrick. Bikini Bottom turns into an apocalyptic hellscape at 0:54. At 1:11, 3-D IRL SpongeBob and friends show up! 1:16—Umm, Slash? Our heroes get the Marvel treatment at 1:53.
Song: Guns N' Roses, "Welcome to the Jungle"
Essential Quote: "With this magic book, any evil plan I write comes true. But to harness its power, I need the final page that is protected deep below the surface by one legendary hero."—Antonio Banderas as Burger Beard the pirate
Guys! We finally get to know the backstory for HBO's The Leftovers! Our prayers have been answered. Praise Nicolas Cage. OK, not really.
Pause at: Ladies and gentleman, The Cage at 0:17. 0:25—we're glad Chad Michael Murray has work. 0:41 and 1:10 sure look a lot like unnamed Rapture-like events. Jesus, take the wheel at 0:49! Totally sweet Rapture fallout at 0:58. And no, but seriously, at 1:21—is this just the Guilty Remnant?
Song: Civil Twilight, "Letters From the Sky"
Essential Quote: "It looks like the end of the world."&mdashUnnamed male voiceover
It's the story of Stephen Hawking and how he triumphed over massive physical impairments to find love and become one of the greatest minds in human history. How could we not?
Pause at: 0:17, 1:14, 1:33, 1:43, 2:01 to see Eddie Redmayne as a very convincing young Hawking.
Essential Quote: "There should be no boundaries to human endeavors. However bad life may seem, where there is life, there is hope."—Stephen Hawking, speaking through his computer
Another love story about scientists? And this one is pegged to the global standard kilogram?! Hollywood, your pandering to the community is getting shameless, and we accept!
Pause at: 0:43. Some people, like this skeptical airport security agent, just don't respect science! Do we spy the kilogram at 1:22?
Essential Quote:"Life's heaviest burden is to have nothing to carry."—Our lab technician protagonist
If Bollywood made its own version of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, but wanted to present it in the cultural context of Japan, we imagine it would look a lot like this. Ultra violent gangs battle each other on the mean streets of future-Tokyo with martial arts, gold-plated guns, and musical numbers.
Pause at: 0:26. It's just your average street gang fight with fireworks and hip-hopera! 0:55 looks like some Romeo and Mercutio business going on in Tokyo. It's getting real weird in here at 1:13, 1:23, and 1:25. We have no idea how this move at 1:27 is happening. 1:34—who brings a baseball bat to a sword fight?
Essential Quote: "Tokyo Tribe, never ever die!"—Singing gang members
The Scribbler (2014) Official Trailer - Click here for more free videosAny movie that dares make an ensemble out of Gina Gershon, Sasha Grey, Michael Imperioli, Eliza Dushku, Michelle Trachtenberg, Garret Dillahunt, and Katie Cassidy to bring the graphic novel The Scribbler by Dan Schaffer to life gets our attention. It's science fiction. It's psychological thrills. It's personality disorders. It's fun!
Pause at: The gang's all here! Stop at 0:21 for Gershon, 0:24 for Grey (in bunny ears!), 0:39 for Imperioli, 0:42 for Dushku, 0:45 for Trachtenberg.
Essential Quote: "The Siamese Burn. It burns away excess identities in patients with dissociative identity disorder."—Hogan (Dillahunt), describing a totally legit medical treatment
