Pardon us. We're still trying to catch our breath after chasing down all the excellent trailers that dropped this week. New Pixar, new YA dystopia, new apocalypse porn, new Doctor Who and more and more and more! Bountiful as it was, though, we'd be lying if we said we've watched any of these trailers as many times in a row as the new teaser for Mad Max: Fury Road, which may have become the late-entry favorite for Trailer of the Year. So let's cut the build up. There's a lot of material here and you need to get started!
After watching this clip we wanted to file this under "Greatest Movie Ever Made" even though it's probably a little too soon to make that call. That said, we've got a feeling, deep in our bones, that this movie will be spectacular. George Miller looks like he's out for bloody vengeance, seeking to rain down hate on anyone who's dared make an "action" movie since he left the post-apocalypse behind. The Godfather of the original Mad Max trilogy has had a weirdly touchy feely resume since going beyond the Thunderdome 30 years ago. His last four projects have been: Lorenzo's Oil, Babe: Pig in the City, and two Happy Feet movies. Apparently, handling such sentimental fair has built a swirling tempest of rage inside Miller, because Fury Road looks like it's not just here to build on the steampunk hellfire deathrace legacy of the first three Max movies. The new Tom Hardy edition of Earth-gone-wrong wants to double down, take eight shots of Absinthe, and inhale a dozen rails of meth before plunging an adrenaline needle into its own heart. Considering we have computers now and they do everything, Fury Road and its very real explosions don't even feel possible. Who let this happen? Did Miller film on Mars? How many undisclosed on-set deaths will we hear about 10 years from now? This is horrible to say, but if the feature film is even half as good as these first two trailers, it might be worth whatever price was paid—in blood or treasure—to get it made. The only thing left to do between now and May 15th is build a screen big enough with definition high enough to do it justice. We'll be waiting.
Pause at: 0:32. Oh dear God. Pretty sure this is real at 0:57 and Miller filmed in space. This guy at 1:03. And this guy at 1:09! Nicholas Hoult with a very unwilling passenger at 1:22. Halloween costume idea at 1:26. Note the accessory at 1:31. Charlize Theron going Monster style at 1:35. Does it get any better than 1:45? Bringing a guitar to a butcher knife fight at 1:47.
Essential Quote: "Pick up what you can and run."—Imperator Furiosa (Theron)
All right. Here's the first full trailer for Shailene Woodley's second contractual obligation to the Divergent franchise, and as the burning-house-dream-sequence teaser suggested, movie Number Two is selling out hard as a straight up action movie. And you know what? We're OK with it. The first movie was just so flat, despite the best efforts of the whole talented cast, why not just pump the second one full of steroids and watch what happens? Also, it's admittedly been a while, but what the hell is that magical box in the trailer? Has Marvel buried an Infinity Stone in the Divergent series? Maybe we were just so tired of reading about the sensuality of Four's collarbone by the time the Insurgent book ended, we started skipping over details. In any case, this movie at least looks like it won't be boring, and that's a step up.
Pause at: 0:03. Can one of you guys explain what this is? 0:36 is a good look on Shai-Shai. How very Dauntless at 0:40. Wait, isn't that supposed to be Four's...never mind. We'll just say we're confused about 0:54. Menacing Jai Courtney might be the savior of these movies at 1:18. By our estimation, this Tris/Four sex at 1:57 is coming like a book early.
Essential Quote: "She's a perfect specimen."—Eric (Courtney)
Here's our first big look at Pixar’s next original feature from director Peter Doctor (Monster's Inc. and Up). This time around we get to look inside the mental operation centers (called Headquarters, appropriately) of each of our three principal characters—well, our three human characters, that is. The real stars of Inside Out, besides young Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), are the emotions that govern our everyday behavior, like Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black, obviously), Disgust (Mindy Kaling, double obviously), and Sadness (Phillys Smith). Riley's dad just got a new job out in San Francisco, which means the whole family has to relocate. And you know how it goes when you're a kid: new city, new house, new school. It's a tough road, and Riley's feelings are all out of sorts about it. Inside Out is the studio's first non-sequel since 2012's Brave, and only it's second once since Up in 2009, so it's nice to see the studio doing brand new material again, and we're hoping hard they can get back into Best Animated Feature territory this time around.
Pause at: 0:20 for mom Headquarters, 0:31 for dad, and 1:21 for Riley.
Essential Quote: "Make a show of force. I don't want to have to put The Foot down."—Dad's Anger
San Francisco just can't catch a break these days! OK, so this movie is about all of California (America?) crumbling into Earth's mantle, but still; the City by the Bay has become Hollywood's new favorite target to signify the end of life as we know it. Just this year we've seen Godzilla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the new Terminator trailer, and now this movie all threaten to either demolish or terrorize the Yay Area's treasured landmarks. Anywho, back to the matter at hand, which is The Rock as a rescue helicopter pilot named Ray on a mission to save his daughter from certain death after the famed San Andreas fault finally opens up and wreaks deadly havoc. Admittedly, this trailer looked a lot cooler before Mad Max came out and redefined molten-lava blooded badassery. But we still dig The Rock, and we definitely dig Carla Gugino (playing his estranged wife, Emma), so why not? Bring on the Big One. Also, high five to Alexandra Daddario, who's racking up the screen credits lately and proving that Texas Chainsaw 3D wasn't as big a bloodbath for her career as it was for her character.
Pause at: 0:38. There's never enough Carla Gugino. The titular fault at 0:48. Hoover damn at 1:40.
Song: The Mamas and the Papas, "California Dreamin"
Essential Quote: "Even though this is happening here in California, you will feel it on the East Coast."—Paul Giamatti's so-far unnamed character.
Wow. Welcome to heartbreak, everyone! Julianne Moore is one of the best actresses in the business. Full stop. You want crazy, funny, stoic, unhinged, sexually charged, rigidly chaste—just name it. Julianne "Goes Hard" Moore will be your mother, your sister, your best friend, your promiscuous aunt, and she'll turn in Oscar-caliber performances for each one. So, give her the space to play an esteemed academic with a beautiful family and Early-Onset Alzheimer's and she might just run away screaming with the Best Actress race. Still Alice, based on the book by Lisa Genova, will surely be life-affirming and beautiful, but more than that it will probably be damn sad! Remember Away From Her in 2007, starring Julie Christie? Even more sad than that! We'll tune in to have our hearts destroyed, but only because it's you, Julianne.
Pause at: 1:07 for the saddest reminder note. Tears continue at 1:46.
Essential Quote: "I can see the words hanging in front of me and I can't reach them, and I don't know who I am. And I don't know what I'm going to lose next."—Alice (Moore), killing us already
So this movie looks fascinating, and potentially very rough to get through. At face value, this is a some Homeward Bound business: a girl and her canine best friend (only friend) get separated when her dad leaves the dog to fend for itself in the middle of mostly nowhere. (We're going to assume her dad is a horrible person, because who does that to a dog??) Dog fights its way back to her or dies trying. The end. Well, this is a Hungarian movie, not some fluffy American hand-holding party, so it doubles as an allegory the for "political and cultural tensions sweeping contemporary Europe." according to its official description. So when Hagen, the discarded pup, sets out on his journey back to Lili, his devoted person, he amasses an army of other cast-off dogs to rise up against their oppressors (humans). If you can make it past the heart-wrenching The Fox and the Hound-esque scene where Hagen is left desperate, alone and afraid, this winner of Cannes' 2014 Un Certain Regard Award from director Kornél Mundruczó promises to be beautiful and thought-provoking and visually arresting once all those dogs start running the streets.
Pause at: 0:12 for this face! Start crying at 0:50. The revolution is on at 1:34. General Hagen at 2:01.
Essential Quote: "Most alarming is how the dogs aren't acting like animals, but like a well-organized army."—News reporter
Boy, oh boy! If you're a fan of musicals and Anna Kendrick, the end of 2014/start of 2015 is the best time of your life! Kendrick is barnstorming big screens these days thanks to her arsenal of acting and singing talents—both of which are top notch—and her latest starring songbird role comes by way of a stage production from composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown. Kendrick plays Cathy, a struggling actress who falls for Jamie, a novelist on the rise, and the story is told through intertwining timelines from the perspective of each character as they recount the span of their five-year relationship. We suspect this movie won't make new fans of musicals. If you love them; you'll love this. If you don’t, best to just steer clear. The natural progression of Kendrick's career arc, obviously, is her, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams playing members a multi-generational family on a journey to redemption. Maybe the musical sequel to last year's stage-to-screen prestige party August: Osage County? Just imagine: August: Osage County 2—When The Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Planes. Eddy Redmayne, where you at?1
Pause at: 0:23 for Kendrick's totally underrated cryface. So musical at 0:55. Whoa. Even more musical at 1:21!
Song: "I'm Still Hurting" as performed by Anna Kendrick, "Moving Too Fast" as performed by Jeremy Jordan, "A Summer In Ohio" as performed by Anna Kendrick, "Goodbye Until Tomorrow / I Could Never Rescue You" as performed by Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan
Essential Quote: "Son-of-a-bitch I guess I'm doing something right!"—Cathy (Kendrick, who's doing it all right)
This trailer gives us very little to go on, but that's where it excels! What's happening to this girl in the first cut? Where is she? What's happening to the next girl? Where is she?? Even the Sundance description of it is pretty vague, but Slashfilm had this to say: "The conceit here is relatively simple and brilliant. There's an unstoppable force that follows you. It always follows you. You could fly to the other end of the world and slowly, surely, it would just keep walking towards you. The only way to get it to stop following you is to have sex with someone. Then it follows them." So, that's pretty terrifying, and even more so since the cast is a bunch of newbies (Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe) who won't distract with their celebrity. We can't wait!
Pause at: 0:27. This girl is really alone! Stop at 0:57, 0:58, 1:02, and 1:04 for bleakness and fear.
Essential Quote: "Help ... HELP!"
Just ... Wow.
Pause at: 0:28. Then find out what Jesus would do at 0:41.
Song: Laibach, "Abuse and Confession"
Essential Quote: "AHHHHHHHHHHH!"—Jesus
If this story looks familiar, it's because you saw it already in the Academy Award-winning 2008 documentary Man on Wire, which told the true story of Philippe Petit. If you somehow missed out, here's what happened: In 1974, Petit performed an acrobatic high wire routine as he walked across the expanse between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. As in, he did a high wire routine 1,368 feet off the ground. And now Robert Zemeckis has teamed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Petit) and Ben Kingsley (Petit's mentor Papa Rudy) to tell the story once again, but with a big emphasis on the 3D/IMAX/visual effects. So, less like real life and more like hyper-real life. But if this is a character drama with JGL and Sir Ben on board, we have full confidence in their abilities to deliver.
Pause at: 1:38 for a terrible, terrible idea!
Tuck in the whole family for the annual Doctor Who Christmas special! This one has our Doctor trapped in an arctic base and, obviously, he's under attack from creatures not of this Earth. Who better to help kick alien ass and take names than Santa Claus??
Pause at: 0:19 for Santa the regulator.
Essential Quote: "Come on! It's Christmas, the North Pole. Who you gonna call?"—Doctor Who, summoning badass Santa
