This week's trailer roundup is a delectable grab bag! Super heavyweights like Marvel, the Terminator franchise and—most notably—Star Wars gave us more to look forward to, and a small litter of artful festival babies added some lovely texture to an otherwise silky smooth VFX-packed experience. Oh, and did we mention Star Wars? Because, Star Wars. It. Looks. Amazing. But it doesn't take a big budget to secure big talent, so look for major players like Michael Caine, John C. Reilly, Vincent Cassel, and Harvey Keitel in the little-movies-that-could entries as well. Whether you like your art high, low or somewhere in between, we've definitely got something to suit your fancy in this weeks pre-movie mix.
When asked if he had watched the new Force Awakens trailer at his desk last Thursday, WIRED editor Jason Kehe responded, "I cried." Kehe's tears are justified, because if this Star Wars can live up to the promise of its early teasers fanboys and girls everywhere will be weeping (in a good way) in IMAX aisles across the country. You can read our wrap-up of the recent Star Wars panel here and check out screengrabs here. We've got you covered.
Pause at: 0:31, 0:42, 0:48, 1:06, 1:09, 1:11, 1:13, 1:16, 1:19, 1:20, 1:21, 1:27, and 1:36 to make your heart explode.
Essential Quote: "Chewie, we're home."—Han Solo (Harrison Ford)
We already gave you our initial reaction to the trailer that director Zack Snyder dropped on Friday, but in case you forgot here's the gist: Ben Affleck with a 5 o'clock shadow, Henry Cavill looking heroic, Batmobile, explosion, explosion, etc.
Pause at: 0:57 for some pretty damning graffiti. 1:02 for Batfleck. 1:26 for Batmobile. 1:37 for Batman v Superman.
Essential Quote: "Tell me, do you bleed? You will."—Batman (Ben Affleck)
What, you thought you were done getting blockbuster trailers? Nope! Fantastic Four showed up on Sunday a little tardy to the party, but still coming on strong. This clip gives a lot more than the previous teaser and shows that these fantastic four might actually have some personality. Oh, and we also get some Doctor Doom. You had our curiosity, Fantastic Four, but now you have our attention.
Pause at: 0:44 for some shade from Sue Storm (Kate Mara). Serious transformations at 1:27. 1:54 for some Human Torch. 1:58 for Doctor Doom. The Thing looks pissed at 2:14.
Essential Quote: "We should use these powers to help people."—Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan)
What's that you say? We get more plot details in this Terminator trailer? Fantastic! This new spot gives us a tiny bit more of a look at the relationship between Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and her longtime terminating companion (played, as always, by Arnold Schwarzenegger), and also unveils one hell of a twist. We won't spoil that here, so just get to watching.
Pause at: 0:08 and 0:21. San Francisco just can't catch a break lately. Stop at 0:27, 0:52, 1:09 for machine coolness. Potential Easter egg at 1:16. Stop at 1:31 for the TWIST and 1:57 for the new enemy. Wayback playback Arnold is pretty legit at 2:11. Normal Golden Gate Bridge sightseeing stuff at 2:26.
Essential Quote: "I'm not machine. I'm not man. I'm more."—John Connor (Jason Clarke)
This new Ant-Man trailer gives us everything we pined for in the first one: our first long look at Yellowjacket, more of Paul Rudd's dry humor, more shots of the Ant in action and more face time with Evangeline Lilly, who fortunately seems to be continuing her streak of playing characters that could beat the hell out of you. Here's hoping we can get some Lilly in Fast and Furious 8 as the next badass woman to engage in an extreme fight sequence with Michelle Rodriguez. That's a Lost reunion we'd pay IMAX money to see. Oh and also, isn't this Ant-Man movie starting to look really good, you guys?
Pause at: 1:17. Ant pack strong. Teeny tiny hero at 1:24 and 1:27. Yellowjacket rising at 1:45! A bee punching an ant at 1:55.
Essential Quote: "I'm Ant-Man. I know. It wasn't my idea."—Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Rudd)
We've already told you about Dope and posted its first great trailer, but now with the second one, you can get a better feel for the characters. Seriously, we're just so ready to see this movie again.
Pause at: 0:20 for the coolest kids. Stop at 1:13 for the problem. Haha hi, Blake at 1:24. Principal Rick Fox at 1:34.
Song: Kendrick Lamar, "i"
Essential Quote: "All we gotta do is find the white people—Coachella, Lollapalooza."—Diggy (Kiersey Clemons), on how to sell party drugs
Wait, Bella Thorne dies in this, like, immediately? Does that mean she'll be getting the Lilly Kane treatment and pop up as a constant flashback character and/or apparition? Only time will tell, but let's hope this MTV repackaging of Wes Craven's slasher masterpiece can live up to the meta standards of its origin property. We want to stay optimistic, but Gale Weathers, we miss you already.
Pause at: 0:11. Tyler won't make it tonight. Doesn't quite look like Ghostface at 0:49.
Essential Quote: "You can't do a slasher movie as a TV series."
If you're in need of a superhero detox (we're not, but it's your life so do what you want) this trailer for Youth (aka The Early Years) looks like a fantastic little cinematic juice cleanse. Apparently Michael Caine plays retired orchestra composer named Fred, and while on holiday with his daughter (Rachel Weisz) and her friend (Paul Dano), he is invited by Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday. Just on paper that sounds like a pretty boring if lovely cinematic experience, but this trailer bleeds with surprising amounts of style and tension. The film's director, Paolo Sorrentino, took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with The Great Beauty in 2013, and he's assembled a knockout cast of actors here, including Harvey Keitel and Jane Fonda, to bring this one home.
Pause at: 0:13, 0:15, 0:18, 0:27, 0:33, and 0:39 for moody pretty pictures.
Song: David Lang, "Just (After The Song of Songs)"
Essential Quote: "You're right. Music is all I understand."—Fred (Michael Caine)
Because having a constant stream of Liam Neeson-style revenge movies has raised our tolerance level to addiction status, we need to get our genre fix anywhere we can find it. This Greek movie about a jazz club owner who owes money to Romanian gangsters, and must resort to extreme measures to solve his problems in the next 32 hours, looks like just the ticket.
Pause at: 1:37. For the sake of whoever owns those feet, hopefully that isn't their blood. That doesn't look like recreational late-night shoveling at 1:40.
Essential Quote: "The world's turned on its head, and I'm turning with it."—Stelios (Stelios Mainas)
Well hot damn! That's about as creepy as a trailer can be considering almost nothing happens ... almost! Blumhouse is back at it again with this latest mini-budget horror romp, which allegedly got greenlit after its directors posted some footage on YouTube that the folks at Film 360 liked so much they got Jason Blum to produce a full-length version of the material they found. What a feel-good story! Well, the making-of anecdote is a feel-good kind of story. The part where a bunch of high school students get hunted down while putting on a play is a definitive feel bad experience.
Pause at: 0:16, 0:44, 1:02, and 1:15. Eesh!!!
Essential Quote: *slow weeps*
What the hell is going on here?! People are eating giant hearts. Salma Hayek is chasing a frightened albino man through a maze. There are weird monsters scattered about. John C. Reilly is here. If you're familiar with the fairy tales of Giambattista Basile, you'll probably recognize some of this stuff, because this is apparently an adaptation of various stories he wrote. Or it's just a bunch of hot crazy that reminds us a lot of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This doesn't have US distribution yet, but we're hoping that changes very soon.
Pause at: 0:15, 0:18, 0:32, 0:42, 1:01, 1:04, and 1:50 for your guess is as good as ours!
You wouldn't know it from this trailer, but Devil Town is about what happens when a young woman's sister goes missing and she sets a course to Brooklyn to find her. There's probably something to do with cult activity, and if you believe the title cards here there's also: Murder! Mystery! Madness! Mass Hysteria! Mayhem! Mind Control! And Mania! And if you follow the independent film beat, you'll be interested in knowing that Sophia Takal, Lindsay Burdge, Alex Karpovsky, Lawrence Michael Levine, Brooke Bloom, Alex Ross Perry, and Noah Gershman all appear in Devil Town, too. So much hip.
Pause at: 0:11 and 0:22 for ... cult stuff?
Song: Miles Davis, "On The Corner"
