Teaser Trailer for BUMBLEBEE Starring Hailee Steinfeld

The first trailer to a movie I really can't believe was greenlit, sent through to production, and is now ready to be released has been released and, to my surprise, looks much better than I would have ever expected. After last year's massive drop-off in returns for Michael Bay's fifth Transformers film, The Last Knight, it would seem Paramount and Hasbro might collectively be trying to figure out what to do with the future of this franchise and to be fair, they probably are as Bumblebee was already in production when The Last Knight, for lack of a better term, tanked last year. Just as a reminder, The Last Knight garnered a worldwide total of "only" $605 million while the previous two installments had amassed over a billion a piece. That said, for the first time in the franchise's history the studio and toy brand are bringing in a different creative head to put together a Transformers-based film and it is in this that we find hope in a new live-action Transformers feature for the first time in over a decade as the last time I remember being genuinely excited for one of these things was for that of the first sequel in 2009 and we all know how that turned out. With Bumblebee, the studio appointed LAIKA CEO and director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) the man for the job while giving the screenwriting gig to a single writer in Christina Hodson (Unforgettable) rather than handing it over to a writers room tasked with plotting out an entire series of films. With these factors in place and the first trailer now having been released it can't help but feel as if this is a much smaller film with lower stakes if not still including some fantastical action sequences in the vein of something like Iron Giant (there are some serious Iron Giant vibes to be taken away here). Heading all of this up in front of the camera is Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) who consistently seems to be improving her brand/public persona and while this might have initially felt like a step back for the actress and singer if she and Knight can put their own unique and compelling mark on the property I look forward to seeing where this invigorated franchise could go from here. Bumblebee also stars John Cena, Pamela Adlon, Kenneth Choi, Megan Pryce, Martin Short, and opens on December 21st, 2018.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Review

Just because a film depicts the excess of its main character doesn't necessarily mean the film itself falls under those qualities, right? Sure, many movies make it easy to relate much of a films overall tone and attributes in a way where one can speak unanimously about the main character and the film itself, but the big question with Martin Scorsese's latest is does he allow his film to fall into the trappings of the same temptations and indulgences his protagonist does? For the most part I would say the answer is a solid no. There is no way to look at the film and really get the sense that what the director and his now five time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio are doing here is glorifying a man who doesn't deserve to ever have his name spoken in good regard again, not to mention in such a high profile film that numerous people will see and wonder how we'd even allow a dirtbag like this to seep into our competent consciousness. The reason why we don't mind watching this despite the unjust attention it will draw to the main character, why we find the tragic tale of someone like Jordan Belfort so intriguing is because he seemingly had everything anybody could want in order to experience a satisfying existence on this earth, but couldn't step back and appreciate how far he'd come, no, he always kept his eye on the future and how far he still felt he had to go. The Wolf of Wall Street can be an excessive film, it had a strong stopping point just after the two hour mark that would have made for a more than satisfying experience and would have allowed it the convenience of wrapping up the story with a few cue cards, but instead it continues on for almost another full hour hitting the narrative beats we've already seen before again only to result in conclusions we could have called the first time we got a real taste of just how far Belfort's greed, drug use and consistently unsatisfied carnal desires really went. Yet, at the same time it is very aware of itself and the point it intends to make. There are moments throughout the film where Scorsese hints at greatness, entire scenes even where you wish you could stay tucked in that little moment for a little bit longer while others go on for far too long and rather than re-enforce the throughline plot or contributing to character development, stand as evidence that more time was needed to fine tune the film. This is by no means a disappointment, as it is a strong film with easily the best performance of DiCaprio's illustrious career, but it is not the coherent masterpiece individual aspects of the ensemble piece hint it very well could have been.