First Trailer for ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP

Despite the fact it feels like we should have maybe received a sequel to Zombieland five or six years ago I remember feeling so bowled over by that first original feature to capitalize on the popularity of Walking Dead that I'm just happy they were able to get everyone back together for a sequel at all. This includes director Ruben Fleischer who made such a strong feature debut with the original Zombieland that I'm always optimistic his next film might deliver on that promise even if everything since has yielded fair to middling results. And while it's kind of crazy Zombieland: Double Tap exists in today's world given the caliber of the cast and the fact Emma Stone had seemingly resigned from broad comedies it's nice to see the ole' gang back together and each of them at least appear to be having a good time. In this decade-later follow-up (though it still remains to be seen if it's been a decade in the world of the movie as well) Jesse Eisenberg's Columbus, Woody Harrelson's Tallahasse, Stone's Wichita, and Abigail Breslin's Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family. While this new trailer largely looks like more of the same in a new setting it's kind of hard to expect anything more than that from a ten year-later sequel set around a zombie apocalypse. More importantly is the fact Fleischer and screenwriters Dave Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984) along with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland, Deadpool, Deadpool 2) seem to have been creatively invested in the property and have come up with a few gags that appear to deliver in the same way as the gags from the first while not relying on throwbacks to jokes from that first film. That said, Bill Murray is on the cast list for this thing along with Dan Aykroyd, so make of that what you will. More than anything though, I'll go into Zombieland 2 with the hope of simply having a good time with some old friends; I'm not expecting this thing to break any new ground or even be the funniest film I see all year, but if it has a good time with a premise and cast who we know can deliver as much then the wait will have been well worth it. Zombieland: Double Tap also stars Zoey Deutch, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Thomas Middleditch, Avan Jogia and opens on October 18th, 2019.

First Trailer for THE GOLDFINCH Starring Nicole Kidman & Ansel Elgort

Brooklyn was one of my favorite and, personally speaking, one of the best films of 2015. The Goldfinch is director John Crowley's follow-up to that film and needless to say, I'm excited. Based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Donna Tartt which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other honors. It should also be noted that this is the first film famed cinematographer Roger Deakins chose to shoot after his Oscar-winning work on Blade Runner 2049. While I haven't read the book I am extremely compelled to do so before the film premieres later this fall as it would seem the experience of having a greater depth of knowledge to the events set to take place would only enhance what will surely already be something of a deeply  moving experience. These indications are taken from this trailer alone as the structural beauty of it through which the narrative is hinted at and some of the shots that depict said narrative emotions seem completely in tune with one another to the point I can't imagine the complete experience of this film not turning out to be as effective as Crowley means it to be. Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars, Baby Driver) plays Theodore Decker, a young man who was even younger when he lost his mother in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While knowing nothing about the story The Goldfinch tells prior to seeing this trailer it seems much of the film will deal in Decker coming to terms with his loss. "When I lost her, I lost sight of any landmark that might have led me some place happier." This line of dialogue alone exemplifies the level at which we're operating here (the novel was adapted by Peter Straughan who doesn't have the greatest list of credits, but we'll see) as it is such a devastatingly sad, yet beautifully written line. Decker is taken in by a wealthy Upper East Side family, but soon finds himself descending into a world of crime. While this detail is beyond what is even hinted at in the trailer I'm curious to see if both the narrative itself as well as the finished film can live up to both the promise of this teaser as well as the beautiful imagery Deakins has captured here. The Goldfinch also stars Nicole Kidman, Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Ashleigh Cummings, Willa Fitzgerald, Aimee Laurence, Denis O’Hare, Boyd Gaines, and opens on September 13th, 2019.

BRAD'S STATUS Review

Writer/director Mike White (Chuck & Buck, School of Rock) has made a movie meant for the purposes of entertaining about a man who seethes with jealousy from the first frame and who reminds us and, more specifically, men of a certain age that time has or is running out. This isn't exactly the best way to get an audience who likely paid to see your movie on your side, but with the endearing presence of Ben Stiller serving as the conduit for White's exploration of middle age the well-regarded writer, who is only directing his second feature film with Brad's Status, is able to perform such explorations with such balance and well-defined introspection that the film mostly transcends its rather grim implications and is able to become one easily appreciated for its reassurance. Leave it to White, who has always excelled at crafting these kinds of human, but uncomfortably so, stories to make this reassurance not in the form of our titular protagonist finding and/or achieving what he so greatly craves for the majority of the runtime, but for discovering and realizing things he may not have considered prior. It's all about perspective and White chronicles these ideas and themes through Stiller's main character by giving him an abundance of internal monologue, but does it more convincingly by having Brad take part in actions that provoke the progression of these thoughts. Never does Stiller's Brad feel like little more than a man complaining for the sake of complaining, but rather Brad is a guy who is having a real crisis of identity. It would be easy to dismiss Brad's Status as another of those middle-aged white guys having an existential crisis movies and that's because it is, but there is something to Brad's Status that helps it rise above those kinds of dismissive criticisms by being the movie that acknowledges it's about white people problems and owns up to it. Everyone has problems, some obviously vary in degree of severity and repercussion size, but everyone has problems and issues they have to deal with and to each and every person each of their individual problems are as real as anything else. Brad takes real issue with the fact he feels he's cut himself short in this single shot at life he's been given and while White is keen to writhe just about every perspective out of this base of an idea he can what Brad's Status ultimately does is provide a way to navigate feelings of inadequacy and jealousy while coming to the realization that because everyone has their own problems that those who make Brad feel inadequate or jealous likely aren't aware of as much because they have their own things they're dealing with that their social media doesn't show.    

CONCUSSION Review

Concussion is a really solid movie that wants to be as important as the topic it’s discussing. The problem with approaching a film in this manner though, is that it immediately sets a precedent for the film to be as weighty and influential in its cultural impact as the topic it's discussing and Concussion simply isn't that. It will start conversations, sure, and if it does its job well enough it may even convert a few football fans to the belief there are serious long-run repercussions to playing the game, but as a piece of art or simply infotainment, is it as effective as it sets out to be? Sometimes. Through writer/director Peter Landesman (Parkland) the film has some really inspiring moments as it attempts to not simply irritate those who are huge fans of the sport, but attempts to logically explain why we need to step back and take a serious look at if the type of lifestyle these men experience down the road is worth a few hours of entertainment on Sunday. Other times, in between the scenes of Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) drawing some kind of scientific conclusion or making his case with an NFL board member, the film tends to have lull's that concern itself with a romantic subplot that doesn't connect or one too many time lapses that aren't clearly illustrated. Where the film does tend to stand out is in the scenes that feature Smith's protagonist pushing back against any force that comes between him and his research. If you've seen the trailer you've heard Omalu's speech about how America is the next best thing to heaven and that he was the wrong man to discover such a disease as his entire life he's dreamed of being an American. That, to have discovered a disease that more or less states human beings were never made to play football, makes him public enemy number one and it is in the face of this adversity that Smith and the film shine most.

First Trailer for THE RIDICULOUS 6 Starring Adam Sandler

After the success of Beasts of No Nation (it's been watched more than 3 million times in it's first ten days of release says Netflix) and on the same day that Pixels arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD the streaming service is ready to move on to it's next original film. The trailer for the first of four Adam Sandler films being made for Netflix, The Ridiculous 6, has debuted and couldn't be further from the tone of what Netflix's first original film offered. While Beasts was an intense thriller about child soldiers in Africa, this new Sandler comedy mainly concerns itself with spoofing The Magnificent Seven by featuring Sandler as Tommy “White Knife” Stockburn as a man who goes on an adventure-filled journey across the Old West with his five brothers when their long-lost outlaw father returns. Directed by Frank Coraci (Click, Here Comes the Boom) I have a bit more faith in the film because of his involvement rather than this simply being another Sandler collaboration with Dennis Dugan who tends to give Sandler his laziest results. The film generally looks like a big-budget summer Sandler flick which is exciting and the cast is beyond ridiculous. While we'll have to wait and see if the quality of the film is better than what the comedian has offered as of late on the big screen, this was without a doubt the smartest move Sandler could have made given his dwindling box office returns and that his films are largely comfort food anyway. The Ridiculous 6 also stars Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, Luke Wilson, Harvey Keitel and will be available to stream on Netflix starting December 11th beating the 70mm release of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight by two of weeks.

First Trailer for CONCUSSION Starring Will Smith

With less than two weeks until the start of the official NFL season Will Smith's latest movie is making the gutsy move of going up against it. It seems a strange thing to state given Smith is typically a media-friendly star, but with his latest role as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born neuropathologist who discovered Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) or “post-concussion syndrome” and unwittingly took on the NFL who used their power to discredit him, it seems things could get a little messy. Head trauma football players sustain has been something of a hot button issue for a while now and while the National Football League is a multi-billion dollar industry that would hate nothing more than it's cash flow to be hindered there is serious issue to be taken with the real price this money is being made at. As for the trailer itself, it will no doubt be difficult for some to look past that aforementioned persona that Smith carries so well to see his actual performance as Omalu, but the trailer makes it seem as if Smith might be putting his hat in the ring for a Best Actor nomination. Personally, I couldn't be happier Smith was able to squeeze this film in between the somewhat lukewarm reception Focus received earlier this year and the almost guaranteed hit that is Suicide Squad next year. This is exactly what his struggling career needed at the moment and if the final product is as engaging and complex as the true story it's based on we could potentially have something great here. Concussion also stars Alec Baldwin, Luke Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Arliss Howard, Paul Reiser, David Morse, Albert Brooks and opens on Christmas Day.