New Trailers 17 | Avengers, Midsommar and The Legend of Cocaine Island
New Trailers on HeadStuff is the place to catch up on all the latest teasers released in the world of Film and TV. Stephen Porzio tells you what’s hot.
Most Anticipated – Midsommar, Dir Ari Aster
Wow. Writer-director Ari Aster looks to build on the promise of last year’s surprise hit Hereditary with another horror. Midsommar focuses on a couple (Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor) vacationing in a small Swedish village. There, a strange festival is about to take place.
This trailer is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It features images so strange and beautiful, one wonders how they will actually be explained in a narrative. The sun-drenched visuals are perhaps the brightest I’ve ever seen in a horror. Plus, that slow-rising, sinister chime heavy score is a real delight.
However, will Midsommar’s trailer be representative of the film itself? After all, Hereditary’s marketing leaned so heavily on Milly Shapiro’s daughter character. Those who’ve seen the film know how that worked out.
2. Booksmart, Dir Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde makes her directorial debut with Booksmart, which looks like Lady Bird crossed with Superbad. Starring Kaitlyn Dever (Detroit) and Beanie Feldstein (Neighbors 2), the film focuses on two best friends on the eve of their high school graduation. Believing they’ve wasted their time in school studying, they decide to let loose and party for one night.
The premise sounds fun and the trailer certainly makes Booksmart look smarter than most teen comedies. It doesn’t centre on sex crazed boys and references Susan B. Anthony. Compare it with the crass and creepy teaser for the Seth Rogen produced Good Boys, and the two seem worlds apart.
Side note though: can we stop using DJ Shadow’s ‘Nobody Speak’ in trailers please?
3. Avengers: Endgame, Dir Anthony, Joe Russo
Off the back of the tremendous financial success that is Captain Marvel (which is really fun), the newest trailer for the finale to the current MCU as we know it dropped. It doesn’t tell us anything we already didn’t know. It is very secretive in regards plot. All that said, its pretty strong.
It’s cool seeing Captain Marvel and Thor have a staring contest. The monochromatic Sin City-lite flashbacks to the first entries in the MCU feel nicely elegiac. The shot of Ant-Man looking at the missing posters recalls Damon Lindelof’s masterpiece of television The Leftovers. Given what went down in Infinity War, perhaps ‘Avengers: Leftovers’ would have been a more appropriate title.
Anyone who is into superhero movies will be going to see this film, regardless of trailers. So Kevin Feige, just hurry up and release it. That way, we can skip to seeing Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio in Spiderman: Far From Home.
4. Late Night, Dir Nisha Ganatra
Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling are the odd-couple duo society needs right now.
The Love Actually actress plays a waning late night TV presenter who is criticised for a lack of diversity in her show’s writing staff. In response to this, she hires Kaling’s character – eager to prove she is more than a token add. This looks fun and frothy, while also addressing contemporary conversations happening in the entertainment sector.
5. Don’t Go, Dir David Gleeson
Straight after pulling his own McConnaissance in True Detective season three, Stephen Dorff leads this Irish drama with a supernatural twist. He plays an American writer who moves to Galway with his wife (Melissa George) after the death of their daughter. Struggling to cope with the loss, Dorff’s character begins to have strange recurring dreams – taking him back in time to a seemingly innocuous day with his child. He begins to think these visions are a way he can save her from dying.
Having already seen Don’t Go at a press screening (a full review will be posted soon), this reviewer can confirm the movie is a melancholy mindbender. It is comparable in theme to Don’t Look Now and in plot to heady science fiction films like Source Code, Triangle or even Netflix’s recent Russian Doll. Some flaws aside, it’s another nice add to the Dorfaissance. See it in cinemas April 12.
6. The Limit Of, Dir Alan Mulligan
A week before Don’t Go, watch The Limit Of (out April 5) – another Irish film featuring actor Laurence O’Fuarain. He plays a successful thirty-something banker living alone and working in Dublin city at the tail end of the recession. When a family tragedy occurs due to the ruthlessness of his employer, he takes decisive action to make things right.
Receiving positive reviews on the festival circuit, this thriller looks impressive. The trailer shows off a side of Dublin not typically seen in movies. The capital looks dark and sterile, filled with reflective surfaces. For a timely drama about the greed of people in the higher echelons of Irish society, it seems a fitting choice.
7. The Legend of Cocaine Island, Dir Theo Love
What a title! This new Netflix documentary or ‘Southern Fairy Tale’ tells the true story of a small business owner in Florida who after hearing a story about a buried bag of cocaine gathered a crew to go after it. Featuring the real life subjects in reenactments of the events they previously participated in, this looks wild. Fans of hyper stylised crime films can see this March 29.
