New Trailers 27 | Antebellum, Black Widow and No Time to Die
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 – No Time to Die, Dir Cary Joji Fukunaga
An emphasis on practical stunts, some genuine humour, an engaged present Daniel Craig and an interesting roster of supporting actors – now that’s what you want in a Bond movie. Thankfully these elements are present in the teaser for the 25th entry in the franchise No Time to Die, which looks like a course correction following 2015’s overlong, annoyingly nonsensical (almost impressive given the series) dud Spectre.
Despite filmmaker Danny Boyle’s late exit from the upcoming movie, none of the behind-the-scenes troubles are reflected in this fast-paced muscular trailer. Now under the helm of Cary Joji Fukunaga (Maniac, True Detective) you can be sure No Time to Die will have one thing – a very complex, cool unbroken tracking shot.
2. Black Widow, Dir Cate Shortland
Following the pretty underwhelming send off she received in Avengers: Endgame, it’s great to see Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow get the stand alone film she’s long overdue. Set some time prior to Captain America: Civil War, this upcoming entry in the MCU finds the Avenger / former KGB assassin confronting a threat with a link to her past. In order to fight it, she must re-team with her old ‘family’ (including the great Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz, alongside a ridiculously dressed David Harbour).
If Ant-Man is a heist film, Guardians of the Galaxy a space opera, Spider-Man: Homecoming an 80’s high school movie – Black Widow looks like a relatively grounded Bourne-style espionage thriller. With Aussie filmmaker Cate Shortland behind the camera (we at Headstuff were big fans of her previous movie Berlin Syndrome), this could be an exciting step forward for the MCU.
3. Antebellum, Dir Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz
Before the teaser for Antebellum dropped, the film wasn’t on many’s radar. Now that it has, I imagine for a majority of horror fans it’s one of their most anticipated movies for 2020. It centres on successful African American author, Veronica (the always great Janelle Monae). She finds herself transported back in time to the US pre-Civil War.
The feature length debut from pair Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz – who made their name with various cause-based short films and music promos – it shares producers with Get Out and Us, further suggesting Antebellum will be the latest in a wave of socially conscious horrors.
4. Emma, Dir Autumn de Wilde
A new adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic is coming to the screen again in 2020. While many may be rolling their eyes at yet another take on the same story, this one – based on the trailer – seems surprisingly fresh. Anya-Taylor Joy (Split, The Witch) stars as the title character, a wealthy aspiring matchmaker who finds herself in love with her best friend George (Johnny Flynn).
Another debut for a music video director – this time Autumn de Wilde – the new Emma looks like it boasts a modern energy. After all, the trailer consists almost entirely of perfectly symmetrical shots and gif worthy moments. This, along with its hip cast – including the great Mia Goth – suggests this adaptation will be anything but stuffy.
5. The Assistant, Dir Kitty Green
Documentarian Kitty Green (Casting JonBenet) makes her fiction feature length debut with this thriller ripped from the headlines. Ozark’s Julia Garner stars as Jane, a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer, who has landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. While the work appears normal at first, Jane slowly becomes aware of the abuse her boss is inflicting. A #MeToo thriller if there ever was one, from its trailer The Assistant feels like a new way of approaching a story people are all too familiar with.
6. You Season 2, Netflix
The story of how psychological thriller You became a global phenomenon says a lot about how people consume TV today. The series premiered on the Lifetime channel in the US and aired weekly, earning positive reviews but an underwhelming viewership. When people could binge watch it a few months later on Netflix, however, it became a surprise hit. Many became taken with the story of hot creep Joe (a very impressive Penn Badgley), someone who forms extreme toxic obsessions with women – using social media to track their whereabouts and eliminate any potential obstacles that stand in the way of him forming a relationship with them.
Following the events of season one, Joe has left NY for LA. Based on the trailer, the move seems like a smart choice for the show. One imagines Joe’s sardonic attitude to the emptiness of the modern age – as evident from his constantly crackling narration – will be juxtaposed effectively with the vapidness of life in the city of dreams.
Netflix also released a trailer for Messiah, their intriguing new series starring True Detective’s Michelle Monaghan. She plays a CIA agent obsessed with working out whether a man (Mehdi Dehbi) claiming to be a messenger from God is the real deal or a fraud. Watch the trailer here.
7. Avenue 5, HBO
Writer-director Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, The Death of Stalin) makes his first foray into sci-fi with Avenue 5. Starring Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad as captain and owner of a space craft designed for off-Earth tourism, the teaser sees Iannucci’s gift for funny fast-paced sweary dialogue still in tact, this time aided by a quirky fresh setting lavishly created.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emu0I2hNfUk
8. Hunters, Amazon Prime
Following roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Irishman, Al Pacino looks set to continue his late career renaissance with Hunters, an Amazon Prime series executive produced by Jordan Peele. Pacino plays Meyer Offerman, the Jewish leader of a diverse band of Nazi Hunters living in 1977 New York City. The Hunters have discovered hundreds of high ranking Nazi officials are conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the U.S. Now tell me – who in their right minds could be against a fantasy show where Jews hunt down Nazis in bloody splattery fashion?
9. Seberg, Dir Benedict Andrews
Kristen Stewart plays Breathless star Jean Seberg in this thriller centring on the FBI’s surveillance of the actress on account of her associations with Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie), an African-American activist.
The one film on this list I’ve seen – I attended the premiere at Venice Film Festival this year – I was disappointed with Seberg. It’s a movie which takes a fascinating true story and retells it in a paint-by-numbers fashion – including through the use of one of the most ridiculous composite characters (played by Jack O’Connell) I’ve seen in a docudrama in a long time.
That said, for those that don’t know the story of Jean Seberg, this biopic/thriller may be of some interest. Plus, Stewart does give a typically brilliant performance as an actress uncomfortable in the limelight, her casting even quite meta given both Seberg and Stewart – following some negative attention – went to France to make films, earning critical respect for their work there.
