New Trailers 28 | Promising Young Woman, Saint Maud and Tenet
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 – Tenet, Dir Christopher Nolan
A new film from Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception) is always going to be must see. So, fair play to the teaser for his latest Tenet for ratcheting audience expectation even further, while at the same time remaining elusive in terms of plot.
Based on the trailer, BlacKkKlansman lead John David Washington stars as a man who, after passing one of the tests to be a Kingsman apparently, is recruited to be some sort of special agent. It looks like the mysterious agency he and Robert Pattinson’s character work for use a strange form of time travel to combat world threats. Wide cinematic vistas, trippy visuals and a variety of Nolan’s frequent collaborators – Kenneth Branagh, Martin Donovan and Michael Caine in front of the camera, Hoyte van Hoytema on cinematography duties – means every person with a passing interest in cinema will be seeing this when it arrives in July 2020.
2. Saint Maud, Dir Rose Glass
Ari Aster with Hereditary, Robert Eggers with The Witch – it’s always exciting when a new filmmaker bursts onto the scene with a buzz worthy horror. Following on from the aforementioned is British writer-director Rose Glass with her new A24 thriller Saint Maud.
The film follows a pious nurse (Morfydd Clark) who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient (the great Jennifer Ehle). Seemingly a blend of a psychological thriller, supernatural film and body horror, Saint Maud will no doubt make for a creepy cocktail. Meanwhile, with Clark already set to appear in the upcoming Dracula and Lord of the Rings TV adaptations, she’s definitely a star on the rise.
PS – for the record, I would love an A24 stain glass window.
3. Promising Young Woman, Dir Emerald Fennell
It’s been a while since the phenomenally talented Carey Mulligan has been on our screens (the last film of her’s was Paul Dano’s Wildlife). As such, it’s great to see upon her return she will be playing such a fun, meaty role.
In Promising Young Woman, Mulligan stars as Cassie – a person whose life was derailed by a mysterious event. Traumatised, she seeks out vengeance against men who cross her path. The directorial debut of Emerald Fennell – who kept Killing Eve afloat after Phoebe Waller-Bridge left as head writer – her latest seems to retain the stylish sheen, sharp humour and feminist edge of her previous work. Also, it’s terrific to see Bo Burnham in such a major part.
4. Come to Daddy, Dir Ant Timpson
Elijah Wood stars as 30-something hipster, Norval, who travels to a remote cabin to reconnect with his estranged father. Things do not go according to plan. I saw Come to Daddy when it screened at this year’s Cork Film Festival. I can confirm it’s a wonderfully demented if scrappy in parts future cult-movie comedy-thriller. It benefits from an ingenious third act rug-pull, a host of insanely good performances from Wood, Martin Donovan, Michael Smiley and Stephen McHattie and a surprisingly effective emotional core. Under all its twists, outrageous gore and darkly comic barbs is a universally relatable tale on the awkwardness of a son getting real with his father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PITkX6Ymqo
5. The Woman in the Window, Dir Joe Wright
Originally meant to be released last September, we finally have a trailer for Joe Wright’s new thriller, penned by Tracy Letts and starring Amy Adams. The latter plays Dr Anna Fox, a woman with agoraphobia confined to her house. One night, she witnesses her neighbour from across the street and friend, Jane (Julianne Moore), being stabbed. However, when the police arrive, Jane’s husband (Gary Oldman) says his wife is fine, introducing Anna and the cops to another woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh). This mysterious person claims she is the real Jane.
A contemporary updating of Rear Window, with added intrigue and twists, The Woman in the Window looks promising. However, the film’s delayed release and the fact that Tracy Letts has said there have been rewrites and re-shoots without his involvement perhaps is a cause for concern.
6. In the Heights, Dir Jon M. Chu
A feature version of the Broadway musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights focuses on a bodega owner (rising star Anthony Ramos) who has mixed feelings about closing his store in Washington Heights, New York and retiring to the Dominican Republic after inheriting his grandmother’s fortune. Directed by John M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians and the Step Up franchise, this adaptation looks filled to the brim with charming characters, toe-tapping tunes and vibrant visuals.
7. We Will Sing, Dir Scott Altman
In a new fly-on-the-wall live docu-gig produced to help raise funds for Peter McVerry Trust and Simon Communities, director Scott Altman presents what happened three years ago, when Dublin music venue Whelan’s closed its doors on Christmas Eve, only for the mother of all impromptu sessions to unfold. Participating artists included Oscar winner Glen Hansard, Hudson Taylor and Mundy.
The full film was released yesterday (December 23) at wewillsing.ie and on YouTube and is free to view. Viewers though are encouraged to make a donation to Simon Communities or Peter McVerry Trust, to help in the fight against homelessness.
8. Free Guy, Dir Shawn Levy
I admit the Free Guy teaser could have been higher on this list were it not for the lingering bad taste of the latest Ryan Reynolds vehicle 6 Underground (which HeadStuff writer Andrew Carroll rightly tore into here). Not helping matters is the film being another story of a boring white man held up as a special saviour, helped by a bad-ass woman who really should be the central hero. Still, the below trailer does feature some solid gags, impressive visuals and Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer. It could be worse.
9. Downhill, Dir Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
From the Oscar-winning screenwriters of The Descendants comes this remake of acclaimed Swedish drama Force Majeure. Like the original, Downhill centres on a couple (Will Ferrell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus) whose relationship is on the rocks. This is because when on a skiing holiday with their kids, the father instinctively abandons his family when a minor avalanche occurs.
Unsurprisingly, Downhill looks a lot less spiky than its source (I doubt Ferrell will bring the same awkwardness to the moment in Force Majeure when the father breaks down and weeps on the floor as his wife looks on detached). That said, the original’s story is at its heart very funny, something which could be emphasised more in a remake. Meanwhile, the Swedish movie’s tale of crisis in masculinity could be adapted rather well in the US.
10. Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Dir Jason Reitman
This is a totally bewildering teaser. It was already expected that Sony would cave to sexist trolls on the internet and forget that female Ghostbusters in 2016 ever happened – similar to how the latest Star Wars sidelines Kelly Marie Tran. Still, I at least expected them to make a comedy. This looks like a Stranger Things homage, one seemingly oblivious to the fact that the original was so impressive at its time because it mixed humour with sci-fi and horror.
