New trailers: Wonder Woman 1984, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, In the Heights, and more

[Karlston]

New trailers: Wonder Woman 1984, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, In the Heights, and more

Someone explain why Ghostbusters is like this now

 

I recently saw Motherless Brooklyn, Edward Norton’s adaptation of the two-decade-old Jonathan Lethem novel about a private investigator with Tourette syndrome. I’ve never read the book, but from what I gather, the movie is an almost complete departure from the text outside of its core conceit.

 

Departing from the book isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Norton’s instinct to play up the noir elements makes for a fun, slapstick twist on the genre at points, and 1950s New York is a lot of fun to explore.

 

But the movie also feels a little hollowed out. Norton basically jams a tour through The Power Broker (the famously thorough 1975 biography of Robert Moses, which has nothing to do with Motherless Brooklyn) into the core of his adaptation, without much to say about it. It’s great historical drama, but it’s mostly used here to give the characters something cool to see and do. That story deserves a whole lot more attention than what it’s given.

 

Check out eight trailers from this week below.

 

Wonder Woman 1984

The first trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 came out this week, and it’s really all about highlighting how stylized and 1980s this thing is going to be. Seriously, I have almost no idea of what’s happening in the movie after watching this — this trailer is all about the vibe, and it looks like a lot of fun. The film comes out June 5th.

 

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

So listen, this looks like a perfectly nice movie. But I’m completely puzzled why this is what we’re getting after all the ridiculous hubbub over the last Ghostbusters. The last movie, from what I could tell, felt much like the original: four people, in New York, in a ludicrous comedy. This new movie is... weirdly serious? It feels like the Episode VII of Ghostbusters, ushering a new generation into a huge dramatic story. Except Ghostbusters is not a huge dramatic story, it’s a silly comedy! What is happening here? It comes out July 10th.

 

In the Heights

I’m not a huge fan of musicals, but even I have to admit this looks like a lot of fun. In the Heights is an adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway play, and it’s directed by Jon M. Chu, who was recently behind a small romcom you may have heard of, Crazy Rich Asians. It comes out June 26th.

 

Promising Young Woman

Emerald Fennell, who took over as Killing Eve’s head writer in season 2, is coming out with her debut feature film next year. Promising Young Woman taps into some of those same tones for a scary drama about revenge, which has Carey Mulligan playing a woman who, in seemingly a variety of twisted ways, takes down would-be rapists. It comes out April 17th.

 

The Witcher

Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher arrives at the end of the month, when we’ll find out just how much of an epic, Game of Thrones-eseque event the streaming service can turn it into. At the very least, the show looks like it’s bound to be visually impressive with the budget to do things on an appropriately huge scale. It comes out December 20th.

 

Curb Your Enthusiasm

There are two types of Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons: ones where Larry obnoxiously breaks social norms and we watch the fallout, and ones where Larry bumps up against norms in unexpected ways, highlighting just how weird they can be. I really think only one of these, the latter, makes for good seasons of the show — and there have been some excellent seasons. But I thought season 9 went too far in the “obnoxious Larry” direction, and it seems like season 10 is headed that way, too. I hope not, because Curb can be such a fun show to watch when it’s at its best. The new season starts January 19th.

 

Antlers

I didn’t include an earlier trailer for Antlers because the movie seems to be hitting a lot of very familiar horror beats. But you know, it seems to be doing a good job of it, too. The movie looks quiet and creepy, and who doesn’t love seeing a pained Jesse Plemons say something that he obviously knows more about than he’s letting on. The movie comes out April 17th.

 

Free Guy

I didn’t think this was a real movie when I first started seeing trailers floating around for it, because it just seems so much like a weird little joke Ryan Reynolds would make. But no... this is a movie. A real, complete movie about, basically, an NPC in a video game who becomes a real player, or something like that. The premise is strange and a little nonsensical. The entire thing is weird, really. I’m mostly sharing this out of morbid fascination. It’s coming to theaters? I don’t believe it. Supposedly it’s happening on July 3rd.

 

 

Source: New trailers: Wonder Woman 1984, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, In the Heights, and more (The Verge)