Men, Women, and Children: First up is Men, Women, and Children starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Emma Thompson, and Ansel Elgort of Divergent fame. It is also being directed by Jason Reitman of Juno and Up in the Air fame. I have become quite fond of Reitman's work and I am really looking forward to this one coming out. Another reason I am intrigued is the story which deals with how we are glued to social technology and the film even has what people are writing over their heads. I think that is fascinating. Plus, I would love to see Adam Sandler potentially make a great movie again and I could forgive him for some of the last films he churned out in the past few years. Overall, this is high on my watch list.
Theory of Everything: Next is the trailer for the upcoming Stephen Hawking biopic Theory of Everything. Now, this one isn't very high on my watch list. Not necessarily because it is another biopic, but watching the trailer makes the film seem like A Beautiful Mind 2.0. I wasn't overly fond with A Beautiful Mind and who knows if I'll be overly fond of this one. It does have some great people in it like Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Thewlis aka Professor Lupin from Harry Potter, and Emily Watson. If the film does get plenty of Oscar heat and nominations in the different guilds, I'll give it a watch, but if not, I'll look elsewhere.
The Imitation Game: Next up is Harvey Weinstein's potential major Oscar player The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Now, before I saw the trailer and heard about this film, I thought to myself "Oh boy, more Oscar bait". But after seeing the trailer, my opinion slightly differentiated. I am not super excited about it, but I'm not like "Oh, heck no". I do think Benedict Cumberbatch is a terrific actor and I'm sure he will be superb. But, like with Theory of Everything, I'll wait for the guilds to make their decisions before I check it out so that when nomination day comes out, I'll have had plenty of work done.
Maps to the Stars: Next is the trailer for the indie Maps to the Stars starring Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, and Mia Wasikowska. Quite a cast, I might add. I know that Robert Pattinson gets a lot of crud for obvious reasons (*cough* Twilight*cough*), but I am willing to give him a chance outside of that franchise. Plus, the film has David Cronenberg (Videodrome, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises) behind it and I am quite fond of his work. I am also a Julianne Moore fan and while it was announced she won't get a huge Oscar push, I will still potentially check this out if it plays anywhere near me.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Next is the trailer for The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy. Originally this film was split into two parts called Him and Her but were mashed together into a film called Them. I am not sure whether to watch the original parts or Them, but I know I am unsure about watching this film. It doesn't look horrible yet I can't make out exactly what it is about nor do I think this has a whole lot of originality, but that's just my opinion. Jessica Chastain is a brilliant actress and one that I hope is bound of Oscar glory but who knows if this'll be the film that'll take her there.
Trash: Lastly is the trailer for Trash starring Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen. While Theory of Everything feels like A Beautiful Mind 2.0, Trash feels like a mashup of past Oscar films. It looks like City of God meets Slumdog Millionaire meets The Help. The opening of the trailer has one of the three children explaining his story to the white female, played by Rooney Mara, and I just couldn't help but think of The Help which had the struggling maids explaining their story to the central white protagonist. I worry that it'll feel like another one of those "whitey saves all" movies which I am not overly fond of. So, it's safe to say that, despite the casting of Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen, I am going to "toss" the opportunity to see Trash.
For the first time, I will use a special rating scale to rate my excitement for each film based on their respective trailers with the use of different phrases: Gotta See It means 5, More Than Likely means 4, Eh, You've Peaked My Interest means 3, Rental means 2, NO! means 1.
Men, Women, and Children: Gotta See It!
Theory of Everything: Meh
The Imitation Game: Eh, You've Peaked My Interest
Maps to the Stars: More Than Likely
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Rental
Trash: NO!
So, that was my 20th and special episode of Trailer Talk. Please feel free to write whether you are excited for these films or not in the comments section. As always, the next episode will happen when I have seen a bunch of new trailers on the Internet or when I see a new film in theaters (which might not be for a while since there is nothing playing this month). But until then, thanks for reading!
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