"What business is it of yours, where I'm from.
Friendo."
PINNED: this newsletter started as a way to highlight movies coming to theaters (see: the name). Then, "the bullshit" happened. And I started featuring movies in theaters, VOD or streaming (see: the +). Point is, if there's a movie worth checking out, you'll probably find it here.
So, fun fact about me, I'm a (very) big Ryan Reynolds fan. As in, I own DVD copies of his "hit" TV show, Two Guys and a Girl and a Pizza Place - later changed to Two Guys and a Girl because duh - and only purchased them after Deadpool became a massive hit, because they didn't exist before that. Trust me, I looked (and then torrented). I also hosted a ten year anniversary party for his "hit" movie Just Friends back in 2015. We watched it twice that night.
Point is, I'm a fan, and thus I'm a bit biased. So while I'll try and say what I'm going to talk about next is not colored by that bias, I welcome the skepticism.
The lede I'm burying here is, I think the way Reynolds markets his movies (and things he's involved with in general) is extremely smart. Now, this isn't a new thought, he has lots of fans in this area. But I wanted to lay out why I think that.
It's not just that I think his movies themselves are funny, and thus his trailers are (though that can also be true). It's that he essentially makes ads for his movies. Not trailers. Ads. (the distinction: trailers = mostly footage from movie. Ad = mostly not footage from movie) And they're good ads. You want to watch them. And I think that's because he treats them as if they're as valuable as trailers themselves. Which, I would argue, most movie marketing does not.
Now, he's not the only entity doing things like this, not by any means (see: Red Bull, Nike etc.). But he is rare (although not entirely without company) in the movie world. While there are the interviews and magazine covers, behind the scenes pieces etc., the trailer is the real way movie studios try and get you to be in or out. But when you have Deadpool & Korg reacting to the Free Guy trailer? It just makes Free Guy even funnier by association. That video got 12.6 million views. And that's millions more than even a decent trailer release usually gets.
Reynolds really started it with Deadpool where he created a crazy amount of ancillary content - including a PSA on testicular cancer that got 2.6 million views, a David Beckham apology video (11 million) and on and on.
And to be fair, he has to have the studio behind him to do these pieces, but from all accounts, he's the push.
It's easy to explain it away by saying it's Reynolds, or it's because it's comedy, and it wouldn't work with other actors / genres, blah blah. I think that's lazy. Reynolds may have it so locked in it it'd be hard to top him, but there is still plenty of room to market a movie outside of the trailer that will generate genuine interest in it. Or at least I think so. 😅
So when you watch the next trailer for a movie you're interested in, maybe think about what they could do that would make you interested in that movie without that trailer. Would be curious what you'd come up with.
Oh, unbeknownst to me, although I have since become beknownst'd, this week is feel good week at What's In Theaters (+). That means if you choose to watch any of the three featured movies, there's a real good chance you'll come away with those positive vibes. So if you're feeling down in the dumpsties, take a read, take a pick, and pick your nose. Wait, shit, scratch that third one. Ugh. Anyway, enjoy!
Extra Credit: there's a sequel to the 2016 horror movie Don't Breathe. It's called Don't Breathe 2.
The Flix is also dropping their The Fugitive like, but set in Europe, movie Beckett, which stars John David Washington (and Alicia Vikander, but in a supporting role). Beckett has some reviews and they're fairly just ok, but it doesn't look bad, just maybe lacking a certain something.
(from top, left to right)
FREE GUY: Lots of people have thought (including you? me?), "What if I'm special. What if there's something different about me?" Call it The Matrix effect (highlighted to disturbing effect in this year's Sundance movie A Glitch in the Matrix), or maybe more pertinently here, The Truman Show notion. Cuz how cool would it be to be "the one" you see in all the movies?
Now, that's pretty heady shit for a movie where most people who watch it will guffaw as they nosh on their snacks, loudly proclaim "That was a good movie. I liked it," as they leave the theater to no one in particular, only to rage honk at someone in the parking structure and forget all about this Ryan Reynolds product. Because, at the end of everything, it is a product, something the movie not only looks to admit, but be almost proud of. Rather than avoiding reality, Free Guy is one of those modern movies that's self-aware in it's effort to please us, but don't expect cynicism here.
That's because while you and I have been granted full-awareness of this whole product-movie situation, our our protagonist, Guy, has not been. See, Guy (Reynolds), is a dude who isn't really a dude, he's lines of code (although he also plays Dude). And his code denotes him as a NPC, a Non Player Character in a video game a la Grand Theft Auto or Fotnite. He's the background. Where everyday is the same. Robberies, beatings, muggings, ya know the yoozh.
Until one day, Guy decides, I don't wanna be the background anymore, and steps right into... "the foreground?" Yup, you nailed it. 💫
It sets off a whole adventure where Guy has to get the girl who inspired his endeavor, played by Jody Comer (from Killing Eve), take on the maniacal douchebag game developer (Taika Waitit) trying to shut him down in order to launch the sequel.
And while I mention The Truman show, don't expect that deep of a drama, or the intense action of The Matrix, or even the aww-gee shucks level of Ted Lasso (see below). Just imagine all three of those things thrown into one movie, along with a bunch of video game references, easter eggs, cameos and probably most importantly, Ryan Reynolds' wit (without the Deadpool snark). I wouldn't think about it too much beyond that.
And if it even inspires you a bit with it's live your life your way mantra, j
Vibe: meta Ted Lasso mashed with The Truman Show sprinkled w/ a dash of the Ryan Reynolds special sauce (...don't go there)
Out Friday
Watch Theaters Only
The Trailer | 1 hr 55 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: 85%
RESPECT: This movie is about Aretha Franklin. But this movie is not Aretha Franklin. Not that it claims to be, it's just always something to remember when approaching a biopic - the movies that aim to encapsulate a person's life (or portion of it) in the time it takes to move from the end of the line at the Los Angeles DMV department, to the middle of it (note: two and a half hours. second note: you think I'm joking? third note: I am not.).
So, with that in mind, we understand Respect can't tell us Franklin's whole story, but can it tell us something about who this person was, what made her, and her life, so compelling? Survey says! *said with pinched voice* "kinda!"
While reviews praise a lot of the acting, they say the movie is often too reverential in its treatment of Franklin, treating her like an icon, instead of getting at the inner workings of how she came to be one. But they also say Jennifer Hudson (who was picked by Franklin to play her) does a really good job bringing out the highlight moments, namely, the singing. Which is a nice, if necessary win in a movie like this, the musician movie biography. Which are quite popular these days!
Beyond the genuflection, the movie also apparently falls into the beat-by-beat nature of most biopics, which honestly, might not bother many viewers. Because if you're essentially looking for a few key historical anecdotes of how Aretha Franklin came to be Aretha, (see: shirking off multiple controlling men, including her father and first husband) combined with some dope renditions of the songs she's famous for, well then, you'll likely enjoy yourself.
It may just be that you probably come away entertained by, if not necessarily more connected to, the spirit of the singing diol.
Vibe: standard issue, which doesn't necessarily entirely mean unenjoyable
Out Friday
Watch Theaters Only
The Trailer | 2 hrs 25 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: 68%
CODA: For all you music nerds, this is not the coda of which you may be thinking, but hang tight, still have something for you. No, here CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adult(s). The majority of these children are not deaf themselves, which is the case with Emily (Emilia Jones), the only person in her family of four who can hear.
And sing. Like really sing.
Her musical talent gets her noticed by a teacher who thinks she could get a scholarship at Berklee. Which is in Boston. But Emily and her family live and work in Gloucester, a mere 50 minutes away by car (sorry, "cah"), but significant when her family relies on her auditory senses to help run their fishing business. This desire to part from her family causes the friction you think it might.
So that's the basis for the movie CODA, which was the crowd-pleasing standout at this year's Sundance, and for which Apple paid the most of any movie ever bought at the festival ($25 million!). And while the story, which on the face, seems fairly predictable - as we've said here many times before - predictable is only unenjoyable if the payoff isn't earned. But by all accounts, that twenty five mill is earned (and then some).
There's also the obviously notable, and somewhat novel, aspect of the movie that the majority of Emily's family is deaf. Because how often do we see characters that are lacking in hearing portrayed in mainstream content? And I'm extrapolating here, but reviews say the movie works because it's a movie about people who happen to be deaf and not a movie about deaf people. That is to say, the deafness is a part of the movie, not the entirety of it. Emily's parents gross her out with their lustful jokes, embarrass her with their I could give a shit about what society thinks attitude, kids make fun of her because she smells like fish, aaaand she also likes a boy. All really relatable stuff!
So just because you think you know what's going to happen, don't think that means you won't enjoy it.
Vibe: heartwarming, uplifting, predictably original
Out Friday
Watch Apple TV+
The Trailer | 1 hr 51 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: 96%
(called out from top, left to right)
Nic Cage, Nicholas Cage, loud yelly guy. Whatever ya wanna call him, the dude works. And he's back with (yet) another off-beat looking tale. I mean, at the rate he's pumping out movies, his recent filmography won't even be considered a sub-genre, it'll just start to become what we call "movies." The nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, running around acting a fool, and still out acting everyone in some lesser known director's fever vision of a script put to weird ass images on screen. Let's just hope they make a movie about this whole artistic tear the man is on so the circle can finally become complete. Oh wait.
Riz Ahmed is coming off a really good acting endeavor in Sound of Metal, so naturally he's going to keep it going, by starring as a musician who has a health issue which forces him to face certain realities in his life and... wait, *checks notes* I swear this is a different movie! It's also apparently a very good one!
Some people might tell Clint Eastwood, who is 91, to just stop already. But those people are jerks. Because even if I don't really watch his movies, I'm still all like, yeah dude, keep on keeping on. Because why shouldn't he? Who says age should force action. And if you question how a nonagenarian (which, btw, sounds super insulting) can punch a dude out, just remember you watch movies where people shoot frickin laser beams out their hands. So just like, chill, ok?
As for the rest of the trailers, click below to check 'em all out.
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