I saw Marry Poppins, last year’s designated family-friendly, non-controversial, just-accept it holiday film, over the holidays, without particularly high hopes. It was more entertaining than I expected, but I also feel compelled to say that I don’t think the Mary Poppins mythology makes any sense.
A friend explained it to me as a mythology designed to follow children’s logic, which is to say that it legitimately doesn’t make sense and anything can happen. Which does somewhat make sense within the film, which talks sometimes about how it’s important to be childlike and imaginative. But also, that never had any effect on the plot… it was just kind of there. And so it really just doesn’t make sense.
Anyway, I’m now done overthinking Mary Poppins, a film that specifically discourages one from overthinking it.
Check out 9 trailers from this week below.
Rocketman
If a Queen movie with mixed reviews can crush at the box office, one has to imagine that this very fun looking Elton John musical, which fills the musician’s life with choreographed dance and fantastical musical numbers, will be an enormous hit. Rocketman comes out May 31st.
The Twilight Zone
Here’s our first look at Jordan Peele’s revival of The Twilight Zone. There are a ton of stars in here — including Kumail Nanjiani, John Cho, and Adam Scott — but the real highlight is seeing Peele slowly turn to the camera as the iconic score kicks in. The show arrives April 1st on CBS All Access.
The Angry Birds Movie 2
Similar to how every so often you think, “Huh, there’s another Angry Birds game?,” there is now another Angry Birds movie. It’s a real movie! It comes out in August.
Native Son
Native Son got mixed reviews out of Sundance, but this first teaser makes it clear why critics still seem to be saying that it’s worth watching. The film — a modern update of the 1940 novel — looks gorgeous and emotional, with Ashton Sanders, the teenage star of Moonlight, in the lead. It comes to HBO on April 6th.
The Case Against Adnan Syed
HBO has a full trailer out for The Case Against Adnan Syed, its documentary exploring the case made famous by the podcast Serial. It’s not clear whether the doc will push the story further in the way that Serial did, or if it will just catch viewers up on what happened in the years since the podcast wrapped. But it seems like something Serial fans are likely to tune in for. The film airs March 10th.
Leaving Neverland
Leaving Neverland speaks with two men who allege that Michael Jackson molested them when they were children. The documentary has already received pushback from Jackson’s estate, while early reviews have commended the two-part documentary for the powerful way in which it tells these men’s tragically similar stories. The documentary airs March 3rd and 4th.
Losers
Netflix has a quirky documentary coming up about athletes who famously lost, rather than won, during their big moment in the spotlight. It’s a neat idea and seems to speak with some quirkier personalities than the usual sports doc. The film comes out March 1st.
The Souvenir
The Souvenir won top prize for dramatic world cinema at Sundance this year, and its first trailer speaks to why: it looks quiet, classic, gorgeous, lovelorn, and awkward, much in the way that Call Me By Your Name was. It comes from director Joanna Hogg and is supposed to be loosely based on her life; Honor Swinton Byrne stars alongside her mother, Tilda. Apparently there’s even a sequel in the works. The film comes out May 17th.
Combat Obscura
This looks like a very different kind of military documentary. Combat Obscura is made up of footage recorded by a member of the Marines deployed to Afghanistan, and it shows a much messier, scarier, duller, and seemingly more honest depiction of life and combat in the Marines. The film comes out March 15th.
English
Español