Trailers by Brandon: They remade 'Die Hard' with Dwayne Johnson

Sky Hard — I mean, Skyscraper — is opening this week and it feels slightly familiar to an old 1988 movie starring Bruce Willis. Actually, I’m hearing that Dwayne Johnson is super entertaining in the movie so I might go check it out later this afternoon — after I finish recovering from Sorry To Bother You, which I saw last night, that is. There are some new trailers that came out too, so let’s jump into this week's Trailers by Brandon.

Opening this week:

Skyscraper

I’m not wowed by the premise or the PG-13 rating, but I’m willing to give Skyscraper a chance to entertain me. I mean, there have been hundreds of Die Hard knock-offs since the original one came out — some of them which are pretty dang cool — so maybe Skyscraper can be one of those.

Hotel Transylvania 3

I actually kind of liked the first Hotel Transylvania. It was by no means groundbreaking, but it had a few good laughs in there and it was easily better than any live-action Adam Sandler movie. The second one was just okay and, judging by the trailers, Hotel Transylvania 3 kind of just looks okay too.

Eight Grade

It looks like the Lady Bird of the newer generation, but I can’t fully wrap my mind around this movie — Bo Burnham directed this?!? Like, that Bo Burnham?!

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot

I have no idea what this movie is or what it’s about, but it’s getting good reviews and I got invited to an advanced screening for Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot early next week so I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

 

New Trailers:

The Favorite (Nov. 23, 2018)

The trailer doesn’t show you much, but it really doesn’t have to. All I need is the name Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster — which is AMAZING — and The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and you have my money.

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (Oct. 12, 2018)

The first Goosebumps wasn’t half bad. I maybe didn’t love it quite as much as I hoped, but it had its moments and I think it’s important for kids to have a movie that kind of makes them confront their fears in this way, without being too scary. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween looks like more of the same. I’m a little bummed that the cast doesn’t seem to be returning (I’d still bet money Jack Black shows up), but the Halloween setting is cool and all so I’m still going to check it out.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Aug. 3, 2018)

As soon as I saw American Honey, I knew we hadn’t seen the last of Sasha Lane. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, which also stars Chloe Grace Moretz (who I thought was taking a break from acting?), looks like the perfect next step for her. Honestly, I’m so excited to see this movie now — it looks important, powerful and, if I had to guess, heartbreaking.

Life Itself (Sept. 21, 2018)

They really want you to know that the creators of This Is Us made Life Itself, which means they really want to make you leave the theater in tears. I don’t know if that’ll actually happen — this all looks overly sentimental almost to a ridiculous degree — but I guess we’ll see what happens.

Extinction (July 27, 2018)

It takes a lot to get me excited about a Netflix movie these days. Extinction isn’t quite there yet, but it has my light attention. The cast is great — Lizzy Caplan, Michael Peña and Mike Colter — and the premise has a Close Encounters of the Third Kind meets Battle: Los Angels (which Peña was also in, even though that movie wasn’t very good) kind of thing going for it, so maybe. Just maybe.

Wonder Park (March 15, 2019)

I started the trailer expecting a cheap kids movie and what I got was what looks like another cheap kids movie with some animation that’s actually stunning. You’re going to have to do more than throw an amusement park where animals talk to get me to come to Wonder Park but, hey, at least it looks pretty.

Mary, Queen of Scots (Dec. 7, 2018)

Oscar-bait the movie: part one. Not to take anything away from the cast, because I obviously love Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie (just rewatched I, Tonya the other day and that movie only gets better and better), but this looks pretty….blaahh. Hopefully, they’ll prove me wrong and this will be a really interesting and dramatic period piece, but I’m getting flashbacks to that Tulip Fever movie that came out last year — which isn’t a good thing.

Colette (Sept. 21, 2018)

Oscar-bait the movie: part two. Again, a talented cast with Keira Knightley and Dominic West, but I’ve seen this premise done so many times before. I get that it’s all still relevant and everything, but there’s just nothing about this trailer that actually makes me want to sit through this entire movie. Give me a documentary about the real-life Collete instead.

 

Rewind:

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Hotel Transylvania is a movie about a whole bunch of famous monsters coming together and getting along. The Cabin in the Woods, well, is kind of the opposite. There’s a whole bunch of famous monsters alright, but they’re not exactly acting friendly towards one another — and especially not to the poor human victims who get stuck in the crossfire.

Drew Goddard’s vision is spot on with The Cabin in the Woods, which is this week's rewind pick for Trailers by Brandon, as it comes off as a very loving hate letter to the horror genre by pointing out all the overused tropes it contains in a similar style to Scream. And, yes, I can’t wait to see what Goddard is going to give is in Bad Times at the El Royale, coming later this year — get hype people.