Suddenly several animated series and movies in the fantasy, adventure, and science fiction genres are going to be appearing on your TVs and in theaters. Most are coming to Netflix and Disney+, so get ready. Each one has a unique look, and they all feature intriguing trailers that offer enough to get us to give them at least a try. From a pirate sea beast tale to Sonic the Hedgehog, Ice Age, and Despicable Me sequels, to the latest seasons of the Pacific Rim and Ghost in the Shell spin-offs, a new kind of vampire series, an Apollo movie, and more. Which will be the biggest hit? Take a look at all these trailers:
Tag Archive: Jim Carrey
The good news? The networks all have released previews of their new Fall TV series. The bad news? Most of the trailers play-out pretty flat–look for more of the same bland, dry, typical attempts at the next best Emmy-winning drama and the same brand of network comedy. We showed you previews for three new series from CBS last week (here) for shows we think might be worth giving a shot: the reboot of Magnum, p.i., the return of Murphy Brown, and the Dick Wolf series FBI with Law & Order’s Jeremy Sisto and the DCU’s Connie Nielsen.
We were looking forward to New Girl’s Hannah Simone starring in a reboot of The Greatest American Hero, but ABC rejected the series after the pilot was filmed. Forever and Law & Order’s Alana de la Garza‘s series Chiefs, and Timothy Hutton in Main Justice are still expected from CBS. What We Do in the Shadows is a werewolf-zombie comedy starring Doug Jones coming from FX. HBO is expected to launch a series called Camping with David Tennant, Ione Skye, and Juliette Lewis. And Showtime has City on a Hill with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Jill Hennessy, Ball Street with Don Cheadle, and Kidding with Jim Carrey, Catherine Keener, and Frank Langella. But we’ve seen no trailers for these series yet.
Putting aside the ongoing series being continued between now and year end, several new series with trailers now released may be of interest based on actors who have previously acted in genre series, so we’re going to run down those that may be worth at least a viewing of the first episode.
Here are the other new series, the genre actors you might want to know about, followed by the trailers for Fall 2018:
Stephen Hopkins, director of The Ghost in the Darkness, Predator 2, and the reboot of Lost in Space, and TV series House of Lies and 24, is bringing to the big screen the momentous race of Jesse Owens, the black track and field gold medalist who showed-up Adolf Hitler’s racist regime by winning in the 1936 Olympics. The cleverly titled Race stars Stephan James (Selma) as Owens, the role previously given to John Boyega, who instead left the production to take on the role of Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Race co-stars Saturday Night Live alumnus Jason Sudeikis as Coach Larry Snyder, as well as Academy Award winners William Hurt and Jeremy Irons. Race is the kind of serious topic biopic the Academy traditionally looks for at Oscar time. If the film is the great drama that the story deserves, this could be a breakout role for both James and Sudeikis.
But can Sudeikis overcome his comedy acting past to drive this drama home? Many ex-SNL regulars have tried to break the SNL curse and jump into drama, including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, and Eddie Murphy, along with other comedy talents like Michael Keaton, Eddie Izzard, Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, Robin Williams, and Jonah Hill. Will the Academy recognize Race a year from now? Murray, Aykroyd, Martin, Brooks, Hill, Smith, Williams, and Keaton have all been nominated for acting Oscars, but no ex-SNL actor has won an acting Oscar, and only comedic actors Foxx and Williams were able to make the switch from comedy to drama and take home the big prize.
Check out this trailer for Race:
If you want to know the difference between a standard movie trailer for PG audiences or a red band trailer, this is your chance. Released on late night TV last night, it’s Marvel’s latest super anti-hero to hit the big screen, Deadpool. 20th Century Fox has leaked images of star Ryan Reynolds bit by bit over the past few months, including most recently a teaser trailer for the trailer earlier this week.
Clearly this is a movie made exclusively for fans of Deadpool. The rest of the world will likely take a pass unless we hear some early buzz from some reliable critics that this is better than it first appears. It’s another entry in the keep the kids (and parents?) at home sub-genre of superhero films–the darker side of the superhero sphere along with DC Entertainment’s forthcoming Suicide Squad (you wouldn’t be the first to confuse Deadpool with Deadshot or the similarly garbed Daredevil).
With the beginning scene like something from a serious drama, Reynolds then dons the supersuit and actually seems to be impersonating Jim Carrey in the dialogue we hear in the trailer. Carrey’s super anti-hero movie The Mask featured a similarly irreverent lead. Is that what Reynolds is shooting for here?
Wait no longer. Here is the standard trailer for Deadpool:
If you like edgy superhero flicks and missed Kick-Ass 2 in theaters, it’s now available on Blu-ray and DVD. If you liked the original, you’ll love the sequel. Kick-Ass 2 pretty much requires you’ve seen the original Kick-Ass, a truly novel, unique, and interesting piece of filmmaking. It’s a good film that takes an idea from a Mark Millar comic book series and propels it into a big-time action movie. But Kick-Ass 2 does something rare–its success is being better than both the original film and Millar’s source material. It’s a great superhero flick and a fun, awesome, over-the-top action movie, with villains you’ll want to see crushed and downtrodden heroes you’ll want to see persevere.
The caveat for the Kick-Ass franchise is you can’t be offended by a teen or pre-teen with a thorough and eloquent knowledge and use of George Carlin’s seven dirty words. You’ll hear all of them. Many times. And if you can’t tolerate a big dose of over-the-top violence, pick another film to watch. This probably rules out a big segment of the adult audience. In another director’s hands, this would be a gimmick, even an annoyance, but Jeff Wadlow knows his characters and audience and deftly moves beyond the Whedon-Buffyverseworthy dialogue to a superhero film that can be both gritty and tongue-in-cheek, and manages to be on par with Stan Lee’s original Spider-man, only juxtaposing innocence against the worst of society to an in-your-face extreme.
The only missing piece in Kick-Ass 2 is Nicolas Cage, who played Damon Macready, alias Batman-esque Big Daddy, in the original film. Father to Chloë Grace Moretz’s Mindy, aka Hit Girl, events in the original explain his absence in this sequel. But Kick-Ass 2 makes up for his absence with some other great performances from new additions. One is Jim Carrey’s almost unrecognizable performance as an ex-mob enforcer turned superhero called Captain Stars and Stripes. Carrey completely embraces the role of the leader of a league of good guys trying to take back their streets, and the result is one of his best performances–up there with his shape-shifting Ace Ventura, and zany Stanley Ipkiss aka The Mask. The always superb John Leguizamo turns in a similarly good performance as a majordomo for the show’s villain, the returning Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) as Chris D’Amico. Mintz-Plasse plays the evil villain bit for all it’s worth–he’ll make you cringe while you cheer for his imminent demise.