The Best, Worst and Scariest of This Week's Movie Trailers

The Best, Worst and Scariest of This Week’s Movie Trailers

Image
Lady Gaga, right, with Bradley Cooper in the trailer for “A Star Is Born.”

By Bruce Fretts

The calendar may say it’s not quite summer yet, but the summer movie season is in full swing. That means Hollywood is releasing a slew of trailers to run before all of the would-be blockbusters. This week alone, we’ve seen more than a dozen major previews.

The best may have been the trailer for Bradley Cooper’s remake of that old Hollywood chestnut “A Star is Born.” The trailer for the movie, which Mr. Cooper is directing and co-wrote, effectively set dramatic footage of a deglammed, nearly unrecognizable Lady Gaga to a country-rocking soundtrack.

The worst? The all-but-indecipherable teaser for “Suspiria,” Luca Guadagnino’s reinterpretation of the 1977 shocker. Mr. Guadagnino (“Call Me by Your Name”) previously worked with stars Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson on the 2015 film “A Bigger Splash,” but this exercise in style over substance sank with barely a sound.

Here’s another batch of trailers that hit screens this week.

‘Bad Times at the El Royale’

It’s 1969, and a group of strangers checks into a seedy Lake Tahoe motel straddling the California-Nevada border. Though the enticing trailer for this thriller from Drew Goddard (“The Cabin in the Woods”) doesn’t give away too much, the guests include a vacuum-cleaner salesman (Jon Hamm), a Southern criminal (Dakota Johnson), a cult leader (the mostly shirtless Chris Hemsworth) and a priest (Jeff Bridges). Only, as he reveals to no one’s surprise at the end of the teaser, “I’m not really a priest.” Or is he lying? The film is due Oct. 5

‘Halloween’

Masked slasher Michael Myers returns in this 40th-anniversary reboot of the horror classic, with Jamie Lee Curtis as the babysitter-turned-grandma Laurie Strode determined to kill him once and for all. John Carpenter, now an executive producer of the franchise, turns over directorial duties to David Gordon Green (“Pineapple Express”), but his memorably eerie music still underscores this terrifying trailer.

2 Matthew McConaughey Movies

The career renaissance Matthew McConaughey enjoyed several years ago with “Dallas Buyers Club” and “True Detective” stalled with recent misfires like “Gold” and “The Dark Tower,” but the compelling trailers for two new dramas indicate he might be getting back on track.

In “White Boy Rick” (due Sept. 21) he’s cast as the father of the youngest informant in F.B.I. history, a 14-year-old drug kingpin played by a newcomer, Richie Merritt. The film seems to have a “Goodfellas”-like propulsive intensity.

“Serenity” (Oct. 19), on the other hand, appears to be more of a simmering film noir, à la “Body Heat.”

Mr. McConaughey stars alongside Anne Hathaway, as a femme fatale who tries to tempt him into killing her rich husband (Jason Clarke). Written and directed by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”), “Serenity” has an impressive cast that includes Diane Lane, Djimon Hounsou and Jeremy Strong, all featured prominently in the promotional clip.

‘The Old Man and the Gun’

‘Bumblebee’

Viewers will be forgiven for thinking they’ve already seen sequels to the 2014 smash “The Lego Movie,” but apparently “The Lego Batman Movie” and “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” which were both released last year, don’t count. In the official follow-up (due Feb. 8), everything is no longer awesome for Emmett (voiced by Chris Pratt) as Bricksburg has become a dystopian hellscape. After his beloved Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) is kidnapped and taken to outer space, Emmett must save her. New voices include Tiffany Haddish as an evil queen. .

Related Coverage

Yes, That Really Is Lady Gaga in the Trailer for ‘A Star Is Born’

Image

Do You Buy Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander? Here’s the Trailer.

Image

‘Widows’ and ‘Suspiria’ Trailers: Women Front and Center

Image

‘How to Train Your Dragon,’ Now With More Dragons and More Romance

Image

Let’s block ads! (Why?)