Superbowl Preview Pileup (Zack Patterson)

WARNING: The following contains obnoxious opinions, language and potential spoilers!

As we all know, every year amongst several hilarious commercials, a fair amount of short movie previews and teases show up during breaks between the Superbowl. This year however, the whole week has been trailer-tastic. Some trailers appeared out of nowhere, some had little teases on tv that made you run for youtube to see more of and others didn’t show up at all. This week, I’m taking a break from all of my yelling and ranting to go over the pile of trailer goodness (and a bit of badness) that we were gifted with over the last 2 weeks. Links will be included for those of you who haven’t seen all the things.

-The Cloverfield Paradox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8brYvhEg5Aw

This was a HUGE surprise for the few fans (including me) of the bizarre anthology series. This is the third chapter in the Cloverfield series, with a fourth film announced fairly recently. I was drawn in immediately by the use of old footage from the original Cloverfield film, but what was truly astounding about this preview was how it ended. After the title reveal, the Netflix N popped up, as always, but said it would be available to watch IMMEDIATELY after the Superbowl. That is some simply magnificent advertising! An incredible move by the streaming service that had me scampering for my computer the moment the game ended. I hope more streaming services pull surprise stunts like this. It also turned out to be a pretty awesome movie, because I was up until 3am watching it.

-Skyscraper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QePUT-Yt8

Looks like a fun way to kill a few hours of free time, but not much more to this. It borrows a lot of concepts from Die Hard, like A LOT of concepts, but has some concepts that I like as well. I like the idea of a crazy tall building running as its own private city, I like the idea of a fire in the middle of it cutting off a ton of top level floors from getting help, and I really like that the main character is an amputee because it's something different. The main character is also the Rock, which also helps. I’ll see virtually anything he’s in because his comedy is on point and watching him punch people out of existence never gets old. I’m sure a good amount of people will check this out. I’d be inclined to also, mostly because it isn’t a brainless sequel to an otherwise great franchise that they need to stop making movies for, like the next entry on this list...

-Jurassic World: Fallen KIngdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NooW_RbfdWI

A better trailer than the first, I must admit, but still feeling no hype whatsoever to see this film. It looks completely disjointed, capturing no shock and awe from its predecessors, despite legitimately stealing every iconic shot ever from the other films. The dinos still look like CG cartoon characters instead of the iconic/terrifying set pieces that they used to be. There’s also a new hybrid looking thing that’s supposed to be awesome and scary, but even in the brief glimpses you get of it, just looks like a slightly bigger raptor. The returning cast are joined by what appears to be the dumbest human dino-fodder ever, and more freakin kids…..what is it with the kids? You could make a Jurassic Park movie that would rival the original if it didn’t have any damn kids in it. This series just keeps trying to be bigger, just like Transformers, and I don’t like that.

-Solo: A Star Wars Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNW0B0HsvVs

The moment this was announced, I shot it down, stating that is a story nobody needs and there’s no way it’ll be done in way that makes for a good movie. Now that there is finally a full trailer and I was finally able to sit down and watch it a few times, I can now tell you that I was completely right. Personally, I cannot get into this. I know it’s a 90 second trailer, but in that small span I didn't like the music. I didn’t like the style. I didn’t like the new vehicles that have been pasted in so Disney can sell more stupid toys. I don’t like the lead either. The dude just isn't Han Solo. What I have learned is that what Disney really should have done was make LANDO: A STAR WARS STORY. Old man Billy Dee telling stories about HIS rise in the criminal underworld and where HE got the Falcon and the characters that HE had dealings with. Include a very brief encounter with a young Han Solo taking the Falcon away from him and then go back to HIS story. I promise you this would’ve been the better idea, especially with Donald Glover playing Lando in this movie, which is literally THE ONLY REASON I’m seeing it.

-Venom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzxFdtWmjto

So many people are unhappy with this trailer. I am not one of them. I love Venom and I have been waiting 11 years for another chance to see him not be played by stupid Topher Grace in the worst Spiderman movie of all time. I love that trailer doesn’t show what he looks like, it’s the way trailers used to be! Enough setup to know whats going and no ruining of any major plot points. Also, Tom Hardy looks like Eddie Brock and sounds like Eddie Brock and is a massive Venom fan so I believe he is the right pick for the role. There’s still a lot up the air about it though. A lot of rumors circulating regarding the very bizarre list of rules from the Marvel/Sony deal. Will Spiderman be in it? Will Peter Parker be in it? Can it carry itself without Spiderman’s presence? Will this have even the slightest connection to the MCU? Is it possible for Venom to enter the MCU at some point? Is Sony capable of making this movie without it being a disaster? We will have to wait and see…

-Avengers: Infinity War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVxOVlm_lE8

What is there to even say here? This movie looks insane and virtually everyone you know is gonna see it. New footage showed Spider-man hanging out with Iron Man and Doctor Strange, Thor hanging out with Rocket Raccoon and there’s a shot of Spider-man IN OUTER SPACE! Marvel has a relatively simple formula at this point for their movies, but even keeping that in mind, this film has around 40 characters in it. Seeing them all meet and interact with one another is going to be extremely rewarding for those of us who have been loyally watching these films for the last 10 years. It’s going to be a dream come true for comic book fans across the globe and the hype is all too real after this new teaser.

-Mission Impossible Fallout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb49-oV0F78

This one is the big winner and it came out of nowhere. Even if you’ve never seen a Mission Impossible trailer in your life, this trailer is totally insane. What also stood out to me was the lack of CGI. Cruise is back with all the idiotic but visually impressive stunts you’ve come to expect from these films. I found myself cheering and shouting through most of it, especially the helicopter chase footage that is 100% practical. I’m seeing this day 1, not just because I love Mission Impossible, but because it looks like it’ll be one of my favorite movies this year. Mission Impossible has become a series that doesn’t make me roll my eyes every time a sequel is announced. The cast has become stupidly impressive the camera work is phenomenal and the charm these movies have will keep you coming back every time. No matter how you look at it, this is the trailer for you, should you choose to accept it…

That was a lame joke.

Worth it.

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