What a weekend its been, while nothing really overly exciting and brand new was announced at San Diego Comic-Con there was a ton of trailers from previously announced TV and movies. So to cure your Monday blues we at Flixist have compiled all of the trailers that we reported on as well as a few that slipped through the cracks…for you.
Arguably the most surprising trailer would have been the Justice League trailer. While it’s still weird for me to see Ben Affleck playing Bruce Wayne, it seems like the DCU is finally starting to find their stride and all it took was finally introducing Wonder Woman. Also this movie looks to finally vindicate my love of Aquaman against all my detractors.
One of the smaller trailers that slipped through the cracks but interests me a lot is the one for Krypton. Set in the decades before the demise of Kal-El’s home world, the story will revolve around the house of El and their struggle to redeem themselves after being pushed out of the council of elders on Krypton. My one concern is that it’s a Syfy show which could mean low quality but with better TV shows becoming the norm in recent years I’m willing to give it a chance.
Also slipping through the cracks was the trailer for the second season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. To me it just seems like another CW/DC show with some lesser known characters and the typical all attractive younger cast doing tangentially comic things but what do I know? If you like it, then enjoy away!
Alright moving away from DC and towards Marvel there was a ton of trailers for the upcoming releases, starting with Thor: Ragnarok. As someone who loved the first one and almost fell asleep during the second one, I really hope they find their footing with this one. I do think they will since the always wonderful Jeff Goldblum is in it and that can only be seen as an improvement. Side note: If you feel like bashing someones head in because of the music don’t worry that’s natural since the trailer song was used in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
Unfortunately that is the only Marvel movie trailer that is currently out to the public, but there’s ton of great TV trailers as well. Well maybe just one because this Marvel’s Inhumans one isn’t that great. It just seemingly exists and the fact that they are showing off that it is a TV show shot in IMAX format is pretty telling as well. A sorta “Hey look over here, don’t look at that man behind the curtain.”
In good Marvel TV news, we finally got a decent look at Sigourney Weaver in Netflix’s Marvel’s The Defenders and it truly does not disappoint. I’ve long contested that the characters of these stories are great and when you shove too many into a short amount of time like a movie you lose that potential shared character growth, but with an entire season of TV, you’ve got all the time in the world to watch the characters grow together.
Wait a minute how did we miss Preacher? Preacher for those of you who have not jumped on yet is about a preacher who has been granted the power of God’s voice because God quit. Not satisfied with that answer the rough around the edges preacher sets off on a journey to find God and make him answer for just leaving. Along the way the preacher and his two companions will roam across America searching for clues and getting into trouble. I was a huge fan of the comics when I read them and so far the show has been knocking it out of the park with their adaptation. We’re in the second season now and this trailer shows off more of what’s to come for the rest of season two. Nothing super spoilery in it, but then again I read the book so I’m the wrong judge for that. Really glad we finally get to see Herr Starr though.
Moving away from comic trailers into what would be my biggest news of the convention is the first look at Steven Spielberg’s take on Ernest Cline’s science fiction and nerd culture reference fest Ready Player One. Trailer looks alright, nothing super exciting, some issues with the character look and how much of the story will be told but it was nice to just get a look at it finally.
While not a full trailer we got a decent teaser for the upcoming sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising and the first look at John Boyega in the movie as well. It’s mostly just CGI in the guise of a military ad but still looking good, and considering we’ve seen next to nothing from the movie up until this point, like Ready Player One it’s nice to see anything.
Another surprise was the first trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s latest movie The Shape of Water. The concept deals with a mute woman who works as a cleaner in a government facility who comes to befriend an odd creature that is being held in captivity. It looks to be in the same vein as Pan’s Labyrinth with the whole government vs. nature story which while is nothing new, is definitely del Toro’s strong suit. It also stars two of my favorite actors Michael Shannon and Michael Stuhlbarg so it has that going for me as well.
In other monster news, a new trailer for Stranger Things second season was released. As someone who has never watched the show I have no idea what is going on but from the word on the street it’s a good trailer and people are excited. My one personal takeaway is the fact that this is the best combination of children and Michael Jackson since forever so that’s something that should be praised.
Also coming out of the Netflix camp is another small wonder known as Bright, a movie starring Will Smith as a Los Angeles police officer in a world where fantastical creatures walk among us. Just judging by the trailer it looks to be a sci-fi take on current racial tensions in America through the guise of a buddy cop film. It’s also directed by David Ayer the same person who directed End of Watch which was a cop movie on par with Training Day in my opinion so this looks like it has some potential.
The Walking Dead got not just one but two trailers, one for the original TV show and one for the TV show that misses the whole point of the original comic book Fear The Walking Dead. You got eight whole minutes of footage here to hold you over until the new episodes start airing later this year so do it up.
Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman’s new series Star Trek: Discovery also got a trailer that although looks good still makes me question just how good the series will be. I’m going off of CBS’ recent past of not really having that great of TV shows. I trust Fuller with all of my heart after the beautiful work he did on Hannibal but I don’t trust the network big wigs at CBS to let his vision come through fully. Only time will tell I suppose. Production quality looks great though.
In the same vein as Star Trek: Discovery, the slow takeover of Fox by Seth McFarlane continues with the heavily influenced by Roddenberry sci-fi comedy show The Orville. Just going off of the trailer it looks to be more of McFarlane’s brand of comedy with a bit more serious thrown in the mix, it unfortunately is a science fiction show on Fox so that means it will be cancelled before the end of the year. I look forward to its return on Netflix in 2024.
Let’s end on a nostalgic note, I don’t know who got a hold of the Nickelodeon creative control recently but they seem very hell bent on bringing back the 90’s. I’m not complaining at all as we are in line to get two movies based on shows I grew up with and it’s always good to remind myself of how old I’ve become by seeing things based on my childhood loves from an adult perspective. First off and probably the most appropriate one is the Hey Arnold: The Jungle trailer. I say it’s more appropriate because Hey Arnold always had a bit more of a story that ran through it and even had a few emotional episodes which was pretty unheard of for a children’s show at the time. The movie deals with Arnold going off to find out more about his where his parents got off to.
And finally we come to one of the movies that while I think doesn’t make sense I will gladly eat up because damnit I need my cynical nostalgia bone tickled. Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling will be a direct-to-tv movie that deals with the titular Rocko trying to survive living in the 21st century. Just judging from the short trailer it looks to have that great mix of slap-stick and adult-oriented humor that I grew up on and that makes me so happy.
And there you have it, you’re all caught up on mostly everything that happened at Comic-Con this year, so what are you most excited about? Leave a comment down below and happy waiting!
