(trailer review) - Stranger Things 5: Volume 2

So, recently I watched Stranger Things from season 1 to season 4 just to see if it holds up and pretty much maintain the hype the first season started with, and if it continued to season 4 otherwise known simply as 4. And during my review, I explained if it did or did not, highlights and elements that made the show what it is and parts that did not work. Having watched the first volume of season 5, I had no idea what to expect and those first few episodes were absolutely great. There were twists and turns, the entire gang are working together and volume 2 ends in such a way, although I suspected what happened was going to happen (with a particular character), the other twist for me was unpredictable and it lends to a whole new level of storytelling with these Dungeon and Dragon kids. This trailer, wow!

The trailer starts with shots of what happens at the end of volume 1 with fire and dead bodies everywhere. Will is being comforted by his mother, Mike is looking up into the air and Max is on a mission. Nancy, Steve, Jonathan and Dustin all approach the reseach lab and Dustin and Steve look up to see what looks like a gate of some sort. After the Netflix logo, Eleven is seen putting on headphones, likely to block out any sound whilst she attempts to use her powers, and she tells her sister that they need to kill him whilst "Upside Down" by Diana Ross starts playing. After seeing shots of Vecna, we have Murray speeding in the van with Linda Hamilton shooting her gun with a couple of soldiers and Nancy popping up from the top of the van shooting, possiblyat them. After the "I thought this was suppose to be the easy part" comment, we have new girl from the last season seeing the Demi-Gorgon or Demi-Dog, Max running through the woods, Mike saying he doesnt know what is on the other side of any of this whilst talking to Eleven, Will and Dustin hugging in a welcoming embrace, Lucas holding Max and hiding from the Demi-Gorgon or Demi-dog to later seeing that Demi-Gorgon or Demi-Dog running through the hospital, but the Vecna changing his look in his home is terrifying. Steve saying to Dustin, "If you die, I die" and Dustin replying back "If you die, I die" is soo heart warming as Steve comes across as Dustin's loving older brother and a few other quick shots of Eleven and Hopper before the trailer ends. This looks like it is gearing up to be a crazy, but great second volume leading to a truely amazing series finale as it does look like they are tieing up all the loose threads and I there are going to be tears, definitely. 

(trailer review) - Street Fighter

 

When I first saw this trailer, my first thoughts were "wait, what?" With that said, I continued to watch it, take in all the visuals, the acting, the costumes and the only thing I could think of when the trailer was finished is that, this looks like people cosplaying as characters from a computer game, creating a fan film, with a few eccentric characters, over the top acting and with a tone of RoboCop. The RoboCop is a classic, and it has a tone that fits what they were going for, this seems similar. What came to mind were, enjoyable trash, but I could be absolutely wrong because the Mortal Kombat film only looked ok. But it was really good, despite having an odd "New Challenger" as the lead. This, well...lets just wait for the full trailer.

The trailer starts with quick shots of the characters starting with Ryu, Akuma, Chun Li, Zangief, Balrog, Dhalsim, E Honda, Cammy and Guile's infamous haircut. Buts its the exaggerated bouncing up and down from Ryu that got me rolling my eyes. Then we see M. Bison, Dan and Vega. The run up from Guile is not great leading to the Moonkick sending Vega through the wall, a lot of quick shots of fighting between Chun Li, Ryu, and even Akuma with a crot h shot thrown in for good measure. The Ryu and Ken team up is nasty work and the intercut between what looks like Chun Li and Ryu was seemless, but the icing on this bizarre cake, is the end of trailer tag with the beating up of the car like in the original Street Fighter II game. It is a wild trailer and thisnfilm based on this trailer could crash and burn, but it does seem to "fit" the wacky world of Street Fighter. Lets see.

(trailer review) - Project Hail Mary

 

A few months ago, I saw the trailer for this, and it looked ok, just ok. It looked like there may have been more to it, but I was not initially sold on the movie at all. Since that trailer, I keep hearing about how great the book is, and this film is going to be really good, and Ryan Gosling is this and that, and having now seen this trailer, this trailer sold the film for me more than the first trailer did. This trailer is funny, it has heart, and I understand more of what the trailer is telling me, storywise, and we get to properly see the alien. A couple of moments that made me smile or laugh were two moments: the moment he says, "Rocky", puts on a puppet show for his tiny brain to understand and the moment where he asks about being expendable and she turns around to the group to discuss, two great moments.

So the trailer starts off with Grace knocking on a window to communicate with the alien, and the alien knocks back and shows him a model of an astronaut. We are told Grace has a doctorate in molecular biology, and he is needed to save the world due to the sun dying. "Rocky" the alien, is a genius engineer whose planet is also dying, so they work together to, I assume, help to save each other's planet or "Grace Rocky Save Stars". The trailer shows both Grace and Rocky working together with a few flashing sequences of Grace running, people cheering for him, a drawing of "saved the world" by children (children he likely teaches). This trailer exudes warmth, a dire situation, an adventure, charm and heart. Unless there is a twist at the end where the alien has notorious plans, this looks like it may end up being a really entertaining film, kind of like how the film The Martian was when that was released.