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Trailer Tuesday: Lassie, Resistance and Spiral

11.2.2020

Translation: machine translated

Lassie fans: here's a trailer you'll hate. My colleague Dominik Bärlocher hates "Undine". I hate "The Jesus Rolls" a little, but am looking forward to "Spiral", the unexpected sequel to the horror thriller in which a doomed man plays games.

Children's films at a low level and artsy-fartsy crap that nobody wants to see but is produced anyway. I don't know about that. But there are people who get away with it and make money. I'd rather watch the "Saw" spin-off sequel "Spiral" with Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson.

Lassie - An adventurous journey

Want to see a train wreck of a trailer? There you have it. "Lassie - An Unfortunate Journey into Amateur Film Hell". It starts with the actors calling "the most famous dog in film history" "Lissi" the whole time.

You had the one job!

But that's not all. The plot of the film goes something like this: Lassie - or Lissi - has to leave home because the evil landlady doesn't like her. But Lissi-Lassie likes her adopted home so much that she runs away. The search for the pooch begins. Great: the filmmakers have come up with a Lassie film plot without Lassie. Or Lissi. Or however her name is pronounced in German.

Cinema release: 20 February 2020

The Jesus Rolls

I think "The Big Lebowski" is terrific. That's why I was delighted in the last Trailer Tuesday, which was a Trailer Monday because of the Super Bowl, that "thThe Jesus" (John Turturro) is getting his own spin-off, as announced in a teaser trailer.

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Super Bowl version of Trailer Monday: the best trailers and TV spots
by Luca Fontana

The first real trailer, on the other hand, doesn't turn me on at all. Perhaps because I would have much preferred a "The Big Lebowski 2". And without the Coen brothers - they directed "The Big Lebowski" back in 1998 - I doubt that the film can actually keep up with the classic anyway.

Cinema release: 6 March 2020

Resistance

Films about the Second World War are a dime a dozen. That's not a bad thing: it's a dark chapter in human history that deserves attention and clarification.

But all too often Hollywood reduces this enlightenment to the heroism of the Allied soldiers against the evil Nazis. Less is said about the struggle of the people in the occupied countries themselves.

Who do I mean? Freedom fighters. Partisans. People who fought in secret for the lives of the weak - knowing full well that the chances of being discovered and executed for treason were greater than actually succeeding. People like Tuvia Bielski, Claus von Stauffenberg or Oskar Schindler. You can see their struggle in films such as "Defiance", "Valkyrie" or "Schindler's List". And recently also "Resistance", even though I'll probably have to watch the film in German dubbing. Or is it just me who thinks Jesse Eisenberg's fake French accent sounds like a bad parody?

Cinema release: 27 March 2020

Undine

Morning over coffee. My colleague Dominik shows me a trailer from hell. He writes his own opinion about it:

The Germans try their hand at a film whose trailer is pretty much the perfect satire of all the artsy-fartsy indie trailers out there. Meaningful statements without context or content like "The leg fell off, but I glued it back on", complete with piano strumming in the background and imagery designed to disturb. Somehow, there's also some confused drivel on the topic of love - which goes down well with the introspective indie crowd - and actors who are just that little bit off the beaten track.

The trailer for "Undine" looks like a film version of a Calvin Klein advert from the 1990s, only without the black-and-white aesthetic and starving models.

The plot of the film is more interesting, according to Wikipedia. She is an elemental spirit, He leaves her, He #2 dives, She too, the two fall in love. The story could be given, but just based on the trailer, we're better off with Calvin's old adverts.

Romandie cinema release: 1 April 2020

Spiral: From the Book of Saw

"Saw" goes into the next round. My first reaction to it was an exasperated "Pff-fuck-again-please-save-me-that". Then Chris Rock in the title. Executive producer Chris Rock. What does Chris Rock have to do with "Saw", or the horror genre itself?

The teaser trailer starts.

At first, it doesn't start at all like you'd expect from a "Saw" film. There's hip-hop music. Two cops talk about their families in a relaxed atmosphere. Chris Rock is chris-rocking. Then the change of mood. The dark music. Creepy images. Suddenly the "Saw" theme mixes in. I'm like: "Wait a minute. Why do I have goose bumps? Is that Samuel L. Jackson?"

Chris Rock is chained up. Holding up a saw. We know what that means. The teaser trailer ends. I want to see the film. Now.

Cinema release: 15 May 2020

On another note: Birds of Prey (and the fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn) has been well received by critics and audiences. Nevertheless, the start with a worldwide box office takings of 79 million dollars on the first weekend is rather disappointing. It would ultimately have to earn between 250 and 300 million to cover its production and marketing costs. This is why the film is being shown in some cinemas under a new title: "Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey".

If it doesn't help, it doesn't hurt.

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Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»

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