VELVET. BUZZSAW. Goddamn, I can't wait to see this movie. Director Dan Gilroy of NIGHTCRAWLER is teaming up with his old pal Jake Gyllenhaal to bring us another trippy commentary on the state of the modern world, and the result looks fantastic. Dripping with surrealistic dread, VELVET BUZZSAW follows museum owner Morf Wandewalt (Gyllenhaal), who brings new, captivating artwork into his gallery only to find that the paintings are even more lifelike than they appear. Director Gilroy has said in past interviews that he was aiming for something along the lines of Robert Altman's THE PLAYER, but as for me personally, I'm getting major BUCKET OF BLOOD vibes a la Roger Corman watching this trailer. Here's hoping for a healthy dose of both influences in Gilroy's latest.
This week also includes a very moving featurette for the upcoming CAPTAIN MARVEL movie, showing Carol Danvers herself, Brie Larson, discussing her rigourous workout routine that began nearly a year before filming started, what it was like doing fight sequences up and down a train for three days, and what she personally finds so rewarding about playing the mightiest Avenger. Not gonna lie, this little segment gave me all the feels, possibly even more than the exciting new trailer that precedes the sneak peek behind the scenes.
This week also features brand new trailers for FYRE, HOTEL MUMBAI, THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS and LITTLE, as well as a thrilling new look at the Mads Mikkelsen led POLAR, which plays like JOHN WICK with my other husband and lots and lots of snow. Two Mikkelsen movies in one year? 2019 is already off to a great start.
Not to be outdone, this week in TV trailers also has a lot to offer. I'm super stoked for the second season of THE PUNISHER, but does it anyone else find it strange that both of the trailers for THE PUNISHER season 2 and THE OATH season 2 feature the exact same line? "Looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives" — this sentence is not only uttered by characters on both programs, but apparently is used in both of their marketing deploys. Strange.
In other news, Amy Poehler is teaming up with BACHELORETTE director Leslye Headland and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK star Natasha Lyonne for Netflix's upcoming RUSSIAN DOLL, which looks like a much bleaker HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U, or, if you wanna get specific about it, another variation on the GROUNDHOG DAY formula. Being a big fan of all three of these ladies, I will definitely be tuning in, but I'm curious to see how this mantra will work for an entire season.
In case you needed further proof that Jordan Peele never sleeps, the GET OUT director is serving up two executive producer titles on the featured trailesr this week, in addition to helming his own sophomore feature US, which is set to debut later this year. WEIRD CITY looks like a wacky little BLACK MIRROR spin-off, which plays more on the comedy of what the future could bring us rather than Charlie Brooker's unfolding dystopia. I'm into it. I'm especially interested in LORENA, though, the upcoming Amazon documentary which details the infamous 1993 Lorena Bobbitt event. From the trailer, it appears that this will be a very mature look at the trouble brewing within John and Loreana's marriage, and how the misunderstood young woman's attempt to fight back against abuse sparked a widely talked about national craze.
As if you were surprised, the best trailer of the week award goes to Dan Gilroy's VELVET BUZZSAW, which is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month, and will be available to stream on Netflix on February 1st, 2019. Check out the trailer for the satirical horror comedy below.