Author: Megan Williams

Parasyte: The Grey – Trailer Talk

What do you get when you cross John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ with the stories of Junji Ito? The answer is the manga series ‘Parasyte’. After a successful anime series and two live action Japanese films, Netflix surprised horror fans when they announced that a new show set within the universe of the manga will be coming next month.

‘Parasyte: The Grey’ follows a group of humans who decide to wage war against the shapeshifting parasitic lifeforms that fell to Earth and took control of the dominant species of the planet.

After three adaptations of the manga’s story, it’s refreshing to see a series that will tell a completely new story within the same universe. And it looks fantastic! It’ll be interesting to see the world building the show does, even if it does only have 6 episodes. Not only that but the visual effects look stunning and just as grotesque as the source material’s imagery. 

With the series being written by original creator Hitoshi Iwaaki and directed by Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan), there’s a lot to be excited for with ‘Parasyte: The Grey’. With a new story will come a new perspective on how this world works now that the parasytes look to be settled into their new home planet. Plus, the visual effects look incredible and creepy; this is definitely a show to be excited for.  

The Wild Robot: Trailer Talk.

After ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ and the ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ trilogy, Dreamworks’ latest animation is sure to be an emotional journey.

Based on the book series by Peter Brown, ‘The Wild Robot’ follows Roz the robot as she reawakens on a remote island with no memory of how she got there and what her purpose is. As she journeys through the island, she learns that, in order to survive, she must adapt to her surroundings through the unwelcoming animal inhabitants.

With a premise as broad as this, the trailer does a brilliant job at showcasing the scenarios that Roz will find herself in as well as demonstrating the gorgeous animation. Following in the footsteps of ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’, ‘The Wild Robot’ looks to adopt a similar animation style, something that is welcomed. Not only does the visual style continue to be unique but it’s also beautiful and makes the vibrant colours of each scene stand out perfectly. 

The trailer for ‘The Wild Robot’ is beautiful; the unique animation style is not only welcomed but it’s gorgeous to look at. And the trailer perfectly demonstrates the journey Roz will go on in order to survive and adapt to the island. Plus, with the film being written and co-directed by Chris Sanders (How To Train Your Dragon, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch), this just gives me hope that this will be an incredibly sweet and heartwarming adaptation. Its release date isn’t until the end of the year, but I’m already excited for ‘The Wild Robot’. 

Borderlands: Trailer Talk

Much like ‘Five Nights At Freddys’ before it, another video game adaptation that has been in production hell is ‘Borderlands’. The cast was revealed in 2021 which was greeted by confusion and uncertainty from fans of the successful game series and, nearly 3 years later, the first trailer is here.

‘Borderlands’ is the live-action adaptation of the first-person shooter games developed by Gearbox Software and is a Science Fiction/modern Western-style game that carries a unique art style. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween series), Cate Blanchett (Don’t Look Up, Lord of the Rings), Kevin Hart (Ride Along, Lift) and Jack Black (The Super Mario Bros. Movie).

Despite only playing the first game, even I know that the first look of the film doesn’t represent the charm of the source material. While the look of the main cast is similar to how they’re portrayed in the games, the casting feels wrong; Cate Blanchett playing Lilith, who is 22 in the games, is just a small example of how strange the casting is.

The two positives that can be pointed out is that it seems like Kevin Hart has been restrained from his comedic stance that he’s known for, which will be interesting to see. Plus Jack Black voicing Claptrap is fantastic casting. 

The action sequences do look like a lot of fun and, with the film being directed and co-written by Eli Roth (Thanksgiving, Hostel), I’m still holding out hope that this will be good, but the trailer hasn’t fully convinced me of that so far.

With the casting and the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’-style humour, ‘Borderlands’ is toeing the line between convincing moviegoers that video game adaptations can continue to be great and a reminder of early adaptations that didn’t know the source material. An animated film, in a similar style to 2006’s ‘A Scanner Darkly’, would’ve been better but then that begs the question: if that would be the case, why not just return to the game?

Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 – Trailer Talk

2024 has already given movie fans unexpected surprises and it looks like it’s not stopping any time soon, with the reveal of a sequel to ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey’.

Simply titled ‘Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2’, the film will now focus on Winnie, Piglet, Tigger and Owl as they continue their murderous rampage after having their existence revealed by Christopher Robin. 

Just like Steamboat Willie’s entry into the public domain, it should’ve come as no surprise that a horror film based on the yellow bear was being made. And the quality was what was to be expected from a film like this; a cheesy B-horror movie, with bad acting and gore galore. But the sequel has clearly been treated to a bigger budget because the visual quality looks far more polished than its predecessor. While it does look as schlocky as the first film, the plot this time sounds interesting, and the detailing on Winnie’s mask and costume is far superior to the cheap rubber mask look of the previous entry. 

While the idea of a mass murdering Winnie the Pooh is still ridiculous, ‘Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2’ looks far more interesting and enjoyable than the first film. A bigger budget has clearly been utilised well, even if Tigger and Owl are unrecognisable. Whether the acting will be better or not is difficult to tell, but the sequel has grabbed my curiosity once more. 

Superbowl 2024 Trailers – Trailer Talk

The weekend marked this year’s Superbowl, a huge sporting event that takes place in America. But the event also sees the release of various film and TV trailers. So, this week’s article will briefly focus on the trailers that were released during the event.

‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ takes place several generations after the 2011 reboot trilogy where apes are now the dominant species. But a new leader’s reign will come into question when a young ape rediscovers the mysteries of what the human-led world was. This film looks just as promising as the previous trilogy and just as action packed too. Plus, the premise is an interesting twist to the overall narrative and the visual effects look incredible, perfectly standing side-by-side with the reboot trilogy.

‘Wicked’ is the big screen adaptation of the award-winning musical, which serves as a prequel to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and how the Wicked Witch of the West became the iconic villain. In a recently annoying trend, this film is part of a two-parter, and the trailer shows scenes from both parts, not just the first film. But it looks incredible and with the talent involved, including Grammy-winning singer Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo (Broadway’s The Colour of Purple), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic World: Dominion), it’s sure to be a spectacle. 

One of the most unexpected trailers to appear over the weekend was for ‘Twisters’. While it is a sequel to the 1996 film starring the late Bill Paxton, it looks like the film will be adopting the exact same formula as the original. But it looks like a fun popcorn flick, and the visuals are fantastic; ‘Twisters’ is probably best suited to the biggest cinema screen that can be found.

But the biggest reveal, and the most anticipated, was ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. Now that Disney have bought 20^th Century Fox, the Merc with the Mouth is clearly going to waste no time in pointing this out. But, because Deadpool breaks the 4^th wall, he’ll also be dealing with the consequences of that, a.k.a joining the Avengers; even in the trailer, the Fox logo can be seen during a battle sequence. And this, of course, does mean that the X-men are likely to appear, with the trailer ending with the shadow of Wolverine standing over Deadpool. Despite the purchase of companies, it looks like a lot of fun with the same amount of adult humour and violence as the previous films. Out of all these films, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is the one I am looking forward to the most. 

Trailers: