The Best Movie Trailers of the Week

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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Horns

It was the more comedic approach to the last Horns trailer that finally got me on board with the idea of Daniel Radcliffe donning a set of horns, but even though the comedy is long gone in this version, the editors do manage to find a new way to make it work. This trailer highlights the film’s suspense and violence, making a convincing case that Horns could be an excellent Halloween-time option. Thanks to the romance-heavy opening, the rather vicious and unsettling trailer-ending montage and all of the interesting, engaging story details in between, the piece winds up delivering a comprehensive sense of the story with a powerful build while also suggesting Horns will be a rip-roaring, eccentric and entertaining watch, too.

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The YA Countdown: New ‘Hunger Games’ Posters, Plus: ‘The Maze Runner,’ ‘Frostbite’ and More

Welcome to the YA Movie Countdown, our resident expert’s biweekly guide to young-adult book-to-film adaptations.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

With The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’s November 21 release date coming up, Lionsgate just released a brand new set of character posters. That last batch primarily stuck to familiar faces, like Finnick and Effie, but this time we’re getting a closer look at some of the film’s new characters, namely Katniss’ camera crew, which includes Cressida (Natalie Dormer), Pollux (Elden Henson), Messalla (Evan Ross) and Castor (Wes Chatham). We also got a poster for Katniss’ personal protector, Boggs (Mahershala Ali), and Gale, too. You can check them all out below.

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The Best Movie Trailers of the Week

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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Annabelle

That very first teaser for Annabelle was a good one, but this full trailer goes above and beyond. It doesn’t offer up just one good scare and call it quits. There are a bunch of very effective creepy moments and they’re all incredibly different. We’ve got director John R. Leonetti establishing an exceptionally eerie environment by utilizing all layers of his frame in one moment, and another where he toys with the audience by hinting at the bloodshed to come. Then there’s that scene at the very end of the piece where an appearance shift catches you totally off guard. This is some smart, innovative and very well-composed stuff. October 3 really can’t come soon enough.

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The Best Movie Trailers of the Week

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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Rudderless

I don’t care much for the melodrama in the first half of the trailer, but after this new promo forRudderless gets past the sad stuff, it really picks up simply because the music is so good. We’ve seen main characters unable to get devastating losses before and come close to self destruction because of it, but what then makes Rudderless feel like a fresh, rousing spin on the scenario is how Billy Crudup’s character winds up coping with it – through music, and music that’s catchy enough to make you want to see the full film for that alone.

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The Best Movie Trailers of the Week

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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The Book of Life

Many of my colleagues are gushing over The Book of Life, but to be honest I’m having a tough time adjusting to the style of the animation, accepting some of those very familiar romance-movie plot points and the fact that Maria looks like a Bratz doll. However, once you hit the point at which Manolo winds up in that other realm, whether you’re into his quest to win Maria’s heart or not, the mesmerizing quality of the world will pull you right in. Every single detail is so wildly fascinating that when the piece puts you back into the real world, you’ll be on board and eager for more.

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The YA Countdown: ‘Frostbite’ Fundraising Underway, First Clip from ‘Maze Runner,’ and More

Not only are the releases for The Giver, The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 fast approaching, but there’s also a slew of YA-to-film material flooding the Web courtesy of Divergent’s DVD and Blu-ray release. On top of that, the Vampire Academy series is still clamoring for attention and if it doesn’t get it this time around, perhaps the film franchise really will be dead.

The Frostbite Crowd-Funding Campaign Is a Go

The producers of Vampire Academy are about to take another step towards making Frostbitehappen. We’ve already told you about their plan to get a little crowd-funding going and now it’s about to happen. Leading up to today’s launch of the Frostbite IndieGoGo campaign, the producers tried to rile up some hype by teasing the initiative over at MTV and Teen.com.

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The Best Movie Trailers of the Week: Comic-Con Edition

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Having come out of Sin City with absolutely no desire for more, it wasn’t surprising that the first two trailers for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For didn’t strike much of a chord. Both run with that same style and tone, but I couldn’t connect to it back then and that’s still the case now. However, the new red-band trailer they showed off at Comic-Con has something the other two don’t – an infectious beat. I’ve still got little to no idea what’s going in this narrative, nor do I care, but in this case that doesn’t stop the trailer from being a blast to watch. The visuals are bold and well composed, and they’re so well cut to “Babes” by Icy Blossoms that the piece winds up playing like an extremely catchy music video.

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The Best Movie Trailers of the Week

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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Nightcrawler

That quick teaser for Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler caught our eye and now the film’s first official trailer locked it in. We need to know more about Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal). The two pieces work exceptionally well together. The first introduces you to the idea that Lou’s a guy in desperate need of a job and the second builds upon that by showing you how he winds up making that happen. Getting the opportunity to watch a guy navigate the world of L.A. crime journalism is inherently fascinating, but rather than lean on that appeal, these pieces put the focus on what could make Nightcrawler a true standout – a downright fascinating main character. Lou’s passionate and determined, but incredibly unhinged and volatile. Put someone like that in this line of work and you’re bound to have explosive results.

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The YA Countdown: Comic-Con, ‘The 5th Wave’ Release Date, ‘Frostbite’ Fundraising and More

Vampire Academy, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars have already come and gone, but there’s still quite a bit coming up in the YA movie realm. Not only is The Giver due out in just about a month with The Maze Runner arriving soon thereafter, but both of those movies and more are mere days away from showing off what they’ve got at San Diego Comic-Con.

YA at San Diego Comic-Con

Last year was a big year for YA at SDCC. Even though there won’t be as much going on this time around, there are a few young-adult entries worth keeping an eye on.

Thursday, July 24: The Giver in Hall H at 1:30 p.m. with stars Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, director Phillip Noyce, author Lois Lowry and some brand new exclusive footage.

Friday, July 25: The Maze Runner in Hall H at 4:20 p.m. as part of the 20th Century Fox panel.

Saturday, July 26: Entertainment Weekly: Women Who Kick Ass at 4:10 p.m. with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’s Natalie Dormer.

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The Best Movie Trailers of the Week

Welcome back to Best Movie Trailers of the Week, a column where we handpick the best new movie trailers that have arrived online over the past week.

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Laggies

The new trailer for Lynn Shelton’s Laggies does stumble into cheesy territory quite a bit, but the characters are so charming and the piece rocks such an upbeat, energetic pace that it’s impossible not to get caught up in the material. It’s also particularly well structured. In fact, the trailer has three acts. There’s the character-building portion that focuses on who Keira Knightley is and what’s going on in her world; there’s her effort to get away from it all, and then she comes to terms with it. Yes, there is a chance a format like that could spoil some twists and turns in the actual movie, but as far as this trailer goes, getting the opportunity to go on this little journey with Knightley makes the idea of spending more time with her character incredibly appealing.

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