9 new trailers you should watch this week

I’m not a huge fan of superhero movies, but some get so much buzz and seem to do things so differently — like Black Panther or Guardians of the Galaxy — that I’m compelled to check them out. That got me to watch Logan the other week, which is one of the only X-Men movies I’ve seen.

And it’s kind of wild how unlike a superhero movie it feels. Mostly, it’s the visuals — replace the superpowers with real-world weapons, and little else would look out of place. It helps to make the film far more of a drama about Wolverine than a superhero story about a planet that needs to be saved. The intimate stakes helped with that, too.

One thing I found particularly interesting, though, was how much the film’s plot mirrored Children of Men (minus the whole infertility thing). It’s about getting a special child to a mythical safe house and the dangers and sacrifices along the way. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but that definitely sounds like some common story trope; and it fits perfectly here for a final act about confronting an unknown future.

Check out nine trailers from this week below.

Creed II

There’s a beautiful, moody new trailer out for Creed II this week, and while there’s probably an uplifting sports story somewhere in there, this is one dark and dramatic looking movie. Ryan Coogler isn’t returning as director; instead, the film has Steven Caple Jr. behind it, in what’ll be his first feature for a major studio. It comes out November 21st.

Dark Phoenix

Here’s the first trailer for Dark Phoenix, the latest entry in the sprawling X-Men film universe. The film adapts a decades-old comic storyline that has Jean Grey, played by Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner, fighting with a dark alternate personality. Longtime series writer/producer Simon Kinberg makes his directing debut here. It comes out February 14th.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Here’s the latest and last trailer for The Crimes of Grindelwald. There are plenty of incredible looking locales and set pieces, but the real thing that’s stood out here is what the movie is doing with Nagini, an evil snake from the book who it turns out is a woman. The fact that one of the few people of color in the series plays an evil character has some fans frustrated, which really plays into the film’s already questionable casting. Though it’s also been another opportunity for dialog around Hollywood’s abysmal diversity. The film comes out November 16th.

Bumblebee

I don’t expect a lot of emotion from a Transformers movie, but this one comes from the producer behind many of Laika’s wonderful animated films. And while, yeah ok there is still a lot of giant robot action with lots of big shiny explosions, the trailer really shows the film focusing on the friendship between these two characters. Plus, it stars Hailee Steinfeld, who was fantastic in The Edge of Seventeen. It comes out on Christmas.

Burning

Burning is South Korea’s selection for 2019’s Foreign Language Oscar category. And the buzz is, it may have a good shot at getting a nomination. The film was a hit at Cannes, where it received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and it’s based on a short story by Haruki Murakami. The film comes to the US on October 26th.

They Shall Not Grow Old

This is pretty neat: Peter Jackson has put together a World War I documentary filled with colorized footage taken during the war. Sound has been added too as a way to bring the footage to life and let modern audiences view it in an all new way. If you’re curious about the process of how this works, our friends at Vox have a great video about colorizing old photos — they cover some of the controversy around it too, as some historians find it questionable to edit our documents from the past. The film comes out in the UK on October 16th.

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead

Is it a little indulgent for Netflix to acquire both Orson Welles’ final film and a documentary about said film? Probably, but They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead also looks like a fascinating peek into The Other Side of the Wind‘s creation and decades-long delay, and more importantly, a look at what Welles was going through as he made it. It comes out on November 2nd, the same day as The Other Side of the Wind.

House of Cards

Here’s the first real look Netflix has given us at House of Cards’ sixth season, and what it’ll be like with Claire Underwood as president. The show looks just as wildly dramatic as ever, but the season’s sudden changes (and promise of a conclusion) ought to make things more interesting than usual. The final season debuts November 2nd.

Holmes & Watson

Part of me wonders how excited audiences are going to get for Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reuniting in 2018, but ultimately, it’s still Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reuniting for the first time in a decade, with another ludicrous premise and plenty of stupid humor, which is exactly what you’d want out of it. The film comes out November 9th.