Trailer Round-Up – September 24, 2016

Fist Fight Fist Fight, directed by Richie Keen from a script by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux, stars Ice Cube and Charlie Day as two teachers that are set to have a, well, fist fight. One is meek, the other is tough and imposing - you have zero guesses which is which. Although wouldn't it be a lot funnier if Charlie Day was the one threatening Ice Cube? Just throwing it out there. This is an unfunny trailer for what looks an unfunny movie starring people that can be funny, but not always are. The premise is thin and would make more sense for a sitcom episode than a feature length movie and the final "joke" of the trailer, which has Charlie Day call 911, only for them to laugh at him for being a loser, comes across as trying too hard to be mean-spirited rather than actually be funny. Is it really that ridiculous that a teacher is being threatened by another teacher? All of this aside, I'm looking forward to it making more than a 100 million at the box office and getting a sequel. Fist Fight is set for February 17, 2017 release. Passengers Directed by Morten Tyldum from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Passengers is a sci-film starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as two passengers who are awakened 90 years years from suspended animation aboard a spaceship. A solid premise and great leads go a long way, but this trailer for Passengers doesn't exactly make it look like a home run. Don't get me wrong, it looks good, but nothing about it is really exceptional in any way - it comes across as a competent, dependable sci-fi movie with star power and a budget. Nothing wrong with that and I would say it's worth keeping an eye on, but there's an unshakable "is that it?" quality to the trailer. Passengers is set to open on December 21, 2016. The Smurfs: The Lost Village Smurfs: The Lost Village, directed by Kelly Asbury, with a screenplay written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon is a fully animated reboot of the Smurfs feature length movie franchise, featuring the voices of Demi Lovato as Smurfette, Rainn Wilson as the evil Gargamel, Joe Manganiello as Hefty, Jack McBrayer as Clumsy, Danny Pudi as Brainy, and Mandy Patinkin as Papa Smurf. Being a fully animated movie that actually seems to be focusing on the Smurfs as opposed to inexplicable Neil Patrick Harris related plots is certainly a step in the right direction. This teaser trailer doesn't have much to talk about - it shows off the animation, which looks nice and colorful, and gives a sense of the voices of the characters, which seem to fit the bill. Even if this movie ends up just being decent, it would still be a tremendous improvement over the live-action Smurfs nightmares of the past few years. Smurfs: The Lost Village is set for a April 7, 2017 release. Trespass Against Us Written by Alastair Siddons and directed by Adam Smith, Trespass Against Us is a crime drama starring Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsey Marshal and Killian Scott. Set across three generations of the Cutler family who live as outlaws, the movie sees Fassbender's Chad Cutler butt heads with his father Colby, played by Gleeson, over the future of the family. This looks like a powerful, well-acted drama with a great cast. The only downside to the trailer is that it seems to be revealing a bit too much of the plot and what appear to fairly significant moments. Trespass Against Us will be available exclusively on DIRECTV November 24, and is set for a early 2017 release in theaters. The Whole Truth Directed by Courtney Hunt from a script by Nicholas Kazan, The Whole Truth is a crime thriller and courtroom drama starring Keanu Reeves, Renée Zellweger, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Gabriel Basso and Jim Belushi. Reeves plays defense attorney Richard Ramsay who takes a personal case when he promises his widowed friend Loretta Lassiter (Renée Zellweger) that he will keep her son out of of prison. What appears to be a clear-cut case turns out to be a lot more complicated and Ramsay's new colleague Janelle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) digs deep to uncover the truth while he tries to live up to his promise. The Whole Truth looks like a competent, if generic crime thriller. The trailer practically gives away everything of significance in the movie - it stops just shy of outright saying it, but it seems pretty clear that Renee Zellweger actually commited the murder, the son is trying to take the blame and Keanu Reeves is willing to overlook all of it to help a friend. That being said, this is still something that could to compelling drama - if the movie focuses on characters more than it does the twists, giving away the plot in the trailer may not be a mistake. The Whole Truth arrives in theaters and on-demand on October 21.