This week we only have a few new trailers for you. There’s a new remake of The Grudge, a scifi horror festival darling in Little Joe, romance in The Photograph, awards bait in The Banker, grime in the new CHristmas Carol adaptation, and a brand new pope on HBO. Let’s watch!
The Grudge
Look, does the world need another remake of The Grudge? No. Does it need a horror movie starring John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Andrea Riseborough, Demian Bichir, and Jackie Weaver? Yes, yes it does. I haven’t seen either of director Nicolas Pesce’s prior films but he has Sam Raimi on board as a producer and that’s not nothing.
Oh, and this trailer is creepy as hell.
Will it be good? No idea, but I am choosing optimism. We’ll all find out on January 3rd.
Little Joe
Little Joe played Fantastic Fest earlier this fall to decent reviews, mainly centred on how unsettling it is. One gets the feeling that there isn’t a whole lot of new ground covered in the story (a new antidepressant that might not be all it appears to be) but I do love the look of it, particularly of the titular Little Joe flower.
This one comes to theatres on December 6th.
The Photograph
We’ve officially reached a point where if I find out that LaKeith Stanfield is in something then I am interested in seeing it. This also goes for Issa Rae. Luckily The Photograph has both of them in it, and in the lead roles!
Yes it’s a love story about coming to terms with who you love and how you love them, and how you love yourself enough to love that someone, all told with flashbacks to the protagonists mother’s troubled past. Have I seen that movie before? Yes. Will I see it again? Yes, yes I will.
The Photograph comes out on Valentines Day, so I know what I’m taking my wife to on Valentines Day now.
The Banker
AppleTV+ debuted with a bunch of new shows this past weekend but they’re also getting into the movie game. The Banker looks like they’re going straight for the type of film that might do well at next years awards, too. Three big names, a period set dramedy centered on race, that’s exactly thr kind of thing that the Academy in particular eats up.
On the other hand I don’t find tis trailer particularly compelling. But then again they gave Green Book best picture last year so anything is possible.
The Banker will be released in theatres on December 6th and land on AppleTV+ in January.
A Christmas Carol
If you have watched Peaky Blinders or Taboo the the aesthetic of this will make a little more sense. Those shows feature a dark, gritty, and grimy version of London, one smeared with soot and rain and the ill intentions of disreputable men.
I don’t really know that that aesthetic lends itself to A Christmas Carol, but Guy Pearce is always a win so it has that going for it.
A Christmas Carol is a three episode miniseries and will arrive on BBC in December, and presumably a local specialty network in your area.
The New Pope
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Young Pope wasn’t for everyone but we here at Awesome Friday HQ were quite fond of its production design, score, and balls-out performance from Jude Law.
This follow up, which has a new pope played by John Malkovich taking over after Jude Law’s Lenny has fallen into a coma. There’s not much plot in the trailer but it doesn’t matter because it looks just as weird and challenging as the first one was.
The New Pope is scheduled to arrive on HBO in January.
The End
That’s it for this week, and it’s been kind of a light one. What do you think of this batch? Do any of them have you excited? Let me know in the comments or on the medias social.