Much Ado About Trailers: February 11th, 2015

Source: Ramascreen

Want no-nonsense and quick-fire verdicts on the latest video previews for upcoming entertainment releases? Look no further!
Call us presumptuous, but we'd wager that a fair proportion of entertainment consumers must justifiably struggle nowadays to stay atop of the myriad of teaser trails, trails-for-teasers-for-trails and trails-for-teasers-for-miniature previews-for-trails which seem to surface on the interwebs on a near-daily basis, such that they're uncertain as to which trails warrant their attention.

Yet in contrast to most entertainment news outlets,  the On-Screen team knows the value of sorting the cream of the crop from those works of entertainment which'll most likely find themselves creamed from the get-go, and it's for that reason amongst others that we're kicking off a new feature going by the name 'Much Ado About Trailers' on this crisp Wednesday evening with the central intent of both presenting and evaluating the various industries' latest respective output. Rather than promising to publish new editions of this particular ilk of article at regular intervals, though, we'll instead strive to launch round-ups along the lines of that which readers will see below if and when the major film, TV and video game production companies decide to launch an onslaught of supplementary promotional material in our (and therefore your) direction.

Without further ado, then, here's a comprehensive look at the trails which have justifiably made waves in the last few days as well as those which have achieved much the same feat for all the reasons that studios might have originally hoped to avoid...

1. MINIONS - If Despicable Me 2 proved anything when it landed in cinemas worldwide during the Summer of 2013, it was that no animated franchise is infallible in an age when shared universes dominate the film industry. Thankfully, though, as its name suggests, Minions is placing the focus back on the yellow tykes who afford the series the majority of its appeal and unless Sandra Bullock's human antagonist is continually portrayed in the pantomime-esque light in which the audience sees her depicted her, this long-awaited spin-off should prove to be just what the Despicable saga requires in order to return to its former glory.

2. HITMAN: AGENT 47 - Even if IO Interactive fail to produce a sequel to their hit 2012 video game Hitman: Absolution this year, we'll still at least have this potent second instalment in the film franchise of the same name. Known to those intrigued enough to follow the project as the reboot which ditched Timothy Olyphant in favour of casting The Young Victoria's Rupert Friend in the role of the titular hired assassin, Agent 47's teaser trailer showcases some hilariously overblown action set-pieces, but whereas that trait might seem cause for concern in any other instance, such sequences will no doubt go down a storm with the teen audience at which this Summer thriller is almost certainly targeted.

3. CINDERELLA - Perhaps some day Walt Disney Pictures will come up with a premise for a live-action film that doesn't prompt the creation of a tiresome and near-soulless retread of a classic animated romp, but unless the Cinderella marketing team are trying to conceal each and every one of the finest scenes featured in Kenneth Brannagh's latest contribution to the world of cinema and are deceiving the world at large with regards to the seemingly pretentious dialogue which awaits us in March, then that day hasn't arrived just yet. Indeed, whilst Oz: The Great and Powerful and Maleficent weren't exactly masterpieces, at this rate the Lily Collins-starring reboot could soon become widely known as one of the weakest non-animated productions in its studio's critically uneven history. What's worse? Contrary to popular belief, Disney aren't fools either - if they were, then they wouldn't have attached the much-anticipated short film Frozen Fever in order to guarantee that everyone and their grandmothers will purchase a ticket as soon as they become available.

4. PITCH PERFECT 2 - Creatively inspired or jam-packed with gags which are on a par with the surprisingly brilliant original film this second "global trailer" for the sequel to 2013's Pitch Perfect mightn't be, but even so, tantalising glimpses into musical numbers involving hit tunes such as "Poison", "Run the World" and various others as well as a hilarious (albeit overly clichéd) set-piece involving the private bodily areas of a certain Australian a cappella artist - not to mention one or two humorous cameos from director Elizabeth Banks as a endearing but somewhat dim-witted a cappella championship commentator - should more than compensate for any concerns Pitch fanatics might have in the run-up to its début performance in UK auditoriums this May.

5. THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT - Believe it or not, we'd love to confirm that with its second instalment, Insurgent, the Divergent Series is finally looking set to cure itself of Hunger Games syndrome. On the basis of its "Fight Back" trail, though, the odds aren't necessarily aligning themselves in the film's favour, not least since the hopelessly derivative dialogue and many of the plot points mooted here either seem similar to Lionsgate's four-part dystopian saga or are simply lacklustre in their own right. Dedicated followers of On-Screen may recall that we awarded Divergent a decent 3* score around one year ago, but if Insurgent hopes to either depart the realms of mediocrity or even to simply match its predecessor, then we're going to need some more compelling evidence come release day. That said, credit where credit's due - plenty of franchises don't provide explanations for aesthetic changes befalling their lead stars between films, yet in this instance, art will seemingly mirror life as Shaliene Woodley's Triss receives a much-needed hair-cut so as to enable Woodley not to have to spend the duration of the running time donning an unconvincing wig.