1. The Equalizer 2

This is pretty funny only because that one Barstool Idol contestant showed us his part in this trailer where Denzel beats the shit out of him right at the start. Probably violated some sort of NDA shit, but it was a pretty baller move. Antoine Fuqua returned to direct the sequel with Richard Wenk writing the screenplay again. There really isn’t anything not to love based off this trailer, and I’m excited for Pedro Pascal(Game of Thrones, Narcos) to join in on the fun here too.

2. The Hate U Give

This looks to be very, VERY serious movie revolving around an issue I really don’t have license to speak on. I will definitely be seeing this whenever it drops, though, because the commentary on some of the current issues in the country is too important to miss. George Tillman Jr. is directing (Notorious, Barbershop, Soul Food) and is based off an award winning book of the same name from last year. It stars Amandla Stenberg, who is also in upcoming ‘The Darkest Minds’. It also features Common(Selma, Terminator: Salvation, John Wick Chapter 2), Issa Rae(Insecure) and Anthony Mackie(The Hurt Locker, 8 Mile, Captain America: The Winter Soldier). My impression from the trailer is that it is going to be powerful and thought provoking, so sign me up!

3. King of Thieves

They somehow got every old British actor together except for Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart for this, and I am very ready for it. The trailer makes it looked like a comedy based heist movie, similar to ‘Logan Lucky’ which I loved. You couldn’t get me more excited for this unless you had Jason Statham and Tom Hardy as the cops chasing them or something. James Marsh is at the helm (The Theory of Everything) and Joe Penhall writing (The Road, Mindhunter). Thats a solid back end, and the crew of My Cocaine(The Dark Knight, Cider House Rules), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, The Kings Speech), Ray Winstone (The Departed, Beowolf), Jim Broadbent (Gangs of New York, Moulin Rouge), Tom Courtenay (???) and Charlie Cox(Daredevil) is phenomenal.

4. Mara

Horror is probably the most top heavy genre there is. The top like 5% is astounding, and everything after that is just trash. Nothing about this trailer indicates that it will be in that elite category, but I do like sleep-based horror personally since I’m plagued with sleep issues. Directing Rookie Clive Tonge is heading this up with another sort of rookie screenwriter in Jonathan Frank. It stars Olga Kurylenko (Oblivion, Quantum of Solace, Death of Stalin) and mostly randos, so we will see (or not) if they can pull off something different.

5. The Predator (Trailer 2)

Its probbbbably going to suck and its probbbbbbably going to disappoint like every other predator movie after the original, but I’m still excited to see it. No @’s at this time. It’s directed by Shane Black (The Nice Guys, Iron Man 3) and written by him and Fred Dekker (Tales from the Crypt, Robocop 3). I don’t really see how their experience translates to a serviceable Predator movie, and this trailer didn’t really convince me. Especially the “Hey if ur moms vagina was a video game, it’d be rated E for Everyone! *Roars of laughter*” line. Puke. Pretty solid cast, though. Boyd Holbrook (Logan, Narcos), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder, Book of Henry), Keegan Michael Key (More movies and shows than I can count), Olivia Munn (The Newsroom, X-Men: Apocalypse), Sterling K Brown (This is Us, Black Panther), Tom Jane (The Mist, The Punisher), Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones, John Wick) and Jake Busey (Starship Troopers). I mean, that’s a huge cast. Not wildly impressive or anything, but pretty accomplished. My prediction is that this will stink but I’ll watch it FX all 50000 times they stream it just like ‘Alien Vs Predator’.

6. Support Our Girls

I don’t really know who was asking for a hooters movie, but here we are. It looks not bad though, and good on Regina Hall for the late stage revival she is having after getting a start in the Scary Movie franchise. Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski, who has done a ton of smaller projects, it stars Hall, Haley Lu Richardson (The Edge of Seventeen, Columbus, Split), Dylan Gelula (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Zoe Graham (Boyhood), Junglepussy(rapper), Jana Kramer (Singer) and Brooklyn Decker. I like the first three cast members a lot, the rest I don’t really know. It’s holding at a 100% critic score right now after premiering at South by Southwest, so I have high hopes.

7. Beautiful Boy

Damn, going to preorder my tissues now. It looks like the Father/Son counter to one of my favorite movies from last year ‘Ladybird’ and I don’t hate that at all. Steve Carrell has quietly pulled off some amazing dramatic roles in the past few years, and Timothee Chalamet, while annoying in name, is an incredible actor. He somehow made watching a grown man eat his nut out of a peach enjoyable. This is director Felix Van Groeningen’s English language debut, with the adapted screenplay coming from Luke Davies (Lion, Candy). Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, Birdman) and Maura Tierney (Liar Liar) co-star as well. It’s supposed to be a story of addiction through a fathers eyes, which is obviously wayyyy darker than ‘Ladybird’. I could see this concept and cast easily winning an Oscar somewhere depending on the execution.

8. Assasination Nation

There wasn’t much to gather from this trailer, but Wikipedia has the summary as “Salem high school senior Lily (Odessa Young) and her pals spend their time in a haze of social media and partying. When the people of Salem are targeted in a malicious data hack, all privacy is destroyed and lives are ruined as deadly secrets are exposed. The small town turns on each other and descends into violent chaos as they hunt for the culprit. Lily and her friends must band together if they want to survive the night.” Seems sort of like ‘Mom and Dad’, which wasn’t terrible. It stars to a ton of people I have never heard of and also Joel McHale, Bella Thorne and Bill Skarsgård. I don’t know, this isn’t really my cup of tea. But it’s a movie so here I am.

9. Mandy

Fuckkkk yes! I’ll watch any and every Nic Cage movie they make from now til the end of time. And guess, what, the critics love it. It premeired at Sundance and has a 97% critic score with 29 reviews so far. My favorite review is this:

All the butter in the world for that promo. It stars Cage, Andrea Riseborough (Birdman, Oblivion), Linus Roache (Vikings, Homeland), and Bill Duke (Predator, Commando). It’s director Panos Cosmatos’s sophomore effort, and what I find interesting is that it’s scored by Jóhann Jóhannsson who has done some GREAT work in ‘Sicario’, ‘Arrival’, and ‘The Theory of Everything’. I’m a firm believer that solid sound mixing and a good soundtrack can make even the worst movie at least decent, so I have some high hopes for this!

10. The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter

Josh Brolin has been on a tear lately, but this looks to be just ok. The most promising aspect is that it’s written by Jody Hill who made ‘The Foot Fist Way’, ‘Observe and Report’, ‘Eastbound & Down’ and ‘Vice Principals’, all of which I enjoy immensely. Danny McBride supporting is also a plus, because even though he pretty much plays the same character in every role he does, he’s still funny doing it every time. Hiking is a favorite pastime of mine, and while hunting isn’t, obviously it’s a pretty important bonding experience for a lot of parents/children in certain parts of the country. As a note, it currently has a 17% on RT off 6 reviews which is obviously not great, bob.

11. A Happening of Monumental Proportions

I don’t ever want to see Common without facial hair again. Just need to get that out of the way. This looks like a quirky but funny comedy, and honestly what is better for Judy Greer’s directorial debut. It has a pretty stacked cast in Allison Janney (I Tonya, The Help), Jennifer Garner (13 going on 30, Daredevil), Bradley Whitford (Get Out, Billy Madison), John Cho (Harold & Kumar, Star Trek), Anders Holm (Workaholics, Game Over, Man!), Rob Riggle (Step Brothers, The Hangover), and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley). I’m curious to see how this pans out, but this was a pretty damn funny trailer. Also, he isn’t on the cast list, but that was Keanu at the end, right?

12. Hot Summer Nights

Timothee Chalamet selling drugs in 1991??? Fuck yes. It’s written and directed by rookie Elijah Bynum, and was released at South by Southwest to a 67% rating on 6 reviews. Not great, but I don’t care because I’m a sucker for these types of movies. That’s why I’m basically counting down the days until ‘White Boy Rick’ drops. It stars Timothee Chalamet(Call Me by Your Name, Ladybird), Maika Monroe (It Follows, The Guest), Thomas Jane (mentioned before), and my boy Billy Fitchner (The Dark Knight, Black Hawk Down, Armageddon).

Well that’s all folks. Make sure to listen to our last pod where we review ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ with PFTcommenter and talk about 10 movies we love that we think critics hate.

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