The Deuce wrapped up its second season last weekend, and I didn’t think I’d be saying this... but I kind of wish HBO hadn’t decided to cut it off after season three. When the final season was initially announced, I didn’t mind: the show had failed to evolve its characters, while just meandering through their life and times, and it had gotten pretty frustrating.
But by the end of season two, things finally started changing — and it’s been great. Characters are breaking down, getting thrown into new situations, and constantly looking over their shoulders. It’s something the show certainly could have gotten to earlier, but I’m still loving it now that it’s here.
Check out 11 trailers from this week below.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Here’s the latest trailer for the Coen brothers’ Netflix film — an anthology of six different stories that was initially announced as a short TV series. The whole thing looks a touch low budget; but it also looks plenty goofy and Coen-y, and the fact that Netflix is putting this in theaters for a week before it’s streaming suggests the company has some real faith in it. The film hit some theaters November 8th, then goes online on the 16th.
Captive State
The first trailer for Captive State was just a long mash-up of sci-fi cliches. And while this new one still has plenty of familiar elements, it also gives a much clearer picture of what’ll make this film unique — including its Chicago setting and grittier tone. The film comes out March 29th.
Missing Link
Laika makes some of the most wonderful-looking films today thanks to its dedication to incredible miniatures and stop-motion animation. Its latest film is about a bigfoot-like creature who travels across the world in search of his lost relatives, encountering a bunch of surprised humans along the way. It looks a lot sillier than other Laika films, but the animation alone makes it worth checking out. The film comes out April 12th.
UglyDolls
I love watching trailers for STX-made films because it’s always exceptionally clear what the marketing pitch was that got the whole thing greenlit — the studio’s strategy is essentially just “take a recognizable brand or actor and build an okay movie around them.” So here we have UglyDolls, the musical film, with singing by Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Pitbull, and more. It looks really annoying, but really marketable. It comes out in May.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Mowgli was initially supposed to come out last month, but over the summer, Warner Bros. sold to the film to Netflix, which added a subtitle to the name, pushed the release date, and reworked the marketing around it. Given that studios don’t usually sell off movies that they think are going to be a huge success (see: The Cloverfield Paradox), I don’t exactly have high hopes. It comes out December 7th.
Cam
Blumhouse has a really trippy new film coming up that has Madeline Brewer (of The Handmaid’s Tale) playing a cam model who gets tied up in some surreal and twisted game when her identity — and her literal face — is stolen. It comes to Netflix on November 16th.
The Secret Life of Pets 2
The series’ main character hasn’t changed for The Secret Life of Pets 2, but his voice actor has: Patton Oswalt has taken over for Louis C.K., who voiced the star dog in the original just two years ago. The new one comes out next summer.
Capernaum
Capernaum doesn’t look like many other films, and it shouldn’t: the film starts with the bizarre premise of a young boy suing his parents for giving birth to him, then zooms out to focus on the hardships of his daily life in Lebanon. The film tracks a script by director Nadine Labaki, but it was also heavily improvised by her cast of non-professional actors, lending a raw, messy element to the film. It comes to the US on December 14th.
The Titan Games
Yeah, okay, it’s a The Rock-branded athletic competition series. It’s one of the better reality show ideas out there. It comes to NBC in January.
Our Planet
Some of the key names behind Planet Earth are back with a visually stunning new documentary series, and yes, that of course means more David Attenborough. This time, the show is heading straight to Netflix. It debuts April 5th.
Kingdom
Medieval. Zombies.