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New trailers: Detective Pikachu, Hellboy, Dark Phoenix, and more

New trailers: Detective Pikachu, Hellboy, Dark Phoenix, and more

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Photo: Warner Bros.

I’ve watched a handful of Marvel movies, but mostly they’ve been ones that aren’t all that connected to the goings-on of the universe at large. I figured I’d be able to get by well enough watching Ant-Man and the Wasp without having seen the first one or the universe-shifting Captain America that took place in between, but it was kind of a weird experience.

The beginning of the movie does a lot of heavy lifting trying to catch you up. It has to establish Scott Lang’s house arrest, but more importantly, it has to explain this whole backstory of why the van Dynes are mad at him. And that really turns out to be the bigger problem: a core emotional pillar of the movie seems to have come about offscreen, and, having missed it, it kind of just feels unfair that everyone is so mad at him.

I realize that’s not how you’re supposed to watch the movie, exactly. But I think the film would have been better off explaining less than more. Just have these people turn up angry on screen, instead of going over what happened off screen, and the point will get itself across well enough, without making me have to think through how all these prior machinations add up.

Check out 11 trailers from this week below.

Detective Pikachu

I’m still a little puzzled that of all the live-action Pokémon movies that could have been made, the one chosen was Detective Pikachu. But you know what, whoever made this is having a blast, and I’m not about to stop them. The movie comes out May 10th.

Hellboy

A lot of people online didn’t love the first Hellboy trailer, which I’m kind of surprised by because I loved its lighthearted and funny approach to the genre. This trailer seems to be a direct response to their backlash, promising, essentially, a completely different movie: one that’s a much more traditional superhero film, with all-out stakes, huge monsters to fight, and not really a lot of fun. I don’t like it as much! The movie comes out April 12th.

When They See Us

Netflix put out a short but stunning first teaser this week for Ava DuVernay’s forthcoming miniseries, When They See Us. The limited series explores what happened to the Central Park Five — five teenagers of color who were wrongly convicted of rape and only exonerated years later. It comes out May 31st.

Dark Phoenix

There’s a fittingly dark new trailer out for Dark Phoenix that shows the cast of Young X-Men banding together to save one of their own. At least, I think that’s what’s happening. This whole universe is very confusing now. The movie comes out June 7th.

Arrested Development

I haven’t watched the first half of this season of Arrested Development out of fear that it’ll be lifeless and bad, and I’m not feeling super inspired by this first trailer for the second half, either. But that being said, sometimes it’s still wonderful to see some characters you love back in action again, and there were definitely moments in here that made me grin. The new episodes debut March 15th.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The journey continues for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a movie that appears to really, finally, actually be real and coming out, after decades of stalled development and a last-minute rights dispute. And you know, it actually looks really nice. For some reason, it’s only going in theaters for one day in the US, on April 10th. Given this movie’s cursed history, you should probably go then, because who knows where it’ll end up next.

Osmosis

Netflix has a new sci-fi series coming up that’s about a dating app and mind-altering pill that are collectively designed to guarantee someone finds true love. Naturally, things go very awry in some dark ways. It comes out March 29th.

Will Smith’s Bucket List

I’m pretty darn sure that no one is watching Facebook Watch, but I’m compelled to include this anyway: Will Smith is seemingly the must-have guy for streaming services trying to look professional and reach broader audiences, and Facebook has now picked Will Smith up for a series that is literally all about him. The show premiered this week, and new episodes come out every Wednesday.

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

I love the art in this animated film about surrealist director Luis Buñuel, best known for that short you watched in film class where a woman’s eye is seemingly gouged open. The movie cuts from animation to actual footage of Buñuel’s work, for a very neat stylistic effect. There’s no US release date yet, but the film has been picked up for distribution.

Love Death + Robots

Netflix put out a new teaser this week for Love Death + Robots, its new anthology series that brings together 18 short films with a very wide range of styles but seemingly some kind of common themes around love and death (and also, clearly, sex and nudity) tying them together. The series debuts March 15th.

Hail Satan?

Okay, this looks very funny.