Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | Film | February 10, 2025
7. Smurfs — Rihanna is Smurfette. That’s all I got. Pass.
6. Lilo & Stitch — Not a trailer, but it is an ad for the live-action film. This is probably more effective in terms of brand awareness, anyway, although the consensus at my SB party was, “Why are they making a live-action version of this movie?”
5. How to Train Your Dragon — The whole thing looks so much like the animated version that I don’t understand the point, except that the twins think that Mason Thames is super cute. He just looks like the animated character to me.
4. Jurassic World Rebirth — I lost interest in the Jurassic Park franchise after the first Chris Pratt entry, and while Scarlett Johansson is not enough to renew that interest, I think she’s a good choice to lead it.
3. F1 — I am deeply skeptical of even Brad Pitt’s ability (or maybe, especially of Brad Pitt’s ability) to make American audiences interested in Formula 1 racing. This might be a very good movie (Joseph Kosinski is a very good director), but I don’t know if that will be enough.
2. Novocaine — The Jack Quaid action-comedy actually looks fun, but I also suspect the cost to air the Super Bowl ad was a quarter of the film’s budget. I hope it’s worth it.
1. Thunderbolts — I have no interest in this week’s Captain America movie, but the MCU fatigue apparently does not extend to Thunderbolts, because I am very interested in this collection of superhero misfits. I am no longer locked into this Universe, and I have no idea who the villain is supposed to be, but I am OK with that, too.
