Last week in trailers: Saoirse Ronan, John Cena, Tommy Wiseau & more

It’s this writer’s last trailer roundup here on Memeburn, so of course that means the marketing world dried up and delivered a host of just okay trailers to send me off.

It’s very inconsiderate of these massive studios who plan their schedules out years in advance to not care about this little Capetonian. But, hey, life isn’t fair. So here are last week’s trailers.

On Chesil Beach

Saoirse Ronan is coming after that fourth Oscar nomination in On Chesil Beach, where she shows off her beautiful English accent.

Based on the novel by Ian McEwan (Atonement), the film set in 1962 follows young newlyweds Florence and Edward who encounter conflict when Florence is overcome with disgust at the thought of physical contact.

Catch the film in South African on 22 June 2018.

Blockers

Here’s the second trailer for Blockers (though the title screen implies it’s meant to be read as Cockblockers). 

Starring John Cena, Leslie Mann, and Ike Barinholtz, the comedy tells of three parents set on stopping their daughters from following through on a sex pact on prom night. Because that’s not horrifically creepy at all.

Blockers arrives in cinemas 20 April.

Best F(r)iends

From the creators of the best worst movie ever made, The Room, comes a… comedy? Action flick? Satirical piece? … about a drifter (Greg Sestero) and creepy mortician (Tommy Wiseau) who fall into a life of crime. Maybe.

The film, unfortunately, is directed by Justin MacGregor and not Wiseau, so don’t expect The Room‘s sequel. Just take what you can get, I guess.

Best F(r)iends unsurprisingly has no SA release. It will be in the US on 30 March, and the second part (oh yes) will be showing 1 June.

Kings

In California in 1992, the officers who stood accused of using excessive force against taxi driver Rodney King were acquitted despite clear video evidence of brutality. The verdict sparked a six-day-long riot resulting in 53 dead and over 2000 injured.

Kings, starring Halle Berry and Daniel Craig, follows a foster family in the weeks leading up to the violence. The film has already received pretty lackluster reviews, with Variety dubbing it an “unmediated jumble“.

You may have to wait to make up your own mind, though — the film has no SA release yet, though it is in the US 27 April.

Paterno

Joe Paterno was considered the “winningest” college football coach of all time, but his success was marred by his assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual abuse scandal.

The HBO film Paterno tells his story, and stars Al Pacino in the title role. It premieres in the US on 7 April.

Birthmarked

If you thought the parents in Blockers were bad, you may want to hold on to your helmets.

Starring Toni Collette and Matthew Goode, Birthmarked follows a couple who adopt kids with the sole intention of raising them contrarily to their genetic tendencies. The one with violent parents is raised a pacifist, the one with a mathematically strong ancestry raised as an artist.

It’s a disaster waiting to happen — let’s not even consider the ethics — but the film has no local release. Birthmarked is out in the US 30 March.

The Outsider

Don’t you just love all of these East Asia-based films told from the perspective of white Americans? I know I do — so here’s another starring none other than Jared Leto. Because why not?

The Outsider is about an imprisoned American soldier who enters the world of the yakuza in repayment for his freedom.

The film is on Netflix 9 March.

Derren Brown: The Push

The UK’s Channel 4 may have premiered Derren Brown: The Push two years ago, but Netflix is promoting it now, so here’s another trailer.

In this special, Brown, the “psychological illusionist”, examines the power of compliance by persuading an unwitting man to commit what he thinks is murder. (I don’t mean to be that person, but wasn’t the simple waiting room social conformity experiment enough?)

Derren Brown: The Push streams on Netflix from 27 February.

Barry

SNL alum Bill Hader is a hitman-turned-actor in HBO’s latest oddball comedy that one YouTube commenter thinks is too unbelievable.

Dragons, HBO? Fine. Western sexy murder robots? I believe it. Bill Hader as a hitman who finds a love of performance? Get out.

Barry premieres in the US 25 March.

Legion

The second season of Legion is around the corner, and a trailer for the Chinese market has been released — along with another teaser of Aubrey Plaza denying reality.

Catch season two in the US 3 April.