10. “The Death of Stalin”
Despite being set in the 1950s, “The Death of Stalin” feels almost too uncomfortably timely due to the current political state of affairs in America right now, especially with our contentious (or friendly, depending on who you’re talking to) relationship with Russia. Marking Armando Iannucci’s return to politics after he vacated his show-runner position at “Veep” two years ago, this trailer shows he hasn’t lost a single iota of his ability to mine pure comedic gold out of political ineptitude. “Loosely Based on the True Story” of Joseph Stalin’s death, “The Death of Stalin” provides a setting that gives freedom for Iannucci and his fellow writers (David Schneider and Ian Martin) to line up a brilliant cast of characters who confidently spout out the biting dialogue (in a variety of accents that make no nod to Russia) for which Iannucci is so well known. The ensemble (Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Rupert Friend, Andrea Riseborough, Paddy Considine, Michael Palin, among others) is super-game, delivering sound bites and reactions that show this film’s potential to end up as one of the top comedies of 2018. – Karl Schleider
9. “The Square” – Official U.S. Trailer
“The Square” is a lengthy movie that’s hard to describe in a short window of time. Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Force Majeure” follow-up is a bold, beautiful, bizarre, bewildering, and ultimately bewitching dark satirical drama about our modern relationship with art culture, social media, sex, technology, humanity and existence. This movie has a lot to say and a lot of time to say it, but a trailer is without that luxury. How do you advertise “The Square” and everything it represents without overly simplifying it or, worse, lying to moviegoers? Even the marketing gurus in the film have a hard time with that task. Thankfully, this trailer does it well. Quick to highlight its striking, abstract sexiness, as well as its general wackadoodle weirdness, while never misinforming viewers or painting the wrong picture, it is flashy, punchy and fitfully funny in all the ways “The Square” is, while also heightening the film’s general mystique, giving it an added edge which entices any curious viewer into the madness that unfolds in Östlund’s fascinatingly strange movie. “The Square” isn’t easy to specify. Thankfully, this trailer gets it just right. – WA
8. “Baby Driver”
And this is how Edgar Wright brings audiences to his first film in nearly half a decade: a killer track, gun-shots, crispy cool dialogue and some much needed hoo-haw, put in with some great editing techniques (editing an inserted Christopher Plummer on Kevin Spacey’s head might be appropriate for future releases — we’ll make that remark before someone in the comments inevitably does) A high-speed trailer for a high-speed film is the right concoction from a director who spent much of the eighties watching as many action films as he possibly could, and that film education is now paying off. Wright, often touted as England’s answer to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, brings that ’70s sense of cool to the pink/purple credits and nods to James Bond in the delivery of the quippy lines (though no Bond trailer has been this exciting since Timothy Dalton’s swansong “Licence To Kill”, which, not un-coincidentally, is one of Wright’s formative action films). Put on your seat-belts. This trailer’s a blast. – Eoghan Lyng
7. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
“It’s time for the Jedi to end.” And with those words, the entire world erupted in speculation. Back in April, Disney released the first footage from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and did a masterful job of creating a great tease for the film. Most of the teaser is voiceover from stars Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill, as completely out of context scenes whiz by you in quick succession. It’s proof that Disney has mastered the art of creating epic, emotional trailers without giving viewers any major reveals. But as awesome as the teaser was, the first full trailer was the good stuff. It serves as a showcase of how different this film, written and directed by Rian Johnson, feels from previous entries in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. The colors, the drama, and the porgs! But even with the full one second of porg glory, the standout moment is with Kylo Ren, with his finger on the trigger, perhaps being the one to kill his own mother. If that didn’t make you a little misty-eyed, then you’re dead inside. ‘Star Wars’ trailers are always events, but these two trailers were even that much more special. – CD
6. “It” – Teaser
As someone who frightens easily, I was one of the handful of (age appropriate) people who never went and saw the mega-smash-hit adaptation of Stephen King’s “IT”. As the most successful King adaptation of 2017 (and there were a few of them, all varying in terms of critical points and box office numbers) we can probably say that I missed out on something fun. But the miraculous part is just how close I came to going, mainly due to how engrossing the trailer was. I watched this trailer, alone, multiple times leading up to the release, trying to trick my brain into thinking that I could both handle it and not have to sleep with the light on for the next year if I so chose to. It was gripping and promised the equal measures of horror, winsome adventure and the coming-of-age themes that so permeate King’s work. The film became a smash hit on the heels of a teaser that cleverly doubles down on the atmosphere while only hinting at Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise. It targets fans of the genre, but goes above and beyond by (almost) convincing the easily frightened that they should go see it too. – AJ
