The end of the year is nearly upon us, so it’s about damn time the top 5 lists started coming out!
Between now and Christmas we will be publishing a number of Top 5 lists, culminating with our Top Video Games of the Year and then our Top Films of the Year. If we as admins disagree strongly enough there’s even the chance that we may post our own versions of each list, but that will be on an ad-hoc basis.
So sit back, relax and let’s start our recap of a great year of films and video games by taking a look at our five favourite film trailers of the year.
Number 5: La La Land
Let’s start off with something entirely different from everything else on the list. The trailer for La La Land promises a brilliant blend of old and new and with two main stars like Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling you can be sure that the comedy, emotion and general wackiness conveyed in this 2 and a half minute long trailer will carry over into the film.
It may not have the highest budget on the list and it may not be a storied franchise, but this trailer definitely has us wanting to see more.
Numer 4: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Comic-Con trailer
The first teaser trailer for Fantastic Beasts leaned too heavily on the connection with the previous Harry Potter films to make it onto this list. However, the trailer which debuted during Comic-con took us away from that approach and allowed us to invest in the new world we were being presented. By asking us to rely not on our nostalgia for specific characters from the previous franchise, it instead asked us to rely on our nostalgia for magic as a whole.
Once again we were whisked off to a world that had so much left for us still to discover, despite this being the 9th film set in the universe it presents.
Number 3: Hacksaw Ridge
This film promises great things and the trailer was the first thing which reaffirmed those feelings. Andrew Garfield is outstanding in this trailer, which makes us incredibly excited to see his performance throughout the entirety of Hacksaw Ridge.
The emotion, tone, and performances in this trailer are picture perfect as they really help to convey to us as an audience exactly what is being felt by each and every character we come across. But I feel that enough isn’t being made about Mel Gibson’s directing, some of the shots and effects seen in this trailer alone are outstanding and that needs to be recognised.
Number 2: Star Wars: Rogue One
I mentioned effects in the previous entry so it would be hypocritical of me if I didn’t start off this entry by saying that the trailer in Rogue One has the best effects, practical or otherwise, that I have seen all year. Gareth Edwards has done a fantastic job of portraying warfare in a science fiction setting, and by combining that with his masterful use of effects it has really allowed the scope and gravity of this film to be properly portrayed in only 2 minutes and 37 seconds.
The addition of characters we’re already familiar with such as Saw Gerrera, Mon Mothma and of course Darth Vader is simply icing on an already delicious cake. I feel no shame in admitting that I prefer this trailer to any that The Force Awakens had, but I still couldn’t give it the number one spot.
Number 1: Logan
I went back and forth a lot over which of the following two trailers would be Number 1 and number 2. Ultimately I went with Rogue One as Number 2 because it’s expected, everyone looks to Star Wars films and expects high-quality trailers that deliver on all the right aspects. However I expected very little from Logan, the promotional material that had been released shortly before the trailer were the first positive signs, but they were small. Coming off the back of two poor Wolverine stand alone movies, and a poor showing from X-Men: Apocalypse, I don’t think anyone had particularly high hopes.
However, the trailer absolutely nails it. This is Hugh Jackman’s last foray as Wolverine and the trailer really conveys that feeling. The use of “Hurt” by Johnny Cash is a match made in heaven and having gone from low expectations, I will now be going into this film full of hope and expecting a much more sombre X-Men movie that will allow us to say goodbye to Wolverine (And likely the original timeline that was started with the first X-Men movie).
Well done Logan, well done.
That was just my opinion though, let us know which trailers you enjoyed most in 2016 and which films you’re looking forward next year! Then be sure to hit follow on Twitter so that you don’t miss any of the latest gaming and movie news.
Until next time
– Mitch
WeAreNiche 