Film Bits: Oscar Season Kicks Off with ‘The Post’ Trailer

The Oscar Bait is Strong with ‘The Post’

The first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s latest film, The Post, was released earlier today and already there’s talk of Oscars. Spielberg’s exploration of the Washington Post’s battle to release the Pentagon Papers certainly has all the earmarks of awards success, including stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep (as Ben Bradlee and Kay Graham) who always seem to generate an inordinate amount of buzz around this time of year. The Academy loves these kinds of movies—period pieces, history making decisions, dramatic journalism—so you can bet you’ll be hearing quite a bit about The Post in the coming months. The trailer certainly looks intriguing, and both Hanks and Streep seem to give great performances from what we see here. They’re supported by an all-star cast that includes Bob Odenkirk, Alison Brie, Sarah Paulson, Bruce Greenwood, and that’s just getting started. The Post hits theaters in limited release on December 22 before opening wide on January 12.

(20^th Century Fox)

Thank the Lord, the End of ‘Fifty Shades’ is Nigh

I’ve felt vaguely threatened by the impending release of Fifty Shades Freed since the post-credits teaser was tacked onto Fifty Shades Darker earlier this year. That threat is even greater today with the release of the full trailer for the upcoming conclusion to the wildly insipid trilogy, which looks as dull and unsexy as both films that came before it. It’s release now lingers like a dark cloud on the distant horizon, inching ever nearer to us though, this time, there is a ray of hope. As mentioned, this is the conclusion of the trilogy. Though we live in the age of reboots and remakes, and though this stands to make roughly every dollar in the world, its ending carries with it the hope that we never have to see, discuss, or think about Fifty Shades of Anything for, at the very least, the immediate future. This darkness will soon pass. Fifty Shades Freed hits theaters on February 9.

(Universal)

Margot Robbie Transforms for ‘I, Tonya’

Margot Robbie is also earning a fair amount of Oscar buzz for her performance in I, Tonya, a film that looks into the events surrounding the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan prior to the Olympic games of 1994. The full length red-band trailer gives some indication as to why the buzz has been so heavy. Robbie plays Tonya Harding, whose ex-husband orchestrated an attack on Kerrigan, her figure skating rival. Robbie seems to disappear completely into the role, not so much playing as becoming the infamous skater. The film co-stars Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney. I, Tonya hits theaters on December 8.

(Neon)