PRESTON WALTER

The first trailer for Song to Song came out this past Friday and boasted an A list cast of Ryan Gosling, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara and Michael Fassbender. This movie, which is set against the music scene in Austin,Texas, follows the story of an intersecting love triangle between Gosling, Fassbender and Mara.

This movie looks to feature a lot of music and it pulls actors who have already showcased their singing talents in different movie. I’m hoping that Song to Song can bring back the prominence of writer  and director Terrance Malik, as his previous couple movies haven’t been great. This time, maybe with an all star cast, Malik can bring an interesting story and fully deliver on the film’s presence.

ROMAN TYLER

The first trailer for The House starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler released on Thursday, and I can’t say I was too impressed by it. The premise is original enough: two parents can’t afford their child’s college tuition so they open a casino in their house.

Most parents and high school/college students can identify with the struggle of not being able to afford college tuition, and Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler both have a lot of great performances under their belts, so on paper this movie could have a lot going for it. But the trailer and press around it make it seem like it’ll be somewhere between passable and terrible.

It’s true that Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell have had some good performances in the past, but they’re the type of comedians who need a great director and cast to work off and synergize with, and even great actors can’t make a great movie off a bad script. Most of the jokes in the trailer seemed like typical Will Ferrell “yelling really loud” humor, and while the setup for this movie is original, the idea of “normal suburban people getting involved in an illegal activity that they aren’t very well suited for” is something that has been done already.

It seems like most of the humor is going to follow that general idea, which could get boring very quickly. The House could end up being an alright date movie or something to pick up on Redbox, but I wouldn’t go into this movie with expectations of it being an amazing or hilarious comedy.