Minions: The Rise of Gru

And They Were All Yellow

I have a confession to make: until now, I had never seen a Despicable Me movie.  As a millennial, my animation touchstones were Toy Story and Shrek, and at 18 I was too old for the original Despicable Me when it came out.  But sometimes the universe (along with an aggressive marketing campaign) gives you a sign.  I couldn’t stop watching the original #gentleminons video on social media, and for the past month three yellow faces have stared at me from a poster at my subway stop.  When Minions: The Rise of Gru was the most convenient option at the theater, the time had come to stop resisting and succumb to the meme fever.

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Vice

vice-min-02

If nothing else, Vice deserves praise for having one of the best trailers in recent memory.  Beginning with a low-key exchange between an instantly recognizable Bush (Sam Rockwell) and Cheney (Christian Bale) set to the opening strains of The Killers’ swagger anthem “The Man,” the song and trailer quickly build to an expertly synchronized crescendo.  The combination of audio and visuals whet the appetite the way all good trailers do, showing just enough to get the audience excited but never revealing too much.  It’s a masterclass in hype-building, and whichever anonymous editor stitched it together should be proud. Continue reading