Hello, everyone! It’s One Of Us’ weekly article series, “The Weekly Wrap-Up.” Covering everything from film announcements to comic books, “The Weekly Wrap-Up” ensures that the biggest stories of the week are analyzed and discussed by our team of writers. This week we talk about the trailers for Free State of Jones and 10 Cloverfield Lane!
Free State of Jones Trailer
Inspired by real life events, Free State of Jones follows Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey), an ex-Confederate soldier who leads a small group of poor famers and local slaves in an armed rebellion against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi during the American Civil War. Along with declaring Jones County a free and independent entity of the Confederacy, Jones also marries a former slave, Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), in an attempt to establish a friendly mixed-race community in the South. Directed by Gary Ross (Plesantville), the film also co-stars Keri Russell, Mahershala Ali and Brendan Gleeson.
While I think this trailer is a bit workman-like and reveals far too much early on, the premise alone for Free State of Jones is fascinating enough to grab my attention. I was completely unaware of Knight and the rebellion he led against the Confederacy during the height of the Civil War. Personally, I find this to be the most interesting aspect of the trailer. With so many past American Civil War films either focusing on battles like Gettysburg or on well-known political figures, it will hopefully be refreshing to see a story that’s relatively unknown to most people.
Free State of Jones will make its way to theatres May 13, 2016.
10 Cloverfield Lane Trailer
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (Portal: No Escape) and produced by J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), 10 Cloverfield Lane, a spiritual successor to 2008’s found-footage kaiju film, Cloverfield, follows a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in an underground fallout shelter. She meets a survivalist (John Goodman), who tells her that he rescued her and another person (John Howard Gallagher, Jr.) from a massive chemical attack that left the outside world uninhabitable. Uncertain of what to believe and fearing that she may have been abducted, she attempts to escape the shelter and risk the dangers that may await her outside.
Well, this was a bit of a surprise! While there’s always been talk about a potential Cloverfield sequel or spin-off over the years, I doubt anyone expected Paramount Pictures or Bad Robot Productions to reveal another installment in the series like this. According to a statement made by Abrams, the film started with a script titled The Cellar, but eventually evolved over time to become “blood relative” of sorts to Cloverfield. Though the term “blood relative” can be interpreted in all sorts of ways, the trailer appears to be making the effort to show that this film has little in common with the original in terms of where it’s set and how it’s being filmed. While I think it’s safe to say this won’t be a direct-sequel to the first film, I’m really excited by the premise and the cast. Who doesn’t want to see a Misery-esque bottle film where John Goodman plays a crazed survivalist? I certainly do!
10 Cloverfield Lane will be released on March 11, 2016.
