Gold is the title of Matthew McConaughey’s new movie — it also happens to be the color of the Oscar statue, which is fitting, as the latest effort from filmmaker Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) looks like it could make the beloved actor an awards season contender once again. The first trailer for the holiday season release has arrived, touting a bald and bold McConaughey as man desperate to strike it rich. Spoiler: He does, but that treasure comes at a cost (insert sad trombone).
This summer hasn’t been a great one for movies (we even have actual data to back that up), and even if the rest of this month turns out to be as disappointing as June, we still have August to look forward to — and Kubo and the Two Strings, Laika’s latest stop-motion animation adventure, which looks like the studio’s most epic and visually stunning project yet. Even though the previous trailer was said to be the last we’d see before the film’s release, Laika has delivered one more sneak peek to tide you over until August.
Remember those days in high school where your regular history teacher would call in sick and some anonymous substitute would just put on a VHS of Glory or Gettysburg and call it a day? It turns out that practice is still alive and well at universities across the country, with one small difference: instead of some random recent college graduate as a substitute teacher, these students will be visited by Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey.
It might be okay if Laika just continues to release trailers for Kubo and the Two Strings. The studio’s latest stop-motion adventure looks to be their most beautiful, immersive and epic story yet, and it’s hard to complain about so many trailers when each one is so darn pretty. Note to Laika: Either put this movie in theaters, like, tomorrow, or please continue to release a new trailer for it every day until August.
When Gus Van Sant’s latest feature The Sea of Trees debuted at Cannes nearly a year ago, expectations were high. A skilled actor’s director, Van Sant’s collaboration with buzzy star Matthew McConaughey was presumed to be an insta-hit and a possible Oscar contender in the making. McConaughey’s professional capital has never been higher, and the Cannes set has always been fond of Van Sant, awarding him the Palme d’Or for his school-shooting drama Elephant in 2003. So it came as that much more of a shock when audiences roundly rejected The Sea of Trees, complete with booing and walkouts. (Though that sounds a bit more dramatic than it is. Cannes audiences love big gestures; nearly everything gets either a standing ovation or jeering, and in the rarest of occasions, both.)