It has been an interesting year, folks.

As it draws steadily to a close, we can start looking back and taking stock.

It was a good year for cinema, with a couple of winners making it to the big screen.

Before the films, however, came the trailers.

They’re the previews that pique our interest, gain millions of views on YouTube, and spark all kinds of debate and anticipation.

Let’s head on over to the New York Post for a look at the best and the worst of the year so far, starting with three of the best:

Octavia Spencer as you’ve never seen her before: Ma

Following on from her roles in The Help and Hidden Figures, it’s not easy to watch her go from harmless-looking lady to crazed psychopath.

I do think the trailer is probably going to be better than the film. It might be worth a watch just for Spencer, though.

Better than the movie: Us

To be fair to Jordan Peele, Get Out was a hard act to follow even if you wrote it.

Us lacked the nuance of his first film. The trailer, on the other hand, is incredible.

From the plucky-stringed, goosebump-inducing version of “I Got 5 On It” to glimpses of a blood-drenched doppelgänger family of Lupita Nyong’o’s adorable bunch, this horror preview scares the bejesus out of us.

Still gives me chills, and I now know how it ends:

The one you can’t look away from: Joker

The response to the Joker trailers was mixed, but abundant. Now that the film is out, people can’t get enough of it. They’re even visiting stairs in the Bronx to snap pictures and irritate the locals.

“All I have are negative thoughts.” While this line from the film could certainly apply to half of the reactions to the first “Joker” trailer, from the moment we got the first glimpse of Joaquin Phoenix’s grim origin story, hot takes began to multiply online.

It’s a “Taxi Driver” ripoff! It’s the best supervillain movie ever! It’ll inspire crazies to violence! The furious debate hasn’t stopped since, so you know it did something right.

Here it is, one last time:

Right, over to the worst trailers of the year so far (there’s still time, and Christmas movies are notoriously terrible).

The worst of the worst – Cats.

We’ve explored the horror that is the Cats trailer before. I just made the mistake of watching it again. You should do the same just to experience the weirdest thing currently on the planet – and I’m including the blob at the Paris Zoo in that assessment.

The New York post voted this the film “most likely to give you nightmares”.

Accurate.

Confusing and deadly to Will Smith’s career – Aladdin

The trailer is bad but it’s got nothing on the film. What the hell was going on with Jasmine’s “female empowerment song”, and why is Will Smith suddenly a terrible actor?

The “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” appeared as though he’d jumped into a vat of indigo dye and strolled onto the set of an old PlayStation game.

All I can say is that our worst fears, brought on by the following trailer, were fully realised:

Make it stop.

The dog is cute – that’s about it: A Dog’s Journey

I would put money on the idea that this is one of those trailers that literally outlines the entire plot of the film.

Josh Gad’s saccharine narration about being a reincarnated canine was weird, and Dennis Quaid goes overboard pretending to be a plaid-clad farmer. There are, however, many puppies. Lots of happy doggies slobbering and wagging and jumping. If you turn off the sound, this clip becomes a masterpiece.

Turn off the sound, then:

I’ve always been more of a cat person, anyway.

Speaking of cats, you can enter yours into the Pet Culture Pet of the Year 2019 competition, if that’s your thing. Find those details here.

It’s time better spent than watching some of the films above, trust me.

[source:nypost]