The Week's Best Trailers: Michael Keaton Snaps and Paddington Bear Rampages

Between Batman, Luther, and Paddington Bear, who does sinister the best? The answer might surprise you. (Just kidding, it won't.)

All the trailers this week include creepy undertones, except for one—and no, it’s not the one about a polite anthropomorphic animal visiting London. Between Michael Keaton, Idris Elba, and Paddington Bear, who does the sinister stare the best?

The One Everyone Is Talking About: Birdman


It’s hard to figure out exactly what this Alejandro G. Inarritu (21 Grams, Babel) film is about. Is it a dark comedy about a washed-up actor battling his own ego (and a pasty Edward Norton)? Is it a drama about a man dealing with his troubled daughter (Emma Stone) and losing his mind? Is it a twisted commentary on the career of one-time Batman Michael Keaton? The trailer doesn’t answer much, but we’re sold on Birdman—even if it isn’t an adaptation of the Adult Swim show.
Pause at: 0:45. It’s unclear what Birdman, the iconic superhero Keaton’s character once played, can do. Is the creature in the frame a form Birdman takes or a villain he battles? Pause at 1:05 for a look at the poster for Birdman 3, showing Keaton dressed as the character. Finally, at 1:17, the title briefly outlines a silhouette of Keaton’s profile.
Song: Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy” (Slow Version)
Honorable Mention: The international trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy takes a serious look at the band of unlikely heroes and gives Zoe Saldana’s Gamora a line. We’ve delved into the trailer more here.

The One You Wish Everyone Would Talk About: No Good Deed


Heads up, Luther fans: Idris Elba goes bad in this thriller as an escaped convict who threatens Taraji P. Henson’s stay-at-home mom Terri in her own home. Does the plot feel boilerplate? Sure. But Elba and Henson sell their performances, and the trailer is appropriately disturbing.
Pause at: 1:57 for a quick shot of Leslie Bibb as Terri’s friend, who—and we’re just guessing here—probably dies after visiting the house.
Honorable Mention: Heatstroke stars Maisie Williams as a girl who goes on the run after her father is brutally killed. Sound familiar? The film, set to hit U.S. screens in July, released a trailer that pits Williams against a hyena and a slew of dangerous men hunting her down. Valar morghulis, indeed.

The Small Screen Standout: Cinemax’s The Knick


Don’t watch this one while eating. The series, produced by Steven Soderbergh and set at New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital in the 1900s, stars Clive Owen as Dr. John W. Thackery, a man intent on pushing the boundaries of medicine. According to the trailer, this means sawing apart cadavers, injecting needles into pregnant women, and what looks like electrocuting a live human being. Penny Dreadful, meet your (possible) successor.
Pause at: 0:29. Though the time period doesn’t fully match up, this shot of well-dressed men watching the procedure looks similar to this painting of the first demonstration of surgical anesthesia, held in Boston in 1846.

The Uncanny Valley-est: Paddington


The live-action adaptation of the beloved children’s book series is already facing an uphill battle: Colin Firth dropped out as Paddington’s voice this week, and the character has become the subject of a Twitter hashtag noting his malevolent stare in a film still (which, to be fair, rivals the Luigi Death Stare). In the trailer, however, Paddington looks appropriately cute, with his battered red hat and wide eyes, even if he gets involved in some literal toilet humor and disastrous shenanigans. Maybe the creepiness comes from the fact that he wears a duffel coat and only eats marmalade sandwiches, both traits that makes him seem like a creepy old dude lurking near a playground?
__ Pause at:__ 1:56. There’s your full Paddington shot.

The “This Fails The Bechdel Test”-est: The Expendables 3


Haven’t seen any of The Expendables films? That’s okay—just watch this trailer on repeat to get the gist of the franchise. The main difference between this latest sequel and the last two films is the addition of Mel Gibson as a new villain with cheesy lines (“You should have killed me when you had a chance,” he growls at Sylvester Stallone, who growls something incomprehensible back because Sylvester Stallone). Everything else is in the same vein—your favorite aging action stars grunt at each other, wield machine guns, ogle the lone female character, jump out of the exploding buildings, etc. Plot? What plot?
Pause at: 0:54. Poor Kelsey Grammer isn't alpha enough to get any action in the other scenes, but he gets to rock a sweet hat as a consolation prize. (Sly's also been to the milliner, as you can see at the 1:00 mark.)
Song: Eminem, ”Berzerk”