Movies are bound by trends and commerce, but trailers are even more so.

Older trailers were also heavier on making sure you knew who the stars were, which makes them in many cases look more dated than the films they’re promoting. It proved tricky to do, though, because the effort to market to an English-language audience tends to involve lots of clunky exposition. I was hoping to get at least a few more foreign trailers in here. And did I mention goth Cate Blanchett? Thor: Ragnarok was good the Thor: Ragnarok trailer is a two-minute masterpiece. Even the little details, like Tom Hiddleston’s Loki flipping those knives, are brilliant.

It’s all heroic build-up and deflation, until that last brilliant ad-lib where the Hulk appears and Thor joyfully shouts to the confused gladiatorial crowd, “We’re friends from work!” as the music cuts out-and then shifts in again for that final cathartic anti-anti-climax. Goth Cate Blanchett! Thor doing the “I bet you’re wondering how I got here” meme! “The Immigrant Song”! Goth Cate Blanchett! Chris Hemsworth strolls confidently through the pounding Zep, only to get repeatedly symbolically castrated by multiple female adversaries.

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