Trailer Weekly – 3/7/15 Edition – “Mr. Holmes.” “The Lady in the Van” and “Self/less”

This week’s column is jam-packed with a variety of film genres from crime/thriller to biography to science fiction. Mr. Holmes follow an older and retired Sherlock Holmes as he looks back on his life and deals with an old unsolved case. The Lady in the Van tells the true story of Miss Shepard, an elderly woman, who lived in her battered car in the driveway of a man for 15 years. Self/less follows a wealthy man, who is dying of cancer and undergoes a radical medical procedure to have his consciousness transferred into the body of a healthy young man, but questions later arise about the body’s origin and the organization true intentions. All three films have top-drawer, A-list celebrities in their casts, which is sure to make their fans flock to their local theaters on each movie’s opening day.

Mr. Holmes is a dramatic crime flick starring Sir Ian McKellen and Laura Linney. It follows an aged, retired Sherlock Holmes as he looks back on his life though journals he’s kept all while struggling with an old unsolved case involving a beautiful woman. The film’s trailer illustrates how Holmes, now an old man, reflecting on his illustrious career, but whose mind is slowly deteriorating. Yet, that doesn’t stop him from attempting to solve an old unsolved case involving a mysterious and stunning woman. It opens in theaters on Friday, June 19.

The Lady in the Van stars Downton Abbey’s Maggie Smith, Dominic Cooper, Into the Woods’ James Corden and Paddington’s Jim Broadbent. The biographical drama adapted from by Alan Bennett from his 1999 play of the same name, chronicles the true story of Miss Shepard, an elderly woman who lived in her dilapidated car in Bennett’s driveway for 15 years. The movie’s trailer displays Smith’s true acting talent as she portrays a slightly off-kilter elderly woman, who parks her old beat up car in a writer’s driveway and proceeds to stay there and live in the car for 15 years. Her eccentricities aren’t lost on the man or his neighbors as she becomes part of their lives, whether they like it or not. It opens in theaters on Friday, December 11.

Self/less is a dramatic science fiction thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, Matthew Goode, Ben Kingsley and Victor Garber. The motion picture’s plot revolves around a wealthy man, Damian (Kingsley,) who is dying of cancer. He consents to undergo a radical medical procedure that would transfer his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man, thus achieving immortality. Yet, soon, uncertainties arise as young Damian tries to unravel the mystery of where the healthy body came from and the truth behind the organization that performed the procedure. The flick’s trailer shows the drastic medical procedure and how the now young Damian (Reynolds) begins to enjoy his new body and re-enter his opulent lifestyle, but then he begins to experience severe side effects, which make him delve into where his new body came from and the organization that will go to any lengths, including murder, to protect its interests. It opens in theaters on Friday, July 31.