8 trailers that have us hyped this week: Pokémon, Taylor Swift, and more

A million movie trailers drop online every week, which can make it hard to keep track of what’s actually coming up in theaters and on home screens. To help parse the endless stream of upcoming movie and TV releases, we’ve assembled a list of the most exciting (and in some cases, weirdest) trailers that came out this week, along with a hype level rating, tracking whether these particular trailers actually excited us about the upcoming product. Afraid you might have missed something? Fear no more.

This week, we’ve got a mixed bag, from horse girl energy to a Pokémon remake, and even a glimpse at some upcoming wars in the stars.

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The Rhythm Section

Here’s my beef with The Rhythm Section: You cannot title your movie The Rhythm Section and not have it be about a band. A repeated motif in the trailer, which sets Blake Lively up as a woman out to get revenge against the people who took her family from her, is that the body must be thought of as “the rhythm section.” “Think of your heart as the drums, your breathing as the bass.” Ugh. It’s the clever kind of dialogue that works for one scene, but not when repeated, and definitely not as a title.

Movie release date: Jan. 31 in theaters

Hype level: 2. Blake Lively looks great in wigs, but come on, you could have called this movie anything else.

Horse Girl

Alison Brie stars as the titular horse girl in Horse Girl, though the movie itself seems to be less about the term (which refers to anyone who was obsessed with horses in adolescence and sometimes beyond) and more about one woman’s non-horse-related breakdown. Sarah (Brie), whose family has a history of mental illness, finds herself coming unmoored just as she begins trying to make new friends and even embark upon a tentative romance.

Movie release date: Feb. 7 on Netflix

Hype level: 4. Looks fun, but the actual “horse girl” element seems to be missing.

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution

YOU TEACH ME AND I TEACH YOU — this is basically Pokémon: The First Movie, but with a CG makeover. So we’ll get to relive that tragic scene where Ash dies and all the Pokemon cry and their tears heal him … but in swanky stylized CGI! Will it live up to our childhood memories? We’ll find out!

Movie release date: Feb. 27 on Netflix

Hype level: 7, reserving full-on hype because what if this isn’t as heartbreaking and tragic as it was once upon a long time ago? It sure looks gorgeous though.

Miss Americana

Taylor Swift’s place in the public eye has always been a fraught one, as is always the case for any woman who achieves any measure of fame. In comes the Lana Wilson documentary Miss Americana, which, like all authorized documentaries about famous figures, is a little neutered, but still provides an otherwise impossible look into the singer’s life and her journey to self-acceptance.

Movie release date: Jan. 31 on Netflix

Hype level: 22, like the song. (Realistically, 5. Music documentaries are tricky!)

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You

Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) is back and navigating her relationship with high school heartthrob Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo, whom I went to high school with, incidentally). But while their relationship is cute and fluffy, Lara struggles with the fact that the entire school basically still has a crush on Peter. And then a recipient of one of her five love letters that accidentally got sent out returns: John Ambrose from Model UN. The first trailer for the Netflix movie kinda just touched at the drama, but this new one shows off the comedic rivalry between Peter and John. Who will Lara choose?!

Movie release date: Feb. 12 on Netflix

Hype level: 9, because it’s cute and fluffy, but also everytime I look at Noah Centineo’s face I’m reminded of my own insignificance in this mortal world.

Lamp Life

This new Pixar short follows the adventures of Bo Peep between the end of Toy Story 3 and the beginning of Toy Story 4 — and it looks like Bo Peep has really been through the ringer. Fire, ice, strobe lights, oh my!

Movie release date: Jan. 31 on Disney Plus

Hype Level: A modest 5. Pixar shorts are fun, but is this a necessary story?

Vivarium

Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots star as a young couple who get trapped in a suburban purgatory. When touring potential houses, they find themselves unable to leave a picture-perfect neighborhood. The creepy realtor chimes that this neighborhood ... is forever. It feels like what it must be to be a Sim in the Sims 1, where you couldn’t really leave your designated space and babies just manifested in cradles and grew up at alarming speeds. Creepy!

Movie release date: March 27 in theaters in the UK

Hype Level: 8. I like anything that feels like it could be the Sims.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars ends! Again. For real this time. Well, at least this one particular branch of Star Wars ends this one particular time. Anyway, fans of the animated series should be stoked to see Ahsoka take control of her destiny and face off against Darth Maul. Which she also does in the sequel series Star Wars Rebels, but that’s besides the point. The point is that Yoda will FINALLY be able to say “Ended, this Clone War has.”

Series release date: Feb. 21 on Disney Plus

Hype Level: 8, because Ahsoka, baby, you’re doing great, I love you, I support you and your space paladin dads.