Six Damn Fine Degrees #287: Age perfect?

samlinderLeave a comment

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

Extreme close-up on the face of Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) as the first sunlight hits the garden behind her. Soon a ray catches her tired, ragged, desperate face. An excruciating night of middle-aged drinking lies behind her now, behind George (Richard Burton), her dishevelled yet razor-sharp husband of many years, who has dealt Martha his final blow in their night-long cruel games, innuendos and infidelities. Martha seems a broken woman now as she slowly recuperates from her sobs and the two look on into an uncertain older age. Fade out and credits over Alex North’s deceptively beautiful harp and guitar elegy that brings Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) to a shattering close.

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They create worlds: Perfect Tides (2022)

MattLeave a comment

One of the things that video games can do magnificently is create worlds. These posts are an occasional exploration of games that I love because of where they take me.

What do you think of when you think of your teenage years? Do you think of hormones and crushes, of defying your parents and going to parties you shouldn’t have gone to? Do you think of crushing insecurity and emotions that could go from elation to depression within seconds, based on how someone did or didn’t look at you?

Quite honestly, when I think of my teenage years, the thing that perhaps comes to mind most is this: chunky square pixels.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: There’s no discharge in the war

The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.

This week, Alan’s series dedicated to the winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture continued, arriving at 1930 and All Quiet on the Western Front.

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A Damn Fine Espresso: May 2026

The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

Another month, another espresso, another guest on our podcast: Matt recently spoke to David Fonjallaz, filmmaker and co-director of the Cinema REX in Bern, Switzerland, where David is responsible (among other things) for the repertory cinema programme – over the last year alone, the REX has shown programmes on David Lynch, Yasujiro Ozu and Andrea Arnold, on Iranian cinema and (currently) films told from the perspective of children. What are the challenges of running a cinema in 2026, and of scheduling a programme that is ambitious and that still attracts a cinema? But also: what are the joys of putting together such programmes on a monthly basis?

The recording was done live at the REX, so there’s the usual background murmur of cinemagoers and clinks of glasses and coffee cups (espresso, no doubt), but we hope the vibe more than makes up for the noise!

P.S.: This espresso episode is something of a sequel to our 2020 podcast, A Damn Fine Cup of Culture Podcast #37: Cinéma mon amour, in which we talked to Martina Amrein, who currently co-directs the REX alongside David. And for Matt’s lovesong to a well-curated cinema programme, check out his post from November 2024, A little less algorithm, a little more curation, please.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #286: The King’s Avatar

MelanieLeave a comment

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

Oh boy, do I have opinions on actors and the right age to cast them. One of them being: You can’t fake age. An old actor, no matter how brilliant, can’t believably inhabit the role of a young man, or the other way round. The body doesn’t play along. It’s too stiff, or not stiff enough. The voice is too rough. The mind doesn’t play along. It’s too careful, or too reckless in how it launches the body forward to claim space. The really good actors who try, have a sort of uncanny valley effect on me, an unsettling nimbus of “not quite right”. This is what made Dorian Gray so compelling: he found a magical loophole to fake his own youth.

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One Best Picture After Another #3: All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

Alan Kuhl GrahamLeave a comment

Welcome to One Best Picture After Another – where I attempt to watch all the winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, starting at the very beginning. And attempt to answer two simple questions – is the film still actually any good? And why did it win?

When I was watching All Quiet On The Western Front, I couldn’t shake off the incredible fact that this was made in 1930. It feels so ahead of its time, a brilliant piece of work that casts a shadow on so many films made, not just that year, but for years to come. Mentally I’ve become so accustomed to accepting a certain level of production values when it comes to films made in the first decade of sound, that the fact this film comes along and blows all of that out the water is striking.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: There’s no place like home

MattLeave a comment

Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.

Casting is a tricky business – and sometimes you get exactly the right person… a few decades too late, as Alan argued in this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, using Christopher Lee’s Saruman and Jack Nicholson’s Joker as examples.

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Butch & Johnny & Sundance & Henry: a duo of duos

MattLeave a comment

It’s Hollywood arithmetic at its finest, really: first, take one movie star with enough sex appeal and charisma to power the Eastern Seaboard, give him a lead role, and rake in the dough. Now, take two movie stars with sex appeal and charisma: 1 + 1 = 2. Two times the success and the dough. Or it may even be exponential, so you get the amount of dough squared.

And if this has worked once, what are you going to do? How about making another film with that duo of stars that has worked so well previously? You could even get back the director who helped make the first film a hit. What worked once is certain to work a second time.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #285: Right Casting, Wrong Time

Alan Kuhl GrahamLeave a comment

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

Matt’s column last week about favourite actors reminded me of a curious, if rare, phenomenon. Where a great actor gets cast in a role they are clearly incredibly well suited for. And yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, I can’t help but feel that they would have been absolutely perfect for the role if they had been cast earlier in their career.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Give My Regards to Broadway

MattLeave a comment

Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest instalment in your favourite franchise, an obscure preview for a strange indie darling, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or just plain weird – your favourite pop culture baristas are there to tell you what they think.

This week, Alan’s series of posts about all the winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture since the very beginning continued with The Broadway Melody (1929). No trailer, once again, but here’s the actual film in its full length – enjoy!

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