Join us every week for a trip into the weird and wonderful world of trailers. Whether it’s the first teaser for the latest installment 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.
Mege: Arthouse flicks are much faster to premiere in the times of Corona, while blockbusters take their sweet time, so my standard movie fare is either catching up with some of the movies I missed over the last few years, or some of that very new highbrow stuff. And because we cannot live on highbrow alone, there must be some lowbrow, but well-made, if you don’t mind. Breeders might just be one of those formula rom-com series, with an interesting cast and kids that are not impossibly cute while still going on your nerves.
Julie: For those of you who loved the true crime book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara there is a lot of extra material in this documentary series, about McNamara, about her writing, and crucially, about the victims’ stories. Of course when the book was finished, this case had not yet been solved. Since then a face has been put on the perpetrator of these horrors, and that fact alone makes this series a worthwhile addition. Though my suggestion would be to certainly read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark first, the series can be viewed on its own. And though I do recommend it highly, that recommendation does come with trigger warnings a mile high. Even those familiar with true crime, the case, and the book itself, will find the survivors’ accounts hard to bear.
Matt: There are video games that, as games, are not always flawless. They’re fun but they’re also flawed in terms of how they play or the gameplay isn’t necessarily all that much to write home about – yet they still end up among my favourite gaming experiences ever because of their sheer sense of personality. The original Psychonauts, which by now is 15 years old, is one of those games: if gameplay was all that mattered, it would be a competent, fun but not all that memorable platformer – but games are a perfect example of how context matters absolutely. Combine brilliantly funny writing, oddball aesthetics and some of the best level design in any game ever, and manage somehow to combine all of these into a cohesive whole, and, hey presto! Magic happens. Will the long-awaited, partly crowd-funded sequel live up to the original? This trailer at the very least suggests that it’s made with the same kind of love and off-the-wall imagination that made Psychonauts so great.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 