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.
Sam: “Do I miss renting from a physical store? No, absolutely not. I don’t think anybody does,” says a cynical former CFO of Blockbuster video in this new documentary on the demise of the largest video renting company in the US. As a child of the VHS and DVD eras, of course, I couldn’t disagree more! The joy of walking down long aisles of well-organised video stores was actually a pleasure I could lose myself in for hours on end (the same these days with record stores). The Last Blockbuster offers both: a nostalgic look back at this era, a saddening account of jobs lost and locations fallen into decay, but also the tale of a resilient last store standing in Oregon. Looking at similar lost gems (my favourite always being La Boîte Noire in Montréal), there is still hope even in a digitalised world of streaming. Just look at how well Zurich’s Les Videos has been doing since 2020’s lockdown: an old-style video rental store in the heart of the old city, catering to film geeks and cinema programmers with its enormous physical collection and expertise. May it not be the last!
Matt: It’s not often that I watch a trailer and I go, “What… the… beep?” The Black Bear trailer definitely fits that particular bill, though. The cast looks great: I’ve not seen it, but people say that Sarah Gadon was great in Alias Grace, I liked Christopher Abbott in the first season of The Sinner, and who doesn’t love Aubrey Plaza? Other than that, though, what is this: drama, thriller, metafiction, all three? It’s like François Ozon’s Swimming Pool cosplaying as Cabin in the Woods! Definitely curious what this’ll turn out to be…
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 