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: With the new year finally having buried the cinematically forgettable 2020, I cannot hold back my enthusiasm for finally seeing more movies fresh off the press. John Lee Hancock’s crime thriller The Little Things gives me Silence of the Lambs vibes while promising a classic juxtaposition of the youthful ambitious detective (always creepy: Rami Malek) and the experienced broken one (always reassuring: Denzel Washington) in their hunt for the presumed serial killer that keeps evading them (always unnerving: Jared Leto). Just the promise of a solid sobering thrill ride at the theatre seems enough to get me excited – so bring it on!
Matt: Okay, so I’m going to cheat a bit, and not just once but twice. First off: this sneak peak of Peter Jackson’s documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which should release in August 2021 – and here’s hoping we’ll be able to see it at the cinema. From Jackson’s sneak peak, which he explicitly calls not a trailer, this looks fascinating: the footage looks so crisp and present-day, with none of that olden-times patina that footage a few dozen years old usually has. Also, is it just me or was bearded Paul McCartney surprisingly good-looking, especially surrounded by three other Beatles who all try to top one another with how goofy they look?
And here’s the second way in which I cheat: a second video by me, and no, it’s still not a trailer – but for film freaks and especially for everyone addicted to Criterion’s steady output of cineast catnip, this is a cute, fun short video consisting of the many ways in which movie people can be silent when there’s room tone to be recorded.
And that’s it for the first Sunday in 2021! Wishing everyone a happy New Year – may it be a darn sight better than the old one, and may it provide us with many damn fine cups of culture!
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 