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.
Some films don’t quite come together but are still worth it for their individual components. Matt saw Petrov’s Flu recently, and while he thinks the film gets in its own way in the end, there’s a lot to like about it… if you’re looking for a fever dream of a film
However, Matt’s appreciation for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (perhaps the most undervalued part of the series, he thinks) lie elsewhere, with an impromptu dance in a tent accompanied by a Nick Cave song.
Since this week saw Comic-Con return to San Diego, there are a lot of comic-related trailers to show this week, so let’s indulge in a couple of them – if you’ll forgive me for mixing DC and Marvel fare.
Matt: Comics! What would present-day cinema be without them? A lot less sparse, most likely, and a lot less spandexy. I’ve posted about The Sandman before, and I’m still not entirely sold on the look and feel of Netflix’ adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s metafictional epic, but the latest trailer has managed to press some of my nostalgia buttons: there’s the Corinthian, smiling eyes’n’all, there’s Lucien, there’s Death. It being Netflix, it’ll be easy enough to check it out and drop it if it isn’t all that good – but I do like the cast they’ve assembled, and I am curious after all.
The latest She-Hulk trailer has also got me a bit more curious: the jokes are still not amazing, but they’re less lame than in the teaser, and there are a number of familiar faces. Again, it’ll be easy enough to check out and drop if it isn’t any good, but it looks like it could be fun, and Tatiana Maslany is a very enjoyable actor, even if I wasn’t as enamoured with Orphan Black as others were.
Finally, there’s the Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, and while the trailer looks a bit too much like they’re about to wage war on Avatar 2, I like that it acknowledges the death of Chadwick Boseman in no uncertain ways, and this – a loss that won’t be undone by the snap of a finger -, combined with Ryan Coogler’s talent, makes me interested: how will the MCU deal with death that all its super-scientists, sorcerers and reality benders can’t undo?
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 