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.
On his grand Criterion journey, Matt got to Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up… for the first time ever. It’s amazing how you can almost reach 50 without having seen some of these iconic movies – but then, as always, too much to watch, too little time.
Then, on Friday, Alan provided the latest link in our Six Damn Fine Degrees chain, writing about the UFO craze of the late 20th century – and mentioning some of Arthur C. Clarke’s less glorious moments in passing. But hey, they can’t all be the 1996 PC game Arthur C Clarke’s Rama, can they?
And finally, on Saturday Alan and Sam gave a second chance to two David Fincher films: Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Whether they changed their opinions on the two films or not, here are some trailers to remind you of this particular Fincher double bill.
And without much further ado, let’s move on to our regular trailers for the week.
Mege: Mess around with the supernatural, and you get burnt. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead have a knack for combining the seemingly everyday with the stunning strangeness of the other side. And if it’s darkly funny, all the better. (Editor’s note: Also, make sure to check out our vintage podcast episode on Benson and Moorehead!)
Sam: I admittedly became a fan of 2009’s James Cameron epic Avatar only on my second viewing, truly appreciating the digital visual power outshining the rather simplistic storyline. Since then, rumours of several sequels in the making kept swirling around the web with parts 2 to 5 now apparently dropping every second year until 2028. Will the rather thin storyline outlast Part 2, The Way of Water? It’s too early to tell from the official trailer released just this week, but in terms of visual power, it certainly keeps its promise: spectacular underwater scenes (The Abyss, anyone?), massive sea monsters and gorgeous colour schemes could make for a feast for the senses come Christmas season. I’m more than willing to go back to a Pandora that includes familiar avatars like Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana but adds the likes of Michelle Yeoh and Kate Winslet, and I’m becoming aware that seeing the first Cameron-directed film in thirteen years does fill me with that teenage excitement I felt for Terminator 2, True Lies and, of course, Titanic. Let’s see what the master has taken so long for this time!
Matt: I’ve found Sarah Polley’s work fascinating ever since first seeing her in Atom Egoyan’s 1997 drama The Sweet Hereafter. She also wrote films and series, among them the Netflix adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, and she’s directed. Her latest, Women Talking, perhaps looks a little too ‘prestige drama’ for my tastes in this trailer, but that cast could hardly have a better line-up: Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, and Frances McDormand, making Ben Whishaw almost look like an also-ran. As a bonus, Hildur Guðnadóttir (who collaborated frequently with Denis Villeneuve and won an Academy Award for the Joker score) composed the music. Even if the trailer doesn’t exactly do it for me, that cast and crew definitely does.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 