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.
Matt finally caught up (at least somewhat) with Alan and Julie, watching the Criterion release of Ernst Lubitsch’s comedy Design for Living almost two years after their podcast on the complicated women of pre-Code cinema. Even for someone not much versed in the films of the era preceding the Hays Code, Design for Living more than delivers with its wit and its wonderful trio of protagonists.
Meanwhile, Sam used the opportunity of the latest Six Damn Fine Degrees to talk about his first ever DVD – a Hitchcock, would you believe it? (If you’ve been following Sam’s baristerial activities at A Damn Fine Cup, you’d probably be surprised if it had been anything else, except perhaps some Dario Argento classic.)
Which brings us to our regular trailers for the week.
Mege: Some tasks are impossible. Imagine being sent to 19th century Iceland – the journey may drive you nuts before you set foot there. And what about your faith? Cineastically, the colour scale is stark and clear – green grass, grey waters, slowly cascading lava. And where the hell is God?
Matt: To be honest, when it comes to everything other than the cast, I can’t say the trailer for To Leslie has won me over. It doesn’t look bad, but it looks like the kind of film we’ve seen time and time again. Alcoholism, self-sabotage, Southern US accents. But the recent commotion about Andrea Riseborough’s nomination has reminded me that this seems to be a film with a great cast: Riseborough, obviously, but also Allison Janney, Marc Maron, Andre Royo (Bubbles from The Wire!) and Stephen Root. Will they overcome what looks like a relatively stereotypical premise? I’m definitely interested in finding out!
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 