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.
The first two entries in Criterion’s Essential Fellini collection, Variety Lights and The White Sheik, both have their appeals – but third time’s the charm for Matt, as he describes in this week’s post on Fellini’s I Vitteloni.
Meanwhile, Julie had a look at how Robert Altman’s Gosford Park depicts early movie star Ivor Novello in last Friday’s Six Damn Fine Degrees. And as it’s easier to find a trailer for Altman’s film in decent quality than for any of Novello’s films, here goes. (And while you’re at it, why not check out our podcast episode on Altman’s ’70s classics?)
But, as always, we’ve got some trailers that are entirely unrelated to this week’s posts – enjoy
Mege: I don’t know if A24 and the Holocaust are such an ideal pairing, but let’s assume that A24 keeps up its horror standards and tackles a real-world event with the appropriate sensitivity. Oh, and there is Sandra Hüller.
Matt: While I’ve enjoyed the glossy monarchy-fetishising soap operatics of Netflix’s The Crown well enough on an episode-by-episode, I’ve also had my qualms about what the series does and how it does it. The trailer for the upcoming sixth season (the trailer title threatens a longer season split in two) makes the whole thing look like a self-important, glossy, glitzy, and most importantly broader remake of The Queen, the 2005 film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Peter Morgan, who’d later create and run The Crown. In many ways, The Queen already seems like a dress rehearsal for the Netflix series in hindsight, but the new trailer looks like the themes and implications of Frears’ film have been flattened into clunky lines spelling out what This Is All About. The Crown has always wanted to have its cake and eat it: be critical of the institution and of the Royal Family while indulging the public’s fascination with them, like a big tub of ice cream that says on the side, “You know, this might lead to weight gain, and it’s not particularly healthy in other ways too. Nonetheless, enjoy, and buy some more!” What better than the death of Diana Spenser to make us buy another big tub, cloying and moreish at the same time?
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 