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.
Whether you’re a martial arts fan or not, don’t miss this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, in which Julie writes about the Hong Kong extravaganza Iron Monkey, starring Donnie Yen.
Meanwhile, Matt took a break from the Essential Fellini box set – by watching Fellini’s Casanova, which isn’t included on the Criterion set. Nonetheless, this one is worth seeking out, whether for the striking imagery or for the satirical takedown of the supposedly greatest lover in all of history.
And what else do we have in our goodie bag for you?
Matt: I think I must have seen Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce as a teenager, and more or less by accident. It was on late at night and I wasn’t able to sleep, so I thought: “Science fiction? Patrick Stewart? Count me in!” The naked space vampires came as a surprise, I believe, but one that teenage me wasn’t entirely averse to. Watching the trailer for the 4K remaster, I realise that I don’t remember a thing about the film, not even the naked space vampires… and I had definitely forgotten just how trashy this seems to be. But I’d be lying if I wasn’t tempted to revisit it – but chances are that Lifeforce is best watched if you’re an insomniac teenager.
Matt: Was I surprised when I saw Charlie Kaufman’s name pop up in the trailer for The Actor? Yes – but not entirely. I don’t know whether Kaufman’s interest in this film was mainly creative or whether he wished to help out his Anomalisa co-director Duke Johnson by taking on the role of executive producer, but there definitely seem to be echoes of Kaufman’s meta worlds-within-worlds in this. Also, André Holland is someone who should be in more films (or TV series – Holland is fantastic in The Knick), and the supporting cast of Gemma Chan, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney and Tracey Ullman is nothing to sneeze at.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 