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.
This week, Alan took our Six Damn Fine Degrees feature on a trip to the 1980s, to the Pet Shop Boys’ feature film It Couldn’t Happen Here – a feature film dressed up as a music video, vice versa, or both at once?
We also released the May espresso – podcast goodness in a small, strong cup. On the occasion of the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe release, Alan and Matt have one of their occasional conversations on the state of the MCU: is Thunderbolts the shot in the arm that the franchise needs?
And what else do we have to offer this week in terms of trailery goodness?
Matt: It’s such a fine line with horror and a particular brand of thriller: you want adrenaline, tension and the sense that bad things can really happen to the characters you’re rooting for… but in trying to establish stakes, you can quickly start coming across as… gratuitous? Sadistic? If a film seems to be rooting for its central villain to do yet more heinous thing to pretty young women, does it cross a line? Dangerous Animals looks effective, but it does also look just a bit too gleeful when it comes to threatening to do horrible things to its protagonists. But hey, for once the real monster isn’t the Great White Shark waiting for its nom noms.
Matt: I admit that I find Richard Linklater’s films rather hit and miss. Don’t get me wrong: he knows what he’s doing, but I’ve bounced off of some of his films, including the much-praised Boyhood. Judging from the trailer, Nouvelle Vague is one that I’ll wait to see once it’s on streaming or TV, because when I look at this, my main thought is: at what point does imitating a style stop being homage and start being a gimmick? The vibe I get from this trailer is not too dissimilar from watching scenes from Gus van Sant’s Psycho remake. It’s like watching the world’s most accomplished cover band, and they’re really good at what they do, but if you’re this good at imitation, why shouldn’t I just watch the original?
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 