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.
If there’s Hitchcock talk to be had, Sam can’t be far away – and that’s also true of this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, in which Sam wrote about Hitch’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith (no, not the Brangelina vehicle from 2005, but the one starring Carole Lombard).
Sam also featured in our September espresso podcast, in which he and Matt talked about David Lynch’s TV classic Twin Peaks – which Sam watched for the first time this year. Better late than never!
And what else do we have on offer?
Matt: Oh, to live in London and be able to see the BFI programming! Having said that, I’ve sometimes felt I’m on the wrong frequency for many of Terence Davies’ films, but I like how the BFI’s trailer highlights the themes that Davies films deal with, bringing something to the surface that I didn’t realise was there in my first one or two films by the director.
Matt: Not sure yet whether I think this looks fun or too smugly quirky by half – but I like the idea, which feels like something Tom Stoppard would’ve jotted down on a notepad after waking up in the middle of the night during his best and most productive years. And I definitely like the titular quip on Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images”.
Matt: Finally, it has come to this: Anaconda is getting the meta comedy reboot treatment. I have fond memories of the first film – not of watching it but of watching Barry Norman’s Film 97, in which he gave the movie one of my favourite put-downs, the kind that made the original Anaconda look extremely trashy and possibly quite entertaining. For all I know, this new Paul Rudd/Jack Black vehicle will be good fun too – but all too often, the meta-ness of such reboots results in a smugness that makes me want to kick someone. Preferably Jack Black.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 