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.
Our ongoing chain of associations, Six Damn Fine Degrees, arrives in 1989, with Julie’s entry on the BBC mystery series Campion, starring Peter Davison (who’s also played various kinds of doctors, and Doctors, throughout his career) and Brian Glover (who, among other performances, provided a particularly memorable death scene in Alien 3). And, unexpectedly, there’s even a trailer for it!
Meanwhile, our December podcast episode had Sam, Julie and Alan go green in the face – though, gladly, not get crushed by falling houses – and stroll down the Yellow Brick Road, talking about Wicked (part 1 for now… but there may just be more to come!) and the iconic 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz.
And where else might we end up if we clicked the heels of our ruby slippers?
Matt: We’ve talked about Milos Forman’s timelessly brilliant Amadeus a number of times here at A Damn Fine Cup. Later this month, a new adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play, this time as a TV series, will be released on Sky. I’m finding it so difficult to give this a fair chance: I like the actors, but apart from a couple of modern touches (such as what looks like colourblind casting) I don’t see anything that Forman, together with Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham, hasn’t done brilliantly already. Can the series put a new spin on the material? Or will it just be more notes, so to speak?
Matt: The 2019 film Ready or Not wasn’t necessarily amazing, but it was fun, not least thanks to Samara Weaving’s highly engaging lead. Part 2 looks like more of the same – but I’d be lying if I didn’t look forward to watching this over some pizza some time next year… also because it looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar does something of an evil spin on her iconic role as a vampire-slaying cheerleader.
Matt: Based on this trailer, I’m not sure exactly what David Lowery’s Mother Mary will be – and Wikipedia bears this out, calling it a “psychological drama-thriller-horror film”. But then, I wasn’t exactly sure what Lowery’s A Ghost Story or The Green Knight would be, and both turned out to be fascinating. Bring on Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, and whatever psycho-battle ritual is to play out between them.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 