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.
It’s true: we have derived a lot of joy from Hollywood. But very little of that joy comes from maudlin pieces of Tinseltown self-pity powdered over with a sprinkle of mild satire. And apropos of nothing: earlier this week, Matt wrote about the Noah Baumbach/George Clooney vehicle Jay Kelly.
Matt also wrote this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, in this case about the way parts of your book and DVD shelves can become toxic when things are revealed about the people who created those stories. Not necessarily a topic that lends itself to trailers, though this one seems not unfitting.
And what other trailers have we found in our Christmas stockings (which, naughty as we are, we checked early)?
Mege: A week ago, there was the trailer for The Sound of Falling, dealing, overtly or metaphorically, with how girls or young women deal with the male gaze. This movie here is, in a way, the other bookend to that. Adolescent boys don’t have it easy, either, especially when they are socially excluded by their own. You have to wonder how so many of us make it into adulthood with such few lacerations. It’s mayhem out there, no matter which side you are on.
Matt: Steven Spielberg is indeed at it again – or at least that’s what it looks like from the first teaser for Disclosure Day. Back in 1977, the aliens announced their arrival by putting images of a certain mountain into people’s heads; in 2026 they… make Emily Blunt sound weird on TV? Though, to be fair, I can see how that would be creepy. I’ve not always been a big fan of Spielberg past the year 2000, but I liked his last two films, West Side Story and The Fabelmans a lot. I’ll definitely be there to witness the arrival of his new film.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 