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.
In this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, Sam wrote about Netflix’ adaptation of Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper books – and the importance of normalising LGBTQI+ romance that doesn’t need to adhere to limiting tropes and clichés. You’d think that we’d be further in 2026, but, sadly…
We also released our first espresso podcast for the year – which Alan, Sam and Matt recorded live at the bar of the wonderful REX cinema in Bern, Switzerland. And since there aren’t any trailers for Alan, Sam or Matt, here are two trailers for some of the films the REX is currently showing.
And what other trailer delights have we got waiting for you this week?
Sam: 2026 is truly shaping up to be quite an exciting movie year already, not least because female directors are helming some of the most anticipated films this year: Chloé Zhao is getting enormous praise for her take on Shakespeare’s life in Hamnet, Greta Gerwig has directed the latest Hunger Games instalment due in November – and then there’s Maggie Gyllenhaal’s take on The Bride of Frankenstein, simply called The Bride! The trailer makes it extremely clear that this is neither a conventional remake of the Universal classic nor a faithful Mary Shelley reverence: Jessie Buckley (fresh off her role as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet) looks absolutely electric as the titular character, discarded, stitched together and electrocuted to new life. Christian Bale’s monster can only look on in amazement – just like the audience of this fairly mindblowing trailer. Maggie Gyllenhaal lets the creatures loose, and it looks like a very promising monsters’ ball!
Mege: They are not an obvious match, to say the least. What do they see in each other? I am asking this as neutrally as possible, because it is not so clear to any observer‘s eye. To quote the man: tenderness can be highly abstract. That doesn‘t mean it‘s weak or imagined. This is an intriguing movie with a very inspired casting.
Matt: Mona Fastvold, director of the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee, co-wrote the film with her husband Brady Corbet (of The Brutalist fame, which, like Corbet’s other films, Fastvold co-wrote). The trailer makes this look absolutely fascinating: a historical drama that’s also a musical, though (it looks) without any of the trappings of your typical musical. I’ve liked Seyfried in other things I’ve seen her in, but apparently she’s absolutely fantastic in this one. Seeing the many talented folks who contributed to The Testament of Ann Lee, I’m very much looking forward to seeing for myself.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 