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.
Two days ago, we learnt of the tragic death of Marjane Satrapi, French-Iranian writer and filmmaker, perhaps most famous for her graphic novel Persepolis and its later adaptation into a film, also by Satrapi. If you haven’t yet seen (or read) Persepolis, make sure to seek it out – it is a story that is timely not only because of its author’s untimely death.
Last week also saw Matt’s most recent Criterion Corner post, in which he wrote about Orson Welles’ adaptation of Franz Kafka’s seminal The Trial.
It was also Matt’s turn at Six Damn Fine Degrees, which he took as an opportunity to sing the praises of the many-headed monster that is the regular and irregular contributors at A Damn Fine Cup of Culture. And since one of the images in that post is from the wonderfully descriptively titled 5-Headed Shark Attack, well, here’s the trailer. Enjoy… if you dare.
This week also saw the launch of our summer series of podcast, which this year is dedicated to genre filmmaking. Julie, Sam and Alan started the series with a conversation about not just whodunits but that very enjoyable subgenre: the Benoit Blanc whodunit.
And what else do we have in this week’s cornucopia of trailers?
Matt: Elsewhere, I saw By Any Means, an upcoming crime film directed by the wonderfully named Elegance Bratton, described as an action remake of Green Book – and, honestly, while this doesn’t look like a good film in any way, I think it may be more enjoyable than that particular Academy Awards Best Picture winner. It looks like the kind of material that Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained mode should perhaps have made, but let’s see what Mr Bratton makes of this… and how he manages to get around Mark Wahlberg’s particular lack of talent. Though it is kinda fun to see Marky Mark dress up as what looks like a Sexy Tony Soprano Halloween outfit.
Mege: Twelve years ago, one of the best ever film adaptations in video games came out: Alien: Isolation. Never before, and never since, had an iconic franchise been transposed into the medium of games this well. It has taken a long time, but two years ago, a sequel was announced. The trailer for Alien: Isolation 2 is somewhat cryptic – but I trust that its developers know what’s expected of them: a worthwhile sequel to what may be the best way of feeling like you’re aboard the Nostromo and about to have your skull perforated by a biomechanical nightmare.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 