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.
Alan’s Academy Awards series continues with the Best Picture winner of 1934: It Happened One Night. (It probably isn’t that much of a spoiler to say that Alan liked that one. A lot.)
Also this week, Matt made a shameful confession: that he isn’t actually that much into the 35mm projections he’s seen and that he’ll take a good digital remaster any day of the week.
And what else do we have other than Claudette Colbert’s luscious leg and the historical arrival of a train?
Matt: I would say I respect rather than love Denis Villeneuve’s first two Dune films, which makes me something of an outlier here at A Damn Fine Cup of Culture. In that sense, I’m not necessarily excited about the third film, but I am definitely curious – not least because this is where Villeneuve will necessarily take the most liberty in adapting Frank Herbert’s books. Dune Part 2 already took some liberty with the material, and I’m interested in finding out how Villeneuve & Co carve their own path while staying true to the themes of Dune Messiah. (If you haven’t already done so, make sure to check out our podcasts on Part 1 and Part 2 of Villeneuve’s epic adaptation.)
Matt: Talking of adaptations: Michael Mann’s Manhunter – the original filmic take on Hannibal Lecter – is returning to cinemas in a 4K remaster that has also been re-edited to expand some of Brian Cox’s scenes as Dr Lecter (or, as Manhunter would have it, Lecktor – but we’ll forgive that change in view of everything the film gets right). It’ll be strange and sad to see the late Tom Noonan playing what is arguably Thomas Harris’s most frightening and most tragic villain.
Matt: And since we’re talking about 4K releases of classic films: Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice is also returning to screens. A film that is no slouch in the visual department (or any other department, that is) is likely to look all the more glorious in this new release, or so I hope. So far I’ve only seen The Sacrifice on TV, and while I enjoyed the film in that format, there is something sublime to getting to see Tarkovsky on the big screen, where he belongs.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 