Matt – Page 7 – A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

The Anderson Enigma

25/06/202523/06/2025MattLeave a comment

I think it’s fair to say that, after Wes Anderson has directed 11 feature films (12 if you count The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, which Wikipedia does), I am something of a fan – and yet, I don’t really think of myself as such. Of his last eight films, starting with Fantastic Mr. Fox (check here for a typically wonderful Six Damn Fine Degrees by Julie about the film), I’ve loved several and enjoyed the others a lot. Admittedly, I have some issues with the early films of his I’ve seen – Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic -, but after a streak of eight movies that I like or even love, shouldn’t I be able to say that I like the work of Wes Anderson? And, if not, why?

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Grab a slice and enjoy

22/06/202522/06/2025Matt3 Comments

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: more books (Melanie wrote about making her way through Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga), so even less of an opportunity to post a fitting trailer! So, if it’s not too much of an insult to fans of the saga, here’s a trailer for the third season of a different sci-fi saga: Apple TV’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. Obviously we need more adaptations of long-form sci-fi!

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Just when you thought it was safe to go to Scotland again

15/06/2025MattLeave a comment

This week, Alan wrote about his childhood love for Greg Bear’s novel Blood Music – which makes for a great Six Damn Fine Degrees post, but sadly, it makes the whole issue of finding a trailer difficult, since Bear’s writings had never been turned into films or TV series. However, YouTube does have a reading of the original short story that Bear expanded into the novel, so if you need one hour of audio while you’re cooking or doing the dishes, why not check this out?

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Fellini Finale: Ginger and Fred (1986)

14/06/202514/06/2025MattLeave a comment

Over the last two years, I’ve been making my way through Criterion’s Essential Fellini box set. Starting with Variety Lights (1950 or 1951, depending on where you check) and ending with Intervista (1987), this beautiful set included most of Fellini’s films – though not all, skipping for instance the acerbic English-language Fellini’s Casanova (1976), in which a bewigged, increasingly ridiculous Donald Sutherland fornicates his way across Europe, getting further and further away from anything approaching happiness, or even pleasure, in the process.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: No hay pelicula! It is… an illusion.

09/06/2025MattLeave a comment

This year, we lost some of the greats – such as Gene Hackman, who starred in so many memorable films. One of the lesser known but equally deserving Hackman movies is the 1975 neo-noir Night Moves – a film all the more notable for how long it keeps its thriller plot on the back-burner, lulling its protagonist as much as its audience into a false sense of safety. Check out Matt’s thoughts on Night Moves here.

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Criterion Corner: Night Moves (#1255)

05/06/202505/06/2025MattLeave a comment

When you think of Gene Hackman and neo-noir, what comes to mind? For most people – including me -, the answer is simple: The Conversation. And obviously there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that choice: Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film is unarguably one of the best, most iconic paranoia thrillers of the 1970s and a great showcase of Hackman’s talents. But sometimes a film’s reputation can be so enormous, it eclipses other films that are also deserving of recognition.

Arguably, Night Moves (1975) is one of those films.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: This post will self-destruct in five seconds (under the sheer weight of trailers)

01/06/2025MattLeave a comment

The novels of Thomas Hardy – in particular his last two, Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure – are the supreme downers, making you feel for their protagonists and then follow them on their descent into the kind of tragedy that would have made Antigone, Electra and Medea wince. And yet: these are beautifully written books, filled with sadness and anger at a society that chooses cruel judgment over mercy and empathy. Check out this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees to find out why these books have proven to be so enduring for Matt.

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Stunning Hunts and cunning stunts: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)

31/05/202531/05/2025MattLeave a comment

Is bigger always better? Arguably, that’s the main question the Mission: Impossible franchise has set out to answer, at least since reinventing itself in its current format with 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, directed by Brad Bird. Once you get the Kremlin blown up and climb up the Burj Khalifa like a real-world Spider-Man, where do you go? Well, obviously, you ride a motorbike off a mountain in order to parachute through a window of the moving Orient Express. You try to escape a sunken submarine that’s rolling towards the abyss, while torpedoes come crashing from their enclosures to your left and right.

Is this one-upmanship impressive? Undoubtedly. Does it make for a good film? Let me get back to you on that one.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #236: Hardy doesn’t begin to describe it

30/05/202507/06/2025MattLeave a comment

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

Tom Hardy is probably most famous for his hardman roles, Michael “Charles Bronson” Peterson, Britain’s “most violent criminal”, being just one of them. Ask people which of Hardy’s roles they first think of, I’m pretty certain that The Dark Knight Rises‘ Bane will come up, or “Mad” Max Rockatansky (who, admittedly, isn’t half as hardass as that film’s Imperator Furiosa), or perhaps his characters from Peaky Blinders and Taboo. It makes sense: Hardy is nothing if not an imposing figure these days, a far cry from the evil-yet-slender Patrick Stewart clone he played way back in Star Trek: Nemesis (not a recommendation, even for Hardy fans – or Star Trek ones, for that matter).

Frankly, though, as much as I like Hardy when he’s working with good material, he’s not nearly as imposing as the O.G. Tom Hardy: Thomas Hardy, the literary pugilist of English Literature. There’s nothing quite like the world of pain that Hardy can put you in.