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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Six couples – three men, three women, engaged in various sexual and romantic relationships – are seated around the dinner table. All of them work for British intelligence. One of them has been tasked with finding out which one of the other five is engaged in traitorous deeds. The food, while delicious, is spiked with a truth serum. What else is on the menu? Fun and games – that will end up with a steak knife being used for something quite different than its intended function. The words that are exchanged are just as sharp. And this is just the beginning.
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 been a while since we’ve been excited about the Marvel Cinematic Universe here at A Damn Fine Cup of Culture – so when Thunderbolts*, the 36th movie in the franchise was released to largely positive reviews, we were curious: had the curse of middling, directionless Marvel movies been broken? Join Alan and Matt (for once recording in the very same room!) to find out their take on the super- (or should that be anti-?) hero extravaganza starring Florence Pugh leading a team of characters from a range of other films and TV shows in the series, from Ant-Manand the Wasp to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. What did Thunderbolts* get right? Where did it step wrong? And what does it mean for the future of the MCU – which is set to continue with this year’s Fantastic Four: First Steps and next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, a film certain to attain the superhero casting singularity, seeing how it will feature pretty much every actor who has ever even heard the word “marvel” uttered?
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!
At the height of their international success, the Pet Shop Boys made a movie. But following the collapse of their record label EMI, the production entered into a Rights Limbo. In other words, nobody quite knew who owned what when it came to the production, meaning no one could screen the film or release it on DVD or Blu-ray. It wasn’t clear whose permission they would need to seek and who they would need to pay to do it.
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.
What are our portals to the past? It could be our parents’ attic, or our boxes of music and video tapes (for which we might not even have any devices to play them on any more), or any other collection or archive. To find out more about Sam’s portals to the past, check out his Six Damn Fine Degrees post. And, since Vertigo represents one of Sam’s most-used such portals, here’s the original trailer for Hitchcock’s classic.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 