Movies

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Got milk?

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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.

Many of Criterion’s releases are the classics of Hollywood and world cinema that all film geeks have heard of: Fellini, Bergman, Varda. Or then it’s cult classics such as the original Godzilla films. Some of their releases are less known, though, such as Diamonds of the Night, which Matt discovered recently.

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Criterion Corner: Diamonds of the Night (#969)

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Two adolescents jump off a moving train. Shouts come from the train, and shots, but who would stop at the behest of people who are already shooting at you? The young men continue running, shedding the long coats marked “KL” (for Konzentrationslager, concentration camp – an abbreviation that was later changed by the SS to “KZ”, allegedly for its harsher sound) as they move further and further into the forest, cold, hungry, ill-prepared for their journey.

But, before long, we get the sense that, run as they might, the two men are doomed. And perhaps more than that: perhaps they are dead already.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Dead, dead, dead

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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.

For this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, Matt took us to the scene of the crime – or, in German, Tatort, one of the longest-running series on German television. Though here’s a trailer for an Austrian episode, because everything’s more charming with an Austrian accent.

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A Damn Fine Cup of Culture Podcast #85: Halloween Special – Death in Venice (and Summerisle)

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The 1970s were a bad time for men travelling in Europe, doubly so if they were following the traces of a mysterious girl, and triply so if they weren’t good at listening to advice. Before you know it, you meet with a gruesome fate at the hands of cultists or misshapen serial killers, and then where will you be? Dead! That’s where. Dead in Venice or Summerisle.

For this year’s October episode, we finally fulfil a common wish of ours: join Matt, Sam and Julie as they talk about two creepy favourites of theirs, the cult folk horror that is the original The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy, and the mournful, intricate, watery loops of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. Apart from both coming out in 1973 and being shown as a double bill at the time, what do these two films have in common? Why are they both such enduring classics, in spite of very clearly being products of their time? And – in keeping with our summer theme – why do the two films resist being remade, in spite of an ill-fated attempt by Neil LaBute and starring Nicolas Cage at maximum Cage?

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: If you go down to the prom tonight, you’re sure of a big surprise

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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.

For this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, Julie turned the conversation to the iconic Once Upon a Time in the West by the equally iconic Sergio Leone.

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Forever Fellini: Satyricon (1969)

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Welcome to ancient Rome, filtered through Federico Fellini’s sensitivities – which may as well be saying: unfiltered. But this isn’t your parents’ ancient Rome, or perhaps it is exactly your parents’ ancient Rome: one that is filled with corruption, debauchery and cruelty. Expect images, scenes and ideas that go far beyond the strangeness and excess of earlier Fellini films: here’s a beautiful young woman who won’t put out to just anyone, so an old sorcerer curses her so that fire comes out of her vagina (which the villagers use to light their kindling), and there’s a dead poet whose last will was that his belongings go to those who will eat his remains, so they begin to tuck in.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Floating in space

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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 seems we’ve been doing our weekly feature Six Damn Fine Degrees for a while: this week saw the release of the 200th instalment – which prompted Alan to take a time-out from the usual free association and look back on some of his favourite posts and associations. Follow him down this particular rabbit hole here.

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A Damn Fine Espresso: September 2024

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We’ve talked about the Alien franchise before on our podcast, so we didn’t want to miss the opportunity presented by the release of the latest addition to the series, Alien: Romulus, which came out in August. Join Sam and Alan as they talk about Fede Álvarez’ return to the roots of the franchise. How successful is the movie’s ‘back to basics’ approach? How scary can the film be after an entire series has done a lot to strip its iconic set of monsters of their original mystery? What have Álvarez and his collaborators done to keep all things xenomorph fresh, how do they play with an almost overpowering legacy? And what about that unexpected return from the dead: an effective homage or a tacky reference?

For more thoughts on the long-running Alien franchise, check out the following podcast episodes:

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: You gotta know when to hold, know when to fold

The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

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.

Our Summer of Remakes podcast series ended at the beginning of the month, but Sam – whose idea the series theme was – had some thoughts looking back. So let’s start this week’s trailer -out not with a trailer but with what appears to be the first remake ever: Georges Méliès’ “Playing Cards”.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #199: Parental Guidance Suggested?

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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!

What was the first film your parents ever took you to see at the cinema? I’m sure the latest Disney production, for many, were frequent firsts. Or even the myriad of family comedies just in time for the Christmas season? I remember it well and it was pretty standard: my parents took me to see Disney’s The Lady and the Tramp at Bern’s ABC cinema. I must have been around six. This led to more, obviously, with Astrid Lindgren’s Ronja rövardotter (1984) a particular favourite of mine.

So far so good.

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