TV and Streaming

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: It’s time to play the music

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.

Is it 2026 already? Where did the time go? One of our last posts in the year that was had Matt remembering the films, series and games he enjoyed best over the last 12 months – starting with a very memorable scene in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. You’ll find that scene in the post itself, but here’s a trailer for the film, for those who are more spoiler-averse.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #267: Family and other horrors

MelanieLeave 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!

Hello and welcome to the New Year. Yuletide has come and gone. You have survived holiday family dinners – well done, you – and if you have a certain kind of family, you might be feeling, how do I put it, a little frayed around the edges. A little frazzled. A little freaked, even. A little absolutely and forever done with all that crap.

Last week, Alan gave you spooky Christmas stories. This week, I’m talking about the real holiday horrors, in the shape of one of my favourite series of the year. You won’t find it on Netflix or Amazon. It’s a one-woman-show on social media by @ShawnatheMom (YouTube link). It doesn’t even have a name, I think, and was originally meant to be consumed one short clip a day. And it’s the best portrayal I have ever seen of what it’s like when everyone slowly realises they’re dealing with a narcissistic family member.

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That was the year that was: 2025

MattLeave a comment

Let’s be honest: it’s no big secret that 2025 was a shitty year in many ways, so much so that at times, as if we’d woken up in an episode of Black Mirror, it felt like reality itself had installed a doomscrolling plugin. You no longer have to take out our phone or tablet: just walk around with open eyes and the rest will take care of itself.

And yet: not everything is bad. Whenever I hear or read someone going on about how culture, originality, cinema and TV are dead, I can’t help but roll my eyes – because there is so much out there that is pretty damn good: fresh, engaging, challenging, riveting.

See exhibit A:

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Welcome to the future

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.

We at A Damn Fine Cup of Culture hope that you’ve all had happy holidays so far! On Wednesday, we did our part by releasing the Christmas Special 2025 – in which this thoroughly modern Maria got a shout-out.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #266: The ITV Ghost Story For Christmas

Alan Kuhl GrahamLeave 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!

During the 1970s, the BBC were to make an annual ghost story to be broadcast over the Christmas period. Under the auspices of producer Laurence Gordon Clark, they delivered a festive dose of chills memorable enough that they have since acquired quite a cult following. These BBC ghost stories for Christmas are all excellent stand-alone dramas, brilliantly delivering a creepy, unsettling tale for the Yuletide audience.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Here they come

MattLeave 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 ongoing chain of associations, Six Damn Fine Degrees, arrives in 1989, with Julie’s entry on the BBC mystery series Campion, starring Peter Davison (who’s also played various kinds of doctors, and Doctors, throughout his career) and Brian Glover (who, among other performances, provided a particularly memorable death scene in Alien 3). And, unexpectedly, there’s even a trailer for it!

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Attica! Attica!

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.

It’s only rarely that we get to show off the fact that one of our baristas is a Doctor Who fan of many, and I mean many, years. This week offered one such opportunity, as Alan got to talk about season 23 of the original run of Doctor Who, also known as “The Trial of a Time Lord”.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #262: The Valeyard

Alan Kuhl GrahamLeave 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!

Back in 1985, Doctor Who was not in good health. The show had been struggling in the ratings for a few years, and the planned relaunch of the show in spring of that year – with a new Doctor, a new format and a Saturday teatime timeslot – failed to find an audience. A show that for several decades had been demonstrating how to create imaginative stories on limited budgets seemed out of place against the slick action dramas of the Eighties. Rumours flew that the show was getting axed, but when it finally got recommissioned for its 1986 season, there were a few changes.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: No animal, but definitely mineral and vegetable

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.

In this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, Sam stopped by to check out the storied, colourful career of Roger Corman: producer, director, writer, actor, and the man who boosted the careers of the likes of Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante and James Cameron.

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