the exorcist – A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: This one begins and ends with Japan

Nov 5, 2023The 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.

Sometimes it’s hard to top our first experience with an actor, a director, a writer, isn’t it? Matt’s first Kore-eda film was After Life, and he’ll gladly admit that he will use any opportunity to talk about the director’s beautiful take on what happens after we die. Watching the Criterion release of After Life let him indulge in two of his loves.

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A Damn Fine Cup of Culture Podcast #74: The Exorcist

Nov 4, 2023Nov 4, 2023The Barista Collective3 Comments

This year’s Halloween has been and gone – but we’re continuing our recent run of horror-themed podcasts (with three Draculas and many more vampires) by dedicating our November episode to the late, great William Friedkin’s seminal film about demonic possession: The Exorcist. More than that, though, we’re bringing back one of A Damn Fine Cup of Culture’s most beloved guest stars: Daniel Thron, of Martini Giant fame. (We were planning to bring him back around this time for a second Dune podcast, but, well, things happened.) Join Julie, Sam and Dan as they talk about the masterpiece that has endured over the decades, in spite of a franchise that has truly plumbed the depths. Come for the projectile vomit and turning heads, stay for the surprising humanity of a film about a young girl and a mother driven to the edge. And that’s before we even get to Dan’s Kentucky accent!

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Striking fear into our hearts, 24 frames per second

Sep 17, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

The French have a knack for uncanny goings-on in remote rural villages – though Matt was not entirely sold on The Five Devils, in spite of some very strong performances.

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Six Damn Fine Degrees #147: The Exorcist, Too!

Sep 15, 2023Oct 12, 2024samlinder6 Comments

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!

An Ennio Morricone-scored movie that exists in a variety of versions? When reading Alan’s latest insightful piece on the many cuts initially made to Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, I couldn’t help but be possessed by my teenage memories of watching that infamous sequel to a great horror classic, Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and learning about the many different re-edits it had gone through – to no avail: The movie was a massive critical and commercial failure and, despite releases of all kinds of versions, has found few friends since.

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I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: It takes two

Jul 30, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

Ridley Scott’s career has been uneven, and arguably he made most of his best films in the first decade or two of working as a director – but it still comes as a surprise that he’s only just made his first appearance in the Criterion Collection, with Thelma & Louise. Matt revisited the film and was not only bowled over by how good it looks in 4K, but also surprised by how well it holds up thirty years later. Though the original trailer definitely misrepresents this one to a large degree.