trailers – A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: A slow-boiling masterpiece

Mar 19, 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.

Our long-running Bergman series finally came to an end… of sorts, with Matt checking out, among other things, a recent documentary on the director that doesn’t hold back with criticism. Does it change his take on Bergman’s films?

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Mission Improbable

Mar 12, 2023Mar 12, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

It wasn’t the first time Lalo Schifrin’s iconic theme was heard, but I wonder whether many of our readers first encountered the Impossible Missions Force, or IMF, in Brian De Palma’s 1996 film – the starting point to Alan’s recent trek through all of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible films.

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: ‘More trailer than trailer’ is our motto

Mar 5, 2023Mar 5, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

Murder in 16th century Bavaria, mysteries in a medieval abbey, illustrated manuscript and forbidden books: for someone who considers the film adaptation of The Name of the Rose one of his formative cinema experiences, the recently released Pentiment is catnip, as Matt will gladly confirm in spite of the few hundred years in between the two settings. But since we recently featured the trailer for this game (which was released late last year), let’s instead indulge in some quality post-Bond Sean Connery.

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Past lives indeed!

Feb 26, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

This week, Matt wrote about some of his early thoughts regarding the HBO adaptation of the bestselling game The Last of Us, and the strangeness of watching such a highly faithful prestige TV version of something he’s already experienced in an interactive format. Definitely a good opportunity to revisit one of the trailers for the game’s original release ten years ago!

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: It’s raining bricks

Feb 19, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

This week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees delivered more William Powell – and Julie took us back to the career of Kay Francis, taking her film Jewel Robbery as its starting point.

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Thin Men, Robot Men, Car Men, Boogeymen

Feb 12, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

From Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe to William Powell and Myrna Loy: in this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, Alan takes us back to the diminishing returns of Thin Man sequels – while providing us with two potential Thin Man drinking games, only one of which should lead straight to alcohol poisoning.

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: Dogs and monkeys and all kinds of murder

Feb 5, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

Matt tried his best to go back in time to stop himself from writing this week’s Six Damn Fine Degrees, but we know how such things usually end: with Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe sitting in a dark cinema where they’re showing Vertigo.

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: No country for cold men

Jan 29, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

Matt finally caught up (at least somewhat) with Alan and Julie, watching the Criterion release of Ernst Lubitsch’s comedy Design for Living almost two years after their podcast on the complicated women of pre-Code cinema. Even for someone not much versed in the films of the era preceding the Hays Code, Design for Living more than delivers with its wit and its wonderful trio of protagonists.

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: You say ‘Sunday’, I say ‘Monday

Jan 23, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

It had to happen sometime – it was Sunday evening, we were tired… and we entirely forgot that trailer posts don’t post themselves. At least not yet, though I’m sure that GPT-3 or whatever AIs are currently being created in dark IT labs by mad computer scientists will be more than up to the task. When Skynet stages its coup, we’ll recognise the terminators because they’ll have too many fingers and too many teeth.

And talking about too many teeth: Matt found himself liking Top Gun Maverick a surprising amount, while finding Avatar: The Way of Water dull and unengaging. And there’s something surprisingly poignant about Tom Cruise finally starting to show his age. What if Tom’s just one of us?

Continue reading →

I’ll be in my trailer… watching trailers: I’m Thinking of Joaquin Phoenix Things

Jan 15, 2023Jan 15, 2023The Barista CollectiveLeave a comment

If Alan had wanted to make it as difficult as possible to come up with a trailer to fit his Six Damn Fine Degrees post on The Balanescu Quartet’s string covers of Kraftwerk tunes, he definitely succeeded. The closest we could manage? Wim Wender’s The End of Violence features some Kraftwerk on its soundtrack – but instead, let’s go with The Big Lebowski, which may not have any Kraftwerk (or Balanescu Quartet) music on its soundtrack, but its German nihilist character played by Peter Stormare used to play in a band called Autobahn, an obvious homage to the titans of experimental krautrock. Take it away, Dude!