December | 2017 | the m0vie blog

New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #80 (all things/Brand X)

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, approaching the end of the Duchovny era of the show.

For the eightieth episode of the podwatch, I’m joining Tanya Hernandez to discuss two unique episodes of the series. all things is famously the first (and so far only) episode of The X-Files to be written and directed by Gillian Anderson, while Brand X features a very different cigarette-smoking man.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: all things, brand x, gillian anderson, the x-cast, The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, the x-files | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #77 (Closure/X-Cops)

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Darren

My second appearance of the troubled seventh season teams me up with the fantastic Baz Greenland once again, for the first time since way back in the first season. In terms of the end of the Duchovny era of The X-Files, this is a compelling two-fer. Closure effectively wraps up what has been Mulder’s character arc dating back to the earliest days of the show. X-Cops is just great, with Vince Gilligan finally being allowed to make that crossover with Cops that he had been pitching for years. Give it a listen. What-else-cha gonna do?

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: baz greenland, closure, cops, podcast, podwatch, samantha, the x-cast, the x-files, x-cops | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #75 (Orison/The Amazing Maleeni)

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Darren

My first appearance of the somewhat uneven seventh season teams me up with the wonderful Clara Cook once again. We’re discussing two rather distinct episodes of the season, Orison and The Amazing Maleeni. Two very different episodes, both in terms of tone and in terms of quality. Enjoy!

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: clara cook, donnie pfaster, irresistible, magic, orison, ricky jay, the maazing maleeni, the x-cast, The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, the x-files | Leave a comment »

56. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (#16)

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This time, Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

To avoid prison on a statutory rap charge, charming misfit Randle McMurphy secures a transfer to a low-security psychiatric ward for evaluation. What initially seems like a cunning plan to serve out the rest of his sentence in more soothing surroundings quickly evolves into a battle of wits for the hearts and souls of the hospital’s residents.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 16th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: bond, counterculture, hollywood, jack nicholson, ken kesey, Miloš Forman, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, psychiatric care, star trek | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Lady Bird

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Darren

Lady Bird is a sweet and charming little film, one anchored in two great central performances from Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf.

Lady Bird is relaxed and casual, a story of teenage anxiety unfolding at its own pace without any tangible sense of stakes or scale. Lady Bird is a refreshingly quiet and sincere movie, one that captures a lot of the listlessness associated with youth, the obliviousness to the reality of the outside world, the struggle to define a unique identity. For all the film is anchored in its Californian surroundings, Lady Bird is a universal coming of age story.

Blessing in disguise.

Like its protagonist, Lady Bird is smart and wry, if a little directionless and unsure of itself. However, the movie works in large part because of the decision to build its emotional core around the relationship between the eponymous character and her mother. Ronan is phenomenal here, but Metcalf is just as able to match her co-star. Both actors deliver raw and genuine performances that perfectly capture the push-and-pull of any real-life familial dynamic.

Lady Bird is perhaps a little too eccentric and a little too whimsical in places, drawing its supporting cast in broad strokes and leaning a little too heavily into stereotypes of adolescence, but the film has a warm and beating heart that sustains it for its ninety-three-minute runtime.

Bye, bye, birdie.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: coming of age, film, Greta Gerwig, lady bird, Movie, non-review review, review, saoirse ronan | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Darkest Hour

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Darren

Darkest Hour is a powerhouse performance nested inside a fairly formulaic film.

In terms of plot, Darkest Hour is very much a familiar cinematic biography. Building off the template cemented by writer Peter Morgan on The Deal, The Queen, The Special Relationship and Rush, this is a film that explores its subject through the lens of a single event. The plot of Darkest Hour unfolds across May 1940, in the shadow the Second World War. It charts the life of Winston Churchill from the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to the evacuation of Dunkirk. It is tightly focused, and perhaps the better for that.

Winston, Loseton.

In many ways, Darkest Hour feels like a collection of pop culture standards. Churchill is such an iconic part of European history, and this month was so crucial, that audiences have almost reached saturation point with narratives documenting key moments in the life of the statesman. Darkest Hour cannot help but evoke shades of everything from The King’s Speech to The Crown to Dunkirk, all of which share some sense of the same time and place. Darkest Hour simply combines a lot of pop culture Churchill into what amounts to a “greatest hits” package.

With that in mind, it should be no surprise that Darkest Hour is elevated by the central performance from an almost unrecognisable Gary Oldman. If pop culture has synthesised Churchill’s history to a collection of “greatest hits”, then it is the delivery that truly matters. Oldman carries the film home.

Two-finger salute.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: darkest hour, fascism, film, gary oldman, Movie, Nazism, non-review review, review, winston churchill | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #70 (The Unnatural/Three of a Kind)

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Darren

My final appearance of the sixth season teams me up with writer Sarah L. Blair. I recorded a couple of episodes with Sarah, and I’m quite fond of this duology. We’re discussing two relatively late episodes of the season, The Unnatural and Three of a Kind. The Unnatural is the first episode to be written and directed by David Duchovny, who had collaborated on some earlier mythology stories with Chris Carter, and which marks out The X-Files as a delightfully unique television series with room for eccentric visions. Three of a Kind is the series’ second Lone-Gunmen-centric episode, paving the way for… well, The Lone Gunmen.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: baseball, david duchovny, sarah l. blair, the big inning, the lone gunmen, the x-cast, the x-cast podwatch, The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, the x-files | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Jumanji – Welcome to the Jungle

Posted on December 9, 2017 by Darren

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a weird and interesting experiment, in part because it is a nostalgic and belated sequel that remains caught between its past and the present.

Welcome to the Jungle joins a long (and perhaps undistinguished) line of twenty-first century franchise revivals for beloved nineties properties. The original Jumanji was a hardly a breakout hit, even if it did make an impression on a younger generation who would have grown up on it as part of Robin Williams’ nineties family-friendly oeuvre along with Hook or Ms. Doubtfire. Indeed, Jumanji is arguably the nineties Robin Williams film most perfectly suited to a revival like this, in that it involves a premise that can be divorced from its iconic and beloved star.

Franchises find a way.

At the same time, Jumanji is undoubtedly near the bottom of nineties adventure films in need of a revival, lurking in the shadow of other resurrected blockbusters like Independence Day or Jurassic Park. Perhaps because of this distance, and perhaps because of the lack of a true cult iconography, Jumanji serves as an interesting control case. This is a film with one leg in the present, aimed at what modern families expect from blockbuster entertainment. The other leg it planted firmly in the past, harking back to certain aspects of formula that seem almost quaint.

Welcome to the Jungle is not a particularly good film, but it is an interesting one. It serves as a prism through which certain aspects of nostalgia might be deconstructed and explored.

Players.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: blockbusters, dwanye johnson, film, films, jumanji, Movie, Narrative, non-review review, review, robin williams, video games, welcome to the jungle | 2 Comments »

New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #61 (The Beginning/Drive)

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, just winding down from The X-Files: Fight the Future.

My first appearance (covering the first episodes) of the sixth season teams me up once again with Tony himself. We’re discussing the first two episodes of the season, The Beginning and Drive, two episodes very clearly flowing out of the feature film. Indeed, Drive is one of my favourite X-Files episodes of all time.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: beginning, Bryan Cranston, Drive, the x-cast, the x-files, vince gilligan, x-files | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Post

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Darren

The Post is clean, efficient and timely.

Even to those unfamiliar with the historical events that inspired the film, there will be very little in The Post that is surprising. The Post follows a very clear trajectory for a prestige picture coming into awards season, setting up its character arcs and trajectories in a very straightforward manner and following them all on their clearly defined paths towards the end credits. It is very easy to see where the story will end up, and there are surprisingly few twists and turns in the narrative as it develops.

Food for thought.

However, there is something endearing in this efficiency. The Post famously came together in a hurry while director Steven Spielberg was waiting for postproduction work on Ready Player One, and the film serves as a showcase for the effectiveness of the creative talent involved in the production. The Post is unlikely to become a defining or signature film for anybody involved in its production, but instead exists as a testament to the sheer technique and craft of that production team.

The Post is not a masterpiece or a classic, but it is a sleek and well-made film.