the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Sam Mendes’ 1917.

It’s April 1917. Lance Corporal Blake and Lance Corporal Schofeld are tasked with a dangerous assignment. They must cross no man’s land and deliver orders to stop a doomed advance against the retreating German forces. As time runs out, Blake and Schofeld venture further and further into the insanity of war.

At time of recording, it was ranked 49th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 1st February 2020.
• Note: Darren confuses A.V. Club authors Tom Briehan and Scot Kaufman. He apologises for this error.
• 1917 at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Darren makes an argument for this year’s Oscar nominations, February 2020.
• Academy voters talk to The New York Post about the snubbing of Jennifer Lopex (and Adam Sandler), January 2020.
• An anonymous Academy voter talks to The Hollywood Reporter, February 2020.
• Another anonymous Academy voter talks to The Hollywood Reporter, February 2020.
• The New York Times offers an oral history of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, February 2020.
• Gwen Aviles at NBC on the Oscars’ continuing diversity problem, January 2020.
• Behind the scenes on 1917 trailer and featurette, September 2019.
• Barry Hertz at The Globe and the Mail on the line between gimmickry and greatness for 1917, December 2019.
• David Sims at The Atlantic argues that 1917‘s awards success reflects Hollywood’s anxieties around Netflix, January 2020.
• Anghus Houvouras at Flickering Myth on the impact of The Dark Knight on cinematic villains, March 2013.
• Sam Mendes talks to The Playlist about taking inspiration from The Dark Knight for Skyfall, October 2012.
• Kayleigh Donaldson argues at Screenrant that Dunkirk is a much better war movie than 1917, February 2020.
• Jeremy Mathai at /Film suggests that 1917 and Dunkirk compliment one another perfectly, February 2020.
• Tom Brook at the BBC discusses Francois Truffaut’s arguments about whether there’s such a thing as a antiwar film, July 2014.
• Adam Nayman at The Ringer debates whether 1917 can actually be an antiwar movie, January 2020.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist on the importance of the use of the single take in 1917, December 2019.
• Scott Kaufman at The A.V. Club on the use of long takes to distort and warp the audience’s perception of reality, March 2015.
• Stuart Klawans at The New York Times on how the First World War changed films forever, November 2000.
• Richard Rubin in The Atlantic on the gaps around the First World War in American popular memory, August 1914.
• Jonathan Boff at the British Library on attrition and stalemate in the First World War, November 2018.
• Catriona Pennell at BBC History Extra debates the portrayal of the First World War in Blackadder, January 2014.
• Nate Jones debates the portrayal of the First World War in 1917 in Vulture, January 2020.
• Nick Lloyd writes about Operation Alberich at BBC History Extra, January 2020.
• Jake Kerridge at The Telegraph writes about Alfred Mendes, who inspired 1917, January 2020.
• Sam Mendes talks to The New York Times about taking inspiration from his grandfather for 1917, December 2019.
• Dennis Gassner talks to Fortune about the production design and practicalities of 1917, December 2019.
• The production team from 1917 talk to Vulture about making the movie, December 2019.
• Richard Brody discusses the debate around the tastefulness of 1917 at The New Yorker, January 2020.
• BBC presents the origins of the First World War as a “rap battle”, August 2014.
• Michael Korda at The Daily Beast on the familial dynamic at the root of the First World War, July 2017.
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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: 1917, Dunkirk, long takes, Oscars, podcast, sam mendes, The 250, This Just In, war |