the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Conor Murphy, this week with special guest Aoife Barry, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

This September, we are running a season looking at the films on the Irish Leaving Cert English Curriculum. So this week, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.

Going by the name “Lady Bird”, Christine McPherson begins her final year of high school in Sacramento, California. Caught in a tense love-hate relationship with her mother, Marion, Christine dreams of escaping her surroundings to go to college. However, over the course of that turbulent year, Christine becomes more aware of life outside herself.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 13th July 2023.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• Lady Bird at The Internet Movie Database.
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• Follow Aoife on Twitter.
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• Peter McGuire offers a brief history of the Leaving Certificate at The Irish Times, November 2019.
• The Irish Times looks over a decade of change to the Irish Leaving Certificate, January 1998.
• The Irish Times considers the changes made to the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, June 2001.
• The Irish Times considers the addition of film to the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, January 1998.
• Hugh Linehan at The Irish Times discusses how film will be taught as part of the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, October 1999.
• Darren Mooney at the m0vie blog considers the vote-brigading of Black Panther on the Internet Movie Database, February 2018.
• Yohana Desta at Vanity Fair reports on Rotten Tomatoes pushing back against racists targetting user metrics for Black Panther, February 2018.
• Matt Miller at Esquire reports on the sexist vote brigading of Captain Marvel, February 2019.
• Kayla Epstein at The Washington Post considers Rotten Tomatoes‘ reaction to the vote brigading of Captain Marvel, February 2019.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist considers how user metrics gradually became useless on the internet, September 2022.
• Dennis Lim at The New York Times considers the origin and history of “mumblecore”, August 2007.
• Dennis Lim at The Los Angeles Times considers the background of “mumblecore”, February 2009.
• Mark Olsen at The Los Angeles Times considers Greta Gerwig as “the accidental ‘It’ girl”, July 2008.
• Ken Eisner at Straight.com considers Greta Gerwig’s transition into the mainstream with Frances Ha, June 2013.
• The Artifice considers the history of “mumblecore”, December 2018.
• Greta Gerwig talks to Digital Spy about her passion for theatre, February 2018.
• Mark Olsen at The Los Angeles Times considers Frances Ha as a union of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, September 2012.
• Steve Rose at The Guardian considers Greta Gerwig’s break from “mumblecore” with Greenberg, June 2010.
• Alex Barasch at The New Yorker considers the future of Greta Gerwig’s career, July 2023.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist attempts to figure out what kind of director Greta Gerwig is, July 2023.
• Darren Mooney at the m0vie blog considers the deeply personal influences on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ work on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, August 2021.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist considers the Indiana Jones franchise as a deeply personal series for Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, July 2023.
• Diane Garrett at Variety considers the impact of #metoo on Hollywood, March 2023.
• Yasmin Omar at Harpers Bazaar considers why so few women directors work in Hollywood, June 2018.
• Jim Rutenberg at The New York Times considers how Wonder Woman was a potential game-changer for women in Hollywood, June 2017.
• Tre’vell Anderson at The Los Angeles Time considers the women directors of 2017, April 2018.
• Sonia Rao at The Washington Post considers the influence of Lady Bird on Booksmart, May 2019.
• Ellen E. Jones at The Guardian considers the “bad and boujee” lifestyle, October 2017.
• Dani Alexis Ryskamp at The Atlantic argues that the middle-class ideal of The Simpsons is now unattainable, December 2020.
• Planet Money considers the economic realities facing The Simpsons, June 2022.
• Jesse David Fox at Vulture argues that The Simpsons is “good again”, June 2023.
• Leigh Giangreco at The Washington Post considers the legacy of the mansion from Home Alone, December 2021.
• David Denby at The New Yorker considers criticisms of the white and privileged world of “mumblecore”, March 2009.
• Gregory Collins at Filmmaker Magazine considers what it means to have grown up with “mumblecore”, October 2013.
• Greta Gerwig talks to IndieWire about scripting Lady Bird, October 2017.
• Greta Gerwig talks to ScreenDaily about making Lady Bird, December 2017.
• Sam Levy talks to The Motion Picture Association about shooting Lady Bird, December 2017.
• Greta Gerwig and Sam Levy talk to IndieWire about lighting and colouring Lady Bird, December 2017.
• Nick Howe talks to Film Supply about editing Lady Bird, 2017.
• Greta Gerwig and Nick Howe talk to IndieWire about the importance of editing in Lady Bird, January 2018.
• Marcos Breton at The Sacramento Bee discusses Lady Bird as a celebration of Sacramento, November 2017.
• Greta Gerwig talks to The Sacramento Bee about the decision to set and film Lady Bird in Sacramento, November 2017.
• Saoirse Ronan talks to The Irish Independent about the Catholicism of Lady Bird, December 2017.
• Greta Gerwig talks to America Magazine about her experiences at Catholic School and how they shaped Lady Bird, October 2017.
• Greta Gerwig talks to The Washington Post about avoiding the clichéd depictions of Catholicism in Lady Bird, January 2018.
• Hunter Harris at Vulture considers how accurately Lady Bird captures the experience of attending Catholic school, November 2017.
• Sandra Gonzalez at CNN considers Greta Gerwig’s Best Director nomination for Lady Bird, February 2018.
• Max Cea at Salon considers how unusual Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird nomination for Best Director was in the history of the Academy Awards, January 2018.
• Chris O’Falt at IndieWire considers the debate over Greta Gerwig “deserves” a Best Director nomination for Lady Bird, January 2018.
• Greta Gerwig talks to NPR about how she is different from the protagonist of Lady Bird, February 2018.
• Noah Baumbach talks to The New York Times about how Marriage Story relates to his own divorce, November 2019.
• Natalie Finn at E! Online considers how Marriage Story mirrors Noah Baumbach’s divorce from Jennifer Jason Leigh, January 2020.
• Peter Debruge at Variety considers Lady Bird as a “semi-autobiographical” film from Greta Gerwig, September 2017.
• Jim Vorel at Paste argues that Lady Bird is about “cycles of abuse”, November 2017.
• Verily Magazine publishes comments from readers discussing the mother and daughter relationship in Lady Bird, January 2018.
• Adam Epstein at Quartz places Lady Bird in the context of a broader range of nostalgia for the turn of the millennium, October 2017.
• Brian Raftery at Wired considers the nostalgia for millennial pop culture in contemporary music and television, May 2017.
• Lindsay Turner at Arcade considers the use of the Iraq War in Lady Bird, January 2018.
• The Sacramento Bee photographs Ronald and Nancy Reagan at home, November 1971.
• Shawn Hubler at The New York Times reports on the victory of Republican Kevin Kiley in Sacramento, November 2022.
• Kenneth W. Moffett, Laurie L. Rice and Ramana Madupalli argue in Social Science Quarterly that the Iraq War motivated a young generation politically, December 2014.
• Lloyd Green in The Guardian considers a generation of young Americans who experienced a political awakening through 9/11 and the Iraq War, February 2023.
• Roisin O’Connor at The Independent reports on the proper pronunciation of Emily in Paris, November 2020.
• Emily Tamkin at New America considers the sex scene in Lady Bird, December 2017.
• Saoirse Ronan talks to Elle about the choice to show her acne in Lady Bird, February 2018.
• Saoirse Ronan talks to The Belfast Telegraph about developing acne late in life, February 2018.
• Sam Levy talks to Moveable Feast about shooting Lady Bird on digital, November 2017.
• Winston Cook-Wilson at Spin considers the importance of Stephen Sondheim to Lady Bird, November 2017.
• Claire White at Rough Cut Film considers the use of Stephen Sondheim in both Lady Bird and Marriage Story, December 2019.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: barbie, California, coming of age, education, Greta Gerwig, history, irish, lady bird, leaving cert, leaving cert english, leaving certificate, memory, nostalgia, sacramento, saoirse ronan, secondary school, The 250 |