the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Conor Murphy, this week with special guests Aoife Barry and Deirdre Molumby, 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 September, the podcast is going back to school, covering the films on the Irish Leaving Certificate that we have yet to cover. This time, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.

In Barbieland, every day is perfect. Just like yesterday. And just like tomorrow. However, one morning, Barbie wakes up and realises that things are not perfect at all. She finds herself contemplating mortality, tumbling through the air and walking on the soles of her feet. Thus begins an epic adventure that will take Barbie into a brave new realm: the real world.

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 19th August 2024.
• Barbie at The Internet Movie Database.
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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.
• Conor Murphy writes at The Irish Times about the addition of Barbie to the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, February 2024.
• The Hard Shoulder debates the addition of Barbie to the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, February 2024.
• Deirdre Molumby reviews Mustang for Film Ireland, May 2016.
• Adrienne Tyler at ScreenRant considers the long development process of the Barbie movie, January 2024.
• Adam Nayman at GQ considers the version of Barbie almost made by Amy Schumer, July 2023.
• Zach Sharf at Variety reflects on Anne Hathaway’s proposed version of Barbie, December 2023.
• Tommy McArdle at People considers the possibility of a Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot version of Barbie, July 2023.
• Sarah Halzack at The Washington Post considers the decline of the Barbie brand, October 2014.
• Lindsay Rittenhouse at The Street considers the declining business fortunes of Mattel, tied to the decline of the Barbie brand, April 2017.
• Carly Olson at The Los Angeles Times considers how Ynon Kreiz turned around the fortunes of Mattel, June 2024.
• Eliana Dockterman writes at Time about the decision to modernise Barbie‘s proportions, January 2016.
• Sarah Witten at CNBC reports on the launch of Mattel’s film division, September 2018.
• Umberto Gonzalez at The Wrap considers David Zaslav’s pushing of The Flash, February 2023.
• Pamela McClintock writes at The Hollywood Reporter about the box office implosion of The Flash, June 2023.
• Savannah Walsh at Vanity Fair contemplates what the collapse of The Flash means for Warner Bros., June 2023.
• Matt Donnelly at Variety reports on Warner Bros. setting a release date for Barbie, April 2022.
• Matt Damon talks to Vanity Fair about seeing Oppenheimer and Barbie as a double feature, May 2023.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist looks at the developing and complicated relationship between Oppenheimer and Barbie, July 2023.
• Jason Guerrasio at Insider considers the complicated studio politics that led to the synchronised release of Oppenheimer and Barbie, July 2023.
• Kate Knibbs at The A.V. Club reviews 12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer, May 2015.
• Rory Lynam at Headstuff ponders whether indie filmmakers can survive the shift to blockbuster filmmaking, September 2017.
• Darren Mooney contemplates Greta Gerwig at The Escapist, July 2023.
• Alex Barasch at The New Yorker contemplates Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, July 2023.
• Jason P. Frank at Vulture considers the state of Greta Gerwig’s proposed Narnia movies, July 2024.
• Sophia Stewart at Film School Rejects wonders why women directors tend to do better in television than film, February 2018.
• Emily Zemler at ShondaLand considers some of the best women directors working in television, July 2019.
• Justin Kroll at Variety considers Michelle MacLaren’s departure from Wonder Woman, April 2015.
• Amy Heckerling talks to IndieWire about how director’s jail disproportionately affects women, March 2016.
• Mia Galluppo at The Hollywood Reporter considers the impact of director’s jail on a filmmaker’s career, April 2024.
• Patty Jenkins talks to Mashable about why a decade elapsed between the making of Monster and the making of Wonder Woman, June 2017.
• Patty Jenkins talks to Entertainment Weekly about how she’s not working on Wonder Woman 3 and how Rogue Squadron is till in limbo, May 2024.
• Elyssa Goodman at Vice makes an argument for the cultural importance of Girlfriends, July 2018.
• Amy Taubin at Criterion considers Wanda, March 2019.
• Greta Gerwig talks to The New York Times about the parts of Barbie that she fought with the studio about, July 2023.
• Greta Gerwig talks to Variety about the Barbie scene that she refused to cut, July 2023.
• Rita Moreno talks to Entertainment.ie about the challenges of being an older actor in Hollywood, particularly as a woman, December 2021.
• The BBC reports on the box office success of David Gordon Green’s Halloween, October 2018.
• Helen Mirren talk to People about her sexual chemistry with Vin Diesel, April 2022.
• Kyle Buchanan at The New York Times considers the raw sexual energy between Vin Diesel and Helen Mirren in F9: The Fast Saga, June 2021.
• Greta Gerwig talks to The Wrap about pitching Barbie to her stepson, January 2024.
• Greta Gerwig talks to The Guardian about making Barbie, July 2023.
• Greta Gerwig talks to Rolling Stone about her life and career, July 2023.
• Greta Gerwig talks to IndieWire about how The Apostles’ Creed was part of her pitch for Barbie, May 2023.
• 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.
• Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie talk to Vogue about developing Barbie, May 2023.
• Greta Gerwig talks to The Los Angeles Times about how Milton’s Paradise Lost was a big influence on Barbie, February 2024.
• Orlande Reade at LitHub considers the similarities between Barbie and Paradise Lost, August 2023.
• Ryan Gosling talks to GQ about how nobody cares about Ken, May 2023.
• Annie Brown at Vogue considers Barbie as a movie for – and about – mothers, August 2023.
• Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell at The Atlantic considers the maternal philosophy of Barbie, August 2023.
• Greta Gerwig talks to Entertainment Weekly about sourcing the home videos for the final montage in Barbie, July 2023.
• Greta Gerwig talks to IndieWire about deciding to homage 2001: A Space Odyssey in the opening scenes of Barbie, December 2023.
• Noah Baumbach talks to Variety about the Snyder Cut joke in Barbie, October 2023.
• Zack Snyder talks to NME about his reaction to the Snyder Cut joke in Barbie, December 2023.
• Danielle Cohen at The Cut reports on the birth of Greta Gerwig’s youngest child, July 2023.
• Angela Andaloro and Nicholas Rice report at People on Margot Robbie’s pregnancy, July 2024.
• Lucy Ford at GQ mounts an argument in defense of Midge, July 2023.
• Tom Chapman at Attitude considers the queer legacy of Alan, July 2023.
• Alejandra Gularte at Vulture considers the history and legacy of “Magic Earring Ken”, August 2023.
• Tasha Robinson at Polygon considers “Cock Ring Ken”, July 2023.
• Sophie Elmhirst at The New Yorker considers the rise and fall of “the trad wife”, March 2024.
• Jacqueline Beatty at Time considers the historical context of the “trad wife” movement, April 2024.
• Amanda Taub at The New York Times considers Barbie as a meditation on time and death, September 2023.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist considers both Barbie and Oppenheimer as stories about ideas made tangible, July 2023.
• Kara Nesvig at Teen Vogue considers the Bratz easter egg buried in Barbie, July 2023.
• Amelia Tait at The Guardian considers the “shameless product placement” in Barbie, August 2023.
• Andy Kalmowitz at Jalopnik argues that Barbie is ultimately “a masterfully disguised general motors commercial”, July 2023.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist reflects on the recent trend of “brand-o-pics”, April 2023.
• Ciara Maloney at Current Affairs considers the complicated politics of a movie like AIR, September 2023.
• Jimmy Kimmel salutes Barbie as promotion for The Academy Awards, March 2024.
• Ryan Gosling performs I’m Just Ken at The Academy Awards, March 2024.
• Emily Nussbaum writes about “the difficult women” of Sex and the City for The New Yorker, July 2013.
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