Darren

421. Snow White – Ani-May 2025 (#—)

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Luke Dunne and Ciara Moloney, 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 week, Mark Webb’s Snow White.

In a magical kingdom, an evil queen plots the murder of a beautiful young princess, who is forced to flee into the woods and find shelter with the most unlikely of allies.

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

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Filed under: The Bottom 100, This Just In | Tagged: 2025, adaptation, agency, audience expectations, celebrity PR, characterizations, Christopher Nolan, ciara moloney, cinema, conspiracy theories, creative collaboration, cultural implications, cultural significance, disney, evil queen, female agency, film artistry, film critic, human experiences, imdb, Irish diaspora, luke dunne, mark webb, Mary McDonough, PhD completion, podcast, polarizing reactions, production history, Rachel Ziegler, representation, snow white, social issues, socio-political dynamics, storytelling, The 250, The 250 podcast, themes, tom cruise, traditional characters | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Reality War (Review)

Posted on May 31, 2025 by Darren

“Oh, hello.”

Well, Russell T. Davies winds up the Fifteenth Doctor’s era by taking a second shot at The End of Time, Part II.

Fifteen’s minutes of fame.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: children, continuity, daughter, doctor who, family, history, Omega, queer, russell t. davies, Susan, the doctor, the fifteenth doctor, the rani, the reality war, Time Lord, time travel, wish world | 1 Comment »

420. How to Train Your Dragon – Ani-May 2025 (#198)

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, 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 week, Chris Sanders’ and Dean DeBlois’ How to Train Your Dragon.

On the island of Berk, the Viking settlers have found themselves engaged in a war against dragons spanning literal generations. Hiccup, the son of the town chieftain, struggles to find his place in a community that doesn’t value his unique strengths and attributes – he wonders whether he will even be manly enough to hunt and kill dragons. However, a chance encounter with a fallen dragon named Toothless leads Hiccup to question everything that he thinks he knows about dragons.

At time of recording, it was ranked 198th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: animated film, animation industry, animation quality, Astrid, character development, character dynamics, connection, deirdre molumby, dragons, dreamworks, empathy, father-son relationship, friendship, gender representation, graham day, hiccup, How to Train Your Dragon, identity, imdb, IMDb top 250, legacy, live-action adaptation, personal growth, podcast, production challenges, sequels, storytelling, thematic elements, themes | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: Wish World (Review)

Posted on May 24, 2025 by Darren

“We’re going to bring down God. Are you with us?”

In many ways, Wish World feels like a thesis statement for Davies’ return to Doctor Who.

It is a story that is, very overtly, about the power of stories and narratives to warp reality. It is a story about the violence that comes from attempts to impose restrictive and suffocating conformist narratives upon people, and how media can bend reality to a point that doubt can cause the world itself to literally crack open. Davies’ return to Doctor Who has been fascinated by the porous nature of reality and the power of television as a medium, and all of that comes crashing to a head with Wish World.

A delightful John-ty adventure.

Wish World is very obviously setting up The Reality War, the big blockbuster-sized finale that will be the first episode of Doctor Who to premiere on BBC One since The Giggle, allowing for the Christmas Specials The Church on Ruby Road and Joy to the World. A significant portion of the episode amounts to pieces being moved around the board so that they can deliver in the season finale, to the point that the Rani herself has to acknowledge that the final act of the episode is largely “exposition.” It is always difficult to discuss the first part of a two-part episode in isolation, and that is especially true of a the first part of a season finale.

However, Wish World works largely on its own terms, crystalising the ideas that have been simmering across these twenty episodes since The Star Beast, articulating themes that are clearly weighing on Davies’ mind.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: communication, conspiracy theories, continuity, doctor who, ideas, narratives, power, pronatalism, Rani, reactionary, reality, russell t. davies, story, Television, the internet, the rani, wish world | 1 Comment »

419. Sinners (#—)

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guest Lee Murkey, 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 week, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.

Twin brothers Smoke and Stack return to the Mississippi Delta from Chicago, bringing with them money and booze. The duo plan to open a juke joint for the local community, and set about preparing for the launch. Little do the pair realise that something sinister is stalking through the night, lurching towards their speakeasy, drawn by the siren call of the blues.

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

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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: america, Andrew Quinn, black identity, capitalism, complicity, cultural significance, Filmmaking, hollywood, iconic director, IMAX technology, imdb, indie filmmaker, lee murkey, Lee Murky, Ludwig Göransson, money, race, ryan coogler, Sinners, storytelling, The 250, vampires | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Interstellar Song Contest (Review)

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Darren

“Did I just fly through space on a confetti cannon?”

“Yeah.”

“Camp.”

The Interstellar Song Contest is a very strange episode of Doctor Who, both inside and outside the narrative.

Internally, there is a surprising tension within the episode, which is transparently “Die Hard at Eurovision.” This is an inherently camp premise. It is, in classic Doctor Who tradition, a “frock” premise. It is goofy, silly, and inherent queer-coded. However, once the episode gets moving, it shifts gears into something much darker and more intense; this is an episode which opens with the audience blown into space, weaves through genocide and builds to a sequence of the Doctor sadistically torturing the villain. The episode balances on a tonal knife-edge.

Spaced out.

However, there is also an uncomfortable tension in the air around The Interstellar Song Contest, a story that was conceived and written two years ago, intended to air on the night of Eurovision, and which was obviously intended as a criticism of consumptive capitalism, but which takes on a lot more weight by simple virtue of the events that have unfolded in the time between when the episode was commissioned and when it was broadcast. The Interstellar Song Contest is an episode is watched in a different context than it was made, despite being ostensibly tailored for this moment.

The result is a deeply fascinating and unsettling episode of television, one that demonstrates both the urgency and the immediacy of television as a medium, but which also illustrates the risks that come with that.

Tune in.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Broadcast, doctor who, eurovision, film, gaza, israel, ncuti gatwa, palestine, russell t. davies, song, streaming, Television, the interstellar song contest | Leave a comment »

418. Paths of Glory (#65)

Posted on May 11, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guest Cethan Leahy, 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 week, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory.

At the height of the Great War, Major General Georges Broulard issues an order to Brigadier General Paul Mireau: his command is to storm and hold the ant-hill, a heavily-fortified enemy position. It is pure military folly, which will lead to the deaths of thousands of men under the command of Colonel Dax. However, Dax and the men under his command very quickly discover that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the insanity that consumes the chain of command.

At time of recording, it was ranked 65th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: cethan leahy, film, kirk douglas, Movie, paths of glory, podcast, stanley kubrick, The 250, the first world war, the great war | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Story and the Engine (Review)

Posted on May 10, 2025 by Darren

“A beating heart inside a brain?”

“Brilliant. What else is a story?”

The Story and the Engine marks a clear return to form for the season around it.

Once again, it is interesting that Davies’ return to Doctor Who has adopted its own structures and rhythms, so that these two eight-episode seasons are more obviously paired with one another than with the thirteen-episode seasons of his first tenure. The Robot Revolution and Space Babies were retrofuturist pastiches, Lux and The Devil’s Chord were formally ambitious attempts to do something new with the format, The Well and Boom were militaristic high-concept science-fiction, Lucky Day and 73 Yards were Ruby-centric stories about encroaching fascism.

Tree’s company.

The Story and the Engine is an interesting companion piece to Dot and Bubble, in that both episodes are – at their core – stories about what it means for the Doctor to be a person of colour. Within their respective seasons, The Story and the Engine and Dot and Bubble are both constructed as stories that simply could not work if the Doctor still looked like David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker or Peter Capaldi. While Dot and Bubble cleverly built to this concept as a twist, The Story and the Engine makes it clear from the opening scenes.

The Story and the Engine is a clever, thoughtful meditation on what it means that the Doctor now looks like Ncuti Gatwa. It’s well-observed, well-structured and well-written, a classic Doctor Who story told from a fresh angle.

A cut above?

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: barber, barbership, doctor who, fugitive doctor, Inua Ellamsrussell t. davies, jo martin, ncuti gatwa, the barber | 1 Comment »

Doctor Who: Lucky Day (Review)

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Darren

“At least your special effects are improving.”

To be fair, a pretty solid run had to end at some point, and a Pete McTighe script is as good a place as any.

Lucky Day is an interesting episode. It solidifies the sense of this second Davies era as its own distinct object with its own distinct rhythms and structures. Just as one might pair Space Babies and The Robot Revolution, The Devil’s Chord and Lux, or Boom and The Well, Lucky Day is very obviously designed for the same slot as 73 Yards. This is another Doctor-lite episode built around Ruby Sunday, featuring U.N.I.T., set on contemporary Earth. It even brushes against rural folk horror, invoking The Wicker Man in its discussion of English villages.

Food for thought.

However, the episode takes a sharp and ambitious turn in its second half. As with a lot of recent Doctor Who, Lucky Day is an episode engaged with the larger context of the show and its place in the popular discourse. It is obviously structured around things that matter to both Davies and McTighe. It is commendably self-aware and playful. There is, on paper, a lot to appreciate about Lucky Day.

The problem is the execution, as the episode’s themes break like waves against the actual narrative itself. Lucky Day only really makes sense as metatext, but cannot support the weight of its big ideas whether inside or outside the fictional universe. It’s an unlucky break.