Movies | the m0vie blog

New Podcast! Craft Disservices – “Constantine”

Posted on November 1, 2022 by Darren

I was delighted to join the wonderful Aaron Coker for an episode of his film podcast, Craft Disservices.

The premise of the podcast is built around the discussion of movies that were perhaps undervalued at the time, or that were greeted with critical hostility, and placing them in a broader context. Constantine is an interesting subject for such a reappraisal, and not just because there has recently been a sequel announced. Constantine represents one of the last of a certain breed of comic book adaptations, movies willing to play fast and loose with the lore in the process of translating them to screen. It is also a movie that exists among the last of a wave of truly diverse comic book adaptations before the superhero genre takes over.

You can listen directly to the episode below or by clicking here.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: alan moore, cast, comic books, Comics, constantine, Craft Disservices, devils, Keanu Reeves, podcast, sequel, smoking, Warner Bros, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Black Adam” as a Superhero Vanity Project…

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist on Friday. The big release of the week was Black Adam, the superhero blockbuster starring Dwayne Johnson as the eponymous antihero.

Part of what makes Black Adam so fascinating is the sense in which it exists between two very different styles of big budget Hollywood production. Most obviously, it’s a big and bombastic superhero blockbuster, albeit one built around a less well-known character. However, it also feels like an old style of blockbuster. It feels very much like a superhero vanity project for Dwayne Johnson, an effort to tie his star power into its own high-profile intellectual property.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: action, blockbuster, dcu, Dwayne Johnson, hollywood, in the frame, the escapist, the rock, vanity fare, vanity project | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Morbius Was Bad, Black Adam is Worse”

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching movie reviews on The Escapist. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be joining a set of contributors in adding these reviews to the channel. For the moment, I’m honoured to contribute a five-minute film review of Black Adam, which is in cinemas now.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson, film, Movie, review, superheroes, the escapist, the rock | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Scream 2” as the Perfect Slasher Sequel…

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist last week. With the film’s 25th anniversary approaching and Halloween coming up, it seemed like a good time to talk about Scream 2, Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven’s underrated slasher sequel.

Scream 2 is in many ways the perfect sequel to a smash success like the original Scream, despite its rushed and troubled production. Scream 2 is a movie that manages to both double-down on what made Scream so compelling, while also honing in on the emotional heart of the story being told. It’s the rare sequel that manages to heighten an already heightened premise, without ever losing sight of the characters within the story. It’s clever, it’s funny, but it’s also very sharply observed.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: academic, escapist, film criticism, halloween, horror, in the frame, meta, Scream, Scream 2, self-aware, slasher, tragedy, trauma, wes craven | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Vampire Videos – “Shadow of the Vampire (2000)”

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Darren

I was thrilled to be invited to join the great Dan Owen and Hugh McStay for an episode of their new podcast, Vampire Videos.

It was a thrill to get to talk about, and revisit, Shadow of the Vampire. It was the first time I had watched the meta horror commentary in decades, so it was fascinating to return to it with new eyes and a deeper understanding of the film’s historical context. It’s a movie that ties together the history of the vampire and origins of cinema as a medium, constructing a pitch black horror comedy about the paradox of the movie camera as an instrument that both steals life and grants immortality.

You can listen directly to the episode below or by clicking here.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: comedy, Filmmaking, horror, Movies, Nosferatu, podcast, shadow of the vampire, vampire videos, willem dafoe | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Halloween Ends, Thank Goodness”

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Darren

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: david gordon green, escapist, halloween, halloween ends, michael myers, Movie, nightmare, review, slasher, universal | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On the Meanness and Meaninglessness of “Halloween Kills”…

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the upcoming release of Halloween Ends, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look back at the last entry in the horror franchise.

Halloween Kills is a divisive addition to the slasher movie canon, a grubby and nihilistic horror movie that completely lacks a central ordering principle. Halloween Kills is a movie without a hero. Instead, it is just a monster and his victims. The result is a surprisingly brutaly and bloody slasher movie from a major studio, at a point in time where these films are becoming increasingly homogenised by the logic of intellectual property brand management. Halloween Kills is a film in which there is no reason or logic for the horror that unfolds, and that only serves to make it more scary.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: brutality, escapist, halloween kills, Hero, horror, horror franchises, in the frame, laurie strode, meaninglessness, michael myers, murder, nihilism, slasher, slasher movies, studio horror | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Werewolf by Night isn’t a Total Transformation for Marvel, But a Fun One”

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Darren

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: escapist, marvel, review, the escapist, werewolf by night | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Recap – “We Finally Got Some Real Action and Answers in The Rings of Power…”

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Darren

We’re thrilled to be launching a weekly multimedia podcast at The Escapist, called The Recap. I’m hoping to be a regular fixture of it, stremaing live every Tuesday evening. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film content – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This week, we took a look at the splurge of recent news from Marvel Studios, including new trailers, new writer announcements, the first big reveals about Deadpool 3, directorial departures, and streaming shows that are becoming movies. We also caught up with our opinions on Rings of Power, House of the Dragon and Andor. It’s a fun discussion. Check it out.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts!, Television | Tagged: andor, Blade, deadpool 3, house of the dragon, marty silva, Movies, nick calandra, podcast, rings of power, Television, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On What the Cancellation of “Batgirl” Means for the Future of Streaming…

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Darren

We’re thrilled to be launching a fortnightly video companion piece to In the Frame at The Escapist. The video will typically launch every second Monday, and be released on the magazine’s YouTube channel. And the video will be completely separate from the written content. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film content – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This week, we took a look at the recent cancellation of Batgirl, following the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery Media. There has been a lot of noise and shouting about the decision from various angry corners of the internet, but what does it actually mean? And what does that cancellation mean in the context of the larger streaming landscape, which has become an incredibly volatile space within the last six months?