the m0vie blog

New Escapist Column! On the Radical Empathy of “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion”…

Posted on November 27, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist on Friday. With the release of Glass Onion in theatres, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about Benoit Blanc, the film’s protagonist.

Glass Onion is built around the idea of murder mysteries and puzzleboxes. However, like Knives Out before it, the film is something of a criticism of a rigidly rationalist approach to detective fiction, of the idea that solving a crime is a strictly mechanical process. Instead, both Knives Out and Glass Onions are movies about the importance of empathy and humanism in understanding the true moral nature of crime. This is most obvious in Benoit Blanc, who is introduced as an outside observer of these crimes, but cannot escape their gravity.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: benoit blanc, crime, detective, detective fiction, empathy, glass onion, head, heart, humanism, in the frame, knives out, logic, morality, mystery, puzzles, rationality, Rian Johnson, the escapist | Leave a comment »

314. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – Bird Watching 2022 (#—)

Posted on November 26, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, 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 week, we’re continuing a season focusing on the work of one particular director: Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

When a mad man embarks on a plan that will lead to nuclear annihilation, secret agent Ethan Hunt is the world’s last and only hope. The only problem is that Hunt may not be the man that he once was. Assembling a crack team of operatives in a desperate race against time, Hunt undertakes a globe trotting adventure with the highest stakes imaginable.

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

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: authorship, Brad Bird, celebrity, christopher mcquarrie, exceptionalism, imax, jeremy renner, middle america, mission: impossible, mission: impossible - ghost protocol, objectivism, podcast, spectacle, stardom, stunt work, The 250, tom cruise | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Andor is the Best Star Wars in a Long Time”

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching movie and television 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 review of the first season of Andor, which can now be streamed on Disney+.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: andor, review, star wars, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Enterprising Individuals – “Star Trek Into Darkness, Part 1”

Posted on November 24, 2022 by Darren

I am always thrilled to get a chance to talk about Star Trek with other fans, so I was thrilled at the invitation to join the wonderful Aaron Coker on Enterprising Individuals to talk about Star Trek Into Darkness. We split the discussion into two parts, and this is the first.

It seems safe to describe Star Trek Into Darkness as perhaps the most polarising and divisive of the Star Trek movies. However, it’s also the most interesting. It represents the culmination of efforts to turn Star Trek into a populist and accessible blockbuster franchise, but it also remains true to the spirit of the franchise. Star Trek Into Darkness is undeniably a blockbuster of the late Obama era, one preoccupied with the legacy of the War on Terror and fascinated by the loss of utopian innocence that seemed promised with the election of Obama. It’s also just a thrilling action spectacle with a broad appeal.

You can listen to the episode here, back episodes of the podcast here, click the link below or even listen directly.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts!, Star Trek | Tagged: aaron coker, Benedict Cumberbatch, chris pine, jj abrams, khan, Lucas, spielberg, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Andor” as the Most Consistent “Star Wars”…

Posted on November 24, 2022 by Darren

I am doing weekly reviews of Andor at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the Rogue One prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.

Rix Road brings the first season of Andor to an end, closing the cricle by bringing the primary cast back to where it all began. It’s a fascinating and compelling way to close out the season, underscoring how much these characters have changed by bringing them back to their starting position. Rix Road is a breathtaking and impressive season finale to what has been the most consistent run of Star Wars ever produced.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: andor, finale, rogue one, season, star wars, Television, the escapist, Tony Gilroy | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “1899” and the Problems of Abstraction…

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist over the weekend. Last week saw the release of Netflix’s 1899, a surreal mystery thriller from the creative minds behind Dark.

1899 is an impressive show in many ways, a multilingual series with a diverse cast, that is also the most expensive television show ever made in Germany. It is packed with big ideas, and grapples with heady themes, without ever stopping to apologise for itself or condescend to its audience. There’s undoubtedly something appealing in that. However, there’s a strange coldness to the show, a detachment that makes it very hard to emotionally invest in the series as anything more than an intellectual exercise.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: abstract, dark, intellectual, mystery, netflix, review, Television, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Atlanta” as One of Television’s Great Liminal Spaces…

Posted on November 21, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With Atlanta wrapping up its final season earlier this month, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look back at one of television’s great liminal spaces.

Creator and lead actor Donald Glover frequently compared the show to Twin Peaks and The Sopranos, two very interesting choices for a show that has the basic structure of a sitcom built around four central characters. However, over the course of its four season, Atlanta became a surrealist study of millennial Black life in the United States, in particular the constant sense of being stuck “between” places without a firm status quo. Atlanta is a show that largely unfolds in shopping centres, nightclubs and hotels, and parties and in altered states. It’s a show that often feels dreamlike, its characters drifting through a chaotic world.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: america, Atlanta, between, Donald Glover, earn, Georgia, in between, in the frame, sticom, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Better Call Saul”, “Andor” and Slow-Burn Classics…

Posted on November 20, 2022 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist earlier this week. As Andor winds down its first season, garnering rave reviews but not attracting as strong an audience as its predecessors, comparisons come to mind concerning Better Call Saul, which has quietly become one of the best television shows of the decade despite never reaching the same level of popularity as its predecessor.

What do Better Call Saul and Andor have in common? What is it that makes both shows so compelling, but which also makes them a tougher sell to audiences than what came before? Are they both just out of step with the zeitgeist, reflecting a mode of television production that doesn’t have the same cultural cachet that it once did? And, most importantly, does any of that matter if they are both creative triumphs? It’s interesting to explore and unpack.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: better call saul, escapist, films, popularity, prestige television, seventies cinema, Television, the escapist | Leave a comment »

313. Ratatouille – Bird Watching 2022 (#219)

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Deirdre Molumby and Graham Day, 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 week, we’re continuing a season focusing on the work of one particular director: Brad Bird’s Ratatouille.

Remi is a French rat with a taste for the finer things, quite literally. Remi longs to be a chef. When circumstances bring the young rat to Paris, and into the kitchen of a legendary restaurant, Remi is given the chance of a lifetime to seize his dream. He just needs to grab it by the hair and pull hard.

At time of recording, it was ranked 219th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Movies, The 250 | Tagged: animation, art, Bob Iger, Brad Bird, Brian Dennehy, chefs, creativity, disney, france, janeane garofalo, market, Michael Eisner, objectivism, paris, Patton Oswalt, pixar, proust, Ratatouille, rats, sexism, Steve Jobs, voltaire | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Mythic Quest” as a Professional Relationship Comedy…

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the third season of Mythic Quest launching last week, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at what is quietly one of the best sitcoms on television.

Mythic Quest is a comedy about the idea of creation as a collaborative process, the sense that very few things originate from one mind in particular. As such, the show’s sitcom structure bends around that idea in interesting ways. In particular, the show approaches relationships through the prism of professionalism. Most sitcoms lean into romantic tension between their leads, but Mythic Quest applies that relationship template to a more professional and creative environment, exploring how fulfilling professional relationships can be profoundly fulfilling.

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