the m0vie blog

New Escapist Video! On “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” as a Response to “The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War”…

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Darren

So, as I have mentioned before, I am launching a new video series as a companion piece to In the Frame at The Escapist. The video will typically launch with every second Monday article, and be released on the magazine’s YouTube channel the following week. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film channel – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This week, following the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it seemed like a good time to take a look back on the series and in particular its relationship to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. In many ways, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a show that exists in conversation with the larger Captain America franchise.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: captain america, Civil War, continuity, mcu, sam wilson, the falcon, the falcon and the winter soldier, the winter soldier | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Jupiter’s Legacy – Review in 3 Minutes”

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching 3-Minute Reviews on Escapist Movies. 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 three-minute film review of the new Jupiter’s Legacy series that is now available on Netflix.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: jupiter's legacy, netflix, review, streaming | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Army of the Dead – Review in 3 Minutes”

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching 3-Minute Reviews on Escapist Movies. 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 three-minute film review of Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, with is releasing in cinemas on Friday and will be on Netflix next week.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: army of the dead, dave bautista, las vegas, review, the escapsit, zack snyder, zombies | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Escapist Movie Podcast – “TENET and 2020’s Not-busters”

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a movie podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard and Lee Murkey for the fifteenth episode of the year, for a discussion looking at the not-busters of the pandemic era, particularly Russell Crowe’s road rage thriller Unhinged and Christopher Nolan’s TENET.

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

Filed under: Podcasts! | Tagged: blockbusters, escapist movie podcast, jack packard, lee murkey, pandemic, TENET, the escapist, the escapist movie podcast, unhinged | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” in Conversation with the MCU…

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist yesterday evening. With the wrapping up of the first season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it seemed like a good time to take a look back at the show’s first season – and, in particular, how it positions itself within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is thirteen years old this May. It spans 24 films, a handful of television series and almost a dozen separate film franchises. That is a lot of baggage. Indeed, it seems like the MCU has reached a point where the baggage of its earlier installments exerts almost as much gravity as the source material itself. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier feels like a prime example of this, with the series very much engaged in conversation with the films in the Captain America franchise.

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

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: canon, captain america, captain america: civil war, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, continuity, criticism, engagement, escapist magazine, history, in the frame, mcu, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast – Season 6, Episode 22 (“Biogenesis”)

Posted on May 8, 2021 by Darren

Coinciding with The X-Files‘ move from Vancouver to Los Angeles, there has also been a shift at The X-Cast. Tony Black is no longer running the show, but it is instead now being run by Sarah Blair, Kurt North and Carl Sweeney. I was thrilled to join Carl to talk about the sixth season finale: Biogenesis.

Following Two Fathers and One Son in the middle of the sixth season, Biogenesis is a very odd season finale for The X-Files. It’s the only season finale that doesn’t have the luxury of hanging on the central mythology and which isn’t designed to serve as a potential finale for the series as a whole. As a result, it’s a very odd episode of television, and offers an interesting prism on the tropes and conventions of The X-Files.

You can listen to the episode here, or click the link below.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: belief, carl sweeney, chris carter, kurt north, mythology, religion, the x-cast, the x-files, x-files | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Jupiter’s Legacy” and the Netflix Bloat…

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist yesterday evening. With the release of the first ~~season~~ volume of Jupiter’s Legacy on Netflix, it seemed like an opportunity to talk about the weirdness of the Netflix bloat.

The first season of Jupiter’s Legacy is eight episodes long, but covers about as much narrative real estate as the first two issues of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s comic book. The season doesn’t even get to what is effectively the big inciting incident for the bulk of the comic book, instead stretching certain plot points and certain threads past breaking points. It’s not that Netflix departs or deviates from the source material; it’s often quite faithful in quoting from the comic. It’s that the show can’t seem to even get started.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: decompressed storytelling, decompression, escapist, frank quitely, in the frame, mark millar, netflix bloat, streaming, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Order 66” as the Unlikely Lynchpin of the “Star Wars” Universe…

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Darren

I published a new column at The Escapist earlier in the week. Given that The Bad Batch launched this week on Disney+, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at the way in which it solidifies “Order 66” as an unlikely lynchpin of the larger Star Wars universe.

There are any number of big events in the Star Wars canon, many of which have been depicted on screen – the destruction of Alderaan, the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Hoth, the Battle of Endor. However, it’s striking that the event that has played most frequently across a wide variety of Star Wars media is the implementation of “Order 66” from the end of the prequels. It speaks to both the power of the event itself, its versatility and scale, but also to how the prequels have been rehabilitated and integrated thoroughly into the canon.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: canon, continuity, reference, star wars, the bad batch | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “A Marvelous Escape” – Falcon and the Winter Soldier – “Full Season Review”…

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Darren

With a slew of Marvel Studios productions coming to Disney+ over the next six months, The Escapist has launched a weekly show discussing these series. I’ll be joining the wonderful Jack Packard and the fantastic KC Nwosu to break down WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki as they come out.

This week, we take a look back at the first season of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, including the news that Sam Wilson will be wielding the shield in Captain America 4 and trying to make sense of some of the season’s more chaotic plotting decisions.

Filed under: Podcasts!, Television | Tagged: a marvelous escape, captain america, captain america 4, jack packard, kc nwosu, marvel, Marvel Studios, sam wilson, the falcon and the winter soldier | Leave a comment »

233. Relatos salvajes (Wild Tales) (#178)

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Áine O’Connor, 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.

So this week, Damián Szifron’s Relatos salvajes.

Six stories from modern day Argentina explore themes of violence and revenge, of anger and aggression, and of what happens when people stop behaving in the way that society expects them to and start indulging their wilder impulses.

At time of recording, it was ranked 178th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.