the m0vie blog

New Escapist Video! “A Marvelous Escape” – Falcon and the Winter Soldier – “Power Broker” Discussion…

Posted on April 4, 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 at the third episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which I really liked. It’s an interesting and clever reworking of certain flawed elements of both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.

Filed under: Podcasts!, Television | Tagged: a marvellous escape, Baron Zemo, captain america: civil war, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel Cinematic Universe, power broker, the falcon and the winter soldier | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How the MonsterVerse Has Forsaken Awe and Wonder…

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist yesterday. With the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, it seemed like a good opportunity to look at the film in the context of the larger MonsterVerse – in particular, Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Godzilla vs. Kong is pure spectacle. The film features a host of impressive and showstopping sequences, including two major bouts between the title characters. However, there is something missing in all of this carnage. Like King of the Monsters before it, and like a lot of other modern blockbusters, there’s a curious lack of awe and wonder to the spectacle on display.

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

A smashing success?

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: awe, Godzilla, godzilla vs. kong, gojira, in the frame, jurassic park, king kong, monsters, monsterverse, Movie, steven spielberg, the escapist, wonder | Leave a comment »

228. Interstellar (#29)

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Andy Hazel, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

Cooper is a former astronaut who has resigned himself to life on a farm, raising his two children Tom and Murph. However, when the fates align to send Cooper back out into space, he finds himself faced with the terrible choice to leave his kids behind with no idea of when – or even if – he might return.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 29th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: andy hazel, anne hathaway, belief, Christopher Nolan, Emotion, faith, family, feminism, god, hope, interstellar, Jessica Chastain, Matthew McConaughey, podcast, religion, science fiction, stanley kubrick, TENET, The 250, time | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Escapist Movie Podcast – “Sound of Metal and the Oscars”

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a movie podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard for the tenth episode of the year, with a special guest Stacy Grouden, to talk about Sound of Metal and The Empty Man.

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

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: jack packard, Oscars, riz ahmed, sound of metal, stacy grouden, the empty man, the escapist, the escapist movie podcast | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Godzilla vs. Kong – Review in 3 Minutes”

Posted on April 1, 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 feature film review to the channel, discussing Godzilla vs. Kong.

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: escapist, godzilla vs. kong, the escapist | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Godzilla vs. Kong

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Darren

Godzilla vs. Kong is in some ways an anticlimax, and not just because it’s arriving on HBO Max rather than as a cinematic blockbuster.

Clocking in at under two hours, Godzilla vs. Kong is technically the shortest entry in the Warner Brothers “Monsterverse” series. It comes in a few minutes shy of Kong: Skull Island and well short of both Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. This is strange, given that Godzilla vs. Kong is nominally supposed to be the triumphant climax of this shared universe, the event towards which everything has been building. It’s strange that this clash of titans should up feeling so small.

That sinking feeling.

To be fair, there is a strong sense of an attempted course correction about Godzilla vs. Kong, especially in response to the overcrowded cacophony of King of the Monsters. In many ways, Godzilla vs. Kong is a smaller and more contained movie than King of the Monsters, notably hinging on three core monsters rather than an entire menagerie. It’s also to the credit of director Adam Wingard that Godzilla vs. Kong is a tighter, more contained and more focused film with a greater sense of internal coherence.

Unfortunately, though, there’s very littler surprise or wonder to be found in this titanic throwdown.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: awe, film, Godzilla, godzilla vs. kong, king kong, monsterverse, Movie, non-review review, review, wonder | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On “Justice League” and the Triumph of Art Over Content…

Posted on March 29, 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 release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look back at the theatrical release of Justice League. In particular, the differences between the two cuts and the way in which the theatrical cut was a cynical plot to erase any distinct identity from the film and reduce it to empty superhero “content.”

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: art, Content, film, in the frame, justice league, Movie, Television, the escapist, zack snyder's justice league | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “Invincible” and the Future of Superheroic Storytelling

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of the first three episodes of Invincible on Amazon Prime on Friday, I thought it was worth taking a look at what the new show means.

Invincible makes a big step forward for Amazon. As Warners and Disney continue consolidating their superhero content under their established brands, other studios are going to have to find ways to compete in the superhero content wars. Invincible is a fascinating testcase: a lavish adult-skewing hour-long animated series that aims to deliver superhero spectacle with a character largely unknown to the larger public. If the chow can make an impact, it bodes well for studios without their in-house intellectual property farms.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Amazon, comic books, escapist, in the frame, invincible, the escapist | Leave a comment »

227. A Clockwork Orange (#104)

Posted on March 27, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Aoife Martin, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

Alex is a teenager growing up in a dystopian Britain with a taste for “the old ultraviolence.” However, when things go very wrong for the young delinquent, he finds himself offered an unlikely opportunity for redemption. He just has to volunteer for a highly controversial new therapy.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 104th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: a clockwork orange, aoife martin, censorship, controversy, Malcolm McDowell, nadsat, stanley kubrick, The 250, ultraviolence, violence, Warner Brothers | 3 Comments »

New Escapist Column! On Zack Snyder’s DCEU as a Joyride Through Comic Book History…

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League last week, it seemed like a good opportunity to dig into the movie’s portrayal of Superman.

One of the more interesting aspects of Snyder’s work on Man of Steel, Batman v.s Superman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the sense in which it offers a capsule account of a certain stretch of comic book history, effectively dramatising the characters’ journey from the “dark ‘n’ gritty” comics inspired by Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns to the more aggressively and pointedly reconstructionist work of Grant Morrison on stories like Justice League or Final Crisis.

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