the m0vie blog

New Podcast! The Escapist Movie Podcast – “Why Ruin a Cap on a Perfectly Good Tenure?”

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a movie podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard and Will Cruz for the third episode of the year. We talked about the announced Wonka prequel film from Warner Bros., the rumours that Chris Evans might return to the Captain America role, and the difference in watching in a pandemic.

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

Filed under: Podcasts! | Tagged: captain america, chris evans, jack packard, mcu, mortal kombat, streaming, the escapist, the escapist movie podcast, will cruz, wonka | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! Diving Deep on “WandaVision” with “A Marvelous Escape”…

Posted on January 23, 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 WandaVision, including looking at spoilers, metatext, predictions, long games, inside jokes and the art of pacing of a serialised narrative like this.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: a marvelous escape, jack packard, kc nwosu, the escapist, Vision, wanda, wandavision | Leave a comment »

218. Warrior (#162)

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, 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, Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior.

Brendan and Tommy are two brothers that have lived very different lives, but find themselves on a collision course. Brendan is a struggling teacher who is going to lose his family home, while Tommy is a war veteran with a mysterious past who seems to need a mechanism to work through his trauma. Both men find themselves embroiled in a brutal mixed martial arts tournament with a life-changing prize fund. However, the two might need to go through one another to earn it.

At time of recording, it was ranked 162nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: gavin o'connor, imdb, Joel Edgerton, mma, nick nolte, recession, tom hardy, violence, Warrior, Working Class | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How “WandaVision” Finds the MCU Coming to (and For) Television…

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Darren

I published a new column at The Escapist last week, but didn’t get a chance to share it. With WandaVision now streaming on Disney+, it seemed like a good idea to take a look at it.

The most striking thing about WandaVision is how immersed it is in the language of television. Previous attempts to bring the MCU to television treated it as secondary to movies; Netflix shows like Daredevil or Iron Fist were treated as thirteen-hour movies, while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter lived off scraps from the films that drove the shared universe. In contrast, WandaVision is not just a thriving celebration of television as a medium, it’s also an exploration of it. This is very firmly and very definitely the MCU coming to television.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: Comics, marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, mcu, streaming, Television, wandavision | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! Launching “A Marvelous Escape” With “WandaVision”…

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Darren

The plan if for the weekly episodes to launch on Saturday, but our first episode is launching today looking at the first two episodes of WandaVision. We talk about expectations, about continuity, and about what it means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to come to television.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: escapist, jack packard, kc nwosu, Marvel Cinematic Universe, mcu, wandavision | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How “WandaVision” Plays Sitcom as Horror and Nostalgia as Nightmare…

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With WandaVision currently streaming on Disney+, it seemed like an interesting opportunity to look at the show’s use of the language of sitcoms.

In particular, sitcoms have long been a staple genre of American television. However, they don’t just reflect cultural norms, they also project an aspirational ideal. For generations of Americans, the domestic sitcom presented a vision of domestic life that shaped and informed popular consciousness. In WandaVision, those nostalgic fantasies become a trap and a waking nightmare, as characters build themselves a life of seeming domestic bliss dictated by decades of television. Wanda has built herself a cage, treating television as a mirror.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: american television, domesticity, escapist, in the frame, mcu, reality, sitcoms, Television, wandavision | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On How “Star Wars” Killing the Adult-Skewing Christmas Blockbuster….

Posted on January 21, 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 the 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 is a slightly older one, one that was prepared for both Christmas and for the fifth anniversary of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. I looked at one of the film’s most understated and under-explored legacies: the way in which the arrival of The Force Awakens killed one of the few spaces in the calendar where the adult-skewing blockbuster could thrive and prosper.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: christmas, in the frame, star wars, the force awakens | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On Power Without Responsibility in the MCU…

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With WandaVision launching this weekend and with reports that Chris Evans would be returning to the role of Steve Rogers, it seemed like a good time to take a look back at Captain America: Civil War as the point at which the MCU embraced the idea of power without responsibility.

Superhero stories are often about power and responsibility. However, one of the most striking aspects of the MCU has been its recurring embrace of the idea that power should come without any responsibility. Civil War is supposed to be a story about consequences, but instead becomes a story about characters desperately evading consequences, and asking the audience to cheer for them as they do. There’s something hollow and empty in that, and it’s arguably a rot at the root of the MCU.

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

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: captain america, captain america: civil war, Civil War, consequences, continuity, in the frame, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How Netflix Failed the Punisher…

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist yesterday. With WandaVision launching this weekend, it seemed like a good time to take a look back at Marvel’s first foray into streaming, their Netflix series.

The Punisher was the last entry into the shared Netflix Marvel Universe, starring Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle. However, what’s interesting about The Punisher on Netflix is the extent to which the series is reluctant to let Frank Castle… be Frank Castle, to wallow in what makes the Punisher such a challenging and unsettled character. In contrast, the series reframes Frank as a much mroe generic streaming hero, stripping out anything that makes the character particularly compelling or engaging.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: escapist, Jon Bernthal, netflix, the punisher, wandavision | Leave a comment »

217. Sherlock Jr. (#198)

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Andrew Max Tohline, 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, Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr.

In a small town, a movie projectionist (and janitor) falls in love with a beautiful woman. He dreams of ways in which he might win her love, turning to detective fiction and the silver screen for inspiration. However, sometimes the boundaries between reality and fantasy are more porous than they might appear.

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