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New Escapist Column! On Colin Farrell and the Shifting Definition of Movie Stardom…

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Darren

We’re launching a new column at The Escapist, called Out of Focus. It will publish every Wednesday, and the plan is to use it to look at some film and television that would maybe fall outside the remit of In the Frame, more marginal titles or objects of cult interest. This week, we took a look at the fascinating career of Colin Farrell.

Farrell is in many ways the perfect encapsulation of an interesting trend in post-movie-star Hollywood: a character actor trapped in a leading man’s body. Farrell is an incredibly handsome and charismatic performer, but he seems particularly liberated in smaller projects and stranger roles. He tends towards larger performances and physical transformation, often playing with and subverting his movie star presence to do something more interesting. Farrell is one of the finest examples of a larger movement in modern Hollywood that includes actors as diverse as Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth and James Franco.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: celebrity, character actor, colin farrell, column, culture, movie star, out of focus, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How Henry Cavill Became the Internet’s Fave…

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist over the weekend. With the recent reaction to the news that Henry Cavill was no longer the DCEU’s Superman, there was public outpouring support for the actor. This is interesting, particularly given the contested nature of those films among online fandom.

It’s an interesting thing to contemplate, how Cavill has cultivated such popularity, despite never really breaking out as an actor. People seem to genuinely and unequivocally love Cavill, and the news of his departure generate a very public display of sympathy that is not always extended to creative talent in that position. So why does the internet love Henry Cavill? What is about Cavill that makes him more deserving of empathy than many of his colleagues and collaborators?

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: celebrity, compassion, empathy, Henry Cavill, internet, superman, sympathy, 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.

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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 »

301. Cool Hand Luke (#234)

Posted on August 20, 2022 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.

This week, Stuart Rosenberg’s Cool Hand Luke.

Lucas Jackson is a petty criminal assigned a two year sentence to a chain gang in Florida. All he needs to do is to keep his head down and his nose clean, and he’ll be back out in society in no time. However, Luke is unable and unwilling to do that. Luke bristles against the camp’s authority, and finds himself locked in a battle of wills against those in charge.

At time of recording, it was ranked 234th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: anti-authoritarian, brutality, celebrity, cool hand luke, counter-culture, culture, jewish, Paul Newman, prison, rebellion, sixties, Slavery, stuart rosenberg | Leave a comment »

299. Going Overboard (-#16)

Posted on August 13, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this time with special guests Jess Dunne and Luke Dunne, 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, Valerie Breiman’s Going Overboard.

Shecky Moskowitz is a cruise ship waiter who dreams of being a stand-up comedian. However, he finds himself at odds with the ship’s resident comedian, Dickie Diamond. Shecky’s comedic ambitions become decidedly more complicated thanks to a series of overlapping plots involving rock band Yellow Teeth and General Noriega.

At time of recording, it was ranked 16th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: adam sandler, amateur, babes ahoy!, billy bob thornton, Billy Zane, celebrity, comedy, funny, going overboard, imdb, insult comedy, jess dunne, luke dunne, milton berle, podcast, stardom, The 250, the breakout role, the breakout role podcast, video | Leave a comment »

256. Breach (Anti-Life) (-#69)

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Joe Griffin, 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, John Suits’ Breach.

Earth is dying. Mankind’s last hope lies in the stars. On board one of the last colony ships ferrying the handful of survivors to their new world, something inhuman is stirring. The vessel’s maintenance crew find themselves in a battle against an alien entity, with the fate of mankind in the balance.

At time of recording, it was ranked 69th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: action, advertisements, alien, anti-life, breach, bruce willis, celebrity, decline, Direct-to-video, fame, john suits, movie stars, science fiction, stardom, studio, system, the thing | Leave a comment »

254. All About Eve (#134)

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guests Donald Clarke and John Maguire, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.

This time, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve.

Late one evening, after a performance of Aged in Wood, Karen Richards find young Eve Harrington waiting outside the stage door. Taking pity on the young girl, Karen invites Eve backstage to meet her idol, the actor Margo Channing. Even very quickly insinuates herself into Margo’s life and it becomes clear that the young woman has ambitions that extend beyond mere fandom.

At time of recording, it was ranked 134th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: acting, all about eve, betty davies, celebrity, cinema, Citizen Kane, Cold War, donald clarke, fame, fandom, feminism, hollywood, homophobia, john maguire, mank, mankiewicz, marilyn monroe, paranoia, replacement, Theatre | Leave a comment »

244. Swept Away (-#100)

Posted on July 24, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Jenn Gannon, The Bottom 100 is a subset of The 250. It is a journey through the worst 100 movies of all-time, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Guy Ritchie’s Swept Away.

Amber Leighton is a spoiled socialite who insists on turning a Mediterranean holiday into a nightmare for everybody she encounters. This includes deckhand Giuseppe Esposito, a working class man with a very different view of the world. Circumstances conspire to maroon Amber and Guiseppe alone together on a remote tropic island, forcing them to renegotiate their relationship.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 100th worst movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: bmw films, box office bomb, celebrity, drowned world, film, guy ritchie, jenn gannon, larry king, madonna, Misogyny, music, swept way, The 250, The Bottom 100, what it feels like for a girl | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On Tom Cruise as a Movie Star Defying Gravity…

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at Escapist Magazine this evening. Given that he just announced plans to shoot a movie in outer space, it seemed like a good time to discuss Tom Cruise.

Cruise is a fascinating movie star. He’s one of the rare movie stars who has managed to remain a movie star for over three decades, at a time when movie stardom increasingly seems like an outdated concept. It’s interesting to look at how Cruise has navigated this shift, by essentially exerting enough gravity to bend established intellectual property towards him. There is no boundary between Ethan Hunt and Tom Cruise, whether Hunt is dangling out of an airplane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation or atoning for a failed marriage in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

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

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: celebrity, fallout, mission: impossible, movie stardom, rogue nation, tom cruise | Leave a comment »

173. I Know Who Killed Me (-#75)

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with guest Cian Sullivan from the Selected and Sissy That Pod, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Chris Sivertson‘s I Know Who Killed Me.

Aubrey Fleming is a talented student, piano player and writer from the upper class surroundings of New Salem. She has lived a sheltered life, but this changes dramatically as a serial killer stalks the community. Disappearing after a football game, Aubrey is found dismembered but alive in a ditch. Rushed to hospital, she eventually regains consciousness. There’s just one complication. She claims to be Dakota, a stripper who has lived a much crueler life than Aubrey ever knew.

At time of recording, it was ranked 75th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.