comedy | the m0vie blog

387. Chucky: Season 1 (#—)

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney, Charlene Lydon and Bren Murphy, 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, the first season of Don Mancini’s Chucky.

Jake Wheeler finds a retro doll at a lawn sale. Looking for materials for his art project, Jake takes it home. Little does Jake realise that he has invited true evil into his home. The demonic doll Chucky has a whole new generation to terrorise as he returns home to Hackensack, the home of notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray.

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

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: Brad Dourif, bren murphy, charlene lydon, chucky, comedy, Comedy horror, don mancini, fiona dourif, franchise, horror, imdb, podcast, slasher, Television, The 250, tv, tv show | Leave a comment »

384. Spaceballs (#—)

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Donal Sweeney, 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, a special commentary on Mel Brook’s Spaceballs.

A long time ago in a franchise not so far away, the evil Spaceballs travel from planet to planet, harvesting their atmospheres to sustain their own lifestyle. They kidnap Princess Vespa from the Planet Druidia, prompting her father to hire the devilish rogue Lone Star to rescue her. So begins an epic adventure about the power of Schwarz.

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: bill pullman, comedy, donal sweeney, imdb, John Candy, live commentary, Mel Brooks, mockery, podcast, rick moranis, satire, spaceballs, spoof, star wars, The 250 | Leave a comment »

368. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (#154)

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest 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, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The legendary King Arthur sets about assembling a cadre of knights, and embarks on an epic quest to claim the Holy Grail. Hilarity ensues.

At time of recording, it was ranked 154th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: anarchy, Celtic, comedy, curation, Eric Idle, history, imdb, internet, John Cleese, jokes, king arthur, legend, luke dunne, media, Michael Palin, myth, podcast, review, terry gilliam, terry jones, The 250 | Leave a comment »

329. Seed of Chucky (#—)

Posted on August 26, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Charlene Lydon, this week with special guest Jason Coyle, 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 second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This week, Don Mancini’s Seed of Chucky.

Glen, the child of demonic dolls Chucky and Tiffani, has a crisis of identity. Seeking to discover their own past, the doll longs to connect with their long lost parents. Discovering that there is a feature film adaptation of the classic doll story in the works, Glen sets out to Hollywood. What follows is a surreal family drama and a journey of self-discovery, in which a trio of killer dolls cross paths with Oscar-nominee Jennifer Tilly as they set out to paint Tinseltown red.

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: Brad Dourif, charlene lydon, chucky, comedy, don mancini, gay, glen, glen or glenda, glenda, horror, jason coyle, jennifer tilly, john waters, queer, Redman, seed of chucky, transgender | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “I Think You Should Leave” as Peak Internet Comedy…

Posted on June 7, 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. With the release of the third season of I Think You Should Leave this week, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look the show.

It is ultimately reductive to try to boil a sketch comedy show down to a single thematic idea. However, there is something fascinating in how I Think You Should Leave operates as a sketch show that isn’t just perfectly suited to internet distribution – short clips, memes, absurdist gags – but also how it feels like a show that is in some ways about the internet. Obviously, not in a literal sense, in that I Think You Should Leave is about awkward social situations. However, it captures the sense in which online spaces can truly break social interactions.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: comedy, escapist, I Think You Should Leave, internet, netflix, Online, out of focus, Sketch comedy, social media, tim robinson | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On “The Witcher: Blood Origin”, “The Rings of Power”, and the Limits of Fidelity…

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist this week. With the recent release of The Witcher: Blood Origin on Netflix and the ongoing arguments about the perceived “faithfulness” around The Rings of Power, it seemed like a good time to explore how the quality of a work relates to its alleged faithfulness.

To put it simply, quality and fidelity are completely different metrics. It is entirely possible for a fiathful adaptation of source material to be terrible, for example the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. It’s also possible for an adaptation that has nothing to do with even the tone and genre of the original property, such as 21 Jump Street, to be brilliant. Ultimately, The Witcher: Blood Origin and The Rings of Power are adaptations that fail on their own measure.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: comedy, escapist, faithfulness, fidelity, film, genre, new, Psycho, Television, the escapist, the lion king | Leave a comment »

318. The Life of Brian – Christmas 2022 (#245)

Posted on December 24, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guest Richard Newby, 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 second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This time, a Christmas treat, Terry Jones’ Life of Brian.

Brian Cohen is a young Jewish man living in Jerusalum at the same time as Jesus Christ. Desperate to impress a girl and reeling from revelations about his heritage, Brian commits to join a local revolutionary paramilitary to resist Roman rule. However, nothing is quite as simple as it may initially seem, and Brian finds himself swept up in a messianic fervour well beyond his control.

At time of recording, it was ranked 245th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: belief, comedy, controversy, Eric Idle, graham chapman, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Cleese, Michael Palin, monty python, religion, space, te life of brian, terry gilliam, terry jones, The 250 | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Rarely Going – “Star Trek: Lower Decks 3×09 – Trusted Sources”

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Darren

I was delighted to join the wonderful Kurt North for an episode of the animated Star Trek podcast, Rarely Going.

Trusted Sources is the penultimate episode of the third season of Lower Decks. It is an episode that is obviously teeing up the season finale, but it is also an episode that is engaged with the idea of continuity. Lower Decks is a show built around references to past Star Trek shows, but the third season of the show has seen Lower Decks becoming just a little more comfortable in its own skin. Trusted Sources is an episode about how these seemingly episodic adventures can build and escalate to pay off in interesting ways.

You can listen directly to the episode below or by clicking here.

Filed under: Star Trek | Tagged: breen, comedy, continuity, episodic, history, podcast, rarely going, Sitcom, star trek, star trek: lower decks, storytelling, Symbiosis, trusted sources, we made this | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Vampire Videos – “Shadow of the Vampire (2000)”

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Darren

I was thrilled to be invited to join the great Dan Owen and Hugh McStay for an episode of their new podcast, Vampire Videos.

It was a thrill to get to talk about, and revisit, Shadow of the Vampire. It was the first time I had watched the meta horror commentary in decades, so it was fascinating to return to it with new eyes and a deeper understanding of the film’s historical context. It’s a movie that ties together the history of the vampire and origins of cinema as a medium, constructing a pitch black horror comedy about the paradox of the movie camera as an instrument that both steals life and grants immortality.

You can listen directly to the episode below or by clicking here.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: comedy, Filmmaking, horror, Movies, Nosferatu, podcast, shadow of the vampire, vampire videos, willem dafoe | Leave a comment »

306. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (-#52)

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Raymond Creamer, 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, Troy Miller’s Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.

Years before they embark on a cross-country roadtrip, lovable idiots Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas strike up an unlikely friendship in high school. However, they quickly find themselves drawn into their principal’s sinister scheme to embezzle money by exploiting the school’s students to create a privately-funded special needs class.

At time of recording, it was ranked 52nd on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.