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421. Snow White – Ani-May 2025 (#—)

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Luke Dunne and Ciara Moloney, 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, Mark Webb’s Snow White.

In a magical kingdom, an evil queen plots the murder of a beautiful young princess, who is forced to flee into the woods and find shelter with the most unlikely of allies.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The Bottom 100, This Just In | Tagged: 2025, adaptation, agency, audience expectations, celebrity PR, characterizations, Christopher Nolan, ciara moloney, cinema, conspiracy theories, creative collaboration, cultural implications, cultural significance, disney, evil queen, female agency, film artistry, film critic, human experiences, imdb, Irish diaspora, luke dunne, mark webb, Mary McDonough, PhD completion, podcast, polarizing reactions, production history, Rachel Ziegler, representation, snow white, social issues, socio-political dynamics, storytelling, The 250, The 250 podcast, themes, tom cruise, traditional characters | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: Wish World (Review)

Posted on May 24, 2025 by Darren

“We’re going to bring down God. Are you with us?”

In many ways, Wish World feels like a thesis statement for Davies’ return to Doctor Who.

It is a story that is, very overtly, about the power of stories and narratives to warp reality. It is a story about the violence that comes from attempts to impose restrictive and suffocating conformist narratives upon people, and how media can bend reality to a point that doubt can cause the world itself to literally crack open. Davies’ return to Doctor Who has been fascinated by the porous nature of reality and the power of television as a medium, and all of that comes crashing to a head with Wish World.

A delightful John-ty adventure.

Wish World is very obviously setting up The Reality War, the big blockbuster-sized finale that will be the first episode of Doctor Who to premiere on BBC One since The Giggle, allowing for the Christmas Specials The Church on Ruby Road and Joy to the World. A significant portion of the episode amounts to pieces being moved around the board so that they can deliver in the season finale, to the point that the Rani herself has to acknowledge that the final act of the episode is largely “exposition.” It is always difficult to discuss the first part of a two-part episode in isolation, and that is especially true of a the first part of a season finale.

However, Wish World works largely on its own terms, crystalising the ideas that have been simmering across these twenty episodes since The Star Beast, articulating themes that are clearly weighing on Davies’ mind.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: communication, conspiracy theories, continuity, doctor who, ideas, narratives, power, pronatalism, Rani, reactionary, reality, russell t. davies, story, Television, the internet, the rani, wish world | 1 Comment »

Doctor Who: Lucky Day (Review)

Posted on May 3, 2025 by Darren

“At least your special effects are improving.”

To be fair, a pretty solid run had to end at some point, and a Pete McTighe script is as good a place as any.

Lucky Day is an interesting episode. It solidifies the sense of this second Davies era as its own distinct object with its own distinct rhythms and structures. Just as one might pair Space Babies and The Robot Revolution, The Devil’s Chord and Lux, or Boom and The Well, Lucky Day is very obviously designed for the same slot as 73 Yards. This is another Doctor-lite episode built around Ruby Sunday, featuring U.N.I.T., set on contemporary Earth. It even brushes against rural folk horror, invoking The Wicker Man in its discussion of English villages.

Food for thought.

However, the episode takes a sharp and ambitious turn in its second half. As with a lot of recent Doctor Who, Lucky Day is an episode engaged with the larger context of the show and its place in the popular discourse. It is obviously structured around things that matter to both Davies and McTighe. It is commendably self-aware and playful. There is, on paper, a lot to appreciate about Lucky Day.

The problem is the execution, as the episode’s themes break like waves against the actual narrative itself. Lucky Day only really makes sense as metatext, but cannot support the weight of its big ideas whether inside or outside the fictional universe. It’s an unlucky break.

Absolutely floored.

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alt-right, conspiracy theories, doctor who, fandom, media, metaphor, Online, paranoia, peter mctighe, ruby sunday, russell t. davies, skepticism, u.n.i.t., youtube | 4 Comments »

353. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers – All-o’-Ween (#—)

Posted on November 11, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Joey Keogh, 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 year, we are running a season looking at the films in the Halloween franchise. So this week, Joe Chappelle’s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.

It has been years since Michael Myers mysteriously disappeared from police custody with his niece, Jamie Lloyd. In that time, both have found themselves in the custody of a mysterious cult. When Jamie escapes with her newborn son, Michael is unleashed as well. Haddenfield is unprepared for the madness coming towards it. The town’s fate lies in the hands of Michael’s psychologist Samuel Loomis, Loomis’ superior Terrence Wynn and one of Michael’s survivors, Tommy Doyle.

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: all-o-ween, conspiracy theories, cult of thorn, donald pleasance, end of history, horror, imdb, joey keogh, luke dunne, michael myers, mitchell ryan, Movies, nineties, paul rudd, podcast, slasher, The 250 | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On What Makes “Yellowjackets” the Buzziest Show of the Moment…

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. The first season of Yellowjackets wrapped up this week, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a look at what has become the buzziest show on television.

Yellowjackets has a premise very similar to Lost, featuring a time-shifted narrative following a bunch of plane-crash survivors trapped in the wilderness as potentially supernatural events unfold around them. However, Yellowjackets follows the survivors after their return to civilisation rather than before the crash. Yellowjackets is essentially a paranoid survival horror, and one that resonates with these divided and chaotic times. It’s a show about the horrors of what happens when civilisation collapses and when people turn to monstrous belief in sheer desperation, but also about what it’s like to live with that.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: belief, conspiracy theories, escapist, fear, horror, in the frame, paranoia, qanon, survival horror, yellowjackest | Leave a comment »

269. Smolensk (-#35)

Posted on January 16, 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.

So this week, Antoni Krauze’s Smolensk.

After a horrific plane accident wipes out a significant portion of the Polish political class, people begin to question the official narrative. Nina is a journalist who initially sets out to confirm the official story, but who begins to spot gaps and lacunas, all of which point to something a little more sinister.

At time of recording, it was ranked 35th 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: antoni krauze, conspiracy theories, Movie, Poland, qanon, Smolensk, The 250, The Bottom 100 | Leave a comment »

209. Shutter Island – Summer of Scorsese (#156)

Posted on November 21, 2020 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Jay Coyle and Darren Mooney, with special guest Kurt North, 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, continuing our Summer of Scorsese season, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island.

Martin Scorsese is one of the defining directors in American cinema, with a host of massively successful (and cult) hits that have shaped and defined cinema across generations: Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, Boxcar Bertha, Cape Fear, Casino, The Aviator, The Departed, Silence. The Summer of Scorsese season offers a trip through his filmography via the IMDb‘s 250.

Federal Marshall Teddy Daniels makes a trip across Boston Harbour to visit the psychiatric institution on Shutter Island, investigating the mysterious disappearance of one of the patients. However, as Teddy probes deeper and deeper into the workings of the facility, it becomes very clear that things are not as they appear.

At time of recording, it was ranked 156th on the Internet Movie Database‘s list of the best movies of all-time.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: b-movie, ben kingsley, boston, conspiracy theories, dream, Inception, insanity, jason coyle, jay coyle, kurt north, Leonardo diCaprio, madness, mark ruffalo, martin scorsese, Movie, nightmare, nostalgia, reality, Shutter Island, the holocaust | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast – Season 5, Episode 3 (“Unusual Suspects”)

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Darren

Think of it as a prequel podcast for a prequel episode. Before I recorded the podcasts for Redux I and Redux II, I actually joined Sarah Blair on The X-Cast to discuss Unusual Suspects. Appropriately enough, given the episode’s production history, it was the first fifth season podcast that I recorded.

Unusual Suspects is one of my low-key favourite episodes of The X-Files. Gun to my head, whether pressed by a lone gunman or not, it is one of the most underrated episodes in the show’s entire eleven-season run. Notably, it is the only time (barring collaborations on Memento Mori or Emily) that Vince Gilligan takes a proper shot at writing a conspiracy or mythology episode. As such, he gets a chance to put his mark on some of the most coveted toys in The X-Files toy chest. The results are suitably Gilliganian, a story about little men and uncontrollable chaos stemming from the law of unintended consequence.

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

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Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: conspiracy theories, Lone Gunmen, sarah blair, the lone gunmen, the x-cast, the x-files, vince gilligan | Leave a comment »

“This Was Supposed to Be a Spiritual Experience”: The Mid-Nineties Ennui of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation”…

Posted on June 25, 2019 by Darren

This Saturday, I’ll be discussing Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation on The 250, the weekly podcast that I co-host discussing the IMDb’s Top 250 Movies of All-Time. However, I had some thoughts on the film that I wanted to jot down first.

I’ve never been able to watch it with any kind of perspective. To me it just looks like some crude backyard movie a bunch of kids slapped together. There seems to me to be, on one hand, a group of people who were strictly horror fans who venerated it. Only over time has it come to occupy a very peculiar position, and I still don’t have any concept of what that is. I think we just wanted to hang a bunch of people on meat hooks, chop ’em up, and sell tickets at the theatre.

– Kim Henkel discusses The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation is a very nineties film, speaking to a very unique set of nineties anxieties.

There is something very revealing and candid about certain kinds of bad movies. Of course, many bad movies are just bad, hacky executions of well-worn concepts without any insight or skill to anchor them. However, there are some bad movies that seem driven by a strange source of passion and energy, which makes them bizarre snapshots of a particular time and place. It is almost a sort of candour, an unguarded bluntness, that allows them to articulate their perspective without any of the consideration or care of a better film.

The Next Generation is one of those films. It is, to be entirely clear, a terrible film. It is sloppily constructed. It is terribly framed. It is incoherently plotted. Its characters are drawn in the crudest of terms. Most damningly, it combines two particularly awful subgenres of the “bad movie” archetype. It is both a horror movie that is not scary and a black comedy that is not funny. It is, by all accounts, a disaster. Watching the film, the question isn’t how the release was delayed for three years. Instead, the question becomes how the film was ever released at all.

However, whether in spite of because of all of this, The Next Generation feels like a weird snapshot of a particular mid-nineties mood. Somehow, while groping around in the darkness, it accidentally puts its finger on the pulse.

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Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: anxieties, conspiracy theories, ennui, fears, feminism, gender roles, globalisation, kim henkel, masculinity, nineties, performativity, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, texas chainsaw massacre: the next generation | Leave a comment »

125. V for Vendetta (#153)

Posted on April 6, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, 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, James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta.

Accosted by “finger men” for breaking curfew, Evey Hammond is rescued by a mysterious stranger who only introduces himself as “V.” As Evey finds herself drawn deeper into the world of this violent vaudevillian figure and as she discovers more and more of his plot to topple the country’s totalitarian regime, Evey finds herself wonder whether this masked figure is a vigilante or villain.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 153rd best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.