Posted on March 3, 2023 by Darren
I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the premiere of the third season of The Mandalorian this week, it seemed as good a time as any to consider the long-delayed return of Disney+’s flagship streaming show.
After nearly three years off the screen, The Mandalorian returns with three very different objectives: to reassure viewers that it is still the same show, to fill in viewers on how much has changed since The Book of Boba Fett and to set up a new status quo and a new over-arching plot. It’s a fairly ambitious piece of television, just in terms of logistics, both rebooting the show and also attempting to maintain a strong sense of internal continuity. It doesn’t entirely work, but it also works better than it should.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Television | Tagged: disney, jon favreau, star wars, streaming, structure, the mandolorian, writing | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 10, 2023 by Darren
I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Disney+, it seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the movie with spoilers, given that now everybody who might want to see the movie has had the chance to see it.
Even though it was a foregone conclusion, the identity of the new Black Panther was treated as something of a spoiler in certain fandom circles. Still, four months after the movie’s release, it seems fair to concede that the film made the worst possible choice. Shuri was the logical choice to assume the role based on comic book continuity, but she has the least compelling arc of any of the major characters in the superhero sequel. Wakanda Forever would be a much stronger movie if it made a bolder choice.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: antivax, Black Panther, controversy, disney, franchise, legacy, legacy character, letitia wright, scandal, shuri, wakanda forever | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 14, 2023 by Darren
I am doing weekly reviews of Willow at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Wednesday evening while the show is on, looking at the legacy sequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.
With its season finale, Willow revealed that it was basically the statistical mean of Disney’s streaming shows built around existing intellectual property, even more than their Marvel of Star Wars shows. At various points in the season, Willow felt more like a checklist of familiar narrative beats than it did a cohesive story, and that was particularly true of the season finale, with its non-deaths ands its beams of multi-colour energy.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Television | Tagged: disney, finale, Season finale, streaming, streaming shows, willow | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 4, 2023 by Darren
I published a new piece at The Escapist last week. With the release of the second season of The Bad Batch, it seemed like a good opportunity to review the series.
The Bad Batch is an interesting series. It is essentially a spin-off from The Clone Wars, but one that rejects the anthology nature of that show for a fixed central cast and a linear series of episodic adventures. This is somewhat frustrating, as it strips the most compelling part of The Clone Wars in favour of a generic riff on The A-Team or Kung Fu. Still, when the show gets out of its own way, The Bad Batch is a surprisingly compelling and thoughtful addition to the Star Wars universe, a meditation on what happens to soldiers at the end of a Forever War.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Television | Tagged: clone wars, disney, escapist, star wars, streaming, Television, the bad batch, the escapist | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 11, 2022 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, we’re continuing a seasonal tradition of talking about Star Wars movies: Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Growing up on the rough streets of Corellia, young and reckless orphan Han learned the hard way that he has to fend for himself. Escaping to a life in the Imperial Navy, Han stumbles into a daring heist. Joining a team of galactic outlaws, the young man finally finds his place in the universe. Crossing paths with new friends and old lovers, the dashing young rogue finds himself on course to become the man that he must be.
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: brand, christopher miller, Content, disney, franchise phil lord, kathleen kennedy, Lucasfilm, luke dunne, management, reshoots, ron howard, solo, star wars, The 250 | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 3, 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 finishing up a season focusing on the work of one particular director: Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland: A World Beyond.
As a young boy, Frank Walker discovered a secret society of geniuses who lived apart from the rest of the world in the hopes of creating a better tomorrow. However, Frank was soon cast out, and found himself increasingly disillusioned with the future. At the same time, a young woman named Casey Newton finds herself drawn back into this web of secrets and possibilities. Can Frank and Casey save the world? And Tomorrowland?
At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Continue reading →
Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: athena, ayn rand, bird watching, Brad Bird, colin trevorrow, damon lindelof, deirdre molumby, disney, future, george clooney, graham day, hope, hugh laurie, intellectual property, jj abrams, nostalgia, objectivism, optimism, original, podcast, star wars, The 250, theme park, utopianism | Leave a comment »
Posted on December 1, 2022 by Darren
I published a new piece at The Escapist over the weekend. With Andor winding down its first season, it seemed like as good an opportunity to take a look at what Disney could and should learn from the best of their franchise streaming show.
While there is some suggestion that Andor might be less popular on initial release than other Star Wars streaming shows like The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett, there is some sense that Disney recognises that they have created something very special and unique. So what is it that makes Andor so compelling? More than that, what can Disney do to capitalise on that success and replicate it?
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Television | Tagged: andor, artistry, auteur, creativity, disney, franchise, freedom, streaming, the last jedi, Tony Gilroy | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 30, 2022 by Darren
I published a new piece at The Irish Independent this evening. With the release of Willow on Disney+ this week, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at what the show means for the Disney brand, and why it is so important to the company going forward.
The past couple of decades have seen an explosion in fantasy film and television: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones. However, studios have quickly discovered that audiences aren’t necessarily enthusiastically engaged with fantasy, struggling to connect with the genres. Studios like Disney have invested millions trying to tap into that audience, with numerous high-profile failures. Willow represents the latest attempt by Disney to craft a live action fantasy universe with a built-in fanbase, and the company is using the same playbook that it did with Star Wars.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: audiences, disney, fantasy, films, george lucas, harry potter, independent, irish independent, lord of the rings, Movies, streaming, willow | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 29, 2022 by Darren
I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist yesterday. With the release of Strange World, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at the latest animated film from Disney.
Many of the more recent high-profile Disney animated films have been anchored in the brand’s “princess” iconography, feeling like extensions of classics like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Part of what is interesting about Strange World is that it is a movie rooted in another, rather under-explored, chapter in the history of Disney’s animated filmmaking. Strange World is best understood as an extension of the wave of oft-forgotten “Adventureland” movies of the turn of the millennium, those movies aimed more overtly at boys, like Tarzan, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet.
You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: adventure, adventureland, atlantis: the lost empire, disney, escapist, in the frame, strange worlds, tarzan, the escapist, treasure planet | Leave a comment »
Posted on November 19, 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 Ratatouille.
Remi is a French rat with a taste for the finer things, quite literally. Remi longs to be a chef. When circumstances bring the young rat to Paris, and into the kitchen of a legendary restaurant, Remi is given the chance of a lifetime to seize his dream. He just needs to grab it by the hair and pull hard.
At time of recording, it was ranked 219th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Continue reading →
Filed under: Movies, The 250 | Tagged: animation, art, Bob Iger, Brad Bird, Brian Dennehy, chefs, creativity, disney, france, janeane garofalo, market, Michael Eisner, objectivism, paris, Patton Oswalt, pixar, proust, Ratatouille, rats, sexism, Steve Jobs, voltaire | Leave a comment »
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