ego | the m0vie blog

New Escapist Column! On How “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” Updated the “Star Wars” Template For a New Generation…

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the announcement that Will Poulter has been cast in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, it seems like a good opportunity to take a look back at Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.

The Star Wars franchise was a frequent point of comparisons in discussions of the original Guardians of the Galaxy. However, it’s arguably the sequel that engaged most heavily with the core themes of George Lucas’ work. In particular, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 was a story about fathers and sons. However, it is notable for taking that archetypal and generation-defining story, and filtering it through a twenty-first century lens. In doing so, it was a valid companion piece to both Blade Runner 2049 and Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.

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

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: bad dad, blade runner 2049, dad stuff, ego, family, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Kurt Russell, star wars, the chosen one, the last jedi | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Last Duel

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Darren

The Last Duel is a thorny and compelling medieval epic. It’s a little rough around the edges, but that’s undeniably part of the appeal.

The Last Duel is adapted from the book of the same name by historian Eric Jager. As its title implies, the film offers an account of the last judicial duel permitted by the Parlement of Paris. That duel was fought between two noblemen: Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris. The challenge was offered over allegations that Le Gris had raped de Carrouges’ wife, Maguerite. The assumption was that divine authority would ultimately determine where the truth lay in the matter, that the victor in this mortal combat would ultimately be vindicated.

Duel narratives.

Naturally, the events that inspired The Last Duel remain contentious. Historians are not entirely sure what happened, and how much of the various accounts reflect the truth of what happened or have been shaped by the convenient narratives of the victors. The film, with a screenplay from Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, leans into this ambiguity. The film is structured similarly to Akira Kurosawa’s Roshomon, outlining three separate accounts of the events leading up to the trial from the perspective of each of the key figures: Jean, Jacques and Maguerite.

The result is a film that touches on the blurred boundaries between history and narrative, and explores the way in which these sorts of stories are shaped by wounded pride and vain ego. It’s an uncomfortable and unsettling film, occasionally a little clumsy in its execution, but which grapples with big ideas.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adam driver, ben affleck, ego, film, Honour, jodie comer, masculinity, matt damon, Movie, non-review review, perspective, pride, review, ridley scott, the last duel, vanity | Leave a comment »

Star Trek: Voyager – Virtuoso (Review)

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Darren

Virtuoso is an interesting companion piece to Blink of an Eye.

Blink of an Eye was in many ways an exploration and reflection of Star Trek as a multimedia franchise, looking at the way in which the franchise has touched and shaped contemporary culture in the thirty-odd years since its inception. As part of this, the episode touched on fandom in a variety of ways, whether the abstract fandom of those individuals inspired by the series to accomplish great things or the more specific fandom including merchandise. Blink of an Eye was very much an episode about loving Star Trek.

Music to our ears.

As a result, Virtuoso feels like a very strange choice to directly follow Blink of an Eye. The two episodes are not connected by plot, outside of the basic idea that the EMH might spend an extended period of time on an alien planet without access to Voyager. After all, Star Trek: Voyager had committed itself to producing standalone episodic storytelling. However, Virtuoso is also something of a metaphor for Star Trek fandom, a look at what it is to love a piece of popular entertainment and to eagerly embrace it.

Unfortunately, the proximity to Blink of an Eye does no favours for Virtuoso, emphasising the script’s weaknesses and tone-deafness. Virtuoso is an episode that feels very pointed and cynical in its portrayal of fandom, very broad and very unpleasant. It is a clumsy and muddled piece of television, on that struggles to hit the right notes.

Small pleasures.

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Filed under: Voyager | Tagged: celebrity, culture, ego, emh, fame, fandom, internet, manufactured, Opera, popular culture, qomar, reality, robert picardo, star trek, star trek: voyager, voyager | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Phantom Thread

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Darren

Phantom Thread is certainly a beautiful film.

In many ways it resembles the dresses designed by the artist at its centre. It is elegant, well-composed, stylish. It looks perfect and has just the right texture. Phantom Thread is a meticulously-produced piece of work, with every technical aspect of the film delivered to the highest possible standard. More than that, Phantom Thread is a very clever and incisive film, one that arguably feels much more suited to this particular cultural moment than Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Tailored to the role.

However, Phantom Thread feels like one of Reynolds Woodcock’s dresses in another manner. As fantastic as it might look, it is not designed for living. There is one memorable sequence in the middle of the film where Woodcock actually confiscates the dress from a patron because it is not being treated with the pomp and ceremony that he expects. These are dresses for display, designed to leave observers breathless. It never ignites the same passion as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, never feeling as anchored in appreciable human emotion.

Phantom Thread often feels too much like strolling through Woodcock’s parlour, the audience invited to examine the sheer craft and cleverness of what is being done, but warned in the starkest possible terms not to touch anything. There is beauty, but no feeling.

Make it sew.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: artists, Daniel Day-Lewis, ego, Freud, hitchcock, masculinity, mothering, non-review review, Paul Thomas Anderson, phantom thread, review | 4 Comments »

The X-Files – Soft Light (Review)

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Darren

This August (and a little of September), we’re taking a trip back in time to review the second season of The X-Files. In November, we’ll be looking at the third season. And maybe more.

Soft Light is a bit of an oddity. It’s primarily notable for being Vince Gilligan’s first credit on The X-Files, coming a few years after the release of Wilder Napalm, a film based on his screenplay.

Gilligan, of course, would go on to become a wildly influential television writer. He would join the staff in the show’s third year and produce some of the series’ most memorable episodes. He would also manage the day-to-day running of The Lone Gunmen spin-off. Although, at the moment, Gilligan is probably best known for creating and producing Breaking Bad, which has already been ranked among the best television series ever produced.

Everything burns…

It is very tempting to look at a writer’s early work and to try to retroactively over-analyse it – to spot familiar themes and images, as if to incorporate it into a large oeuvre. That becomes a bit more complicated in television, where an early screenplay is quite likely to have been written and re-written several times before it reaches the screen. As a freelance writer submitting a script, Gilligan’s work would have been heavily reworked to make it fit within the context of The X-Files.

While there are traces of Gilligan’s later work to be found here, Soft Light is a rather awkward late-season episode, one that seems a little out of place.