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240. The Smashing Machine (#—)

Posted on February 21, 2026 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Donal Sweeney and Andy Melhuish, 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, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine.

In the mid-to-late-nineties, Mark Kerr was the great hope of the emerging combat sport of mixed martial arts, the champion of a sport that was working its way to the centre of the culture. Unable to even conceive of defeat, Kerr was on the cusp of greatness. However, Mark very quickly discovers that sometimes the most brutal fights take place outside the ring.

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: andy melhuish, benny safdie, donal sweeney, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, imdb, mark kerr, mma, opioids, podcast, smashing machine, sports movie, structure, subversion, the rock, ufc | Leave a comment »

218. Warrior (#162)

Posted on January 23, 2021 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, Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior.

Brendan and Tommy are two brothers that have lived very different lives, but find themselves on a collision course. Brendan is a struggling teacher who is going to lose his family home, while Tommy is a war veteran with a mysterious past who seems to need a mechanism to work through his trauma. Both men find themselves embroiled in a brutal mixed martial arts tournament with a life-changing prize fund. However, the two might need to go through one another to earn it.

At time of recording, it was ranked 162nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.