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287. Top Gun: Maverick – This Just In (#50)

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Luke Dunne and Joe Griffin, 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, Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick.

More than thirty years after graduating, top naval figther pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is summoned back to Top Gun. His assignment is to train a new generation of hotshot fighter pilots for a seemingly impossible mission. However, Maverick quickly discovers that what is past isn’t ever truly past.

At time of recording, it was ranked 50th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: box office, cinema, glen powell, joe griffin, luke dunne, Miles Teller, movie stardom, movie stars, podcast, Scientology, spectacle, The 250, This Just In, tom cruise, top gun | Leave a comment »

256. Breach (Anti-Life) (-#69)

Posted on October 16, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Joe Griffin, 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, John Suits’ Breach.

Earth is dying. Mankind’s last hope lies in the stars. On board one of the last colony ships ferrying the handful of survivors to their new world, something inhuman is stirring. The vessel’s maintenance crew find themselves in a battle against an alien entity, with the fate of mankind in the balance.

At time of recording, it was ranked 69th 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: action, advertisements, alien, anti-life, breach, bruce willis, celebrity, decline, Direct-to-video, fame, john suits, movie stars, science fiction, stardom, studio, system, the thing | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On Young Adult Movies Operating Under Star Power…

Posted on April 29, 2021 by Darren

I published a new column at The Escapist earlier in the week. With the release of Shadow and Bone on Netflix last week, it seemed a good opportunity to take a look at the state of the young adult in modern Hollywood. in particular, the ways in which the genre is dependent on an ineffable star quality.

The young adult boom really kicked off with the Harry Potter series. However, not all the adaptations that followed succeeded. Looking back over the various attempts to tap into that market, it becomes clear that the series that triumphed tended to share one key factor: lead performers who had genuine movie star charisma and energy.

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

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: harry potter, movie stars, netflix, shadow and bone, star power, sun summoner, the hunger games, twilight, Young Adult | Leave a comment »

157. Ford v. Ferrari (Le Mans ’66) – This Just In (#156)

Posted on November 26, 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 Mangold’s Ford v. Ferrari.

In response to the worst sales slump in American history, the Ford Motor Company embraces a radical idea: it will build a car to beat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, in order to do that, it needs to recruit and work with two radicals who have their own unique approach to engineering and racing, Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles. These two mavericks soon discover that their allies in Ford might be as dangerous as their enemies at Ferrari.

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: This Just In | Tagged: auteurship, awards fare, cars, christian bale, dad movies, Ford, ford v. ferrari, henry ford ii, James Mangold, matt damon, movie stars, netflix, racing, studios | Leave a comment »

Elizabeth Taylor, RIP

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Darren

I’m still not sure what to write about the passing of Elizabeth Taylor. Obviously I know who she is, and obviously I’m familiar with her incredible collection of work. She was an icon, one of the stars which defined the period of Hollywood which ran from the forties into the seventies. I’ve seen Cleopatra. I’ve seen Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? I have yet to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but it comes recommended. And yet, as I write this, I feel quite uncertain. Unlike most of the people who will discuss Taylor’s contributions to cinema, I am too young to remember all the classics. I have never seen any of them in a cinema. Elizabeth Taylor was never really a movie-star to me, she was an icon.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: actors, Elizabeth Taylor, films, hollywood, Mark Dolan, movie stars | Leave a comment »

Twilight of the Stars?

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Darren

I’ve been thinking a bit of late about movie stars. Are we reaching the end of the star-driven era of Hollywood stars? What got me thinking about it was the news of Tony Scott’s upcoming Unstoppable – a movie about a runaway train starring Denzel Washington, who has been one of Scott’s most consistent collaborators in the past. I loved Denzel Washington – and I loved Crimson Tide and, to a lesser extent, Man on Fire. And yet, I have absolutely no urge to see the film. It isn’t a “must see” simply because of the talent or skill involved. And, being honest, I don’t think I’m alone. There would have been a time years ago when a name on a marque would have marked a film as “must see”. I am beginning to suspect that the era of “star power” might be slowly passing.