Patton Oswalt | the m0vie blog

313. Ratatouille – Bird Watching 2022 (#219)

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.

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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 »

New Escapist Column! On “M.O.D.O.K” as a Breath of Fresh Air…

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist on Friday evening. With the release of M.O.D.O.K. on Hulu, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at this unusual addition to the Marvel television canon.

M.O.D.O.K. is not a perfect show, but it is a breath of fresh air. In particular, it arrives in a cultural landscape that is becoming increasingly homogeneous and consolidated, existing as one of the last projects produced by Marvel Television before it was swallowed by Marvel Studios. As such, it is a Marvel adaptation with a distinct aesthetic. More than that, it is a comic book adaptation that is completely and utterly unashamed of its comic book roots. It is a show that revels in the inherent absurdity of comic books in a way that puts many higher profile adaptations to shame.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: adaptations, comic books, continuity, in the frame, m.o.d.o.k, Marvel Studios, mcu, modok, Patton Oswalt, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “A Marvelous Escape” – “M.O.D.O.K. Full Series Review”…

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Darren

With a slew of Marvel Studios productions coming to Disney+ over the next six months, The Escapist has launched a weekly show discussing these series

This week, in the gap between The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki, KC Nwosu and I take a look at a rather unconventional entry in the Marvel television canon: M.O.D.O.K., the half-hour sitcom from Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum about the maniacal supervillain trying to strike a work/life balance.

Filed under: Television | Tagged: comedy, jordan blum, loki, m.o.d.o.k, marvel, marvel comics, Marvel Studios, modok, Patton Oswalt, Sitcom, Television | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Young Adult

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Darren

Young Adult is a good film, even if it falls short of greatness. It has a wonderfully engaging premise, and a set of truly wonderful leading performances from Patton Oswalt and Charlize Theron. It is also, for most of its runtime, a very compelling and brave examination of a very flawed protagonist. For the first two-thirds of the film, it invites us to follow a truly loathsome lead character, one with very few redeeming features. Unfortunately, this rather gutsy set-up is undermined by a fairly shallow attempt to justify and rationalise her flaws in the movie’s third act.

Homecoming queen?

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Buddy, charlize theron, Elizabeth Reaser, film, Mavis, Movie, non-review review, patrick wilson, Patton Oswalt, review, Theron, Young Adult | 5 Comments »

Brad Meltzer’s Run on Justice League – The Lightning Saga (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Darren

This January, I’m going to take a look at some of DC’s biggest “events.” This week I’ll be taking a look at Brad Meltzer’s impact on the DC universe. This is a crossover with Geoff Johns’ second run on Justice Society of America.

I can’t help but feel like having Brad Meltzer write this Justice League was a huge waste of what could have been a very impressive run. After all, Meltzer is a big novelist, and turning his attention to DC was a big deal at the time. More than that, though, it seemed like a move that could have pushed the Justice League very much to the fore. Imagine a team of DC’s most iconic properties, helmed by a respected and successful author, and sold outside of comic book stores. Imagine the trade paperback possibilities – I imagine there’s potential to get a Brad Meltzer Justice League book into the hands of somebody who has never read comic books before, and that’s got to be a win. Indeed, the book seems to acknowledge that by advertising a foreword by Patton Oswalt on the front page – it screams “mainstream! mainstream!” Unfortunately, though, it’s the only aspect of this crossover that does, leaving me with only a faint taste of what might have been. It’s not that it’s bad – it’s that it could have been so much better.