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223. 365 Dni (365 Days) – Valentine’s Day 2020 (-#42)

Posted on February 20, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Grace Duffy, 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, Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes’ 365 Dni.

A young sales director named Laura finds herself abducted by a Sicilian mafia don named Massimo. Massimo has decided that he loves Laura, and vows to make her love him as well. There is just one catch: if Massimo cannot make Laura fall in love with him within the next 365 days, he will set her free.

At time of recording, it was ranked 42nd 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: 365 days, 365 dni, 50 shades of grey, Beauty and the Beast, consent, grace duffy, podcast, rape culture, sexuality, The 250, The Bottom 100 | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! Wanda to the Maximoff…

Posted on February 18, 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. I’ll be joining the wonderful Jack Packard and the fantastic KC Nwosu to break down WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki as they come out.

This week, we take a look at the sixth episode of WandaVision, which is mostly about how much we love Malcolm in the Middle, whether the series has the courage to hold Wanda to account for her transgressions, and the level of meta-awareness playing over the story.

Filed under: Podcasts!, Television | Tagged: a marvelous escape, jack packard, kc nwosu, malcolm in the middle, podcast, Television, wandavision | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Enterprising Individuals – “The Immunity Syndrome”

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Darren

I am always thrilled to get a chance to talk about Star Trek with other fans, so I was thrilled at the invitation to join the wonderful Aaron Coker on Enterprising Individuals to talk about The Immunity Syndrome.

The reason that I picked The Immunity Syndrome is because I think it’s somewhat under-appreciated in the grand Star Trek canon. It represents the culmination of a number of themes running through the original Star Trek that are often overlooked in assessing the history of the show and the franchise: the way in which Star Trek was anchored in sixties counter-culture, the recurring themes of existential dread and chaos underpinning the original show, and the series’ recurring fascination with consciousness expansion.

You can listen to the episode here, back episodes of the podcast here, click the link below or even listen directly.

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Filed under: Podcasts!, The Original Series | Tagged: 1960, aaron coker, counterculture, enterprising individuals, podcast, psychedelia, sixties, star trek, the immunity syndrome | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On How “Promising Young Woman” Gazes Back…

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Darren

So, as I have mentioned before, I am launching a new video series as a companion piece to In the Frame at The Escapist. The video will typically launch with the Monday article, and be released on the magazine’s YouTube channel the following week. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film channel – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This is a video that I’m particularly proud of, and intimidated by. Promising Young Woman was one of my favourite films of last year, so I was thrilled to get the chance to properly dig into it. I take a look at the way in which the film plays with audience expectations, and its understanding of the way in which it knows the audience will look at it.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: escapist, in the frame, podcast, promising young woman, the escapist, video | Leave a comment »

222. Fa yeung nin wah (In the Mood for Love) – Chinese New Year/Valentine’s Day 2020 (#239)

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Stacy Grouden and Luke Dunne, The 250 is a fortnightly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, a Valentine’s and Chinese New Year treat. Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love.

Sixties Hong Kong is in a state of transition. Lives overlap in the densely populated city, as the Chan and Chow families move into the same building. Over time, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow come to suspect that their spouses are having an illicit affair. This act of betrayal draws the two strangers closer to one another, even if neither seems entirely sure where this intersection will take them.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 239th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: Movies, The 250 | Tagged: chaste, China, Hong Kong, in the mood for love, longing, love, luke dunne, pandemic, podcast, romance, sex, stacy grouden, The 250, time, wong kar-wai | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Time is Now – Season 3, Episode 13 (“Antipas”)

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Darren

Last year, I was thrilled to spend a lot of time on The Time is Now discussing the second season of Millennium. Since the podcast has moved on to the third season, I have taken something of a step back as a guest. That said, I was flattered to get an invitation to discuss Antipas with guest host Tony Black.

Antipas is an interesting piece of television. It’s effectively a grabbag of the familiar horror movie tropes and clichés that writers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz love: it’s The Omen, Don’t Look Now, The Shining and a few others. It’s effectively a gigantic homage to the huge influences on Carter’s work with both Millennium and The X-Files, even if it doesn’t exactly cohere as a story in its own right.

As ever, you can listen directly to the episode here, subscribe to the podcast here, or click the link below.

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Filed under: Millennium, Podcasts! | Tagged: antipas, don't look now, lucy butler, millennium, podcast, the omen, the shining, the time is now, the x-files, tony black | Leave a comment »

219. Dom za vešanje (Time of the Gypsies) – This Just In (#220)

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney and with special guests Jason Coyle and Ronan Doyle, This Just In is a subset of The 250 podcast, looking at notable new arrivals on the list of the 250 best movies of all-time, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This time, Emir Kusturica’s Dom za vešanje.

Perhan lives a simple life in a gypsy community outside of Skopje. He dreams of marrying Azra, but his social standing is not high enough. Events conspire to take Perhan away from his community, embarking on a trip to Italy with local legend Ahmed and with the promise of a new and prosperous life waiting for him. Inevitably, Perhan discovers that this life is not what was promised, and faces the possibility that he might also be something different than he expected himself to be.

At time of recording, it was ranked the 220th best movie of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: communities, emir kusturica, film, gypsies, jason coyle, jay coyle, macedonia, magical realism, miniseries, podcast, romani, ronan doyle, Television, The 250, This Just In, time of the gypsies, travellers, yugoslavia | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Time is Now – Season 3, Episode 12 (“The Sound of Snow”)

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Darren

The Sound of Snow my favourite episode of the third season of Millennium, serving as a nice epilogue to the second season finale The Fourth Horseman and The Time is Now. It is an episode that is largely about grief and moving on, about coming to terms with loss and about working through it. In some ways, it feels like a necessary story for the third season of Millennium as a whole, and it is only a shame that it takes half a season for the show to reach the point where it can tell this story.

As ever, you can listen directly to the episode here, subscribe to the podcast here, or click the link below.

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Filed under: Millennium, Podcasts! | Tagged: catherine black, chris knowles, death, frank black, grief, kurt north, millennium, podcast, the sound of snow, the time is now | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Escapist Movie Podcast – “The Great Die Hard Debate”

Posted on December 26, 2020 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a movie podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard for a special Christmas episode, and our last episode of the year. The idea developed once it became clear that Jack and I were separately looking at this concept from two very different angles. So we decided to tackle the big question: is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

You can listen to the episode here, back episodes of the podcast here, click the link below or even listen directly.

Filed under: Podcasts! | Tagged: die hard, escapist, escapist movie podcast, jack packard, podcast | Leave a comment »

214. Citizen Kane – Christmas 2020 (#97)

Posted on December 26, 2020 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Niall Murphy, 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, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.

Following the death of Charles Foster Kane, reports of the magnate’s final word slip out to the press. Trying to parse a portrait of the public figure’s life and times, a reporter attempts to discern the meaning of the word, “Rosebud.”

At time of recording, it was ranked 97th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.