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154. Exorcist II: The Heretic – Halloween 2019 (-#94)

Posted on November 2, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with Doctor Bernice Murphy and Phil Bagnall, 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.

This time, a Halloween treat. John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic.

At time of recording, it was ranked 94th 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: bernice murphy, exorcist ii: the heretic, halloween, october, phil bagnall, podcast, the exorcist | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The Time is Now – Season 2, Episode 6 (“The Curse of Frank Black”)

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Darren

Because it’s Halloween, The Time is Now has a special treat. I was flattered to talk about The Curse of Frank Black with the one and only Tony Black. A perfect piece of Halloween viewing, it is one of my favourite episodes of Millennium, and so was a huge honour to be asked to sit in on this one.

I’ve gone on record about this before. The second season of Millennium is one of my favourite twenty-odd-episode seasons of television ever produced. It is hard to pick a single favourite from a season that features episodes like Jose Chung’s “Doomsday Defense”, Owls and Roosters, and The Fourth Horseman and The Time is Now. Nevertheless, The Curse of Frank Black is one of those episodes of television that has really stayed with me over the years. I have lost track of how many times I have watched it, and every time I still find something new. So this was a delight.

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

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Filed under: Millennium, Podcasts! | Tagged: discussion, frank black, halloween, Lance Henriksen, millennium, podcast, review, the curse of frank black, the time is now | Leave a comment »

152. Capernaum – This Just In (#118)

Posted on October 19, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Jay Coyle and Ronan Doyle, 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 week, Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum.

In a Lebanese court room, a young boy takes his parents to court. He accuses them of a horrendous crime, blaming them for giving him life. As Zain reflects on a childhood shaped by trauma and suffering, the court wrestles with questions of responsibility and accountability.

At time of recording, it was ranked 118th on the Internet Movie Database’s list of the best movies of all-time.

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Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: capernaum, child poverty, imdb, jay coyle, lebanon, nadine labaki, podcast, Poverty, ronan doyle, This Just In | Leave a comment »

151. Fight Club – Summer of ’99 (#10)

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Charlene Lydon and Alex Towers, 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, continuing our Summer of ’99 season, David Fincher’s Fight Club.

1999 was a great year for movies, with a host of massively successful (and cult) hits that would define cinema for a next generation: Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, American Beauty, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Matrix. The Summer of ’99 season offers a trip through the year in film on the IMDb‘s 250.

A successful young insurance claims adjuster finds himself comfortable existence literally blown to pieces after two chance encounters: first with his unlikely kindred spirit Marla Singer and then with charismatic anarchist Tyler Durden. However, what initially seems liberating quickly escalates into something that is much less comfortable.

At time of recording, it was ranked 10th on the Internet Movie Database‘s list of the best movies of all-time.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: alex towers, brad pitt, charlene lydon, chuck palahniuk, david fincher, edward norton, fight club, film, Movie, podcast, summer of '99, The 250 | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast – Season 4, Episode 24 (“Gethsemane”)

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Darren

So The X-Cast has reached the end of its fourth season coverage, and I’m delight to be joining Tony Black to discuss the fourth season finale Gethsemane.

Gethsemane is an interesting season finale, and a defining episode of The X-Files. It opens with what appears to be the suicide of Fox Mulder, and then builds to that as a season-bridging cliffhanger. Of course, the audience knows from the outset that the cliffhanger will be Mulder’s death, and the audience also understands that Duchovny is going to spend the summer shooting The X-Files: Fight the Future. So there’s an incredible tension there, right at the moment when the series had become one of the most popular television shows of the decade.

More than that, though, there’s something very lyrical and poetic about Gethsemane, which eschews the sort of action and adventure beats that defined a lot of The Erlenmeyer Flask or Anasazi or Talitha Cumi. There is a sense that writer Chris Carter (working without partner Frank Spotnitz) is meditating upon some of the internal contradictions of the show, and trying to work through some of the tensions that simmered through a complicated and scattershot fourth season as a whole.

The truth is in here. You can listen to the episode here, or click the link below.

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Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: finale, gethsemane, podcast, the x-files | Leave a comment »

149. American Beauty – Summer of ’99 (#73)

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Charlene Lydon, 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, continuing our Summer of ’99 season, Sam Mendes’ American Beauty.

1999 was a great year for movies, with a host of massively successful (and cult) hits that would define cinema for a next generation: Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, Fight Club, The Green Mile, The Insider, Run, Lola, Run. The Summer of ’99 season offers a trip through the year in film on the IMDb‘s 250.

Trapped in a loveless marriage and father to a daughter who wants him dead, Lester Burnham finds himself going through a midlife crisis. In the year leading up to his death, Lester attempts to reconnect with his youth and rediscover the man that he once was before the embers die out for good.

At time of recording, it was ranked 73rd on the Internet Movie Database‘s list of the best movies of all-time.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: anxiety, awards, best picture, charlene lydon, controversy, film, imdb, kevin spacey, masculinity, millennial, Movie, Oscars, podcast, summer of '99, The 250 | Leave a comment »

148. The Sixth Sense – Summer of ’99 (#157)

Posted on September 21, 2019 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Joe Griffin, 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, continuing our Summer of ’99 season, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense.

1999 was a great year for movies, with a host of massively successful (and cult) hits that would define cinema for a next generation: The Blair Witch Project, The Virgin Suicides, Stir of Echoes, Election, The Haunting, Fight Club. The Summer of ’99 season offers a trip through the year in film on the IMDb‘s 250.

After discovering that one of his cases has gone spectacularly wrong, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe finds himself drawn to a suspiciously similar case. Cole Sear is a strange and troubled little boy, haunted by something he refuses to articulate. Can Malcolm save this child, and atone for his earlier failure?

At time of recording, it was ranked 157th on the Internet Movie Database‘s list of the best movies of all-time.