qanon | the m0vie blog

New Escapist Column! On the Trump Era Paranoia of “Star Trek: Picard”…

Posted on March 23, 2023 by Darren

I am doing weekly reviews of Star Trek: Picard at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Thursday morning while the show is on, looking at the third season as the show progresses. This week, the season’s fifth episode.

The third season of Picard is fascinating, in large part because it’s so narratively and thematically empty. So much of the show is given over to empty nostalgia, that there’s little sense of what this story is supposed to be about, beyond a loose assemblage of familiar clichés into a recognisable pattern. There’s none of the urgency of the immigration and xenophobia metaphors that informed the first two seasons, as clumsy as those were. Instead, Picard falls back on a set of unfortunate science-fiction clichés that speak to the worst impulses of the current moment, a paranoia that feels tied to the worst of the American zeitgeist.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: changelings, Government, great replacement, imposters, infiltration, january 6th, maga, nostalgia, paranoia, qanon, star trek, star trek: picard, trump | Leave a comment »

284. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (#—)

Posted on May 8, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guest Luke Dunne, 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, Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The master of the mystic arts, Doctor Stephen Strange, is attending the wedding of his ex-girlfriend Christine Palmer when New York is attacked by a strange creature chasing a young refugee named America Chavez. Strange finds himself drawn into a chase across the vast and infinite multiverse, questioning the nature of the reality in which he has found himself.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: auteurism, brand, cameos, comic books, doctor strange, doctor strange in the multiverse of madness, identity, imdb, luke dunne, marvel, Marvel Studios, memory, podcast, qanon, reality, sam raimi, The 250, trauma | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On What Makes “Yellowjackets” the Buzziest Show of the Moment…

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. The first season of Yellowjackets wrapped up this week, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a look at what has become the buzziest show on television.

Yellowjackets has a premise very similar to Lost, featuring a time-shifted narrative following a bunch of plane-crash survivors trapped in the wilderness as potentially supernatural events unfold around them. However, Yellowjackets follows the survivors after their return to civilisation rather than before the crash. Yellowjackets is essentially a paranoid survival horror, and one that resonates with these divided and chaotic times. It’s a show about the horrors of what happens when civilisation collapses and when people turn to monstrous belief in sheer desperation, but also about what it’s like to live with that.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: belief, conspiracy theories, escapist, fear, horror, in the frame, paranoia, qanon, survival horror, yellowjackest | Leave a comment »

269. Smolensk (-#35)

Posted on January 16, 2022 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, Antoni Krauze’s Smolensk.

After a horrific plane accident wipes out a significant portion of the Polish political class, people begin to question the official narrative. Nina is a journalist who initially sets out to confirm the official story, but who begins to spot gaps and lacunas, all of which point to something a little more sinister.

At time of recording, it was ranked 35th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: The Bottom 100 | Tagged: antoni krauze, conspiracy theories, Movie, Poland, qanon, Smolensk, The 250, The Bottom 100 | Leave a comment »

262. Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (-#2)

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Darren

So this week, Bob Clark’s Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2.

Dating back to the dark days of the Cold War, there has always been one superhero who has taken the best interests of babies to heart. Many believe that Baby Kahuna is a myth, a legend. He is a rumour discussed in hushed tones, a bedtime story with no basis in reality. However, four babies are about to discover that Baby Kahuna is very real indeed – and the fate of the world might depend on him.

At time of recording, it was ranked 2nd on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.