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New Escapist Column! On How “The Rogue Prince” Lets “House of the Dragon” Reflect the Modern World…

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Darren

I am doing weekly reviews of House of the Dragon at The Escapist. They’ll be dropping every Sunday evening while the show is on, looking at the Game of Thrones prequel as it progresses from one episode to the next.

One of the more interesting aspects of Game of Thrones was the way in which it was a high fantasy series that used the language and conventions of the genre as what felt like a compelling commentary on American identity, filtering the anxieties of the War on Terror through the prism of dragons and free cities. House of the Dragon continues that trend, offering a show that seems to reflect a particularly anxious and unstable moment in American history.

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

Filed under: Television | Tagged: allegory, america, corruption, decay, fantasy, high fantasy, house of the dragon, identity, metaphor, politics, reflection, rogue prince, rome | Leave a comment »

261. Gladiator (#44)

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guests Stacy Grouden and 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, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.

As Rome extends its dominion over the rest of the world, General Maximus Decimus Meridius dreams only of returning home to his family. However, fate has other plans. When Maximus winds up accidentally involved in a sinister conspiracy surrounding the beloved Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his entire life is thrown into chaos. Maximus finds himself abandoned and left for dead. Recovered by a slave trader, Maximus is sold to an older entertainment manager Proximo, who sees a lot of potential in “the Spaniard.”

At time of recording, it was ranked 44th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: academy awards, america, best picture, brutality, Commodus, emperor, empire, epics, films, hollywood, joe griffin, masculinity, maximus, Movies, myth, Oscars, podcast, politics, ridley scott, rome, russell crowe, spectacle, stacy grouden, The 250, the end of history, violence | Leave a comment »

Catwoman: When in Rome (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises, July is “Batman month” here at the m0vie blog. Check back daily for comics, movies and television reviews and discussion of the Caped Crusader.

Catwoman: When in Rome technically exists to fill in the gaps in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, particularly in accounting for Catwoman’s absence during the early part of Dark Victory. However, it also exists as something of a “bridge”, connecting Loeb’s earlier Batman trilogy with Sale and his later work on Hush with Jim Lee. It’s an interesting exploration of an early phase of Catwoman’s costumed career, building off her origin in Batman: Year One and seeing the character attempt to move out of Batman’s shadow. While it’s hardly going to be remembered for developing a truly independent version of the character, it does make for an interesting read, and a fascinating companion piece to the rest of Jeph Loeb’s Batman work.

Go fish…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, Bruce, catwoman, Catwoman: When in Rome, Christopher Nolan, Dark Knight Rises, godfather, jeph loeb, joker, riddler, rome, Selina | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Coriolanus

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Darren

I’m a big fan of Shakespeare adaptations, if done right. The proper cast and crew can serve to make the Bard easily accessible to modern audiences, allowing people unfamiliar with the tragedy in question to follow along with the work remarkably easily. Ralph Fiennes has assembled such a cast and crew for his directorial debut, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. Although not universally regarded as one of the truly great Shakespearean tragedies, it does have the epic scale and grand drama of some of the writer’s best work. T.S. Elliot would consider it to be, along with Anthony and Cleopatra, to be Shakespeare’s finest tragic play. I think that Fiennes adaptation makes a plausible argument for a long overdue reappraisal of the work. At the very least, it does an excellent job bringing it to a modern audience.

Roman around…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Aufidius, brian cox, Butler, Consul, Coriolanus, Fiennes, gerard butler, James Nesbitt, Jon Snow, ralph fiennes, rome, Senate, shakespeare, Television, Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Redgrave, Volumnia, William Shakespeare | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Rite

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Darren

The Rite has an interesting premise and a somewhat novel approach to its material within the first half. On the other hand, it seems to squander that potential with a disappointingly conventional second half, one falls prey to the clichés and conventions of exorcism movies that we’ve already seen replicated elsewhere countless times before. It starts out as an interesting exploration of religious faith, but it ends up feeling like a waste of some good ideas.

Don't cross him...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alice braga, anthony hopkins, Apple, catholic church, Colin O'Donoghue, Cooking, Demonic possession, Devil Inside, exorcism, Exorcist, films, First World, Fruit and Vegetable, home, Mental disorder, Michael, Mikael Håfström, Movies, non-review review, Pea soup, review, Rite, Rite Aid, rome, Soups and Stews | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Devil Inside

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Darren

The Devil Inside is a cocktail of fascination, frustration and infuriation. Unfortunately it’s not a balanced one – though there’s just enough interesting ingredients to pique our curiosity, but the delivery is so slapdash and haphazard that these intriguing elements are swiftly brushed aside. The Devil Inside confuses provocative drama with shallow sensationalism, but the biggest flaw with the film is that – quite simply – it doesn’t work. I don’t mean that it doesn’t work as a film. The problem is more fundamental than that. I mean that it doesn’t work as a story.

No need to get bent out of shape...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Blair Witch Project, catholic church, church, Cocktail, Demonic possession, Devil, Devil Inside, exorcism, Exorcism of Emily Rose, film, games, hollywood, home, Horror film, Isabella, Movie, Movies, non-review review, r eview, rome, The Devil inside, William Brent Bell | 3 Comments »

The Borgias (Premiere Review)

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Darren

I have to admit, I expected The Borgias to be significantly trashier than it actually was. Instead, the show seems to be something of a more mature and considered big brother of The Tudors, instead of serving as an Italian twin. That’s an observation, and not praise or criticism – there’s something to be said for the energy that cheap blood and sex can instill into even the most flaccid television show, and attempting a slightly more restrained tale of political intrigue is a far more difficult matter. Still, The Borgias has two distinct advantages: Jeremy Irons, and Neil Jordan.

Oh, he just can't wait to be Pope...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Borgias, House of Borgia, Jeremy Irons, neil jordan, pope, Pope Alexander VI, review, rome, Television, the borgias, Tudor | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Cleopatra

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Darren

The big budget Cleopatra is renowned as something of a massive contradiction. It was panned mercilessly by critics, and yet picked up four Academy Awards (and five more nominations). It was the most financially successful movie of the year, and yet still turned a fairly substantial loss. It’s one of the last great Hollywood epics, and it almost killed Twentieth Century Fox. So there’s something strangely fitting about the final line, in which it was suggested that the movie’s subject was “the last of so many noble rulers.” In many ways, the film was the last of its kind, but perhaps the most lavish. Perhaps history has been kinder to the production than its initial release was, but it’s still a very flawed film.

I can see Cleo now...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Academy Award, blockbuster, Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor, epic, film, historical epic, Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony, Mark Antony, Movie, Movies, non-review review, review, Rex Harrison, rome, studio system | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: Clash of the Titans

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Darren

It has been a couple of years since the last proper swords-and-sandals epic. It’s hard to look past the glossy stylised design of 300 and the discussions of racial politics which surrounded it. Troy and Alexander were hardly solid examples of the genre which had been at the height of its popularity more than half a century ago. Aside from Gladiator, it’s hard to point to another big screen classical action movie that manages to do what it says on the tin. Although it’s a long way from perfect, Clash of the Titans at least delivers the intriguing visuals and impressive action that one expects from the genre. I was pleasantly surprised.

A friendship in ruins...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Ancient Greece, clash of the titans, classics, film, Gemma Arterton, greece, greek mythology, hades, liam neeson, louis leterrier, Movie, non-review review, ralph fiennes, review, rome, Sam Worthington, swords and sandals, unleash the kraken, zeus | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Angels & Demons

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Darren

Well, the only way to go from The DaVince Code was up, right? Good, because this doesn’t go too far up, lest you get all excited. It’s a fairly run-of-the-mill chase movie without any charm or wit or intelligence (and severely lacking in logic, one might add). It commits the cardinal sin (he he, cardinal… geddit?) of thinking that it is far smarter than it actually is, and it never manages to be particularly exciting or engaging. Still, Ron Howard can’t completely hide his talent amid a jumble of half-baked action sequences and illogical clues.