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New Escapist Column! On How “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” Fails as an Introduction to Kang the Conqueror…

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. With the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania this weekend, and how much of that movie is predicated on the introduction of Kang the Conqueror as the new “big bad” of the shared universe, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look at whether the film accomplished this.

Quantumania fails to establish Kang as a credible threat, in large part because the movie is afraid of upsetting its audience. There are no stakes in Quantumania, no losses and no sense of ambiguity or compromise. The heroes survive their confrontation with Kang handily, easily overwhelming the villainous invader and even laughing at the idea of there being long-term consequences for their actions. Quantumania is so worried about potentially alienating fans of Ant-Man that it undersells its supposed big bad.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: big bad, in the frame, jonathan majors, kang, kang the conqueror, quantumania, scale, spectacle, stakes, thanos, the escapist, villain | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On How M. Night Shyamalan Proves Bigger Isn’t Always Better…

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Darren

I published a new piece at The Escapist this evening. With the looming release of Knock at the Cabin in theatres, it seemed like a good time to consider the films of director M. Night Shyamalan, and the director’s interesting redemption arc following his descent into a laughing stock during the 2000s and 2010s.

Since the turn of the millennium, the assumption has always been that directors scale upwards, that filmmakers tend to movie from low-budget projects to big-budget blockbusters, a career arc typified by directors like Christopher Nolan or Ryan Coogler. Part of what is so fascinating about Shyamalan is that his career rejects this logic. Shyamalan had that arc, launching with a series of impressive low- and mid-budget films like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but floundering with bigger projects like The Last Airbender or After Earth. He’s instead found redemption working at a smaller scale on movies like The Visitors or Old.

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

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blockbusters, budget, escapist, hollywood, knock at the cabin, scale, scope, the escapist | Leave a comment »

258. Dune – This Just In (#127)

Posted on November 6, 2021 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Jenn Gannon and Deirdre Molumby, 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, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.

The galaxy is in turmoil. Rumours swirl of a plot against House Atreides. As Duke Leto Atreides takes control of the desert planet of Dune, he tries to track down the traitors in his midst. Meanwhile, his son Paul finds himself on the verge of an awakening that will have a profound impact on the future of mankind.

At time of recording, it was ranked 127th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Continue reading →

Filed under: This Just In | Tagged: blockbusters, deirdre molumby, Denis Villeneuve, dune, epic, humanity, imax, jenn gannon, scale, science fiction, size, spectacle, The 250, timothée chalamet | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! On Sam Raimi and What it Means to be a Good (Spider-)Man…

Posted on December 7, 2020 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.

With that in mind, here is last week’s episode. With the release of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, we thought it might be fun to take a look back at Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, and the central stakes of the film: the question of what it means to be a good man, Spider- or otherwise.

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: in the frame, morality, sam raimi, scale, spider man, stakes, superhero movies, the escapist | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: The Meg

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Darren

The Meg is proof that bigger is not always better.

There are moments when The Meg works beautifully, the film embracing its ridiculous concept by going all-in on a couple of absurdly heightened images. There are a number of shots in The Meg, particularly towards the climax, that are gleefully and unapologetically “too much.” It would undercut these moments to discuss them in any great detail in a review of the film, particularly since they are the moments when everything in the film seems to click into place. In these beats, there is a reckless abandon, as if the film understands the appeal of “Jason Statham in Jurassic Shark.”

Lifeboats find a way.

Unfortunately, these moments serve to highlight what is missing from so much of the rest of the film. The Meg is a movie committed to the idea of “more”, but is more invested in promise than in delivery. Everything in The Meg happens at breakneck pace, to the point where the first act of the film might make a compelling blockbuster on its own terms, given room to breath. However, like the sea-faring predator that inspired it, The Meg is eager to get to the next thing and the next thing after that. The result is a movie that feels rushed, but never urgent.

The Meg is so busy trying to heighten its stakes and its scale that it never quite manages to establish them.