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435. Star Trek Into Darkness (#—)

Posted on September 6, 2025 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.

This week, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness.

Captain James T. Kirk has been in command of the USS Enterprise for a year. In that time, he has not lost a single service man. Kirk is angling for the hottest new assignment – a five year mission of exploration into uncharted territory – when a terrorist attack masterminded by a rogue Starfleet Security Officer throws everything that Kirk thinks he knows into doubt.

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

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: 2013, 9/11, allegory, American militarism, Andrew Quinn, existential commentary, existential threats, film, film reception, imdb, IMDb top 250, justice, khan, kirk, militarism, morality, narrative choices, Osama bin Laden, podcast, post-9/11, sequel, socio-political issues, star trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, storytelling techniques, utopian vision | Leave a comment »

Doctor Who: The Well (Review)

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Darren

“There’s still hope.”

“Hope is irrelevant.”

The Well is a strange and triumphant exercise, a collection of contradictions that coheres remarkably well.

It is a chamber piece, a very basic Doctor Who story that could easily have been executed on the classic BBC budget, blown up with Disney+ money. It is a very obvious sequel to at least one beloved story from Davies’ original tenure as showrunner, and saturated with references to others, while still feeling undeniably like a produce of his second era overseeing the show. It is an exercise in nostalgia, but also a story about how that nostalgia is cursed. It is also Russell T. Davies revisiting his early work, while taking cues from Steven Moffat.

All’s well…

It shouldn’t work. The Well should collapse under its own weight. It should feel like an indulgent mess, a collection of clashing recycled imagery and iconography. However, The Well manages to strike a very careful balance between its competing priorities, allowing the individual elements to add up to more than the sum of its individual parts. It’s an episode that feels like an extension of Davies work in both The Robot Revolution and Lux, solidifying a rich thematic vein running through the first three stories of the season.

The Well is a remarkable accomplishment.

Spaced out…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alien, continuity, creature, disney, doctor who, hard sci-fi, hard science-fiction, memory, metaphor, Midnight, ncuti gatwa, nostalgia, russell t. davies, sequel, the doctor, the well, varada sethu | 2 Comments »

363. Halloween Ends – All-o’-Ween (#—)

Posted on January 20, 2024 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Joey Keogh, this week with special guests Niall Glynn and Richard Drumm, 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.

This year, we are running a season looking at the films in the Halloween franchise. So this week, David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends.

In the aftermath of his second brutal massacre, Michael Myers has disappeared. He has retreated into the memory of the suburban town of Haddenfield, leaving only open scars in his wake. The survivors, like Laurie Strode, have done their best to move on with their lives in the wake of unimaginable tragedy, but there is something stirring beneath the surface of Haddenfield, just waiting to bubble up in the right circumstances. Evil is stirring. Evil is growing. Evil is waiting, but not for long.

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

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: corey cunningham, david gordon green, endings, expectations, Folklore, halloween, halloween ends, horror, intellectual property, Jamie Lee Curtis, joey keogh, John Carpenter, laurie strode, male anger, michael myers, niall glynn, podcast, richard drumm, sequel, sexuality, slasher, stephen king, The 250, trilogy | Leave a comment »

349. Halloween II (1981) – All-o’-Ween (#—)

Posted on October 14, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Joey Keogh, this week with special guest Billie Jean Doheny, 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.

This year, we are running a season looking at the films in the Halloween franchise. So this week, Rick Rosenthal’s Halloween II.

In the immediate aftermath of Michael Myers’ brutal killing spree, the lone survivor is rushed to hospital. As Sam Loomis searches desperately for the monster stalking Haddenfield, Laurie Strode makes some startling discoveries about her own family history that suggests the violence of the evening was not as random as it initially appeared to be.

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

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: ben tramer, dick warlock, franchise, halloween, halloween 2, halloween ii, horror, hospital, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Carpenter, michael myers, rick rosenthal, sequel, slasher, splatter | Leave a comment »

326. Child’s Play 2 (#—)

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Charlene Lydon, this week joined by special guest Diamanda Hagan, 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 second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This week, John Lafia’s Child’s Play 2.

Following a series of unexplained traumatic events, Andy Barclay has been taken into foster care, hoping to put the nightmare of “Chucky” behind him. Unfortunately, the Play Pal Corporation has other ideas. Desperate to put rumours about their Good Guy Dolls to rest, the company decides to reconstruct the doll at the centre of that horrific incident. Naturally, the doll takes on a life of its own, and Chucky resumes his fixation on the young victim who got away.

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

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: andy barclay, Brad Dourif, charlene lydon, charles lee ray, child's play, child's play 2, chucky, diamanda hagan, don mancini, horror, john lafia, roger ebert, sequel, slasher | Leave a comment »

336. Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (-#37)

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week joined by special guests Joey Keogh and Billie Jean Doheny, 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 second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This week, Timo Vuorensola’s Jeepers Creepers: Reborn.

Twenty-three years after its last feeding frenzy, the mysterious “Creeper” has emerged from its rest, and it hungers. Finding itself drawn to a horror convention in Louisiana, the Creeper plans to unleash a nightmare all of its own upon the unsuspecting cosplayers.

At time of recording, it was ranked 37th on the list of the worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The Bottom 100, This Just In | Tagged: #metoo, billie jean doheny, hollywood, horror, ip, jeepers creeper, jeepers creepers: reborn, joey keogh, me too, nathan winters, podcast, reboot, sequel, sexual assault, slasher, The 250, The Bottom 100, the creeper, Timo Vuorensola, victor salva | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Video! “Scream VI is a Safe but Sturdy Slasher”

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be launching movie and television reviews on The Escapist. Over the coming weeks and months, I will be joining a set of contributors in adding these reviews to the channel. For the moment, I’m honoured to contribute a five-minute film review of Scream VI, which was released in cinemas this weekend.

Filed under: Movies | Tagged: escapist, franchise, high-concept, horror, Randy, review, Scream, scream vi, sequel, slasher, the escapist | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! Craft Disservices – “Constantine”

Posted on November 1, 2022 by Darren

I was delighted to join the wonderful Aaron Coker for an episode of his film podcast, Craft Disservices.

The premise of the podcast is built around the discussion of movies that were perhaps undervalued at the time, or that were greeted with critical hostility, and placing them in a broader context. Constantine is an interesting subject for such a reappraisal, and not just because there has recently been a sequel announced. Constantine represents one of the last of a certain breed of comic book adaptations, movies willing to play fast and loose with the lore in the process of translating them to screen. It is also a movie that exists among the last of a wave of truly diverse comic book adaptations before the superhero genre takes over.

You can listen directly to the episode below or by clicking here.

Filed under: Movies, Podcasts! | Tagged: alan moore, cast, comic books, Comics, constantine, Craft Disservices, devils, Keanu Reeves, podcast, sequel, smoking, Warner Bros, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment »

278. The Godfather: Part III/Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (#—)

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Jenn Gannon and Jason Coyle, 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, both Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part III and Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.

It is 1979. Michael Corleone has solidified control of the Corleone crime family, and hopes to take the family business completely legitimate by striking a deal with the Vatican Bank. Trying desperately to reunited his fractured and divided family, Michael quickly discovers that organised crime isn’t the only place where criminals are lurking, ready to strike.

At time of recording, neither movie was ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: al pacino, belief, epic, faith, francis ford coppola, godfather, hollywood, paramount, religion, sequel, sofia coppola, the godfather, the godfather coda, The Godfather Part III, the godfather: part 3, the vatican | Leave a comment »

New Escapist Column! On James Cameron’s “Aliens” as a Challenge to Ridley Scott’s “Alien”…

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. James Cameron’s Aliens is thirty-five years old this July, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look back at one of the best sequels ever made.

Aliens works in large part because it’s smart enough to avoid directly challenging Alien, in that it avoids simply recycling the original formula with a shift in location or with a new cast. Instead, it offers a very different approach to the core material. More than that, James Cameron positions Aliens as a direct challenge to Alien, deliberately and pointedly inverting some of the core themes of the original film. This choice enriches both films, turning Alien and Aliens into a conversation.

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